PASSION FOR LEARNINGThe second caliph of Islam, Umar bin al-Khattab, used to learn something from everyone he met. In other words, learning was a continuous process for him. How does this happen? When

see that whatever they have derived from others should be returned to them. This is the teaching og Islam and this is the true human spirit.

intellectual background had given me only a traditional knowledge of Islam, which was obviously insufficient for an understanding of Islam in relation to the modern world. In 1948, therefore, I decided to

to study the Quran and the hadith and related subjects, in order to have a fresh understanding of Islam. If the first 15 years of my life were engaged in traditional education, the next 25 years were taken

rock, I was confronted with another range: now it was necessary to give a practical shape to my Islamic endeavours in the light of the discovered truths. I feel that I have exhausted my strength. The hard

did not join in any hostilities against the Muslims, and before long he himself entered the fold of Islam. After his marriage to Maymuna the Prophet had arranged a wedding reception for the people of Makkah

daughter of Abu Sufyan, a prominent member of the Quraysh, and her husband Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh accepted Islam and emigrated to Abyssinia. There, however, the husband became a Christian. Not long after that he

Prophet, and he converted to Islam one day before the conquest of Makkah. The other aspect of this policy was that of “striking terror” into the hearts of the enemies of Islam. This consisted of mustering

Mughira ibn Shuba, one day when the Prophet was explaining Islam to Abu Jahl, the latter said: “Muhammad, won’t you stop criticizing our idols? What you want is that we testify to the fact that you have conveyed

the madu for whom this task of bearing witness has been performed. This is why we cannot determine what sets of circumstances will prevail after the Dawah work has been done. Neither can we hold any particular

revolutionary movement of Islam to the stage of success. From this it is readily apparent how even a minor deviation from the truth can lead to enormous blunders. An advocate of the Jamaat-e-Islami school of thought

blunder by claiming that it is wrong to believe that all the prophets of God did not establish an Islamic Government. Writing in the July 1965 issue of the Jamaat’s journal Zindagi, he insisted that, in

latter phase of Islam’s history. With the automatic accord in Muslim society of a place of honour and importance to the heroes of the battlefield, annalists’ subsequent compilations of Islamic history have

series of wars and conquests. These early chronicles having set the example, subsequent writings on Islamic history have followed the same pattern of emphasis on militarism. The Prophet’s biographies were

own account, a senior companion. He said that once when he was beating his servants, the Prophet of Islam came to him. On seeing this, the Prophet said, “O Abu Masood, learn that God has more power over you

Masood’s hand. He said, “I will never again hit any slave.” Later he set his slave free. The Prophet of Islam said: “If you had not done so, you would have incurred the risk of hell fire.” (Sahih Muslim 1659)

produces concentration. There is a tradition, in which the Prophet of Islam once observed: “One of the virtues of a believer in Islam is that he should refrain from and abandon those activities in which