INTERVIEW WITH MAULANA WAHIDUDDIN KHAN

Whenever we talk to someone Maulana ji, in our life, at home, at work, there are two or three people inside us. There is one who sits on the seat of judgement, who makes assessment of things like a filter and a lot of emotions come from it, love, hate, respect, anger, pass, fail. So how to remove this filter so that we are totally accepting? This is not a desired thing. It is hidden in this wish that you want everything to be normal and there are no differences, everyone should be the same way, there is no difference in emotions, there is no difference in thinking. This is not a desired thing. The difference is the correct thing. A great scholar has said that ‘nature abhors uniformity.’ Uniformity is not in the scheme of nature. I am least interested in the situation where every person has the same emotion, everyone has the same thinking. I want that there are differences so that I get point of discussion. Conflict is not bad. How do we resolve conflict and how we take the process as you said, that is very important. And if you get differences, it will lead to growth. Conflict is not a negative thing. It’s a positive thing. I don’t take conflict in a negative sense. If there is no conflict, how will you think? How will more and newer ideas come? So, I think that conflict is a very positive phenomenon. It is a steppingstone for further development. One relationship that we are all spoiling in our own way, is nature’s relationship with us. I don’t think anyone is behaving responsibly towards the environment. In fact, we are responsible for the destruction of the environment. So, what should be our relationship with nature? The formula given in the Quran about it is: “Do not spread corruption on the earth after it has been set in order.” (7: 56) This verse is about the planet Earth. Everything in the planet Earth is well balanced such as water, air, soil. We need to keep them as they are. We are not supposed to corrupt them. We can make use of them, but we cannot corrupt them. It is not permissible for us to pollute water. It is not permissible for us to pollute air. It is not permissible for us to create noise pollution. For example, you cannot make noise or blow horns on road while driving car. We have not been granted the right to do so. Thus, everything is well balanced, i.e., everything that God has created is well balanced. Don’t disturb this balance, rather maintain it. If human beings follow this principle, water pollution, air pollution, etc., will not take place. The ecological system will function just right.