The Reality of Khilafah — Page 149
AN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR PUBLIC AWARENESS 149 I will also publish a written confession that the Sheikh deserves to be called an Arabic scholar and to be given the title of maulawi, and that he should in future be called by this same title. This time, therefore, the Sheikh should not give up. This is a short book and not too challenging. If he wrote 40 pages a day, he could complete it within four to five days. If he doesn't think himself capable of even this much, then let him seek the help of the 150 maulawis who thoughtlessly issued edicts declaring some Muslims to be apostates and worthy of eternal damnation, and arrogantly gave themselves the titles of maulawīs. If each of them wrote 40 pages, the Sheikh could publish a book more voluminous than this one, comprising up to 6000 pages. However, if the Sheikh still fails to do so, it would be shameless of him to call himself a maulawi anymore. It would indeed be best for him to refrain from telling lies and making others do the same in future. I wonder if the name Sheikh is sufficient for him which he had inherited from his forefathers, or would he rather be called munshi, but even that is debatable because it is essential for a mun- shi to be able to write Persian verse, and I am yet to see a composi- tion of Persian verses penned by you. Regardless, even if we close our eyes to these facts and accept that you are a munshi-albeit one who has lost the ability inherent in such a title—there would not be much harm in this because the title of munshi has nothing to do with our faith. On the other hand, we can never accept that the title of maulawī is given to a fool who, even when presented with a prize of up to 5,000 rupees, could not be motivated to take up the challenge, nor was he moved by my curse upon the liars, nor when I permitted him to seek help from the whole world if he so desired. If such people are given the title of maulawi, would