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Nonviolent Soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan, A Man to Match His Mountains



SKU: 00-1
Size: 6'' x 9¼''
ISBN: 978-1-888314-00-7
Pages: 276
Author: Eknath Easwaran
Formats: Paperback

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Table of Contents | Read an Excerpt | Media Reviews and Endorsements | Reader Reviews


Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890–1988), a Pathan (or Pushtun) of Afghanistan and a devout Muslim, raised the first nonviolent army in history to free his people from British imperial rule. He persuaded 100,000 of his countrymen to lay down the guns they had made themselves and vow to fight nonviolently. This book tells the dramatic life-story of this heroic and little-known Muslim leader. It gives at the same time a glimpse of the Pushtuns, their society, and the last hundred years of their history, and describes the rugged terrain in which they live.

Khan’s profound belief in the truth and effectiveness of nonviolence came from the depths of personal experience of his Muslim faith. His life testifies to the reality that nonviolence and Islam are perfectly compatible.

Nonviolent Soldier of Islam tells Khan’s life-story through narrative, 58 photos, and Khan’s own words.

Table of Contents |

Part One
1. The Jubilee
2. Children of the Prophet
3. The Vale of Tirah
4. The Guides
5. Islam!

Part Two
6. Badshah Khan
7. O Pathans!
8. The Pathan Mystique
9. The Servants of God
10. The Weapon of the Prophet

Part Three
11. The Frontier Gandhi
12. Men of the Book
13. The Two Gandhis
14. The Fire of Freedom
Epilogue

Part Four
Afterword: The Good Fight
Photo Retrospective
Map
Sources & Historical Notes
Glossary
Chronology
Bibliography
Index

Excerpts from Nonviolent Soldier of Islam |

“The Holy Prophet Mohammed came into this world and taught us ‘That man is a Muslim who never hurts anyone by word or deed, but who works for the benefit and happiness of God's creatures.’ Belief in God is to love one's fellow men.” – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

“There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or a Pathan like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence. It is not a new creed. It was followed fourteen hundred years ago by the Prophet all the time he was in Mecca.” – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Khan and Mahatma Gandhi worked closely together with great mutual respect, using and shaping the practical tool of nonviolence to gain independence for their people. They both believed that the uplift of their people was essential preparation for independence. Khan opened schools, brought the women out of the home into roles in society, and included a vow taken by his nonviolent soldiers to do at least two hours a day of social work.

“Today’s world is traveling in some strange direction. You see that the world is going toward destruction and violence. And the specialty of violence is to create hatred among people and to create fear. I am a believer in nonviolence and I say that no peace or tranquility will descend upon the people of the world until nonviolence is practiced, because nonviolence is love and it stirs courage in people.” – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan to an interviewer in 1985

From the Introduction

“It is my inmost conviction,” Badshah Khan said, “that Islam is amal, yakeen, muhabat” – selfless service, faith, and love. Yakeen, faith, is an unwavering belief in the spiritual laws that underlie all life, and in the nobility of human nature – in particular, in the ability of every human being to respond to spiritual laws. It implies a profound belief in the power of muhabat, love, to transform human affairs, as Badshah Khan, like Gandhi, demonstrated with his life. This is not the sentimental notion of love portrayed in films. It is a spiritual force which, when drawn upon systematically, can root out exploitation and transform anger into love in action. Badshah Khan based his life and work on this profound principle, raising an army of courageous men and women who translated it into action. Were his example better known, the world might come to recognize that the highest religious values of Islam are deeply compatible with a nonviolence that has the power to resolve conflicts even against heavy odds.

Read a Long Excerpt from Nonviolent Soldier of Islam

Media Reviews and Endorsements |

“Eknath Easwaran’s great achievement is telling an international audience about an Islamic practitioner of pacifism at a moment when few in the West understand its effectiveness and fewer still associate it with anything Islamic.”
– The Washington Post

“A vivid portrait of a too-little known associate of Gandhi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a charismatic pacifist Muslim who led the Pathans of India and Pakistan in a nonviolent resistance to British rule.”
– Booklist

“By his example, [Khan] asks what we ourselves, as individuals made from the same stuff as he, are doing to shape history.”
– The New Yorker

“He was a Muslim voice for tolerance. He was revered by Gandhi, who viewed Khan and his Pathan followers as an illustration of the courage it takes to live a nonviolent life. This book opened me to a perception that Islam can be in harmony with nonviolence.”
– Friends Journal

“Few are aware of the nonviolent tradition in Islam. Fewer still know the story of its greatest modern exemplar, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, better known as Badshah Khan. Easwaran's excellent biography deserves the widest possible reading.”
– Fellowship

“In these days when one tends to associate the Islamic world with violence, it is refreshing to read the life of a great nonviolent Muslim. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the ‘Frontier Gandhi’ as he came to be known.”
– The Friend


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