Spirit of Islam, Oct 2014

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. O N September 10, 2014, The Times of India carried a frontpage report titled: “In Kashmir, ‘occupation force’ hailed as saviour." The report said that from being perceived by many in the Kashmir valley as an “occupation force” in the 1990s, the Army is now seen as a “humanitarian agency”. The Army has certainly come a long way in this militancy-hit state, having rescued upwards of 100,000 people. A crisis reveals a person’s friends and enemies. To my surprise, the same morning I received a much-awaited call from our Kashmir team member who told the same story. He affirmed that after the great havoc wreaked by the floods, normalcy was slowly being restored. He attributed this entirely to the efforts of the Indian Army, and said that there was a new thinking emerging among the people of Kashmir about the armed forces. In his own words, he said: “Jis army ko hamne patthar mara tha, wahi aaj apne kandhon par utha kar logon ko flood se bacha rahe hain.” (The same army which was pelted with stones is now rescuing people from the flood on their shoulders). Sometimes blessings come in disguise. The recent flood crisis in Kashmir is an example of this old saying. The whole state of Jammu and A NEW AGE DAWNS OVER KASHMIR