SPIRIT OF ISLAM NOVEMBER 2019

3 Spirit of Islam Issue 83 November 2019 FROM MAULANA’S DESK 1. The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims 2019, Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, Jordan. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan , born in 1925, in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, is an Islamic spiritual scholar who is well-versed in both classical Islamic learning and modern disciplines. The mission of his life has been the establishment of worldwide peace. He has received the Padma Bhushan, the Demiurgus Peace International Award and Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Peace award for promoting peace in Muslim societies. He has been called ’Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’ and is recognized as one of its most influential Muslims 1 . His books have been translated into sixteen languages and are part of university curricula in six countries. He is the founder of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality based in New Delhi. EMBRACING ISLAM ‘IN TOTALITY’ W HAT is Islam? To put it quite simply, Islam is the way to become a good and upright person. When one becomes good in the real sense of the word, one is good to oneself, to one’s family, to one’s society, and to all humankind. The world around us is a perfect world. From atoms to galaxies, everything acts so perfectly that we can predict their behaviour. This is because everything in nature obeys the law of God. Likewise, when man obeys the law of God, he becomes as perfect as he ought to be. He develops a predictable nature, like everything else in the world. Islam means submission to God. The Quran tells us that submission to God is the only religion for both man and the universe: “Do they seek a religion other than the religion of God, when everything in the heavens and the earth has submitted to Him, willingly or unwillingly? To Him they shall all return.” (3: 83) Thus, Islam means living in harmony with nature, as one ought to, face to face with reality. Man has not created himself; he has been created