Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the last Prophet of Islam said: “The scholars are the heirs of the Prophets, for the Prophets did not leave behind dinars or dirhams (the currency units), rather they left behind knowledge, so whoever gains knowledge has gained great good fortune.”
True to this Prophetic wisdom, in the third decade of the 20th century, a man of spirituality having superior intellect and immense wisdom , stepped into this world, to carry forward the divine mission of calling people to God, this is the brief portrait of the greatest Islamic scholar of the 21st century, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Genius among geniuses, Maulana dedicated his whole life to peace building and in presenting the true face of Islam based on its actual text, calling for peace, tolerance, pluralism and coexistence, in the post modern scientific idiom.
Like other notable scholars of modern era, Maulana also commenced his journey of enlightenment from a traditional seminary and learned Quran and Hadith.
Moments come but come rarely when these legendary men are born in this universe. After successful completion of madarsa education, Maulana remained associated with several contemporary religious schools of thought. But soon he developed a sense of ideological dissatisfaction and found that the basic text of Quran was being misrepresented by certain religious scholars to build a certain kind of narrative. This led him to a voyage of in-depth research on the life of the Holiest of the Holy and his revelation, the Quran. This gave him the meaning of life and he was able to restore the actual message of Islam in its pristine form. Thus he was able to reconstruct the religious thought in consonance with the demands of a time full of violence and acrimony across the religious and ethnic communities around the world.
That is why with the passage of time, he disassociated himself from all the Islamic organizations and embarked up on a mission of making us all understand the creation plan of our creator. His historical book, “Tabeer Ki Galti” is a rare master piece, and was his first ideological rebuttal of political thought of Islam as presented by the 20th century Islamic scholar Maulana Syed Abul Aala Maudaddi of Pakistan. This new awakening and actual understanding of the message of Islam clearly differentiates him from the rest and places him in the pantheon of the most towering scholars of the Islamic history, for the thought he presented saved this Ummah from unforeseen catastrophes.
Maulana’s scholarship and in-depth analysis of Quran and Hadith helps us understand the questions like the creation plan of God, how to establish the relation with God, role of Muslim Ummah and the preparation for the hereafter. This creative thinker, has authored more than two hundred internationally recognized books, booklets and leaflets, based on Islam’s ideology of peace, scientific and rationale interpretation of Islam, spirituality and Dawah, with the sole reference of Quran and Prophetic teachings.
In his literature, Maulana has presented peace in the form of a complete ideology—an ideology which awakens human consciousness; provides the answer to all the life’s problems in terms of peace. According to Maulana present age is the age of peace and today everything one wants can be achieved by treading the path of peace.
Maulana’s monthly publication, Alrisala, aspires to address modern minds to provide them intellectual food and address the issues that confront mankind and the meaning and purpose of his existence.
Apart from other books his book” God Arises” which introduces man to his creator , is accepted as the standard Islamic position on modern thought and has been incorporated in the curricula of universities in six Arab countries.
Popularly known as Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world, Maulana’s mission can be described as ‘Islamic Renaissance Mission’. His phenomenal contribution has been widely acknowledged by one and all, both individuals and organizations, irrespective of any religious considerations.
Today, Maulana is not with us, but his timeless wisdom to bring about a spiritual revolution, will enlighten minds of millions of people for ages to come. During the last 1400 years of Islamic history, we have produced several scholars of incredible intellect, but none could present Islam and in it’s relevance in modern context, with so much of clarity and understanding, as Maulana did.
Let’s come forward and work in unison to propagate the ageless message of Maulana to the younger generation, with sincerity and commitment.
The author is associated with Himalayan Centre of Peace and Objective Studies Rajouri (J&K)
