Maulana Abul A'la Moududi* (1903-1979) - Torch of Islam

Maulana Abul A'la Moududi* carried the torch of Islam in the subcontinent while Middle East, including the birthplace of Islam, was steeped in darkness.

Maulana Abul A'la Moududi* is one of the greatest Islamic scholars of the 20th century. His contributions to awaken the Muslims worldwide have been significant. His writing remains source of inspirations to Muslims worldwide. His work especially Tafhimul HolyQuran, translation of Holy Quran into English and Urdu is a monumental work which speaks volume for his great contributions to English speaking Muslims worldwide who are keen to understand the Holy Quran in its proper perspective.

Maulana Abul A’la Moududi

In fact Moulana Maududi worked to revive Islam and carried the torch of Islam at a time when the entire Middle East including the birth place of Islam, was steeped into darkness due to the manipulations of European colonial powers. His writings influenced a great deal well known Egyptian Islamic scholars like Hassan Al Banna, Mohamed Qutb, Syed Qutb and Amina Qutb and others.

Moulana Maududi (1903-1979) was a Muslim writer , religious and political leader in the Indian sub-continent. He was born in Awrangabad in the present Hyderabad state of India into a family with a strong religious and traditional Muslim culture. Moududi received his formal education in the schools of Hyderabad, but at the age of 15 he was forced to leave school never to return upon the death of his father; much of his earliest instruction was conducted in the home.

Moududi's earliest profession was journalism. At the age of 17, he became a correspondent and then editor of the newspaper Taj in Jabalpur. In 1920 he assumed the editorship of Muslim, the publication of the Jam'iyat-i 'Ulama.' He continued in that position until the newspaper was closed down in 1923 and, after 18 months, became editor of the prestigious al-Jam'iyah. Moududi left journalism in 1927 to engage in scholarly writing. During this period, he wrote a history of the Asafiyah dynasty of Hyderabad and a history of the Seljuk Turks, as well as a slim volume called Toward Understanding Islam which established him in India as a serious religious writer.

English translation of the Holy Quran by Maulana Abul Aa’la Moududu

The years of journalism also marked his first significant venture into writing on Islamic subjects in the volume The Holy War in Islam (1926), composed as a series of essays in al-Jam'iyah to refute Hindu charges that Islam was a militant religion. The principles espoused in Moududi's later writing may all be found in this initial work.

In 1932 Moududi became associated with the Hyderabadi journal Tarjuman al-Qur'an, and in the following year he assumed sole responsibility for it. It was--and remains--the principal vehicle of his views and those of the organization he later founded. At first Moududi used the journal to advocate reform among Muslims, but in the late 1930s he turned to Indian politics. He opposed both the all-India nationalism of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim nationalism of the Muslim League.

His own solution to India's political problem lay in urging Muslims to recognize Islam as their sole identity and to become better Muslims.

His views during this period are collected in the three volumes of Muslims and the Present Day Political Struggle.

In 1941 Moududi founded the organization Jama'at-i Islami (The Islamic Society) and was elected its head or amir. The purpose of the Jama'at was to propagate true Islam and to train cadres of devoted men capable of establishing an Islamic system of government and society. It was thus a religiously-based political party and the organization later became a major factor in Pakistani national politics.

When the Indian sub-continent was partitioned in 1947, Moududi moved with some of his followers to Pakistan, where he quickly assumed an important political role as the principal advocate of the Islamic state. He evoked the displeasure of the ruling elite and in 1948 was put in jail, where he remained for more than a year. Upon his release he resumed the agitation for an Islamic state with renewed vigour.

Moududi was arrested in 1953 for his alleged part in the agitation against the Ahmadiyah sect. He was sentenced to death by a military court, but the sentence was never carried out. In 1958 Pakistan came under military rule, and political parties, including the Jama'at-i Islami, were banned. From that time Moududi's interest turned from the Islamic state to the achievement of true democracy in Pakistan. Moududi was again arrested for his bitter opposition to the Ayyub Khan government in 1964, and in the 1965 elections he supported the presidential candidacy of Fatimah Jinnah against Ayyub Khan--though it was counter to his Islamic beliefs that a woman should hold high office. Moududi joined with other right wing and religious parties in 1970 to oppose the socialism of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the demands of Sheik Mujib al-Rahman's Awami League.

In 1972 he resigned as Amir of the Jama'at-i Islami, having held the post, though not without challenge, since the inception of the organization. He died in September 1979 in Rochester, New York, where he had gone to visit a son and to receive medical treatment for a long standing ailment.

Moududi was a prolific writer and speaker whose works have been translated into many languages and widely distributed. He was one of the foundation stones of the 20th-century Islamic resurgence and one of the most read Muslim writers of his time . Especially important were his emphases that Islam is a total way of life, that it requires control of the state for its full realization, and that Islamic objectives are not attainable without a disciplined and effective organization. (Latheef Farook, Daily News-Sri Lanka)

*(Plus): The holy quran says;....man was created weak...TMQ (4:28)

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