PAGES FROM MAULANA'S DIARY
The following is a selection from the diary of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan.
July 23, 1991
I saw many men in my life who possessed tremendous talent. They also received higher education. However, they failed in their practical lives. They died after leading an ordinary life or are now in a state of grief and sorrow as they reach old age. I consider each of these cases as a case of overestimation. The exaggerated assessment of their ability and talent did not allow them to do anything worthwhile. They could not adapt to the tasks they were assigned, because they considered them of lesser status than their exaggerated status.
August 14, 1991
Many years ago, I read an article by a psychologist in Reader’s Digest magazine. It was titled Obey that Impulse. The article summarized that sometimes there is a favourable or opposing impulse that one feels about a task from within. It is a sign of nature. Therefore, it should be followed.
This observation is quite right. I have experienced it many times. Yesterday I took a bath. Then, without wiping the water on the body with a towel, I started putting on clothes. At that moment a feeling emerged from within to wipe the water with the towel and then wear the cloth. But I ignored this impulse and put on a cloth on the still wet body. After a few hours, I started feeling uneasy. Today, when I checked my body temperature with a thermometer, it was about 100 degrees. Nature gives its alarm in every case. This alarm is very accurate. A man should never ignore this alarm of nature.
October 9, 1991
On October 8, I was in Rome. With the help of Dr Leonard, I toured the Vatican and visited the Islamic Centre under construction in Rome. Dr Leonard showed both the places with great interest and guided me at each step. On the contrary, when I reached the Islamic Centre, there was no enthusiasm among the people there. When I asked for an introductory brochure of the Islamic Centre, they had no such brochure to give.
The reason for this difference is probably missionary zeal. Christians have a missionary mind, so they make concessions to other human beings. Muslims don’t have this missionary zeal. Therefore, there is no enthusiasm for other human beings.
October 27, 1991
Muhammad Tajuddin Raj is a B.Sc. (Agriculture) student. He said he had an accident in 1985 in which he suffered a severe spine injury. He was treated for two years. During his treatment, he had to sacrifice his studies.
He was bitterly disappointed after the accident. He started thinking that he could no longer study and that his life was over. It was at this time that he started reading Al-Risala (Urdu version of Spirit of Islam). From its pages, he read that: Don’t use an excuse, even if it is a good one; even if a man’s past and present are destroyed, his future is still intact.
These insights instilled in him a new determination and courage. He enrolled in the studies. He secured the first rank and then he got admission in B.Sc. Agriculture. He said quite enthusiastically, “Al-Risala gave me something that no one else gave me”.
January 4, 1992
Time magazine’s cover story of December 22, 1991, was about former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev. On the front page was a picture of Gorbachev and it was captioned: A Man without a Country.
When I read it, I thought it was not just the story of Gorbachev, but the story of every man. In this world, every man has a country of which he has become the lord. However, death separates every man from his country. Then he is sent to the Hereafter, deprived of everything, where his eternal fate will be decided.
