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 Muslims. 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 MESSAGE OF HOPE

THESE DAYS, after waking up, I hear people talking of despairing things. News broadcasts are filled with gloomy updates of the coronavirus pandemic. Then I observe the sun rising. This natural and everyday occurrence of the sun rising gives me a most hopeful lesson. The world is moving from darkness towards light, while the people of the world were speaking as if the world was going toward darkness. This is against nature. The world of nature is so designed that here, one state gives way to another. There is a system in place in this world which brings light after darkness. Human beings are no exception to this principle.

The present crisis humankind is facing reminds me of an incident. A woman from Delhi went to Germany with her husband and stayed there for some time. There she met a German lady, and they became friends. Once, the girl from Delhi said to her German friend that she believed in Paradise. The German lady replied: “Why do we need Paradise? We can have everything from our marketplaces.” This is a common feeling amongst most people today.

This culture prevalent in the world today is the fundamental reason for humans having gone against nature. God settled man on Earth so that he remembers God and lives as per the creation plan*. The Creator has created man as a seeker of Paradise, but man forgets Paradise and becomes a seeker of the world.

After finding ourselves in this predicament, we need to return to our original nature. We need to return to our Creator. The Creator gives us glad tidings of hope in the Quran: “Your Lord has not forsaken you, nor is He displeased with you.” (93: 3). In an extended sense, this verse addresses all human beings. God is saying: ‘O man, don’t think that your Creator has forsaken you! In fact, this situation of yours is a reminder for you. You need to understand the system of nature, understand your Creator. This is a time of rediscovery. You need to rediscover that the Creator has made this world in such a way that every situation will make way for another brighter situation’. This is the message the universe is giving out every day. Every morning is a testimony to this law of nature.

God is Eternal, Living and All-encompassing. His angels are always ready to comply with His commands. Therefore, we have no reason to despair. What we really need is to turn to Him. We need to be convinced that the Creator is a Living Creator. He will surely turn to us in mercy. Through these words of the Quran, God gives us consolation and hope: ‘O people, I have not abandoned you. Every negative experience is a shock-treatment for you, and a reminder to turn in repentance towards Me. You need to change your lifestyle and your way of thinking. Understand the creation plan of God, and all of God’s blessings will return to you, just as the sun rises again in the morning.’

The Merciful Creator is reminding us to rethink. There is no need to despair in the current situation. Every dawn is full of hope that the world in which the sun rises every day leaves no place to sink into despair and despondency. This is the message sent out every day by the Lord of the heavens and the earth.

Gloomy situations can be overcome only through faith in God. We can change our situation by way of rethinking, re-planning and rediscovering lost lessons. If yesterday was a dark day, why will the next day not be full of light? We need to have this conviction and pray to God.

In my native village, I used to go out in the morning towards the river. This was my daily habit—I used to witness the scene of sunrise every morning. Perhaps the Creator desired that I understand the truth that the world is moving from darkness towards light.

My advice to all of you is—do not fear the darkness of night, but focus your eyes on daylight. Remove the word ‘hopelessness’ from your dictionary. Do not think that the Lord has forgotten His people, His creation. Re-plan your life. Stop using negative, despairing words and think with hope; not with hopelessness, then God will certainly turn His attention to you. No mother is ever angry with her child. No father is ever angry with his child. The same is true of the Creator who has created us. He will never forget us. We only need to model our lives all over again. We need to develop positive thinking. We need to find out where we went wrong.

If our life has been derailed from the track, we must come back on track. We must make every mental effort to return to the straight path. We need to stop thinking in a despairing way and begin to think again with hope.

I have always experienced that when I made living with hope my goal, in strange ways, paths were opened up for me. It seemed that the sun which was hidden in shade had come back again in full view. We must forget that we faced darkness yesterday and focus on the light that the sunrise will bring the next day.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
[email protected]
Follow Maulana at http://www.speakingtree.in (The Times of India)