May 14, 2021, 6:00 AM IST
The celebration of Eid al-Fitr takes place on the first date of Shawwal, which is the tenth month of the Hijra calendar. It marks the end of the month-long period of fasting. The aim of…
May 14, 2021, 6:00 AM IST
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Opinion
May 6, 2021
While discussing Wahiduddin we cannot escape his forays into the realm of the war between religion and science. His book ‘Mazhab aur Science’ – first published in 1971 as a special issue of the weekly ‘Al-Jamiaa’ in Delhi – has seen multiple reprints. Dr Farida Khanam translated this book into English which Darul Ishaat published in Karachi.
Religion and science became a recurring theme in Maulana Wahiduddin’s writings, in which he mostly discussed the ideological aspects of the two schools of thought. Since his own ideas were strongly tinged with a faith-based thinking pattern, it reflected in his discourse. He strongly believed that the teachings of religion were not abstract but grounded in the ‘eternal truths of the universe’; and the only way to salvation was through ‘reconciling ourselves with these truths’. “We can never deny these truths, nor can we be impartial. Without this reconciliation, any other attitude will lead us to th
Opinion
May 5, 2021
When, as a young man looking for guidance, Wahiduddin moved from one source of knowledge to another, he realised that the books of the time were not sufficient. So he embarked on a journey of writing, which lasted three-quarters of a century.
By the time he died on April 21, 2021, at the age of 96 he had penned over 200 books and hundreds of articles and essays. Of course, for that much he had to read a lot, and through the course of his vast readings he managed to gather encyclopedic knowledge in diverse fields, especially in the fields of Islamic culture and history. His death sparked a renewed interest in him and his writings in Pakistan too. Scholar and writer Khaled Ahmed posted a good commentary on Maulana Wahiduddin’s book ‘Muslim Women and Modernity’ which is the English translation of his Urdu book.
On the night of April 21, 2021, the world not only lost an eminent thinker and a compassionate guide but one of the most ardent advocates of peace. Padma Vibhushan awardee Maulana Wahiduddin Khan was an intellectual giant and an erudite scholar who devoted his life in pursuance of principles of peace.
His lifelong and unswerving commitment to peace was based on his underlying belief that “Peace cannot be sacrificed for anything whilst everything can be sacrificed for peace.” Wherever he went, he highlighted how “peace is the summum bonum” (Latin for ‘greater good’) and a prerequisite to everything beneficial in the world.
A man of peace
April 29, 2021
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.