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. WELCOMING THE 71ST INDEPENDENCE DAY T HE British rule lasted in India for about 200 years. India’s freedom struggle was launched in 1857, but in 1919 after the Jallianwala Bagh incident, it received a further boost under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. This movement proved successful and on the night of 15 August 1947 at 12:01 a.m., the Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten announced on All India Radio: “Today India is free”. On that day the Union Jack was taken down from Parliament House and the Indian flag was raised in its place. I was born on 1 January 1925. My family was involved in the freedom struggle since its inception and so I too became a freedom fighter from my youth. Listening to elders, I began to cherish the golden dream of seeing a free India and harboured great hopes of becoming the citizen of a free country. When India was declared free on 15 August 1947, I was in the city of Azamgarh with my family. I remember, on that night, people in their jubilation celebrated the newfound freedom by lighting up the entire city. I stepped out of my home and reached the downtown area of the