FROM MAULANA’S DESK

The same is true of other commands. Whatever the expression of the Divine Will, it is addressed first and foremost to the individual. But the revolutionary clerics of modern times have diverted the focus of all commands from the individual to the community. This is why, in spite of vigorous action being taken in the name of religion, no improvement of character is in sight. All kinds of reforms and all kinds of perversions can be summed up in just two short sentences: 1. God is great, so I am not great. 2. God is great, so you are not great. The first sentence takes the meaning of Allah-u-Akbar in the right sense. But not the second, which is a misrepresentation of Islamic thinking. If you repeat the sentence, ‘God is great, therefore I am not great,’ this will engender a feeling of responsibility within you, and pride will give way to seriousness and a desire for personal improvement. Humility, which is the root of all good, will then override all other feelings. On the contrary, if you repeat the second sentence, i.e. ‘God is great, therefore, you are not great’; this will beget a psychology of pride which will lead to violent activism and the politics of destruction. It will mean unlimited chaos and perversion in the name of Islam. o Maulana Wahiduddin Khan editor@thespiritofislam.org Follow Maulana at http://www.speakingtree.in (The Times of India) Whatever the expression of the Divine Will, it is addressed first and foremost to the individual. But the revolutionary clerics of modern times have diverted the focus of all commands from the individual to the community.