Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid_Abul_Ala_Maududi

Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia alternative spelling ,ﺳﻴﺪ اﺑﻮ اﻻﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﻤﻮدودﯼ :Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi (Urdu Syed Maudoodi; often referred to as Maulana Maududi) (September 25, 1903 – September 22, 1979)[1] was one of the most influential islamic scholars of the 20th century and the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami (Islamic Party), . Maulana Maududi’s philosophy, literature, and activism contributed to the development of Islamic movements around the world. Maulana Maududi’s ideas influenced Sayyid Qutb of Egypt’s Jamiat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun (“Muslim Brotherhood”) another leading Muslim scholar of the 20th century. Maududi, along with Qutb, is considered by some to be one of the founding fathers of the global Islamic revivalist Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi movements.

Contents

1 Ancestry 2 Early life 3 Political emergence 4 Philosophy 5 Achievements 6 Shi'a view 7 Criticisms 8 Official Web Site 9 Works 10 See also 10.1 Related groups and personalities 10.2 Islam-related topics 11 References 12 Notes 13 Further reading 14 External links

Ancestry

Maulana Maududi, born on Rajab 3, 1321 AH (September 25, 1903 AD) in Aurangabad city of Hyderabad (now Maharashtra) state, India. He was a sayyid, a purported descendent of the Prophet Muhammad. Among his ancestors were many other spiritual leaders, including a prominent cleric of the Chishti Sufi Order, Khawajah Qutb al-Din Maudud. Maulana Maududi’s forefathers moved to South Asia from Chisht, near Herat in Afghanistan, near the end of the 15th century AD. Maulana Maududi’s father, Ahmad Hasan, born in 1855 AD, was a lawyer. Maulana Maududi was the youngest of his three sons.

Early life

Maulana Maududi was home-schooled before attending Madrasah Furqaniyah, a famous high school in Hyderabad which is, despite being named "Madrassah", not an Islamic seminary. He attended college at Darul Uloom in Hyderabad but withdrew when his father became terminally ill. He knew enough Arabic, Persian, English, and his native tongue Urdu to continue his studies independently.

ص of 6 02/09/1427 11:41 1 Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid_Abul_Ala_Maududi

In 1918, at the age of 15, he began working as a journalist for a leading Urdu newspaper to support himself, and in 1920, he was appointed editor of Taj, published in Jabalpore city in what is now Madhya Pradesh state, India. By 1921, Maulana Maududi moved to Delhi to work as editor for the Muslim newspaper (1921-1923), and later for al-Jam’iyat (1925-1928), publications by the Jam’iyat-i ‘Ulama-i Hind, a political organization of Muslim scholars mainly associated with Deoband. Under Maulana Maududi’s editorial leadership, al-Jam’iyat became the leading newspaper for South Asian Muslims.

Maulana Maududi participated in the Khilafat Movement and Tahrik-e Hijrat, South Asian Muslims organizations opposed to British colonial occupation. He urged India's Muslims to migrate en masse to Afghanistan to escape the British rule. During this period, Maulana Maududi began translating books from Arabic and English to Urdu. He also authored his first major book, al-Jihad fi al-Islam ("Jihad in Islam") published serially in al-Jam’iyat in 1927 and as a book in 1930. al-Jihad fi al-Islam is still considered one of Maulana Maududi’s literary masterpieces.

In 1933, Maulana Maududi became editor of the monthly Tarjuman al-Qur'an ("Interpreter of the Qur'an"). He wrote extensively about Islam and, in particular, the conflict between Islam and external forces of imperialism and modernization. He interpreted Islamic solutions and presented an Islamic perspective to the everyday problems faced by Muslims under British rule, on the problems of Western military domination over South Asia and on the influences of Western culture on Islamic society.

Together with the philosopher-poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Maulana Maududi established an academic center named Darul-Islam in Pathankot city of Punjab province. The goal of the academy was to train scholars in the political philosophy of Islam. Maulana Maududi developed a highly critical perspective of Western concepts, such as nationalism, pluralism and feminism, which he viewed as imperialist tools to undermine non-Western societies and enforce Western domination over the lives of Muslims. He proposed that the Muslim world should purge itself of foreign elements and wage jihad ("struggle") until all of humanity was united under Islamic rule. He translated the Qur'an into Urdu and wrote prolifically on numerous aspects of Islamic law and culture. Political emergence

By 1941, Maulana Maududi founded Jamaat-e-Islami to promote an Islamist agenda in South Asia. Maulana Maududi was elected as the Jamaat’s first Ameer (President) and he was re-elected every year until 1972 when he resigned for health reasons.

Maududi strongly opposed the idea of creating Pakistan, a separate Muslim country. But after the independence in 1947, Maulana Maududi migrated to Pakistan. He began working to build an Islamic state and society. He relentlessly criticized the secular policies of the nascent state and berated Pakistani leaders for failing to create an Islamic political order. Maulana Maududi was arrested and imprisoned for advocating his political beliefs through his writing and speeches. In 1953, Maulana Maududi’s pamphlet criticizing the Ahmadis as un-Islamic resulted in widespread rioting and violence in Pakistan. A military court sentenced Maulana Maududi to death for sedition. He refused to apologize for his actions or to request clemency from the government. He demanded his freedom to speak and accepted the punishment of death as the will of God. His fierce commitment to his ideals caused his supporters worldwide to rally for his release and the government acceded, commuting his death sentence to a term of life imprisonment. Eventually the military government pardoned Maulana Maududi completely.

Maulana Maududi’s goal was to make Islam the supreme organizing principle for the social and political life of the Muslims. The primary concept Maulana Maududi’s propounded was Iqamat-i-Deen, literally "the establishment of religion." According to this principle, society and the state are totally subordinate to the authority of Islamic law as revealed in the Qur'an and practiced by Muhammad. This concept is one of the main reasons why he was against the partition of India and hence the creation of Pakistan. He believed that the creation of Pakistan would cause the citizens of Pakistan to put the interest of the state above the demands of religion i.e. Islam.

ص of 6 02/09/1427 11:41 2 Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid_Abul_Ala_Maududi

Maulana Maududi interpreted religion to be the central frame of reference for all human activity. He did not believe that religion was simply a private choice, as it is viewed in secular societies. He believed that religion must be manifest in all social, economic and political spheres of society. In Islamic societies, this meant that Shari'a should be the law of the land for all citizens, replacing non-Islamic civil and criminal law.

Maulana Maududi traveled extensively between 1956 and 1974 to spread his message to Muslims throughout the world. He delivered inspirational lectures to Muslim communities in Cairo, Damascus, Amman, Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Kuwait, Rabat, Istanbul, London, New York, Toronto and many other cities. He made a pilgrimage and research expedition through Saudi Arabia, Jordan (including Jerusalem), Syria and Egypt in 1959-1960 to the locales mentioned in the Qur'an. On September 22, 1979, Maulana Maududi died at age 76 in Buffalo, New York. His funeral was held in Buffalo, but he was buried in an unmarked grave at his residence (Ichra) in Lahore after a procession thronged by teeming multitudes of followers. Philosophy

Maulana Maududi has advocated a number of positions which are:

His development of Shah Waliullah’s conception of Islam as a complete, closed system and as the only universal civilization. It is on this basis that Maulana Maududi makes a distinction between Islam and Jahiliya (ignorance).

His belief that Jihad is a permanent revolutionary strategy and rejection of the view that Jihad is a defensive war for national liberation.

His total rejection of Western epistemology and insistence on the position that no new interpretation of Islam is needed to deal with contemporary problems and challenges.

Maulana Maududi’s goal was to make Islam the supreme organizing principle for the social and political life of the Muslim ummah. The primary An Urdu Satatement from Rudad concept that Maulana Maududi propounded was iqamat-i-deen, literally "the establishment of religion." According to this principle, society and the state are totally subordinate to the authority of Islamic law as revealed in the Qur'an and practiced by Muhammad.

Maulana Maududi believed that the entire course of Islamic history was a continuous struggle between Islam and different brands of ignorance. Islam was not guaranteed victory in every battle, but Maulana Maududi believed that if Muslims were true to their religion, Islam would eventually triumph over ignorance. In his incrementalist vision, the construction of an Islamic state originates from within pious individuals who transform society from within. First, Islam spurs individual transformation. Pious Muslims develop communities of faith. These communities, in turn, mass into ideological movements that generate peaceful social change. The end result is an Islamic society and true Islamic state based on the will of the people. Achievements

Maulana Maududi wrote more, than 120 books and pamphlets and gave over 1000 speeches (700 were recorded for wider distribution.). His main subject matter was Qur'anic exegesis (Tafsir), ethics, social studies and the problems facing the Islamic revival movement. His monumental Urdu analysis of the Qur'an, Tafhim al-Qur'an (“Towards Understanding the Qur'an”), took 30 years to complete. [1] (http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/maududi/) The tome explicates the relevance of the Qur'an as a guide to solving the mundane problems in life at the level of the individual and society. Tafhim al-Qur'an has been translated into Arabic, English, Turkish, Persian, Hindi, French, German, Swahili, Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada, and is continuously being translated into a wider variety of languages.

Maulana Maududi raised a call for freedom and Islamic revival during a period of malaise and subjugation.

ص of 6 02/09/1427 11:41 3 Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid_Abul_Ala_Maududi

The Ottoman Empire had imploded, while European and American interpretations of civilization colonized the Muslim world. Maulana Maududi called on Muslims to look inward to find strength in Islam and to struggle for a society built on more Islamic principles. Shi'a view

The Shi'a generally hold a more positive view on Maududi's work, despite his being a Sunni scholar. This is because Maududi's political brand of Islam was concentrated more on issues of politics as opposed to theology, with which most of the differences between Sunnis and Shi'as are concerned. Maududi interpreted Islam as a political ideology, often ignoring theological differences in favour of political unity. (Although, the rift with the Qadianis was more to do with matters theological than political). This was in great contrast to, for example, Ibn Taymiya, a traditional Sunni theologian who was virulently opposed to Shi'a theology. Criticisms

Maududi has been an intensely controversial figure. Criticism has come both from secularists and from within the Islamic religious establishment. Many of the Ulema who were involved in the founding of the Jama`at-e Islami left shortly afterwards in protest against Maududi's policies and leadership style. Both Barelwi and Deobandi ulama have accused Maududi of having turned Islam upside down.

From the Barelvi side, a representative critique is that offered by Shaikh al-Islam Sayyid Muhammad Madani Ashrafi who authored a series of books on Maududi's misunderstanding and abuse of traditional Islamic terminology. Foremost amongst Deobandi scholars who have written formal refutations of Maududi is Shaikh Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhalwi, the late hadith scholar and influential figure in the Tablighi Jama`at. Kandhalwi's book "Fitna-e Mawdudiyyat" begins with a mention of how Maududi was expelled from his madrassah studies for insubordination. Both authors concur that Maududi's self-education led him to develop a distorted understanding of Islam. They claim Maududi and his movement urge Muslims to take up religious rituals (prayer, etc.) in order to prepare for acquiring state power, whereas some other Aalim's (professor) understanding is that the rituals of Islam are the purpose of life, and state power is a means to establishing the worship of Allah. The critics also point out that Maududi seemed to have no control over his pen and an unlimited sense of his own importance. He repeatedly denigrated the traditional ulama and the sufis, and, more grievously, defamed the prophets of Allah in his "Tafhim al-Quran" and elsewhere, and the Companions of the Prophet in "Khilafat wa Mulukiyyat."

Secular and Muslim critics say that Maududi's political theory, like that of Sayyid Qutb in Egypt, is more influenced by Stalin or Mussolini than by the Qur'an and Hadith and the example of seventh-century Madina, while the majority of Muslims regard this view as completely borne out of ignorance and a hatred of Islam.

Maulana Abul Ala Maudoodi, the Amir (Head) of Jamaati Islami, devoted himself to the study of theology in 1927. Despite his great learning, immense knowledge and forceful style of Urdu, his critics — especially ulema of the Deoband and Lucknow schools — say that his lack of training in theological discipline was his great weakness. He criticized the Jamiyat Ulamai Hind for its composite nationalist theory which exposed Muslim India to the serious dangers of religio-cultural absorption into Hinduism, yet simultaneously attacked Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Muslim nationalism as no less dangerous than Congress nationalism. There was no difference to him whether the irreligious Muslims of India survived in the form of Pakistan or not (Musalman or Mau Judah Siyasi Kashmakash (Muslims and present political tussle), Pathankot, 1946, 6–7). It is in the tradition of medieval Christianity, and not of Islam, that Maulana Maudoodi developed the original ideals of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and the Khairi brothers’ Hukumati Ilahiyya. St Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes provided him with the non-Islamic concepts of orthodoxy, dogma and heresy — and also with the rhetoric of intolerance age.

Dr. Haider Maudoodi, the son of Maulana Maudoodi, has openly denounced the actions of Jamaati Islami, the very same Jamaat his father formed and a Jamaat that is following his example to the letter. He stated in The Nation on 1/27/99 that his father would not allow his children to go near Jihad, but would sell this idea to millions of others; he would never allow any of his children to read

ص of 6 02/09/1427 11:41 4 Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid_Abul_Ala_Maududi

any of his 80 books. While Jamaati Islami was encouraging an uprising by Kashmiri’s against the Indian occupation, Haider Maudoodi stated, “Islam does not allow them taking up arms against the State” and praised Pakistani’s for not allowing religious extremists like Jamaati Islami members from attaining many seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan. “My father though he could only use the people who came to him. But in his old age, he did get a taste of his medicine. When he was on his deathbed, these Maulana’s treated him as dirt.”

Maududi was a key source of the extremism which caused the persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan, and the passage of highly problematic "blasphemy" and "Hudood" laws that have led to many human-rights violations being committed against religious minorities and women. This fact is well documented in the Pakistani newspapers of the time. Official Web Site

Life Of Maulana Maudodi (http://www.maududi.org) Works

The Meaning of the Qur'an (Arabic: Tafhim al-Qur'an) Islamic Way of Life Khutabat: Fundamentals of Islam Caliphs and Kings (Arabic: Khilafat wa Mulukiyyat) Human Rights in Islam Al-Hijab Economic System of Islam Human Rights in Islam Introduction of Islam Rights of Non Muslims in Islamic State Social System of Islam System of Government under the Holy Prophet Economic Problem of Man and its Islamic Solution Islamic Law and its Introduction in Pakistan Qadiani Problem Towards Understanding Islam Towards Understanding the Qur'an See also

Jamaat-e-Islami Islamism

Related groups and personalities

Khurshid Ahmad Ikhwan ul-Muslimum, or the Muslim Brotherhood Sayyid Qutb Hasan al-Banna Yusuf al-Qaradawi Abdullah Yusuf Azzam Amin Ahsan Islahi Javed Ahmed Ghamidi Dr. Israr Ahmed

Islam-related topics

Qur'an Shari'a Hadith

ص of 6 02/09/1427 11:41 5 Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid_Abul_Ala_Maududi

Quick list on Islam References

Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, The Vanguard of the Islamic Revolution: The Jama'at-i Islami of Pakistan (http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft9j49p32d/) Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi (http://www.jamaat.org/overview/founder.html) Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi's complete works in urdu (http://www.millat.com/modoodi/index.shtml) http://www.muhammad.net/ebooks/ - online books http://www.maududi.org/ - Official Site of Syed Abulala Maududi (RA) Notes

1. ^ Short Biography of Abulala Maududi (http://www.abulala.com/shortbio.asp) Further reading

Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza. Mawdudi & The Making of Islamic Revivalism. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-19-509695-9 External links

Maulana Maududi and the King Faisal Prize (http://globalwebpost.com/farooqm/writings/islamic/maududi-faisalprize.htm) by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq Syed Abul-A`la al-Maududi (http://www.islamicinterlink.com/author/maudoodi.html) Tafheem ul Qur'an and other Tafaasir with Search (http://khutba.net/modules.php?name=Quran) Tafheem ul Qur'an (http://www.translatedquran.com/allsurah.asp) Tafheem ul Qur'an - Different Translation to the above one (http://www.tafheem.net/main.html) Chapter Introductions to the Qur'an (http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/maududi/) Writings of Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi (http://www.jamaat.org/overview/writings.html) PWHCE biography (http://www.pwhce.org/maududi.html) Lectures of Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi (http://www.tazkeer.org/) Correspondence with Mariyam Jameela (http://www.islamunveiled.org/eng/ebooks/maryamj/maryamj.htm)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid_Abul_Ala_Maududi"

Categories: Cleanup from September 2006 | Articles lacking sources | Articles with sections needing expansion | Muslim philosophers | 1903 births | 1979 deaths | Pakistani scholars | Pakistani philosophers | Pakistani writers | Muslim writers

This page was last modified 10:47, 20 September 2006. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

ص of 6 02/09/1427 11:41 6