By
Roshan Shah, New Age Islam
20 June
2019
Name
of the Book: The Moral Vision
Author:
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Published
by: Goodword Books, Noida (www.goodwordbooks.com)
Year:
2018
ISBN:
81-87570-01-6
Pages:
206
Almost a
century old, New Delhi-based Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is a prolific spiritual
teacher and writer. Author of several dozen books and head of the Centre for
Peace and Spirituality, Khan is one of the most widely-known present-day
Islamic scholars, not just in India but globally, too. This delightful book is
a collection of more than 100 short essays (mostly of single page length) by
Khan, each of which highlights one or more moral value and indicates the
importance of ethics as the basis of a truly meaningful life. Khan has a deep
understanding of the Islamic scriptural tradition, but in this book he also
draws insights from other sources, indicating a universal understanding of
spirituality based on an ethical core which people of all faiths might easily
connect with. The spirituality that he espouses doesn’t call for negating the
world. Nor does it involve esoteric doctrines and demanding physical
austerities and practices. It is simply about leading a God-oriented life, the
Art of conscious ethical living day to day, one could say.
Reflecting
Khan’s understanding that spirituality isn’t something cut off from daily life,
but, rather, deeply rooted in it, this book is framed around anecdotes from the
lives of people (famous as well as ‘ordinary’), aspects of Nature, key events
in the history of countries, reports in newspapers and so on, through which
Khan derives useful moral lessons which we can put into practice in our
everyday lives. In this way, he shows us how every experience can be a source
of spiritual growth if we care to reflect on and learn from them. From such
experiences, no matter how ‘negative’ some of them might seem, one can draw
spiritual nourishment, growing in awareness of such values as
God-consciousness, forgiveness, patience, compassion, determination and
positive thinking. The many little stories that this book narrates strikingly
highlight these and other such values, embodied mostly in the form of real-life
events and phenomena.
A few
examples from the book vividly illustrate this powerful technique. In a story
titled ‘Teacher Tree’, Khan tells us that the tree-trunk forms only one half of
a tree, the roots being the other half. The top half of a tree can only stand
erect and verdant above the ground when the tree is prepared to bury its other
half beneath the ground, Khan explains. “A tree stands above the ground, fixing
its roots firmly beneath the ground. It grows from beneath, upwards into the
air; it does not start at the top and grow downwards”, he notes. “The tree is
our teacher”, he continues, “Imparting to us the lesson of nature that if we
seek to progress outwardly we must first strengthen ourselves inwardly; we must
begin from the base of our own selves before we can hope to build society
anew.”
In another
chapter, showing how individuals can draw useful spiritual lessons for their
own lives from the history of entire countries, Khan highlights the case of
Japan. In 1941, Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbour, destroying a
large number of American vessels. In retaliation, in 1945, America dropped two
atom bombs on Japan—on the two major industrial cities of Nagasaki and
Hiroshima—thus annihilating Japan as a military power. Thereafter, America kept
up a tight military and political hold on Japan. But instead of taking revenge
on America for the large-scale atomic devastation, Japan responded peacefully
positively to the new situation. Before World War II, Khan explains, Japan
relied on the power of military weapons. But after witnessing the destruction
that these weapons caused, it relinquished their use and set about progressing
entirely on peaceful lines, so much so that in a few years it became an
economic superpower.
Simply by
accepting the fact that aggression could not serve dividends and then
channelizing its potentials towards the field of industry, Japan reached new
heights. It was able to turn its military defeat into an economic victory by
abstaining from retaliation, encouraging patience and perseverance, avoiding
provocation and focusing on fields of peaceful activity. Khan explains that
Japan initially accepted the military and political supremacy of other
countries, quickly adapted itself to new scales of values, and then got busy
with the task of economic rehabilitation without wasting any time on bewailing
lost opportunities, blaming others for one’s misfortunes or engaging in
pointless nostalgia. Instead of seeking revenge, Japan focussed on availing
existing opportunities. It accepted, Khan tells us, the blame for its
destruction, and, once having done so, was able to seriously work for its own
economic uplift.
Perceptive
readers can draw numerous from this little snippet of Japanese history for
their own personal lives. One of these is how to deal with others in this world
of competition. Khan notes that one can approach this predicament in two ways:
one is to collide with that which obstructs one’s path. The other is to
circumvent the obstacle and then go one’s way (the path adopted by post-World
War II Japan). The first, Khan explains, is self-destructive, while the second
is much more likely to prove advantageous.
Here is a
startling anecdote from modern Indian history which Khan uses to highlight a
lesson we can profit from in our own lives. Lord William Wintock was the
British Governor-General in India from 1828 to 1935. He had the dubious
distinction of ordering the destruction of the Taj Mahal at Agra, an order
that; fortunately, he was not able to carry out. The East India Company had
been facing tough times, and it was suggested to Wintock that the sale of the
Taj Mahal would fetch a sum of 100,000 rupees, enough to extricate the Company
from its financial losses. When the news of the Company’s intentions
circulated, there was widespread opposition to the move. This infuriated
Wintock, who apparently now gave orders for the total destruction of the Taj
Mahal. But opposition to the command now escalated, with Hindus and Muslims
joining in one voice of protest against it. The danger of full-scale rebellion
prompted his advisors to persuade Wintock to withdraw the order.
It was not
the people who saved the Taj Mahal. Rather, it was saved by its own beauty. Had
the Taj Mahal not been beautiful, it would not have won such overwhelming
support; Hindus and Muslims would not have united behind it to foil Wintock’s
designs. Displaying his wonderful knack of deriving spiritual lessons from every
event, Khan writes: “Just as virtue in a thing wins support for its cause, so
virtue in humans has the same effect. It wins one friends from the enemy camp,
appreciation even from strangers. A virtuous nature is the greatest asset a
person can have, for with it comes support from all quarters”.
This book
is a precious gem, not to be missed, full of valuable insights on how to live a
more meaningful life. The approach to spiritual growth that it articulates
based on deriving and learning from lessons from every event and situation, is
a really valuable tool that perceptive readers can use in their own lives with
great benefit to themselves and others. Just as scriptures can be a source of
moral instruction and spiritual growth, so too can ‘everyday’ experiences—our
own as well as others—this book beautifully teaches us.
10:26 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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