Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

“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 fellowmen.’”

“I have one great dream, one great longing. Like flowers in the desert, my people are born, bloom for a while with nobody to look after them, wither, and return to the dust they came from. I want to see them share each other’s sorrow and happiness. I want to see them work together as equal partners. I want to see them play their national role and take their rightful place among the nations of the world, for the service of God and humanity.”

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

“I would like to bury myself in an Indian village, preferably in a Frontier village. If the Khudai Khidmatgars are truly nonviolent, they will contribute the largest share to the promotion of the nonviolent spirit. … I am yearning to test the truth for myself of the claim that they have imbibed the spirit of nonviolence and they are believers, in the heart, of unity of Hindus [and] Muslims.”

Mahatma Gandhi

“I have never found it easy to question his decisions, for he refers all his problems to God and always listens to His commands. Every great reformer has been like that and there always comes a stage in every reformer’s life when he must take leave of his following and soar on ample pinion, untrammeled by their limitations and weaknesses. But he does not, by doing so, limit—but instead increases—the reach and sweep of his services.”

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890-1988)

Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, also known as “Fakhr-e-Afghan” (pride of the Pashtuns), was born in 1890 into a Pashtun family in the Peshawar Valley of British India. As a child, Khan attended a British missionary school and excelled in his studies. Upon completion of the 10th standard (the last year of High School in India), Khan was honored with an invitation to join the prestigious Corps of Guides regiment in the British Army. This was a crucial moment in his development. Khan realized that even by achieving one of the highest statuses within the British Army, he would never truly be seen as an equal to its British members. With this small realization, Khan’s lifelong desire for an independent India was kindled. Rather than join the Army, he elected to begin working on his father’s lands. Soon thereafter, Kahn began his life mission by building a school in Utmanzai, in order to empower India’s citizens with education, thereby giving them the tools to overthrow the British Raj. As he grew older, Khan expressed that his ultimate goal was to create a united, independent, and secular India. To this end, in the 1920s, he founded an organization known as the “Khudai Khidmatgar” (servants of God), based on his belief in Mahatma Gandhi’s principle of Satyagraha, which entails tenants of active nonviolence. The Khudai Khidmatgar organized numerous protests, strikes, and various acts of nonviolence in opposition to the British Raj, many of which were quite successful. Although his success in these endeavors provoked the British into extreme measures of brutality against his supporters, Khan was praised for his contribution to the movement and became close friends with Gandhi, even earning the nickname “Sarhadi Gandhi” (Frontier Gandhi).