FROM MAULANA’S DESK
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 Muslims1. 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.
A NEW LEASE OF LIFE
ERIC MORECAMBE, a famous English television personality and comedian, died on May 28, 1984, of a heart attack. His death occurred just hours after he had told an audience at the Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, how grateful he was for a new lease of life.
For years Eric Morecambe had been haunted by a heart disease. This had led him to ease the punishing workload which had previously threatened his health. His daughter, Gail, said after his death: “Dad had made every effort to look after himself, and had vowed to take it easier. He told me he planned to enjoy all the things he worked for and spend more time with his family. We have been cheated.” (The Times, London, May 29, 1984)
People think that they are being “cheated” by death, but in fact death is the ultimate and most inevitable certainty of our lives. Death cheats no one. It is man that cheats himself. The plans that he should be making for the world after death he makes for this life; only to find that death awaits him, to put an abrupt stop to all his dreams.
If man were to set his sights on the next eternal world, he would find there the fulfillment of his heart’s desire in full measure; but instead he aims for fulfillment in this world, where there can be no fulfillment in the first place, and even if it is achieved, it can only be for a very short time. If he were to seek reward for his work from God, God would never let his efforts go wasted; but instead he seeks reward on earth where any reward is scant and, once given, is sure to be taken away again.
Man pins his hopes only on the present world. Death is to him, then, a cruel blow, removing him from the land of his dreams. But if he were to see the world beyond death, he would realize that it is an eternal world of infinite blessings that should be worked for. What “new lease of life” can there be when the spectre of death lies in wait? Those who seek new life will find it only in the world that lies beyond death.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
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Follow Maulana at http://www.speakingtree.in
(The Times of India)
In this world, one has to sink
before rising, one has to
incur loss before gaining, one
has to accept defeat before
claiming victory.
