ME AND MAULANA: A PERSONAL RECOLLECTION OF WAHIDUDDIN KHAN - John M. Butt

awardee, the Maulana was unfairly caricatured by some as an establishment theologian (a sarkari Musalman, so to say). Nothing could be further from the truth! Often controversial, always outspoken, the Maulana’s deep and absolute commitment to building peace was remarkable in its resoluteness despite some of his pronouncements being in the language of hammering—most recently on the issue of the Babri Masjid. In person, the Maulana exuded an aura full of positivity, gentleness, composure to even non-believers and his charisma could be often spell-binding. Whenever I met or heard him, my faith in the essential goodness of humanity was rejuvenated. Khan’s journey to prominence was striking. Born in Badaria in Azamgarh, he had most of his formal education in a madrasa, and was deeply influenced by both Gandhian nonviolence as well as the role played by science and rationality in becoming instruments of progress. He fused these diverse impulses into a study of Islam; and injected the need to contemplate a practical pathway to gaining spiritual wisdom. Although formally of no Sufi order, his deep emphasis on selfintrospection as well as his personality lent him a Dervishlike persona. He was prolific in his writings and his talks — Al-Risala (The Message), a magazine he started in 1976, “consisting of almost entirely his articles and writing”. For him, peace was an absolute end in itself and it had to be pursued unconditionally. Only once peace was established did it throw open the opportunities to achieve other goals. For him, therefore, and often to the discomfort of a section of his followers, “peace with dignity” or “peace with justice”