S FROM MAULANA'S DIARY

October 9, 1991 On October 8, I was in Rome. With the help of Dr Leonard, I toured the Vatican and visited the Islamic Centre under construction in Rome. Dr Leonard showed both the places with great interest and guided me at each step. On the contrary, when I reached the Islamic Centre, there was no enthusiasm among the people there. When I asked for an introductory brochure of the Islamic Centre, they had no such brochure to give. The reason for this difference is probably missionary zeal. Christians have a missionary mind, so they make concessions to other human beings. Muslims don’t have this missionary zeal. Therefore, there is no enthusiasm for other human beings. October 27, 1991 Muhammad Tajuddin Raj is a B.Sc. (Agriculture) student. He said he had an accident in 1985 in which he suffered a severe spine injury. He was treated for two years. During his treatment, he had to sacrifice his studies. He was bitterly disappointed after the accident. He started thinking that he could no longer study and that his life was over. It was at this time that he started reading Al-Risala (Urdu version of Spirit of Islam). From its pages, he read that: Don’t use an excuse, even if it is a good one; even if a man’s past and present are destroyed, his future is still intact. These insights instilled in him a new determination and courage. He enrolled in the studies. He secured the first rank and then he got admission in B.Sc. Agriculture. He said quite enthusiastically, “Al-Risala gave me something that no one else gave me”. January 4, 1992 Time magazine’s cover story of December 22, 1991, was about former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev. On the front page was a picture of Gorbachev and it was captioned: A Man without a Country. When I read it, I thought it was not just the story of Gorbachev, but the story of every man. In this world, every man has a country of which he has become the lord. However, death separates every man from his country. Then he is sent to the Hereafter, deprived of everything, where his eternal fate will be decided. o