Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi (Urdu: سید ابو الاعلىٰ مودودی ) (or Mawdoodi,
Maududi, Maudoodi, Mawdudi) (September 25, 1903 - September 22, 1979) - was a
Sunni Pakistani Islamic reformist or
Islamist thinker, a politician, journalist, theologian and political
philosopher. He founded the Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami Islamic revivalist party.
He is also known as Maulana (or Mawlana Maududi) or Sheikh Maududi. He was
influenced by the Egyptian
Islamist
Hassan
al-Banna, founder of the Egyptian
Muslim Brotherhood, he may have influenced al-Banna and he most certainly influenced
al-Banna's successor,
Sayyid Qutb.
One of Maududi's major contributions to Islamist extremism was the
systematization of Xenophobia of the West and legitimization of revolt against
Muslim states, based on the idea that all such regimes were in a state of
Jahiliya - darkness and barbarism. He believed that the goal of Islamic
worship was to prepare Muslims for Jihad, which must be undertaken to bring
about the rule of God on Earth in a single Muslim state. These ideas were
further refined by
Sayyid Qutb.
Biography of Abul Ala Maududi
Maududi was born in Aurangabad (then in Hyderabad, now in the state of
Maharashtra, in India) into a traditional Muslim family with a strong religious
bent. His father, Ahmad Hasan Maududi, was a lawyer and a descendent of Chisti
silsiah
Sufi
saints. He was named for the founder of the Chisti order. For several years
during Abul Ala Maududi's childhood, his father reportedly stopped practicing law and
devoted himself to mystical exercises. Abul Ala was primarily home schooled. His
formal education, mostly in the traditional form, did not include western
learning, nor did it include traditional Muslim religious training.
He was therefore not schooled systematically in
Muslim
Fiqh
(jurisprudence) and was evidently largely ignorant of English and Arabic. At age 15 he
was forced to leave school when his father died.
At the age of 17 Abul ala Maududi became a correspondent, and soon became an
editor of Taj, a newspaper in Jabalpur. In 1920 he assumed the editorship of
Muslim, which was published by the Jam'iyat-i 'Ulama,' the
Ulema
of India in Delhi. The newspaper closed in 1923, but Maududi soon became
editor of the prestigious al-Jam'iyah. While a journalist, he also began
writing about Islam.
In 1928, Maududi left journalism and took up scholarship. Given the paucity
of his formal schooling, it is not clear on what sources he drew. He wrote a
history of the Asafiyah dynasty of Hyderabad and another history of the
Seljuk
Turks. Most significantly perhaps, he wrote a little book, Toward
Understanding Islam, (Risala al Dinyat) that really began his career as an Islamic
thinker and religious writer.
By 1930, Maududi had published Jihad fil Islam (Holy war in Islam) a
collection of essays. In parts, this contained elements of his Jihadist (Islamist) philosophy and basically declared war between
Islam in his version of it and the rest of the world. This was necessary because
Islam, according to Maududi was superior and therefore had to dominate the world
for the benefit of mankind. Being a collection of essays however, it was
apparently not internally consistent. It is possible to find passages supporting
violent Jihad in Maududi's writings, but also passages and logic that negate
violence.
Initially a supporter of Gandhi, Maududi soon turned to Islam rather than
Indian nationalism. In 1932 Mawdudi joined the Hyderabadi journal Tarjuman al-Qur'an,
and in 1933 he became the editor. It became his "official organ" and that of the
Jama'at e Islami party that he founded.
Maududi used the journal as a platform to spread his ideas about Islam, and
later in the 1930s he also turned to Indian politics, for which he had an
Islamist solution He opposed both the all-India nationalism of the Indian
National Congress and the Muslim nationalism of the Muslim League. Eschewing
nationalism entirely, he urged India's Muslims to recognize Islam as their sole
identity and to become better Muslims. His views during this period are
published in the three volumes of Muslims and the Present Day Political
Struggle.
In 1941 Maududi called a meeting in Lahore to found the Jama'at-i Islami,
which would propagate true Islam as he saw it and train a followers who
would establish an Islamic system of government and society. Like the
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, it was a religiously-based fundamentalist political
party, the practical political implementation of
Islamism.
Jama'at-i Islami was to become a very important force in Pakistani national
politics.
In 1943, Maududi began writing his retranslation of the
Quran,
Tafheem ul-Quran, into Urdu. His contention was that the Arabic language was no
longer understood as in the days of
Muhammad,
eroding the meaning and interpretation of the
Quran.
Though this approach could be used to disqualify all the
Madh'hab schools of Muslim
Fiqh
(jurisprudence), as
Sayyid
Qutb was to do later, Maududi did not do so openly. He maintained that all the
schools were valid but different viewpoints of the law. Nonetheless, he has been
accused by others of abrogating the
Madh'hab.
Maududi had opposed Muhammad ali Jinnah and Pakistani separatism. However,
when the Indian sub-continent was partitioned in 1947, Mawdudi moved with some
of his followers to Pakistan, where he quickly assumed an important political
role as the principal advocate of the Islamic state. His activities
invoked the displeasure
of the authorities and in 1948 was jailed for over a year. The peak of his political influence was achieved in 1951 in
connection with the controversy over the Basic Principles Report of the
Pakistani Constituent Assembly. Mawdudi acted as leader and spokesman of the
Pakistani 'Ulema' in their response to the report.
Maududi was arrested again in 1953 for his alleged role in the violent agitation
against the Ahmadiyah sect. He was sentenced to death by a military court, but
the sentence was commuted. In 1958 Pakistan came under military rule,
and political parties, including the Jama'at-i Islami, were banned.
Maududi's interest turned from the Islamic state to the achievement of true
democracy according to his views in Pakistan. He was arrested by the regime of Ayyub Khan in 1964.
In the 1965 elections he supported the
presidential candidacy of Fatimah Jinnah against Ayyub Khan, even though he
opposed women holding high office. Maududi
joined with other right wing and religious parties in 1970 in opposition to the
socialism of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. During the 1971 secession of Bengal that led to the
creation of Bangladesh, Maududi supported the military action of the government against the Bengalis. In
1972 he completed his Tafheem ul Quran in Urdu, since translated into numerous
languages as a Tafsir (exegesis). In the same year, he resigned as emir of the Jama'at-i Islami.
In 1976, Maududi published Human Rights in Islam. In it, he argued
that Islam supports human rights and equality, since all male believers are
equal. He ignored the problem of gender equality and the lack of equality for
individuals of other faiths in Islam.
Abul ala Maududi died in
September 1979 in Buffalo, New York, where he had gone to visit a son who was a
physician, and to
receive medical treatment for a long standing kidney ailment. He was buried in
Lahore.
Abul ala Maududi wrote over 120 books and pamphlets. Many of his books were
collections of essays published in his journals. His works have been translated
into numerous languages and are popular among Muslims throughout the world,
though he is hardly known among non-Muslims. He is a key figure in the evolution
of Islamism and one of the most read Muslim writers
of his time; he was an important influence, as noted, on
Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian
Islamic radical.
Ideology of Abul Ala Maududi
The basis of Maududi's political views is that the downtrodden
condition of Muslims has come about because they abandoned the faith and are no
better than non-believers:
I myself ponder ...why at all are we deprived of the
blessing of God? Why are we the target of calamities from all sides? Why
those whom we call Kafir, i.e. disobedient slaves of God, are
everywhere dominating over us? And why we, who claim to be His obedient
slaves, are being subjugated everywhere? The more I pondered over the reason
of this situation the more I got convinced that the only difference now left
between us and unbelievers is that of mere name, otherwise we too are in no
way behind them in neglect of God, in being unafraid of Him and in being
disobedient to Him. (Maududi,
Abul Ala, Let Us be Muslims, Chapter 1)
The ideological goals of Maududi have been summarized as follows:
1. To revolutionize the intellectual and mental outlook of humanity
and to instill the Islamic attitude towards life and morality to such an
extent that their way of thinking, ideal of life, and standards of values
and behavior become Islamic;
2. To regiment all such people who have accepted Islamic ideals and
molded their lives after the Islamic pattern with a view to struggling for
power and seizing it by the use of all available means and equipment;
3. To establish Islamic rule and organize the various aspects of
social life on Islamic bases, to adopt such means as will widen the sphere
of Islamic influence in the world, and to arrange for the moral and
intellectual training, by contact and example, of all those people who enter
the fold of Islam from time to time. Maududi also laid out a stage-by-stage
strategy for Islamic revolution in his many speeches and writings. His first
major book, Al-Jihad fil-Islam (Jihad in Islam), defined the various ways
and means of struggle for the perfect Islamic state. In other books, Maududi
described the social, economic and political principles of Islam.
(source)
The Muslim Islamic State
The political heart of Maududi's ideological thought was the establishment of
the Caliphate and the Islamic pan-national state governed by
Sharia.
The state would be have elected officials, but they would be subject to the will
of God and Islamic law. Three principles would underly the state:
tawhid
(monotheism), risala (prophethood)
and
khilafa (Caliphate).
Maududi's conceptions of "democracy" should be studied carefully, because
they seem to be the model not only for Sunni Islamists but perhaps for the Shi'a
Islamic Republic of Iran as well. Though Maududi in practice believed in rigid
hierarchical rule and regimentation, in theory he believed that the caliphate
would not be ruled by one man, but by the collective of Muslims. The state would
be totalitarian in the sense that its rule would be "co-extensive
with human life ... In such a state no one can regard any field of his affairs
as personal and private." (Abu al-Ala al-Mawdudi, Islamic Law, p.154)
The state would follow
Sharia Islamic
law. This is described as a complete system covering all aspects of life such
as:
family relationships, social and economic affairs, administration, rights
and duties of citizens, judicial system, laws of war and peace and
international relations. In short it embraces all the various departments of
life ... The Sharia is a complete scheme of life and an all-embracing social
order where nothing is superfluous and nothing lacking. (Abu al-Ala al-Mawdudi,
Islamic Law, p.57)
A righteous Muslim knows what is right instinctively and makes the right
decisions, but only based on Sharia and not on other sources. Thus, while the state has a legislature which the ruler must
consult, its function "is really that of law-finding, not of law-making."(Abu
al-Ala al-Maududi, Islamic Law, p. 77)
Maududi asserted that the sovereignty of God (hakimiya) is superior to rule
by man, and that it excludes the sovereignty of the people. He declared Islamic
"democracy" to be inherently opposed by definition to that of secular Western
democracy, which gives hakimia to the people. (Abu al-Ala Maududi,
Political Theory of Islam (Lahore: Islamic Publications, 1976), pp. 13, 15-7,
38, 75-82). The opposition to rule by man was carried over rather directly into
the philosophy of
Sayyid Qutb.
The Maududi state would presumably have nothing to do with actual democracy,
since there would have to be a ruler or council of
Ulema
or a ruler
who decide what is properly Islamic and what is not.
Maududi and the Afghan War
Maududi's Jama'at-i-Islami helped to generate the ideology and organizational
basis of the Afghan uprising against the Soviets. Jama'at-i-Islami was
un-Islamic in its rigid hierarchical organization, and was therefore useful as a
model for the Afghani
Mujahedin.
It helped to spawn the two most important Mujahedin factions in the Afghan civil
war, that of Ahmad Shah Masud, and Gulbuddin Hikmatyar. This history provides
one path from Maududi to Osama bin Ladin's Al-Qaeda,
but it is not the only path. Ayman Zawahiri, a follower of Sayyid Qutb and a
founder of the
Egyptian Islamic Jihad
is (or was) second in command to Osama Bin Laden. He is credited with
introducing the most radical Islamist ideas to Al-Qaeda
and of initiating and encouraging attacks against Western targets.
Theology of Maududi
The theology of Maududi evolved over time, and yet even in revised editions
of his books he often did not change assertions that conflicted with what he had
written earlier. In the Risala al Dinyat (Toward Understanding Islam), Maulani presents a relatively mild form of defensive
Jihad, and at least at one point in his career he legitimized all the schools of
Fiqh:
Jihad means struggle to the utmost of one's capacity. A man who exerts
himself physically or mentally or spends his wealth in the way of Allah is
indeed engaged in Jihad. But in the language of the Shari'ah this word is
used particularly for the war that is waged solely in the name of Allah and
against those who perpetrate oppression as enemies of Islam.(source:
Maududi, Toward an Understanding of Islam, Chapter
5, Prayer and Worship).
Detailed law derived from the Qur'an and the Ahadith covering the myriads
from of problems that arise in the course of man's life have been compiled
by some of the leading legists in the past. Thus the Muslim Peoples shall
for ever be grateful to those men of leading and vision who devoted their
lives to gaining a mastery of the Qur'an and the Hadith who made it easy for
every Muslim to fashion his everyday affairs according to the requirements
of the Shari'ah. It is due to them alone that the Muslims all over the world
can follow the Shari'ah easily even though their attainments in religion are
never such that they could themselves give a correct and authentic
interpretation to the Qur'an or the Ahadith. (source:
Maududi, Toward an Understanding of Islam, Chapter 6, Din and Shariah).
It is not known whether he was deliberately presenting a deceptively mild and relatively
tolerant view of Islam in this book, or if his views quickly changed.
Fundamental to Maulani's ideology was the notion that Islam or Allah is the
world and pervades and runs the world. Disbelief in Allah and Islam is contrary
to nature:
We have seen that all that is in the universe is obedient to God the
creator. to obey, to live in accordance with His will and His Law or (to put
it more precisely) to be a Muslim is ingrained in their very nature. God has
given man power over these things, but it is incumbent in the very nature of
these things that they should be used for the fulfillment of His will and
not otherwise. But one who disobeys God and resorts to kufr is the person
who perpetrates the greatest injustice, for he uses all these powers of body
and mind to rebel against the course of nature and becomes an unwilling
instrument in the drama of disobedience. He forces his head to bow down
before deities other than God and cherishes in his heart the love,
reverence, and fear of other powers in utter disregard to the instinctive
urge of these organs. (source:
Maududi, Toward an Understanding of Islam, Chapter 1, The Meaning of Islam).
Taking up the Islamic belief, according to Maududi, magically imparts correct
understanding and morality in all spheres:
By the correct use of his knowledge and intellect he recognizes his
creator, reposes belief in Him, and, in spite of being under no compulsion
to do so, chooses the path of obedience to Him... He is intelligent,
truthful, and dutiful, for he has chosen light over darkness, and after
seeing the light of reality has responded to its call willingly and
enthusiastically...
Such a man will always choose the Right path in every field of knowledge
and action....
Similarly, in history, economics, politics, law, and other branches of
arts and science, a Muslim will no-where lag behind a Kafir in the fields of
inquiry and struggle... A Muslim will study every branch of knowledge in its
right perspective, will strive for the right objective, and will arrive at
right conclusion....
The moral life of a Muslim will always be filled with godliness, piety,
righteousness and truthfulness...
Think of the moral excellence of the man who lives with this mental
attitude-his will be a life of purity and piety and love and altruism. He
will be a blessing unto mankind. His thinking would not be polluted with
evil thoughts and perverted ambitions. (source:
Maududi, Toward an Understanding of Islam, Chapter 1, The Meaning of Islam).
Maududi and Violent Jihad
In several books, Maududi presents different views of Jihad. The later
writings are more intolerant and more explicit about the religious basis of
violent Jihad, which is rooted in the purpose of Islam, to bring about the rule
of God on Earth. This is necessary because the rule of man is inherently corrupt
and oppressive. In the chapter about Jihad in Let us be Muslims, he
explains:
Briefly speaking, it would be enough to state that the real objective of
Islam is to remove the lordship of man over man and to establish the kingdom
of God on Earth. To stake one's life and everything else to achieve this
purpose is called Jihad' while Salah, fasting, Hajj and Zakat are all meant
as a preparation for this task.
....
the duty devolves on you that wherever you are, in whichever country you
live, you must get up there for the reform of God's creation, try to
transform the wrong principles of government into correct principles, snatch
away the power of legislation and lordship from those who do not fear God
and are unbridled. And then taking over the leadership and superintendence
of God's servants, conduct the affairs of the government in accordance with
God's laws and with belief in their responsibility and accountability in the
Hereafter as also in God being the Knower of the unseen. The name of this
striving is Jihad. (Maududi,
Abul Ala, Let Us Be Muslims, Chapter 7)
In Jihad fil Islam, Maududi wrote:
“Islam wishes to do away with all states and governments which are opposed to
the ideology and program of Islam. The purpose of Islam is to set up a state on
the basis of this ideology and program, regardless of which nation assumes the
role of standard-bearer of Islam, and regardless of the rule of which nation is
undermined in the process of the establishment of an ideological Islamic state.
Islam requires the earth -- not just a portion, but the entire planet --
not because the sovereignty over the earth should be wrested from one nation or
group of nations and vested in any one particular nation, but because the whole
of mankind should benefit from Islam, and its ideology and welfare program. It
is to serve this end that Islam seeks to press into service all the forces which
can bring about such a revolution. The term which covers the use of all these
forces is ‘Jihad’. To alter people’s outlook and spark a mental and intellectual
revolution is a form of Jihad. To change the old tyrannical system and establish
a just new order by the power of the sword is also Jihad, as is spending wealth
and undergoing physical exertion for this cause.” (Online
source)
Maududi explained the virtues of violent warfare:
The Messenger of Allahsa
invited the Arabs to accept Islam for 13 years. He used every possible means
of persuasion, gave them incontrovertible arguments and proofs, showed them
miracles and put before them his life as an example of piety and morality.
In short, he used every possible means of communication, but his people
refused to accept Islam.
When every method of persuasion had failed, the Prophet
took to the sword.
That sword removed evil mischief, the impurities of evil
and the filth of the soul. The sword did something more--it removed their
blindness so that they could see the light of truth, and also cured them of
their arrogance; arrogance which prevents people from accepting the truth,
stiff necks and proud heads bowed with humility. (Maududi,
Al-Jihad fil Islam , 137–8) (translated
here)
As in Arabia and other countries, Islam’s expansion was so fast
that within a century a quarter of the world accepted it. This conversion took
place because the sword of Islam tore away the veils which had covered men’s
hearts. (Maududi,
Al-Jihad fil Islam , 137–8) (translated
here)
Maulana Maududi further explained:
Human relations and associations are so integrated that no state can have
complete freedom of action within its own principles, unless those same
principles are in force in a neighboring country. Therefore, Muslim groups
will not be content with the establishment of an Islamic state in one area
alone. Depending on their resources, they should try to expand in all
directions. On one hand, they will spread their ideology and on the other
they will invite people of all nations to accept their creed, for salvation
lies only in it. If their Islamic state has power and
resources it will fight and destroy non Islamic governments and establish
Islamic states in their place.
(Maududi,
Haqiqat-i-Jihad, Lahore: Taj Company Ltd, 1964, p 64).
Maududi on Treatment of Non-Muslims
Non-Muslims are
Dhimmi
and therefore they cannot participate in government. That includes Jews and
Christians, who must pay the
Jizya.
It is not clear what fate awaits the polytheistic inhabitants of Pakistan in the
Maududi state. Of the Jizya he wrote:
...the Muslims should feel proud of such a humane law as that of Jizya.
For it is obvious that a maximum freedom that can be allowed to those who do
not adopt the way of Allah but choose to tread the ways of error is that
they should be tolerated to lead the life they like.
... Jews and the Christians ...should be forced to pay Jizya in order to put
an end to their independence and supremacy so that they should not remain
rulers and sovereigns in the land. These powers should be wrested from them
by the followers of the true Faith, who should assume the sovereignty and
lead others towards the Right Way.
....
That is why the Islamic state offers them protection, if they agree to live
as Zimmis by paying Jizya, but it can not allow that they should
remain supreme rulers in any place and establish wrong ways and establish
them on others. As this state of things inevitably produce chaos and
disorder, it is the duty of the true Muslims to exert their utmost to bring
an end to their wicked rule and bring them under a righteous order.
(Mawdudi, . Abul A'la, The Meaning of the Qur'an,
(Islamic Publications Ltd., Lahore, 1993 edition), vol 2, page 183 & page
186 (last paragraph.)
Maududi believed that copying cultural practices of non-Muslims was forbidden
in Islam, and that imitation was a sign of inferiority
Muslims are forbidden from imitating the ways of life
of other people. The psychology of imitation suggests that it springs from a
sense of inferiority and its net result is the cultivation of a defeatist
mentality. Cultural aping has extremely negative effects on a nation. It
destroys its inner vitality, blurs its vision, and befogs its skills.
Breeding a national inferiority complex, it gradually but assuredly saps
the very spirit of the culture and its identity. It literally sounds its
death bell. This is why Muhammad has positively and forcefully forbidden
Muslims from assuming the culture and way of life of non-Muslims. The
strength of a nation does not lie in its dress, manners, or fine arts; its
growth and strength rest in correct knowledge and helpful scientific
research. It is a result of the nation’s ability to discipline itself, to
use knowledge and technical accomplishments for the betterment of mankind
while rejecting those arts and crafts which breed cultural slavery.
(Maududi, Abul Ala, Towards Understanding
Islam, Chapter 7)
At least in this context however, in Toward an Understanding of
Islam, Maududi took a tolerant attitude to non-believers that was apparently
later reversed:
Now we come to the relations which Muslims are
supposed to have with non-Muslims. In dealing with them, the believers are
instructed not to be intolerant or narrow-minded. They have been told not to
abuse or speak ill of their religious leaders or saints, nor say anything
insulting to their religion. They must not seek disagreements with them
without warrant, but are to live in peace and friendship. If non-Muslims
observe a peaceful and conciliatory attitude toward the Muslims, and do not
violate their territories, if they do not violate the rights of others, then
they should keep friendly relations with them. They should be dealt with
fairly and justly.
(Maududi, Abul Ala, Towards Understanding
Islam, Chapter 7)
Appreciation of Abu al ala Maududi
Maududi's works are popular among Islamists, especially in
Pakistan, and remain the basis of Islamist thought. Some of them have been
translated into English and can be found at various Jihadist Web sites as well.
The Jamaat Islamiya party clearly explains the greatness of
Maududi as arising not from piety or personal implementation of Islam, but as
rediscovering the political role of Islam. It is explicitly a liberation
theology. For example::
At the time when Sayyid Maududi started his movement, many
great misconceptions about Islam were rampant among the Muslims due to
centuries-long slavery and decadence. It was thought that Islam was either
concerned only with the individual life or its relation to the collective
life was limited to only a few of aspects. Islam was also widely conceived
as having no relationship with the state and political affairs. Rather it
was believed that Islam had no concept of politics and state. In matters of
economy Islam was believed to have only the guiding principles without a
full-fledged economic system. Some people even said that Islam had no
philosophy of education. Sayyid Maududi challenged all such misconceptions
on a rational basis. As a result of his life-long intellectual and
scholastic struggle, it was at last accepted that Islam is a comprehensive
model of life, which guides us not only in the affairs of our individual and
collective lives but also our international lives.
His writing also helped millions of Muslims in regaining their confidence
over Islam and in eliminating their sense of inferiority. He wrote an
unparalleled critique of socialism, and the modern western thought.
Unveiling their waywardness, he interpreted the western thought as ‘modern
ignorance’. (Even in 1950, Sayyid Maududi had prophesied that one day both
Communism and Liberalism would not be able to get a haven even in Moscow,
Paris, New York and London.) His prophesy about Communism has proved itself
in its literal sense and now the world awaits the fulfillment of his second
prophesy, the downfall of Liberalism. (source:
Sayyid Abul A'la
Maududi; His Standing )
Criticism of Maududi
Criticism of Maududi comes from both liberal reformist and
Salafi
Imams and theorists. On the Indian subcontinent he drew a lot of criticism for
lack of scholarship, dangerous innovation,
contradicting himself, and for insisting that violence was required for
spreading the faith.
Prof. Fazlur Rahman observed:
Maududi, though not an alim,
was nevertheless a self-taught man of considerable intelligence and
sufficient knowledge… He was by no means an accurate or profound scholar,
but he was undoubtedly like a fresh wind in the stifling Islamic atmosphere
created by the traditional madrasas … But Maududi displays nowhere the
larger and more profound vision of Islam’s role in the world. Being a
journalist rather than a serious scholar he wrote at great speed and with
resultant superficiality in order to feed his eager young readers—and he
wrote incessantly… Not one of Maududi’s followers ever became a serious
student of Islam, the result being that, for the faithful, Maududi’s
statements represented the last word on Islam-no matter how much
and how blatantly he contradicted himself from
time to time on such basic issues as economic policy and political theory.
(Fazlur Rahman,
Islam and Modernity—Transformation of an Intellectual
Tradition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), 116)
The Mufti Kifayatullah of Delhi noted, ‘I know Maulana Abu Ala
Maududi. He has neither learned from nor been disciplined by a scholar of
repute. He is very well read but his understanding of
religion is weak. (Maktube-i-Hidayat (Deoband: Kutub Khana
Izaziyah), 21) .
Maulana
Husain Ahmad Madani claimed:
His pamphlets and books contain opinions which are
anti-religious and heretic, though written with theological trappings. Lay
readers cannot see through these trappings. As a result they find the Islam
brought by the Holy Prophet repugnant; the Islam which has been followed by the
Ummat-i-Muhammadiya for the last 1350 years.
( Maulana Muhammad Akhtar,
Maudadi Sahib Akabir-i-Ummat-ki Nazar Main
(Bombay) 9)
Maualana Qari Muhammad Tayyab wrote:
Having read Maududi Sahib’s writings I have concluded that he
did not acquire the disciplines of Muslim legal philosophy and mysticism. He
cannot write on them with authority.( Maulana Muhammad Akhtar,
Maudadi Sahib Akabir-i-Ummat-ki Nazar Main
(Bombay) 15)
The late Maulana Ahmad Ali Lahauri also wrote in the same
vein:
Maududi Sahib wants to present a ‘New Islam’ to the Muslims.
And Muslims will not accept a New Islam’ unless the old Islam, which they have
followed for the last 1,350 years, is not fully destroyed and it is proved that
Islam has become irrelevant and impractical.
( Maulana Muhammad Akhtar,
Maudadi Sahib Akabir-i-Ummat-ki Nazar Main (Bombay)
48)
A Fatwa
against Maududi
declares:
With his first book, Holy War in Islam (1927), he spread his revolutionary ideas1. When it was translated into Arabic, it influenced Hasan al-Banna's thoughts and caused him to revolt against the government in Egypt and to be killed. Mawdudi's inefficiency in knowledge has brought innumerable Muslims like this to substantial and spiritual death, for no Islamic scholar has ever taken any interest in politics or thought of revolution. They have guided people to the right course through knowledge and advice. They have known that Islam would spread not through revolution but through knowledge, justice and morals. Mawdudi strove to solve all the main principles of Islam with his own reason and always departed from Islamic scholars and Islamic knowledge. If one observes his books minutely, one will easily see that he was in a struggle of disseminating his own thoughts under the name of Islam. He put Islam into various shapes in order to adapt it to modern forms of government. He shaped Islam's institution of caliphate according to his imagination and attacked almost all the caliphs. The annihilation of Islamic scholars, and consequently of Islamic knowledge, by the British and their servants facilitated the spread of his aberrant ideas. The ignorant people who were not at a level to read and understand the books of Islamic scholars readily thought of him as a scholar, as a mujahid. His political thoughts were considered extensive Islamic knowledge.
Mawdudi managed to take advantage of this state of languor in Muslims. Rendering the religion a means for political purpose, he approached politicians. He interfered with the national movement of Indian Muslims. In order to appropriate the accomplishments of vigilant Muslims and Islamic strugglers, he produced many articles in which he played the part of national leadership and inspiration.
The same Fatwa quotes from the book Al-ustad al-Mawdudi
by Muhammad Yusuf Banuri:
"The reason for the heresy of Mawdudi was that he learned religious
information from the non-authority. He could not gain any skill in
the Arabic sciences. He could not attain to the sohbat of real
religious scholars. He was not successful in reading, writing or
speaking English and Arabic. All the Arabic books that he edited were
written in Urdu originally, later being translated into Arabic by Shaikh
Masud 'Alim an-Nadwi and his disciple. Because the author was written as
Mawdudi on their covers, the readers thought that Mawdudi wrote them in
Arabic."
"Mawdudi is not a man of religion but a politician. He has a fluent
style in the Urdu language, but the sins his books cause are much greater
than their benefit. Their harm is much more. Their evils surpass their good
effects. He tries to blemish as-Sahaba especially in his Urdu books. He
defames Hadrat 'Uthman (radi-Allahu 'anh), the Khulafat ar-rashid (radi-Allahu
'anhum). He alters the terminology of Islam and blessed Ayats. He insults at
the Salaf as-Salihin. All his writings openly reveal his desire for
position and fame. The members of the Rabitat al-Alam al-Islami,
which was founded by the la-madhhabi, and many men of religious post in the
Najd and Riyadh all love him and spread his Arabic books all over the world.
Among them are Kusaymi, the author of Sarra', and Nasiruddin al-Albani, a
Khariji mudarris at the Jamiat al-Madina. Muhammad Zakariyya, a Pakistani
man of religion, liked Mawdudi's writings at first, but later he wrote a
letter of advice to him and published a booklet covering his heretical
opinions when he understood his heresy and deviation. Doctor 'Abdurrazzaq
Hazarawi Pakistani translated this booklet into Arabic and published it
adding his comments. Those who read it will understand Mawdudi's opinions
openly. Some of his opinions are of fisq (immorality, outright sin);
some are bidat'; some are ilhad (heresy); some reveal his
ignorance in Islam, and some others show that he has not understood
religious knowledge well. His various writing contradict one another."
"Great Muslim scholars of India of every madhhab congregated at Jamiyyat
al-'Ulama' in Delhi on the 27th of Shawwal, 1370 (August 1, 1951) and
reached the conclusion that Mawdudi and his Al-Jamaat al-Islamiyya caused
the destruction and deviation of Muslims and published this fatwa (decision)
in a book and in papers." [Al-ustad al-Mawdudi, p.7. Reproduced in
Arabic by Hakikat Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1977.] And the scholars of Pakistan
passed a resolution that Mawdudi was a heretic who tried to make others
heretics; this resolution was edited once again in the Akhbar al-Jamiyya in
Rawalpindi on the 22nd of February, 1396 (1976)."
The Web page
Mawdudi's slandering of Islamic belief and the Ahlus-Sunnah Ulema and its answer
has sharp criticism of Maududi's book, The Revivalist Movement in Islam.
It alleges that Maududi slandered the companions of the prophet and undermined
the basis of the
Madh'hab
and of Islamic practices by falsely claiming that they were contaminated by
Greek, Hindu and other non-Islamic thought.
Critics of Maududi are not necessarily tolerant or enlightened.
The writer of the above tract puts quotes from Maududi in blue ink, because he
claims, "Since this shaytan [Satan] was just as bad as a Yahudi [Jew], we'll put
his quotes (and other la-madhhabiyya [non-followers of the madhhab schools of
jurisprudence)] in blue, which is the color of ink used by Yahudis."
Ami Isseroff December 20, 2008
Synonyms and alternate spellings:
Shaykh Sayyid Maududi, Mawlana Mawdoodi, Abul Ala Mawdudi, Abu ul Ala Maudoodi
Further Information: See
Muslim Brotherhood
Qutb, Sayyid History of Islam and the Arabs Al-Banna, Hassan
Islamism
Jihad
Islamism Al-Afghani,
Jamal_al-Din
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