Wahiduddin Khan (1 January 1925 – 21 April 2021), known with the honorific "Maulana", was an Indian Islamic scholar and peace activist and author known for having written a commentary on the Quran and having translated it into contemporary English.

[6] Khan had also embarked on a peace march through Maharashtra along with Sushil Kumar (Jain monk) and Chidanand Saraswati post the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Khan wrote over 200 books on several aspects of Islam and established the Centre for Peace and Spirituality to promote interfaith dialogue.

[10] Khan was born a family of Pathan landlords in Village Badharia, in district Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1925.

[citation needed] He was also a member of the central Majlis-e-Shura of Jamaat-e-Islami, but due to ideological differences, he withdrew from the party in 1963 and published his critique under the name of Tabir Ki Ghalti (Error Of Interpretation).

The aim of the foundation was to translate and disseminate copies of the Quran and Islamic material globally by promoting religious understanding amongst people to reveal 'as it is’ as a religion of peace.

Khan argues that al-Afghani made the notion of a political revolution into a religious duty, a binding obligation, like prayers and fasting.

Discrediting the religious credentials of political Islam, Khan writes: "The movement was the result of anti-Western rather than pro-Islam feelings.

[citation needed] He claims that communal Muslim beliefs and practices are in opposition to authentic Islam by citing the Quran as saying that God "is the Lord of the Worlds" and that Muhammad is "a mercy to all mankind."

Khan says that with political confrontation all the time, our energy will be spent fighting rivals instead of achieving something more productive.

There are many other vital spheres of work, like education, business, industry, social reform, academic learning, scientific research etc."

In Khan's commentary, he elaborates that the Surah only shows the responsibility to prepare military deterrent defenses as a "demonstration of force."

But people generally fail to discover it for the simple reason that they try to apply a criterion that they wrongly believe to be scientific.

The Quran uses several terms, tawassum, tadabbur, and tafakkur, which indicate the learning of lessons through reflection, thinking and contemplation on the signs of God scattered across the world.

[27] Khan says that people are born spiritual but the multiple influences from society condition a man's personality or nurture one based on negative feelings.

[citation needed] Khan has laid great emphasis on ‘tazkiyah’ which he has described as “an awakening of the mind or purification or deconditioning that leads to our personality development”.

[citation needed] Khan argues that innumerable verses from the Quran and many sayings of Muhammad can be quoted which explicitly urge their readers to delve deeper into the mysteries of the earth and the heavens.

[citation needed] He quotes some achievements of Muslim scientists and doctors in the Middle Ages which he says were indeed surprising because of their tremendous scope.

People frequently evaluate themselves according to others’ perceptions and not their own and are unable to unfold their real potential, and finally die in this state of unawareness, writes Khan.

[citation needed] Khan concludes with, “People who belong to this pro-self activists category are human beings in the true sense.

They turn their potential into actuality and thus develop themselves.”[30] In his book Religion and Science, Khan argues that in the case of scientific truths, the validity of indirect or inferential argument is a matter of general acceptance.

[citation needed] Wahiduddin Khan, died on 21 April 2021, ten days after he was admitted to Apollo Hospital in Delhi after he tested positive for coronavirus infection at the age of 96.