SPIRIT OF ISLAM APRIL 2O18

3 Spirit of Islam Issue 64 April 2018 FROM MAULANA’S DESK 1. The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims 2018, Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, Jordan. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan , born in 1925, in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, is an Islamic spiritual scholar who is well-versed in both classical Islamic learning and modern disciplines. The mission of his life has been the establishment of worldwide peace. He has received the Padma Bhushan, the Demiurgus Peace International Award and Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Peace award for promoting peace in Muslim societies. He has been called ’Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’ and is recognized as one of its most influential Muslims 1 . His books have been translated into sixteen languages and are part of university curricula in six countries. He is the founder of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality based in New Delhi. STEPHEN HAWKING IS NO MORE T HE British scientist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018 at the age of 76. He was regarded as the most important theoretical scientist of his time. Generally Dr. Hawking is considered to be a secular scientist but one theory developed by him is extremely important in respect of religion, and on this theory he worked all his life. It is known as the ‘Theory of Everything’ or ‘Single String Theory’ with each tiny string being a loop of energy. After the time of Einstein it was believed that there were four physical forces which controlled the entire universe, that is, gravitational force, electromagnetic force, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force. This theory that the universe is controlled by four forces did not appeal to the minds of scientists, because according to scientific observation, every part of the universe functions in an extremely unified way. The whole universe appears to be governed by a single law. This being so, the theory of four laws governing the present universe appears strange. Subsequent to the times of Einstein, when it was believed that there were four physical laws governing the universe one such