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. D IFFERENCES are a part of nature. By birth itself, every man and woman is unique and different from everyone else. If people think and act in different ways, it is but natural that it ends up creating problems for their immediate neighbours — and even for their distant neighbours, given that in the modern electronic age, every person is another's e-neighbour. This means that every person is a potential problem. This state of affairs creates constant conflict in society. Because of this, one can say that if the world has seven billion people, it has seven billion issues that are a potential challenge to peace. It is this fact of each of us being different and unique in our ways of thinking and behaving that creates almost all sorts of problems, whether in the family or in the wider society, and even at the national and international levels. But this difference is not really an evil in itself. It is, in fact, a challenge — a peaceful challenge. Effectively facing this challenge using positive thinking is a way to develop your personality. In ancient times, when people travelled on foot or rode on horses or camels, there were no traffic rules. But when the age of automobiles set in and mechanical modes of transportation were invented, the management of vehicles on the roads became a major challenge. This challenge necessitated the formulation of traffic rules. All developments SEVEN BILLION ISSUES!