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 Demiurgus Peace International Award and Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Peace award for promoting peace in Muslim societies. He has been called ’Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’ and is recognized 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. LESSONS FROM DE-MONETISATION O N the 8th of November 2016, when I tuned in to the 8:00 AM news as usual on the All India Radio station, I was surprised to hear the voice of the Prime Minister of India instead of the regular newsreader. The Prime Minister announced that the “500 rupee and 1,000 rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight tonight, that is 8th November 2016.” He added that these notes will not be considered valid currency anymore and will be “just worthless pieces of paper.” The Prime Minister said the measures were aimed at curbing the “disease” of corruption, black money and terrorism which continue to plague the country. This announcement came as a sudden catastrophe to many in the nation just as if it were an earthquake. They reacted with much uproar and lamentation, but there was nothing that could be done to change this decision. This incident was a worldly matter, but thinking about it I was reminded of a verse from the Quran This Day your wealth and your offspring will be of no avail, and only those will be saved who come to God with a sound (purified) heart. (26: 88-89)