This is the translation of an excerpt from the autobiography of Abd al-Majid Daryabadi (1892-1977), an Indian Muslim scholar who was active in political, academic, literary and religious circles during a career spanning more than six decades. This excerpt highlights the spiritual journey of the scholar as he drifts away from religious and ethical beliefs towards materialism, atheism and apostasy and then gradually returns to Islam under the influence of Eastern religious philosophy, Rumi’s Maṣnavī and other spiritual and religious texts.