The Maulana for the Millions | Abul A’la Maududi by Ameen Amanulla

Maududi spent his childhood and early youth in Hyderabad, where the wealthy and powerful Nizam-ul-Mulk (administrators of the realm) maintained an internal sovereignty with little influence of British colonisation.[1] Maududi therefore grew up in an environment far from the influences of the British. His parents paid particular attention to his development and nurturing, and wanted their son to become a Maulvi (religious scholar).

“My father’s and mother’s lives had a distinct religious colouring. Their example and our upbringing imprinted my heart and my mind with a religious fervour.”[2]

Maududi’s father, Ahmad Hasan, was in charge of Maududi’s home-schooling, teaching him Arabic, Persian, and Hindi in addition to Fiqh, Hadith, and Mantiq (logic). Ahmad Hasan also read to his children articles from Al Hilal, a newspaper established by the prominent Indian figure Abul Kalam Azad, who criticised British policies and encouraged the Muslims to join the Indian independence movement.[3] [4] Maududi would later grow to disagree with Abul Kalam Azad’s views on the future of Muslims in the subcontinent.

At the age of 11, Maududi was enrolled in Madrasa Fawqaniyyah, Aurangabad, a school affiliated with the prestigious Uthmaniya University of Hyderabad where both traditional and modern subjects were taught. During this time, Maududi translated many literary works of Arabic into Urdu.

In 1918, a 15-year-old Maududi moved to Delhi in search of a career, accompanied by his brother Abul Khayr. Some historians think this is where Maududi studied English and developed an interest in Western sciences. It was during this period that he became involved in the Khilafat movement.

Fall of the Caliph

In 1919, after the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles,[5] the Ottoman Caliphate lost its power. During this time, influential intellectuals such as Mohammad Ali Jauhar, a graduate from Oxford and founder of the Urdu weekly Hamdard, travelled to England to lobby the British government into influencing Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to desist deposing the Ottoman Caliph. Britain rejected this call and subsequently caused the influential Muslims of India to organise Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, an organisation to fight for the interests of Muslims.

However, the deposition of the Caliph eventually resulted in the collapse of this organisation. For the first time, the Muslims stood united for a cause and this may have inspired many other movements to come. After these events, Maududi took up a career in journalism and became the editor of Al Jamiat.

Indian Independence Movement

The Muslims were not the only ones facing a crisis of identity; the whole of India seemed to have the same questions. This gave precedence to many movements, some of which are listed below.

1. Swaraj Campaign

The Swaraj movement was inspired by Gandhi’s idea of self-rule, namely, an independent and stateless society where everyone is his or her own master. In hindsight, this seems like an unachievable utopia, despite the popularity of Gandhi in India. However, the Indian National Congress (the first united Indian party) used the popularity of Gandhi and Swaraj to unite Indians. In 1921, Gandhi was appointed the leader of Congress, which later split when Gandhi was imprisoned in 1922.

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind supported the Indian Congress and the idea of an independent India. However, many Muslim leaders felt there was an increasing pro-Hindu rhetoric within the Congress. Maududi became disillusioned with the Congress Party, realising that India as a liberal democracy may not be beneficial for the future of Indian Muslims unless Muslims became a majority. Abul Kalam Azad, on the other hand, was an ardent supporter of Swaraj and became the President of the Congress Party from 1940–45.

2. Shuddhi Campaign

The Shuddhi movement was another campaign started by the Hindu revivalist party Arya Samaj. The movement was founded by Dayananda Saraswati in 1875. In many ways, Saraswati was a unique Hindu in that he rejected all non-Vedic beliefs and condemned idolatry, ancestor worship, pilgrimages, child marriage, animal sacrifices, and the caste system. Saraswati was also critical about other religions like Christianity and Islam, questioning the authenticity of the Qur’ān (6). The Shuddhi campaign was aimed at ‘purifying’ India and re-converting the Hindus that converted to Islam.

Reviving the Muslim Identity

The rising hostility in India was a great concern for the Muslim community. Questions pertaining to identity – Muslim first or nation first – were debated among the Muslim thinkers of the time. In addition, there was also a threat posed to the Muslim orthodoxy from the Ahmadiyya movement that supported the British interests and identified themselves as ‘moderate’ Muslims.

At this point, Maududi moved away from journalism and politics to focus on Islamic scholarly works on religious affairs. In 1928, he moved back to Hyderabad and worked on Risala-e-Diniyat (Towards Understanding Islam), a book aimed at informing Muslims and non-Muslims of the holistic approach of Islam, including its rational bases and wisdoms. He later worked on translating and writing the history of the Seljuk and Fatimid dynasties. It was as if Maududi was turning to the Qur’ān and the past in an effort to revive Islamic thought and identity among the Muslims of India.

“I can divide my forty-nine years into two parts. The first thirty was spent in reading, listening, thinking, observing, and experiencing, and also in finding a goal in life. My thoughts are the products of reasoning of all those years of intellectual activity. Then I set my goal to strive in the path of truth, to propagate its cause, and to bring my vision into reality.”

In 1932, Maududi bought the journal Tarjuman Al-Qur’an and invited the most prominent scholars to contribute their work to the journal. Five years later when he visited Delhi, he found himself shocked at how the Muslims in the capital had become more secularised, less concerned with Islamic practice, and the women no longer wore the purdah. In his book Purdah: The Status of Women in Islam, Maududi expounds the problems and effects that colonisation had on the Muslims of India:

‘’The European writers portrayed these (Purdah and the veil) in loathsome and ugly colours and, while enumerating the demerits of Islam, they mentioned the ‘confinement’ of women prominently. As usual, the Muslims felt ashamed and they reacted and behaved in the matter of Purdah exactly as they had done in matters of Jihad, slavery, polygamy, etc. They turned over the pages of the Qur’an, Hadith and religious opinions and verdicts of the early doctors merely with a view to collect some material with which they could wash off the ‘ugly blot’ of shame…’’[6]

Rather than lamenting the sad decline of Islamic values, Maududi once again began writing politically. He criticised the Congress Party for neglecting the rights of Muslim for an independent India. Unlike Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, he was sceptical that Muslims could thrive in India under the contemporary political paradigms of India. But it is to be noted that Maududi did not propose a two-nation solution either.

It was during this time that Maududi became involved with another influential figure: Muhammad Iqbal (often called Allama Iqbal), the most popular poet from British India (later Pakistan) and a great thinker with expertise in Arabic, English, and philosophy. Allama Iqbal’s experiences studying and travelling in Britain and Germany – including completing his doctorate at the prestigious Trinity College, Cambridge – forged him to be a well-versed and prominent thinker. In many of his poems, Allama Iqbal lamented the state of Indians under colonisation and the conflict between Hindus and Muslims.

Allama Iqbal is credited for introducing the idea of a separate nation for Muslims: Pakistan. However, some historians argue that this was not seriously considered initially, as explained by Allama Iqbal in a letter to Edward Thompson:

‘’The one I suggested in my address is the creation of a Muslim province, i.e. a province having an overwhelming Muslim population in the North-West of India. This new province will be, according to my scheme, a part of the proposed Indian federation.’’[7]

Jamaat-e-Islami

Allama Iqbal and Maududi agreed that there was a need for educational reform among Indian Muslims, so they founded the first Dar-ul-Islam in Pathankot, which was located at the meeting point of three of the northern states: Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu Kashmir.

Maududi was tasked to establish a well-defined curriculum that would include both Islamic and modern subjects. After the death of Allama Iqbal, Maududi decided to reorganise the school into a tripartite organisation that would be the basis of the Jamaat-e-Islami: Rukn (member), Shura (consultative assembly) and Sadr (president).

The momentum for the two-nation movement started by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal grew rapidly. Maududi accepted the reality of a separate Muslim state and decided to continue his work in Pakistan, as he realised that the new Muslim state’s policy would be driven by the secular Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

In 1938, Maududi began structuring and establishing the Jamaat-e-Islami, a holy community that  posits social and political reform from the Qur’ān and the Sunnah. The Jamaat-e-Islami retained the tripartite structure from the Dar-Ul-Islam, and Maududi was elected to be the first Amir. The Amir led the Jamaat with the consultation of the Shura (consultative assembly), which was responsible for nominating candidates for the position of Amir­, and the members elected the Amir from the chosen candidates. This ensured that the Amir was qualified for his position.

In July 1947, the British government passed the Indian Independence Act with the Radcliffe line dividing Pakistan into East and West. Maududi did not consider Pakistan an Islamic state. This was evident when the Pakistani government wanted a verdict from Maududi to call the war supporting the insurgents of Kashmir a Jihād, but he refused as he believed only an Islamic state has the right to call a Jihād. Maududi was subsequently imprisoned for the charge of sedition.

After his release, Maududi began engaging more politically and passed a resolution for the Jamaat to engage in electoral politics. After some years, Maududi decided to take a back seat from politics and resigned from the Jamaat. He later published his work Tafhim-ul-Qur’an (Towards Understanding the Qur’an), after which he published another work on the Sīrah titled Seerat Sarwar-e-Alam.

In 1979, Maududi passed away in the United States at the age of 76, after travelling there for medical treatment.

Conclusion

If one were to briefly describe the life and mission of Maududi, it was to re-establish the Muslim identity and revive the values of Islam. Some of his critics unjustly associate him and his works with terrorism, despite him being opposed to it. He wrote his treatise Al Jihad fil Islam as a direct response to the attacks carried out by a few Muslims at his time, for instance.

In Maududi’s eyes, secularism was a paradigm brought by British India to colonise India, and he saw the Islamic paradigm as superior and more appropriate for the Indians of the time. Maududi has written numerous works, but perhaps his greatest contribution is the structure and vision of Jamaat-e-Islami. Today, his vision for the Jamaat and the tripartite structure is adopted by the various Jamaat-e-Islami organisations in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.

Source: www.islam21c.com

Notes:

[1] Regani, Sarojini (1963). Nizam-British Relations (1724-1857)

[2] Jackson, Roy (2011). Mawlana Maududi and Political Islam: Authority and the Islamic State

[3] Azad, Abul Kalam (1989). India Wins Freedom

[4] Helmreich, Paul C. (1974). From Paris to Sèvres: The Partition of the Ottoman Empire at the Peace Conference of 1919-1920

[5] Saraswati, Dayananda (1875). The Light of Truth

[6] Maududi, Abul A’la (1972). Purdah and the Status of Women in Islam

[7] Musings of Sir Mohammad Iqbal on the Place of Muslims in late Colonial India: Letters to Edward John Thompson, 1933-1934