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. I met an intelligent and educated young man who had developed a bad habit due to some reason. I advised him to get rid of the habit, saying: “This habit is constantly destroying your health, it has also halted your intellectual development. In all aspects, it is disastrous for you.” I advised him to urgently do something to get rid of the habit. After a pause, he replied: “I will do it.” I said: “No, you should say, ‘I have done it’.” In life the principle that works is ‘now or never’. We do not have time. ‘I will do it’ is a kind of luxury which we cannot afford. We have to take decisions at once. Every day is the last day for you, so you have to decide in the very first moment, otherwise you cannot do anything. Time is running fast, it does not wait for anyone. In life the principle that works is ‘now or never’. ‘I will do it’ is a kind of luxury that we cannot afford. I told him that the mind has an enormous capacity. There are some windows in the mind. These windows open up only when man takes an urgent decision. For example, if in reality you come face to face with a cobra, you will react with great speed. The reason is that the fear of the NOW OR NEVER