The Vision Of An Unknown Indian

My Journey To Interfaith Spirituality

In this book I have recounted important facets of the story of my inner intellectual and spiritual growth. It is the story of how, a relatively, dogmatic model of Islam developed into the paradigm that I now accept. In one sentence my journey has taken me from an honest acceptance that Muslims alone will win salvation to an equally honest acceptance of the beauty and validity of inter-faith spirituality. More importantly, my reasons for accepting so are derived not merely from my study of philosophy, but also, and very much so, from the study of the Quran in the perspective of history.  My paradigm of Quranic Islam may be termed as ‘Spirit-centered Humanism’ to distinguish it from ‘Neutral or Scientific Humanism’. And I submit that this interpretation of Islam, which I have come to accept after years of thought and reflection, fully satisfies the most rigorous intellectual criteria. In Part A, I give a brief account of my mental and spiritual growth at different stages of my life. In Part B, I briefly describe my image of India based on critical history.