FROM MAULANA’S DESK

FROM MAULANA’S DESK 1. The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims 2018, Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, Jordan. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, born in 1925, in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, is an Islamic spiritual scholar who is well-versed in both classical Islamic learning and modern disciplines. The mission of his life has been the establishment of worldwide peace. He has received the Padma Bhushan, the Demiurgus Peace International Award and Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Peace award for promoting peace in Muslim societies. He has been called ’Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’ and is recognized as one of its most influential Muslims1. His books have been translated into sixteen languages and are part of university curricula in six countries. He is the founder of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality based in New Delhi. THE SPIRIT OF MODESTY A SUPERIORITY complex is present in everyone, in varying degrees. This gives one courage and confidence. If a person has no ego, he will be deprived of self-confidence and in the absence of selfconfidence no one can perform any worthwhile task. But it is necessary that one’s feelings of self-confidence or superiority complex should be bound by limitations, that is, it should be reined in by the feeling of modesty. In the absence of such pressure, a person will lose his utility and viability in social life. He will suffer from ahankar or excessive pride. And without doubt, there is nothing more destructive than excessive pride in this world. There are two things in this world which make a person modest. One is a scientific bent of mind; the other is being God-fearing. A scientific bent of mind results from the realization of knowledge. And, a God-fearing mind is the result of the discovery and realization of God. When excessive pride builds up in a person, it could be because he sees himself in relation to others, and since there are many people he