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. A YOUNG man from Delhi had to get to Mumbai to appear for an interview for a job abroad. He had booked a berth on a train. On the day of his departure, he left his home for the railway station in a rickshaw. It so happened that some boys threw stones at the rickshaw. At this, the young man’s friend, who was accompanying him, lost his temper. He wanted to get off the rickshaw, catch hold of the boys and teach them a lesson for their misbehaviour. But the young man stopped him. “Where do we have the time for this?” he asked, as the rickshaw moved ahead. What the young man wanted to say was, “I have to reach the station at once and catch the train. Then, after getting to Mumbai, I have to appear for the interview. In such a situation, where do I have the time to get stuck with these boys? I’d rather exercise patience in the face of their misbehaviour so that I do not miss my interview in Mumbai.” People have this sort of seriousness about their worldly affairs. But true believers have an even greater seriousness than this about the Hereafter. One who is serious about worldly affairs simply does not THIS IS NOT THE TIME