FROM MAULANA'S DESK

FROM MAULANA’S DESK 1. The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims 2012, 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 third highest civilian honour in India, and the Demiurgus Peace International Award. He has been called ’Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’ and is recognised 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. L AST month, there were two deadly attacks orchestrated by selfstyled Muslims, killing huge numbers of people — I am referring here to the suicide bomb attack at the All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan and the attack at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. Attacks on, and persecution of, non-Muslim minorities have escalated in recent years in many Muslim-majority countries. These attacks are nothing but an expression of frustration. The fact is that in the first of half the twentieth century, some Muslims started a struggle against their so-called enemies. But they completely failed. They then tried to destabilize these supposed enemies. What happened on 9/11 was an act of this kind. However, they failed in achieving anything here as well. Now, they have chosen soft targets, like churches and malls. Such acts only show the extent of their frustration. The only cause for these attacks can be found in these Muslims’ deep frustration due to their total failure. The time has now come for Muslims to take a U-turn. Taking a U-turn means accepting one’s own mistakes, but many Muslim leaders have no courage to openly accept their mistakes. NAIROBI AND PESHAWAR ATTACKS COMPLETELY ANTI-ISLAMIC