I FOUND MY CALLING UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF MAULANA - Mr. Haroon Shaikh, Mumbai

venerable Maulana told me on hearing that I was working for a tiny, now defunct magazine based a few blocks away from his Islamic Centre at Nizamuddin West. That was the first time I met Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, an Islamic scholar, spiritual leader, peace ambassador and, above all, a non-conformist. In his death, India and the world have lost a strong voice of sanity, a peace ambassador, a preacher who blended Islamic teachings with Gandhian values to crusade against violence and hatred. Meeting the Maulana was like getting blessed by a Sufi saint. In loose kurta-pyjama if he was home, his piercing eyes peering through the thick glasses, the turban, the long, white beard –his persona appeared traditional in garb but he was modern in thinking. Many of the over 200 books that he penned in his eventful life of 97 years became immensely popular in the Arab world. I would have never understood the respect the Maulana commands among the Arabs had my younger brother Dr Qutbuddin who teaches Arabic at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi not explained this to me. One cold, foggy January morning years ago, Dr Qutbuddin and I were at his weekly Sunday talk at his Nizamuddin office. Anchored by his aide and admirer Rajat Malhotra, the talk and the subsequent Q&A were streamed live on Facebook. Disciples from Delhi and Detroit, Mumbai and Miami, tuned in to hear him. That morning he chose to acknowledge the enormous ehsaan or gratitude of God. “I was a young boy in my native Azamgarh when once I took bath with cold water. I fell ill and the illness kept me down for a month,” recalled the Maulana. “But this morning, I had