Introduction:
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| Abul Ala Maududi |
Abul A’la Mawdudi also spelled as Maududi was an Islamic Scholar, Historian, Philosopher, Journalist, theologian, and scholar active in the Sub-continent. Mawlana Mawdudi is known for his works on exegesis of the Quran, work on Hadith, philosophy, history, and the founder of Jammat-i-Islami.
He did his work on Quran and Hadith in the Urdu language which was later translated into many languages like Arabic, English, Bengali, Tamil, and Kannada.
His vision was to spread Islam and unite Muslims. He also got many titles including Shaykh-ul-Islam, Allama, Sayyid, Amir Jammat-i-Islami. He used to say that Islam should be in politics and there should be an Islamic government of Ulema.
Mawlana Mawdudi opposes the partition of the Sub-continent at that time. After partition, the Jammat-i-Islami began to focus on the establishment of Islamic laws in Pakistan.
Early life and Education:
Mawlana Maududi was born on September 25, 1903, in Orangabad-India. His father belonged to Chishti Silsila. His ancestors used to live in a city in Afghanistan but then they moved to Delhi, India. Maududi received little religious education at an age of 9. His father gave him the education in Arabic, Quran, and Hadith because he wanted his son to be a Mullah.
He used to translate books and essays of scholars early in his life. When Maududi turned 11, he got admission to the institute Madrassah Fawanqiyya Mashriqiyya, an institute founded by Mawlana Shibli Naumani in Aurangabad.
Mawlana Shiible Naumani was an Islamic modernist and he influenced Maududi to take interest in Philosophy, Mathematics, and Physics.
After some time, Maududi moved to Hyderabad and got admission to Dar-ul-Uloom in Hyderabad.
After the early education, Maududi moved to Dehli. Maududi was also interested in was interested in western philosophy, culture, and psychology, so he also studied English, German and French. Maududi concluded that the European rose too much because they leave their traditional mindsets.
Journalism:
After getting an education in literature, Arabic, English. Maududi took interest in journalism. He worked as an editor and used to edit an Urdu newspaper at the age of 17 only.
In 1921, he started studied again. He used to sit with the members of Jammat-e-Ulema Hind. He studied Dars-e-Nizami, Mantiq, and literature. Maulana Maududi got certificates in Islamic studies but he didn’t consider him a scholar. He has a great influence on Deoband scholars on his thoughts.
There was a newspaper of Jamiat-Ulema “Al-Jamiah” and Maududi used to edit it. In the later, the 1920s, Maududi was a member of Congress because he was highly interested to take independence from the British empire but due to the increasing number of Hindus in Congress, he left Congress and returned back to Islam.
Political writings:
Maududi was a man of litrature. Maududi started thinking of making a new party or Jammat because he wasn’t satisfied with both the Muslim League and Indian National Congress. Maududi left Hyderabad in 1938 and also met Famous poet Allam Iqbal and then went to Pathankot and stayed associated with Dur’L-Islam for some time.
As he wanted to make a new party of Muslim Ulema, he needed some Islamic leaders and wanted a purely religious movement whose motto should be to prevail, Islam, and Islamic culture. He wrote letters to many famous Ulema of that time.
Maududi moved to Lahore.
Foundation of Jammat-i-Islami:
In August 1941, Maulana Maududi and some of his companions founded Jammat-i-Islami in the sub-continent which was still ruled by Europeans. The vision of that Jamaat was to establishing Islamic laws and prevail Islamic teachings in the society. Mawlana Amin Ahmad Islahi, Naeem Siddiqui, Maulana Muhammad Manzoor Naumani were the famous scholars who supported Maududi in the establishment of Jamaat-Islami.
Unlike, Muslim League, Jamaat-i-Islami was continuously opposing the partition of India because they thought that this partition will divide the Muslim Ummah.
Maududi and the Jamaat Islami moved to Pakistan, Lahore after the partition.
After 1947:
Although Muslims got independence from British rulers, Jamaat-e-Islami got split due to the boundary between India and Pakistan. Maududi and some leaders came to Pakistan and made Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and some leaders got left in India and they made Jamaat-Islami Hind. After Partition, Maududi got involved more in politics than religion.
Jamaat-e-Islami never got too much following in Pakistan to accomplish their objectives. Although, the power of Ulema many Paksitni rulers including Ayub Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
The fall of Jamaat-e-Islami started in 1948 when Maududi opposed the idea of sending forces in Jammu Kashmir, a disputed area.
Opposing Ahmadiyya:
JI, Maududi, and some traditional Ulema in the 1960s start protesting against the Ahmadiyya group- who don’t accept Prophet Muhammad as the last Prophet of Allah Almighty. They protested that Ahmadiyyas should be declared as Non-muslims.
As a result of the movement, Muhammad Zaffarullah Khan, an Ahmadiyya got sacked from his authorities and the marriages between Ahmadiyyas and Muslims got prohibited. Maududi got arrested because several Ahmadiyys Muslims were killed by the movement.
Maududi was sentenced to be hanged but an immense protest of his supporters saved him and he got unprisoned after two years.
Maududi believed that Pakistani stated should be according to Quran and Sunnah and should make laws in the light of them. He said that the constitution of an Islamic state should be developed according to Quran and Sunnah.
After the pressure created by JI, the constitution of Pakistan made in 1956 was almost according to the Islamic rules and it was considered as the victory of Islam.
Election of 1970:
In 1971, JI took part in the election and ran a big campaign almost in all the cities of Pakistan. They had 151 candidates but they failed. They only won 4,4 seats in the national and provincial assembly of Pakistan.
The loss in the election of 1970 demotivates Maududu a lot. In 1972, Mawlana Maududi got resigned from the president of Jamaat-i-Islami. He again returned to scholars. When Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto got overthrew by General Zia, Zia made a new Government that took Muadudi as an important member of politics.
Mawlana Maududi also supported Zia and appreciated his decision. Maududi supported Zia and his program of Islamization in the country.
Islamic views of Maududi:
Maulana Maududi spends his whole life in research of Islamic books, pamphlets, articles, and other things. He was a Mujaddid. After the collapse of the Ottoman empire, he got dishearted and thought that the downfall of Muslims has started.
He believed that Islam is the complete code of light so, it should be implemented in every field of life. To expand the JI, he didn’t get involved in deep Islamic criticism. Some of his views on Islam are given below:
Quran:
Maududi believed that Quran is not just for recitation, to keep in mind or to investigate, he used to say that the Quran cure the illness of the mentality of the people and society, the laws in the Quran should be implemented on a large scale. Quran is a book that provides us guidance, gives us the message of our creator and can unite Muslim Ummah.
Sunnah and Ahadith:
The normal concept in Muslims to tackle with Ahadith is to investigate the narrator, his moral values, and the constituents which can prove that the words that the narrator told us were the words of the prophet.
Maududi had a different perspective to view Ahadith. He believed that by reading the summary of Ahadith, we can easily judge that whether the words are belonging to Holy Prophet or not.
Most Muslims believe that we should follow each and every custom or work of the prophet, or what the Prophet Muhammad said, and bind the Hadith with Sunnah. Some believe that Prophet Muhammad could also do something wrong and they shouldn’t follow each and everything.
Maududi was the one who believed the first theory.
Women:
Madudui was so traditional about the women in Islamic culture. He immensely opposed the western influence in Islamic society. He believed that the interference of women in society is wrong. Women in colleges, Politics, literature, art, music, dance is a western thing and they should not be a part of Islamic society.
Women should only do the household and take care of their daily and children. He believed that without any compulsory or very necessary thing, women shouldn’t go out of their homes. Maududi told women to cover their complete faces and hands whenever they go out of their houses.
He also opposed family planning and male-female interaction.
There are many other Islamic ideologies that Maulana Maududi had, you can check on the internet.
Death:
Maulana Mawdudi got died at the age of 75 in Buffalo, New York-US on September 22, 1979. He is buried in Lahore-Pakistan.
Also read: Biography of Imam Hamdiudin Farahi
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