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Imran Khan, Cricketer & politician.

What does spirituality mean to you?
To have a connection with the divine and find harmony between the body and the soul. I was marked one day by a New York Times’ front page story by a leading psychiatrist who had spent fifty years studying the correlation between wealth and happiness. He proved that they are directly and clearly antagonistic: all over the world, the richer people are, the less happy. Solely pursuing worldly satisfaction leads to emptiness whereas the more spiritual I got, the more I led my life according to the principles of Islam, the more inner contentment I felt, no matter what the turbulences in my outer life. So faith in God has meant removing all my fears and creating a sense of inner peace, of inner freedom.

Do you believe you are guided and protected by a superior force?
When you become spiritual, you see God’s hand in everything, including in the worst setbacks. In Islam we believe that God keeps three things in His hands: when we die, respect & humiliation and livelihood. Once we understand it, all fears are removed. And for instance I could become more generous. When I was playing cricket, I had no clue about all this. I was only moved by the killer instinct, by the ruthlessness that sport gives you which is that there is no prize for coming second, and no place for compassion or charity. But I then gradually understood that God would provide for what I need, if I did what is meant to. So for instance I could afford being charitable. When we started the hospital, we had Rs.10 million in the bank for a Rs.700 million project. There was a crisis every single month, but money would always somehow and serendipitously show up. I also understood that time is in God’s hands. You can do your best but He decides when things happen. So basically, we are meant to struggle and strive, but timing, success and failure are in His hands.

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