A man of peace

At a time when the world is suffering from immense religious hatred and intolerance, the passing away of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is indeed an unfortunate omen for all of us.

Maulana Wahiduddin was born in Azamgarh UP in 1925. Always clad in a shalwar kameez with a thick beard and a white turban, Maulana to the outside would have looked like a fundamentalist cleric; however, his ideas and writings went on to influence a mammoth portion of the Muslim world. After the partition of united India in 1947, he joined Jamaat-e-Islami led by Syed Abu ul-Ala Maudoodi, and remained a key member of its core advisory council. In 1963 he parted his ways with the party due to some genuine differences with its leadership.

I was introduced to his name and work through his Urdu books – Raz-e-hayat (Mystery of life); Aqliya-e-Islam (Logic of Islam) and ‘Tabeer ki ghalti’ (Misinterpretation) – about two decades ago while I was in Zhob. Maulana Wahiduddin was originally a preacher and proved himself to be a trustworthy critic when he came to examine a religious work. ‘Tabeer ki Ghalti’ (Misinterpretation) is a brilliant example of his critical work, in which he criticizes Maudoodi's illustrative approach to Islam.

Maulana Wahiduddin proved himself to be an ambassador of peace and a sincere proponent of inter-faith dialogue through his writings. He didn't believe in confrontation and undue bigotry at all. In a country where Muslims remain still oppressed despite enjoying a mammoth portion of the country’s population, he never lost his temper.

In a country where a far-right Hindu mob tore down the historical Babri Masjid before his eyes in 1992, he continued to have patience and take an independent stance at the moment. And, in the same country, he facilitated the electoral campaign of Atal Behari Vajpayee in 2004 by becoming a member of the ‘Vajpayee Himayat Committee.

A big portion of Maulana’s books explore reality and the importance of the doomsday as well. Maulana Wahiduddin founded an Islamic centre in Delhi in 1970. In 1976, he started printing a monthly magazine ‘Al-Risala’ in which he mostly added parts of his writings aimed to spread positive and constructive thoughts among Muslims.

Besides his worldwide popularity, Maulana still remains a controversial Islamic scholar within the Muslim world. To many, he is considered as the man who interpreted Islam in the true sense. But some of his interpretations don’t suit the Deobandi school of thought.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, who was commonly acknowledged as a mighty contributor to world peace, was honoured with several awards, both nationally and internationally. This year, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour. In 2009, Georgetown University in Washington, DC put him in the list of the 500 Most Influential Muslims of 2009 under the title of “Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world”.

What excellent words Muhiuddin Ghazi (one of his fans and writer) has used to remember him: “Maulana Wahiduddin Khan had a unique style of telling people about the straight path of life. He usually argued that a child does not die by crying and no nation is humiliated by ignoring the wrongdoings of others”.

May Allah Almighty bless his soul and bless the world with his true successors as well.

The writer is a lecturer at Degree College Zhob and a columnist.

Email: hussainhunarmal@gmail.com