THE WORD OF GOD

SOPHIA SCHAFER IN CONVERSATION DIALOGUE-PLUS WITH MAULANA WAHIDUDDIN KHAN (Sophia Schafer is a student of Theology in Germany). Together with the Jesuit scholar Father Victor Edwin (who teaches Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Vidya Jyoti College of Theology, a Jesuit centre in Delhi) I met Maulana Wahiduddin Khan twice in March 2016, in New Delhi. In this article I would like to present a portrait of this great Islamic scholar who is internationally recognized for his engagement in efforts for peace and interfaith understanding. He has been awarded many peace prizes, including the Demiurgus Peace International Award (under the patronage of the former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev), the Padma Bhushan, the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavna Award and the National Citizen’s Award. A recent book, The 500 Most Influential Muslims of 2009 by Georgetown University, Washington DC, has named him “Islam’s Spiritual Ambassador to the world.” Wahiduddin Khan was born on 1 January 1925 and grew up in Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh, India). He was educated in a traditional Islamic seminary, the Madrasatul Islah in Sarai Mir. Afterwards, he gained modern knowledge through self-study. His brothers had studied in secular, Western-style institutions in the 1940s, and members of his family were engaged in India’s independence struggle. So, the young Wahiduddin found himself exposed to many questions about religion, politics, society and his own future. Highly influenced by Gandhian ideals, he stood for non-violence, peace dialogue and peace. In 1970, he founded the Islamic Centre in New Delhi, and in 2001, the Centre for Peace and Spirituality. The Islamic Centre publishes a monthly journal in Urdu called Al-Risala, while the journal Spirit of Islam contains his articles in English. He has translated the Quran into Urdu, with versions in English and Hindi, and has authored over 200 books on Islam, Prophetic wisdom, spirituality, and peaceful co-existence in multi-ethnic societies, including The Prophet of Peace, The Teachings of Prophet Muhammad, True Jihad, Peace and Inter-Community Relations in Islam, The Ideology of Peace, and The Age of Peace. Even at the present age of 91, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan ASK MAULANA Your Questions Answered