Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is an Islamic spiritual scholar, who has adopted peace as the mission of his life. He was born in a family of landlords in 1925 at Badharia, a village near the town of Azamgarh, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (formerly known as the Eastern United Provinces).
After his father’s death in December 1929 he was brought up by his mother, and his uncle, Sufi Abdul Hamid Khan, arranged for his education. He comments that becoming an orphan very early in life taught him that, to succeed in life, you have to take such situations as challenges and not as problems. Being an advocate of result-oriented and positive action, he explains that treating such situations as problems can only be negative in result. All you can do in this state is either try to fight to remove them or lodge complaints or protests against them. On the other hand, if you take such situations as challenges, you can positively and constructively work to overcome them yourself, as and when suitable opportunities present themselves. His success in life is largely due to the implementation of this and other such principles, which he has derived from Islamic scriptures.
“If you are well-mannered towards those whose views are similar to yours, you may be said to exhibit a fairly good character. But, if you behave properly wit those holding divergent views from you or who criticize you, then you deserve to be credited with having an excellent character. (p. 99)”
“In this world, unity is achievable only by learning to unite in spite of differences, rather than insisting on unity without differences. For their total eradication is an impossibility. The secret of attaining peace in life is tolerance of disturbance of the peace. (p. 99)”
“Not all Muslims become involved in acts of violence. Yet all might be held culpable. THis is because that section of Muslim--in fact, the majority--who are not personally involved, neither disown those members of their community who are engaged in violence, nor even condemn them. In such a case, according to the Islamic Shariah itself, if the involved Muslims are directly responsible, the uninvolved Muslims are also indirectly responsible. (p. 91)”
“There are certain verses in the Quran which convey injunctions similar to the following: 'Kill them wherever you find them.' (2:191) Referring to such verses, there are some who attempt to give the impression that Islam is a religion of war and violence. This is total untrue. Such verses relate in a restricted sense, to those who have unilaterally attacked the Muslims. The above verse does not convey the general command of Islam. (pp. 42-43)”
“...according to the teachings of Islam, war is to be waged not against the enemy but against the aggressor. (p. 49)”
“The word 'jihad' has nowhere been used in the Qur'an to mean war in the sense of launching an offensive. It is used rather to mean 'struggle'. the action most consistently called for in the Qur'an is the exercise of patience. (p. 7-8)”