ONE MAN, TWO MISSIONS

wanted to pursue my career in professional tennis. But God had other plans. My father passed away in May 1982 just prior to my completing my graduation. In fact, my final examinations had started. So, I had no option but to get totally involved in the family business immediately upon graduation. When did your spiritual journey start? I was not a spiritual person but believed in One God from the very beginning. After joining the family business, I was completely involved in it. Such was my conditioning in business that when Naghma and I got married in 1985, I even got her engaged in business, though she never had any business background. I think my spiritual journey started in 2002 when my sister-in-law passed away at the age of 52 due to cancer. She was the healthiest person in our family who had never taken any medication in her life. In fact, she did not even know what a headache was. She passed away after an illness of nine months in which we tried every treatment which money could buy. I remember that some of her medicines were even imported from other countries. This made me realize that money had no power and that is when I started asking questions. This incident also made me think about the purpose of life. Before this, purpose of life for me meant working hard in my business. When I thought that my sister-in-law had dedicated her entire life to the family business, and just as the business had got established, God took her away. Then I felt that there had to be more to life. Then I fervently started looking for answers pertaining to life. What did you think of religion before you met Maulana Wahiduddin Khan? I was never spiritual as I never got answers to many of my questions. My family used to call me a nastik (unbeliever) as I used to always doubt the existence of so many gods. I used to ask a lot of logical questions as I had a logical mind. But I never got any answers. All people used to say, this is the way it has always been, so accept it. This never addressed my mind, and hence I lost interest in religion or spirituality. After marriage, I had the opportunity of meeting some religious scholars. After interacting with them I found their answers to be unconvincing. I also found out that what they spoke and how they acted did not match. So, I told Naghma that from now onwards I will never meet any other religious scholar as none is able to give me logical answers to my questions. Religion was the last thing on my mind before I met Maulana. I always believed in doing good deeds and working hard to achieve success in business.