Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Speaking Tree Website | August 17, 2015

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born in Atlanta on January 15, 1929 was a leader of the blacks in America, where the Negro population has crossed the 22 million mark. Since the blacks have never been considered equal to white men, Martin Luther King pledged himself to securing equal rights for his community. But he did not choose the path of violence. Instead, he opted for non-violent resistance. With his extraordinary oratorical skills, he very soon became popular. He used to say in his speeches, "We are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice."

Martin Luther King won recognition so widely in his own lifetime that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. There was a group of white racists, however, who abhorred his activities, and one of their member, a certain James Earl Ray shot him dead on April 4, 1968. A case was filed against Ray, and an American court sentenced him to 99 years imprisonment. The inscription on the grave of Martin Luther King read, 'Free at last'.

To Martin Luther King and his people, freedom meant freedom from the domination of the whites. When death liberated their leader from such domination, they declared him to be free. But this speaks only of their unawareness. Man's freedom, in the real sense of the word, is being set free from the eternal hellfire of the next world. For this to take place, he must be made deserving of eternal Paradise.