AN INTERVIEW WITH DR RAJAT MALHOTRA

again. That day I felt much at ease as if my soul was urging me on to interact with him again. I believe that it was God’s intervention to make me listen to my inner voice of meeting him again. I had a happy and peaceful sleep that night. What did you think of Islam before you met Maulana? Islam, for me, was a religion of violence. I grew up thinking that it is a very complex and difficult religion to understand. I consciously never made any Muslim friends during my school, graduation, or postgraduation days because I didn’t like Muslims and particularly Islam. It was also due to childhood conditioning. I always felt that the world would be a better place without Muslims and Islam. My opinion about Islam had developed looking at Muslim’s actions around the world and seeing them at the forefront of all negative news. Additionally, my grandparents and parents had to leave their place of birth Pakistan during Partition. I had heard stories of horror, terror, loss and pain from them since childhood. My parents still have their passports with ‘Undivided India’ as their place of birth. Naturally, my hatred and negative impression of Islam were a result of all these factors. Kindly provide some information about your family and education. I come from an educated family. My mother was a lecturer in college before her marriage and her brother was a principal of an engineering college in Madhya Pradesh. My father’s family had a flourishing export business which he left to work in a PSU. I did my Economics Hons. from Kirori Mal College, Delhi University and then my MBA and a few other finance certifications. Inspired by Maulana Saheb, I did MA and PhD in Islamic Studies. My elder brother works in the Middle East heading a company and my wife Stuti Malhotra had worked earlier with American Express and has just finished her PhD. She is my strength and partner in God’s work. What inspires you to devote yourself wholly to the mission? After meeting Maulana and discovering God through him, my mindset changed from narrow thinking to universal thinking. The fact that there are innumerable people like me waiting to discover the creation plan of God and that our task of conveying God’s message will give us the unfathomable reward of living closest to our Creator. This is enough reason to dedicate myself to this mission.