Abul Ala Maududi

Khurram Murad is not merely the name of a person; it is a story of struggle, achievement, and accomplishment that lit thousands of hearts across the globe. In the lifespan of 63 years, Khurram Murad witnessed a number of key moments in the history of Pakistan, including its very creation in 1947, initial struggles for the Islamization of the country, case against the Qadyani fitnah, and separation of East Pakistan. He also made lasting impressions on the organizational structure and mechanism of operation of organizations such as Jama'at-e-Islami Pakistan, Islami Jamiat e Talba Pakistan, Jamaat e Islami Bangladesh, Islamic Foundation UK, and others. Being an author and translator of a number of works in English and Urdu, his words and thoughts still echo from America to Australia and around the globe. Though a number of Khurram's books are available in the English language, there is very limited, if any, biographical information available about him. This paper is the first attempt to compile his detailed biography for the English speaking audience. However, considering the scope and type of this manuscript, we were not able to include all available information on the topic. To assist those researchers and the general public who wish to know more about Khurram Murad, we have provided a list of sources that they can refer to. These source, unfortunately, are available only in the Urdu language as we write this paper. After thoroughly studying his biography and having analyzed Khurram's style of writing, we can confidently say that there is a great value for the Muslim volunteers in benefitting from his work and giving heed to the advice he has given the Muslim workers through his literature and other sources.

Of all scientific theories the theory of evolution arguably poses the greatest challenge to theistic religions because it threatens to undermine teleology and the central position of mankind in nature. Nevertheless, modernist thinkers among South Asian Muslims like Sayyid Ahmad Khān and Abū l-Kalām Āzād strove to demonstrate its compatibility with the Qur'ān. Their efforts were rejected by Islamists like Mawdūdī and more traditional scholars writing on the subject. They defended the concept of a consciously designed universe instead. That the defence of this idea is the main motivation for resentment against the theory of evolution among Muslims is underscored by the fact the even a thinker like Ghulām Ahmad Parwez, who readily dismissed central concepts of traditional theology, accepted the concept of evolution only without the principle of natural selection. Although negative assessments prevail, the theory of evolution did not foment a campaign among South Asian Muslims as it did in Turkey. This is most likely due to the lack of awareness among many 'ulamā' and the fact that the theory of evolution was not ideologically appropriated by adversaries of Islamic groups.

This article explores the engagement of the Pakistani Jamaʿat-i Islami (JI) with the Iranian Revolution. I argue that the Islamist JI was drawn to the events because it reflected a core concern and signature idea of Abu 'l-Aʿla Maududi, namely to establish the sovereignty of God (hakimiyya) on earth. My analysis of various travelogues and JI publications from the 1980s demonstrates that JI observers were deeply familiar with internal revolutionary dynamics and Iran's Shiʿi identity. The prospect of seeing a proper Islamic system in action, with potentially global consequences for their cause, initially crowded out any sectarian concerns for the JI. At the same time, certain JI leaders began to voice criticism of what they perceived as rash revolutionary policies that differed from Maududi's careful, irenic understanding of a proper Islamic revolution. They also took note of sectarian messages that damaged Iran's ecumenical outreach. It was, however, the more general geopolitical climate in the Middle East and South Asia which forced the JI to publicly downplay its ties with Iran. By the late 1980ss, being accused of harbouring affinities for the 'deviant Islam' of Shiʿism was a charge that had to be avoided at all costs in Pakistan and beyond.

In Christine Schirrmacher's postdoctoral thesis, for the first time one finds reviews of original voices coming from Islamic theology on the topic of religious freedom and apostasy. Arabic, Eng-lish, French, and Urdu texts have been translated and analyzed and thus made accessible. There are basically three positions which are defended on falling away from the Islamic faith: Complete advocacy of religious freedom, the complete denial of religious freedom with a call for the immediate application of the death penalty for apostates, and the centrist position. The centrist position, however, which allows inner freedom of thought and warns against premature persecution, calls for the death penalty in the case of open apostasy (e.g., in the case of conversion to another faith). Within established Islamic theology, the latter approach is nowadays the most frequent point of view found. These three main positions on apostasy are introduced in this postdoctoral thesis by means of the publications of three influential 20th century theologians: Yusuf al-Qaradawi (b. 1926), Ab-dullah Saeed (b. 1960), and Abu l-A'la Maududi (1903-1979). They all have followings of many millions of people and have political influence at their disposal. The study explains why in many Muslim majority countries there is still today only very limited or sometimes no freedom of religion (in the sense of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948) for converts, critical intellectuals, artists and progressive Quranic studies specialists, journalists and secularists, agnostics and confessing atheists, enlightened thinkers, women's rights and human rights activists as well as adherents of non-recognized minorities.

There were various political discourses associated with the Islamic community in colonial India. These included trends that were later understood under the rubric of ‘Muslim’ nationalism and Indian nationalism, along with other critical stances that cannot be subsumed within either nationalism. This article explores one such trend: it reads genealogically the trajectories of concepts through which the problematic of Islamic political identity developed in the context of the post-1857 experience. In order to understand the way these arguments were
formed the article analyses texts that both reflected on and were a reflection of socio-political dynamics. It concludes with a note on utilising such a genealogical approach in the study of trajectories in the development of political thought, and the possibilities of extending this approach to the sphere of entire cultures.

This article offers an anthropological outline of immanent critique in Islamic traditions. In addressing the question – what is immanent critique? – it dwells on the interrelationships amongst the Enlightenment’s notion of reason, critique, and Islam. My main contention is that to construe the Western notion of critique derived from Enlightenment’s specific conceptualization of reason as critique per se is misleading for there are non-Enlightenment modes of critique such as the Islamic one this article proposes for further discussion. I also discuss the objectification of culture, social distance and a new sense of temporality as significant factors facilitating the condition
for critique to become particularly salient under modernity. Based largely on ethnographic-historical materials from South Asia, I argue why immanent critique is a useful analytical tool to understand the dynamics of Muslim cultures and societies in their diverse milieus.

Maryam Jameelah (1934-2012) was a Jew by birth, but she embraced Islam as her final religion. In 1962, on the invitation of Abū 'l-A'lā Maudūdī (1903-1979), she migrated to Pakistan. The literature shows that she was influenced by the works of Maudūdī and supported his politico-religious movement, Jamā'at-i Islāmī. The present study, however, argues-based on the analysis of her published and unpublished works-that her writing career can be divided into two phases. In the first phase (roughly from 1962 to 1969), she supported Maudūdī and his mission while in the second phase (1969-2012), she started controverting his ideas and criticized his certain views, considering him an advocate of modernism. Thus, on the one hand, she regarded him as a mujaddid of his time, but on the other hand, she considered him a supporter of evolutionism and progressivism, who had contempt for the tradition. This paper further highlights that though her writings appear to support Jamā'at-i Islāmī, but she never became a formal member of it or any other movement during her stay in Pakistan.

İslâm ve de mok ra si üze rin de ki yo ğun tar tış ma lar nor ma tif lik ala nın da fa a li ye ti ne de vam et-mek te dir. Bu ma ka le böy le bir araş tır ma çiz gi si nin sı nır la rı nı gös te ren te mel kay nak la rı ele al mak-ta dır. Hin dis tan 'ın İslâmcı ör gü tü Ce ma at-i İslâmî ör nek ola yı üze rin den tar tış ma yı söz ko nu su nor ma tif lik ten sos yo lo jik uy gu la ma ya kay dır ma yı amaç lı yo rum. İslâm ve de mok ra si nin na sıl iş le-di ği ni gös te ri yo rum ve bu nu ya pa rak hem İslâm hem de de mok ra si hak kın da ki an la yı şı mı zı ge liş-tir mek için ye ni bir ba kış açı sı su nu yo rum. Bu ma ka le nin te mel öner me si " eğer İslâm de mok ra siy le uyum lu ise " ya da " İslâm de mok ra tik leş ti ril me li di r " şek lin de ki kli şe yi tar tış mak de ğil dir ak si ne biz Müs lü man top lum lar da ki an ti de mok ra tik leş me nin " na sıl la rı " nı in ce li yo ruz. A An na ah h t ta ar r K Ke e l li i m me e l le er r: : Antropoloji; anti demokratikleşme; Hindistan; İslâm; John Keane; Ebu'l-A'lâ El-Mevdûdî; Orta Doğu A AB BS S T TR RA AC CT T The do mi nant de ba te on Is lam and de moc racy con ti nu es to ope ra te in the re alm of nor ma ti vity. This ar tic le en ga ges with key li te ra tu re sho wing li mits of such a li ne of in qu iry. Through the ca se study of In di a's Is la mist or ga ni za ti on, Ja ma ate Is la mi, I aim at shif ting the de ba te from tex tu al nor ma ti vity to de mo tic pra xis. I de mons tra te how Is lam and de moc racy work in prac-ti ce, and in so do ing of fer a fresh pers pec ti ve to en han ce our un ders tan dings of both Is lam and de-moc racy. A key pro po si ti on of this ar tic le is that rat her than dis cus sing the cliché if Is lam is com pa tib le with de moc racy, or Is lam sho uld be de moc ra ti zed, we study the 'hows' of de-de moc ra-ti za ti on in Mus lim so ci e ti es.

ابوالاعلی مودودی (۱۹۷۹-۱۹۰۳) از نخستین احیاگران اسلامی به‌شمار می‌رود که ایدئولوژی فراگیری را از خلال «جماعت اسلامی» تدوین کرد؛ حزبی که آنرا در سال ۱۹۴۱ در لاهور بنیان نهاد. شاخه‌های این حزب و پیروان آن هنوز در پاکستان، هند، کشمیر و سریلانکا حضور دارند.

For all the radical Islamists, the world is divided into two adobes, Darul Islam and Darul Harb, and their aim is to expand Darul Islam to the level where there is no place left for Darul Harb in the world. Only then would the jihad stop in this world. This makes the peaceful co-existence of Muslim countries and societies along with Muslim countries a difficult task. It is mostly, about the fact that, for the Islamists the concept of nation-states is not acceptable. They believe in establishment of a Muslim state where there is no need of borders. In short, it is almost impossible for radical Islamists to live peacefully in the nation-states. To argue in favor of the question, firstly the ideologies of Maududi, Qutb, Abdul Wahab and Khomeini are briefly defined in the context of jihad, then the relationship between the ideologues of Khomeini and Iran’s policy of exporting its revolution is explained, which then is followed by the explanation of connection between the three ideologues of Sunni jurisprudence and Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda, in the context of Afghan-Soviet war.

This paper problematizes the divinity of establishing an Islamic state by analysing the religious basis of Maulana Abul Ala Maududi’s (hereafter referred to as Maududi) political theory. His political theory revolves around the idea that religion and politics are an inseparable entity and the fulfilment of religious dictates is impossible unless and until we organize a political system as per criteria set by the religion. This idea of Maududi has led many to believe that it is our religious duty to struggle for an Islamic state like many other religious obligations, e.g. offering prayers and keeping fasts.

Makalenin konusu, Hıristiyanlıktaki en önemli konuların başında gelen İsa’nın göğe yükselmesidir. Müslümanlar da Kur’an ve hadislere bağlı olarak konuyla ilgili farklı görüşler ileri sürmüşlerdir. Hıristiyanlar arasında da farklı düşüncelerin olduğu görülebilir. Çalışmada öncelikle Hıristiyanların kutsal kitabında İsa’nın çarmıha gerilişi ve göğe yükselişi inancı ele alınmıştır. Bu konuyu kapsayan dört İncil’deki pasajlar göz önünde bulundurularak aktarılmıştır. Daha sonra Müslümanlar arasındaki iki farklı bakış açısı incelenmiştir. Bu bakış açılarından ilki, İsa’nın normal bir insanın denk gelebileceği bir ölümle ölmediği, Allah tarafından kendi katına yükseltildiği ve kıyamet gününde tekrar yeryüzüne ineceği düşüncesidir. İkincisine göre ise İsa, sıradan bir ölümle ölmüştür ve Allah onu kendi katına bu şekilde yükseltmiştir. Çalışmanın ana konusu ve kaynağı Hint alt kıtasında yetişen ünlü fikir adamı ve müfessir Mevdudî’nin konuyla ilgili görüşleridir. O, “Tefhimü’l-Kur’an” adlı eserinde konuya geniş şekilde yer vermiştir. Onun, İsa’nın Allah katına yükseltilmesiyle ilgili görüşünü, kendisine yakın bir dönemde ortaya çıkmış olan Kadıyanilik’in bu konu hakkındaki yorumlarından bağımsız düşünmemek gerekir. Zira o dönemde Mevdudî, Mirza Gulam Ahmed’in fikirlerinin halk arasındaki etkilerini görmüş ve bu fikirleri ortadan kaldırmak için hem tefsirinde hem de diğer kitaplarında Kur’an ve hadislerden hareketle görüşler ileri sürmüş ve savunmasını yapmıştır.

Drawing primarily on literary and ethnographic materials from south Asia, this presentation deploys as well as advances an anthropology of philosophy approach to shed light on the interrelationships amongst critique, reason, Islam and anthropology. In contrast to Bruno Latour's thesis that critique has run its course and the call to free anthropology from critique, I argue that a proper and comprehensive anthropology of critique is indeed yet to begin.

Abul Aʿla Maududi (1903–1979), the influential Indo-Pakistani Islamist thinker, proposed a detailed vision of what he called “theodemocracy.” This has been seen widely as a theocracy despite Maududi's explicit rejection of the term and its philosophical underpinnings. I suggest here that Maududi's vision of theodemocracy opens up a productive space for reflection on the relationship between popular and state sovereignty. Maududi saw popular sovereignty as an ethical problem; it corrupted the potential for individual moral development that the institutional mechanism of the state could otherwise allow for. Highlighting the complicated relationship of his ideas with colonial rule, and showing that he used the colonial liberal state as both a foil and model for his analysis, I argue here that “theodemocracy” was his attempt at divorcing sovereignty from the state. This endeavor generated creative tensions, and forms an important contribution to the global discussion about sovereignty and the state.

The political philosophy of Islam is always a subject of controversy. This book examines discourses of Islamic political philosophy in the Indian subcontinent. Abu al-A‘la Mawdudi is regarded as the originator of the idea that Islam should play a central role in the political system. This work investigates whether Shah Wali Allah Dehlawi has similarly applied Islamic principles in the political realm.

Main Points:
1. This essay argues that there has been resistance to criticism and diverse opinions in the traditional Muslim scholarly behaviour which has thwarted a full-fledged movement of reform in Islam.
2. In order to enrich our tradition in the modern world, Muslim traditional scholars should also benefit from modern knowledge.

Khurram Murad is not merely the name of a person; it is a story of struggle, achievement, and accomplishment that lit thousands of hearts across the globe. In the lifespan of 63 years, Khurram Murad witnessed a number of key moments in the history of Pakistan, including its very creation in 1947, initial struggles for the Islamization of the country, case against the Qadyani fitnah, and separation of East Pakistan. He also made lasting impressions on the organizational structure and mechanism of operation of organizations such as Jama'at-e-Islami Pakistan, Islami Jamiat e Talba Pakistan, Jamaat e Islami Bangladesh, Islamic Foundation UK, and others. Being an author and translator of a number of works in English and Urdu, his words and thoughts still echo from America to Australia and around the globe. Though a number of Khurram's books are available in the English language, there is very limited, if any, biographical information available about him. This paper is the first a...

In inferring rulings related to a particular spatiotemporal setting, classical Islamic jurists invariably emphasized a close correlation between the primary texts of Islam and local realities. Giving opinions or passing verdicts only based on the letter of the texts, without understanding the spirit and without considering circumstantial factors, can be detrimental and create controversies. This may even make a particular Islamic teaching irrelevant to society.