FROM MAULANA’S DESK

only to show one’s superiority over others, a high degree of moral perversion has been reached. People hold their heads high and declare that they are the upholders of a religion which has retained the pure and original form of monotheism. However, they contradict themselves by manifesting such reverence for personalities both alive and dead as should be accorded only to the Lord, their God. They take pride in saying that Islam teaches one complete equality but they continue to discriminate between man and man. They are the first to pronounce in public that Islam exhorts one to do good and shun evil in all circumstances, but in private they disregard this. If their attention is drawn to this contradiction in their words and deeds, they will turn hostile to anyone daring to criticize them. They take immense pride in describing the sublime character of the Prophet, for instance, his resistance to provocation; yet they themselves become annoyed about quite trivial matters and even justify their negative attitude by asking why they should not react in the face of provocations. o Maulana Wahiduddin Khan editor@thespiritofislam.org Follow Maulana at http://www.speakingtree.in (The Times of India) The faithful servants of God are they who walk upon the earth modestly and, when the foolish ones address them, answer: peace.