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Maudoodi and the Age of Islamic Innocence
[An excerpt from Kaukab Siddique's
forthcoming book RETURN TO PAKISTAN.]
Sayyid Abu ‘Ala Maudoodi laid the
foundations of the modern Islamic
movement in South Asia. During his final days,
he was with his son, a physician
living in America. During one of my conversations
with him by phone, he
complained about the people who surrounded him in
these words: "Inhon nay mujhe
zinda muqbara bana lia hay." ["They have made me
a living tomb."] The paradox of a
great man usually is that his followers focus
more on him than on his
teachings. Progress becomes difficult because the
brilliance of the man stops the
very movement forward which he wanted. Fewer and
fewer people try to read his
books but more and more people buy his books to
decorate their living rooms with.
Maudoodi's achievement belongs to an era
when Islam was not a
socio-political force. Without him Pakistan would
have been another secular state like
Turkey
and the hopes of Allama Iqbal and Mohomed
Ali Jinnah would have come to
nothing. With his efforts, Pakistan has seen an
ongoing tension between the
Islamic aspirations of the people and the
secularized self-perpetuating ruling
class left behind by the British. Maudoodi had
the intellectual ability to win
supporters for Islam from the very schools and
universities dedicating to
making Islam irrelevant. His efforts generated
intense hatred from the
military-landlords-civil services complex which
has ruled Pakistan.
I see Maudoodi as the spiritual father of
the modern Islamic movement. I
also see him as belonging to my past, a kinder,
gentler time when most
Islamic Pakistanis believed that change could be
brought about by peaceful means. It
was the era before the Soviets invaded
Afghanistan,
and before America
decided to take over the world. Our era, the late
20th and early 21st century of the
Christian era, is the era of Dajjal, a demonic
force which has the ability to
move across the globe. We live in a time when the
Islamic ethos is
confronting the powers of hegemony in ways which
few could have thought possible. It is
a time of limitless evil confronted by previously
unimaginable Islamic
challenge. The new Islamic ethos is that of
Shaikh Omar ‘Abdel Rahman
who taught that
Jihad
is fard-e-‘ain, as much of an obligation as
prayer and fasting. Who
could have thought that "Saudi"
Arabia
would
produce Osama bin Laden and that the
Taliban would defy America even when faced with
B-52s.
Understandably, Pakistan too has responded
to the brutality of our times
by producing a burgeoning Jihad movement, a major
segment of which is led by
Hafiz Saeed of Jamaat ad-Da'wa (the founder of
Lashkar-e-Taiba).
One of the best books on understanding
Maudoodi is very recent. Titled
Mushahidaat: Maulana Maudoodi, Jamaate Islami,
Pakistan, it is by Mian Tufail
Muhammad, Maudoodi's closest associate and takes
the form of interviews of Mian
Tufail conducted by Salim Mansoor Khalid
(published in the Urdu language in
2000 and reprinted in 2001 and 2003, 608 pages,
hard cover). It is frank, honest
and factual. Almost every important moment in the
life of Maudoodi as seen by
his closest associate is discussed. In addition
Mian Tufail's own life, which
is typical of the hardcore Islamic activist, is
well presented.
What's so wonderful about this book is that
the author does not try to
be politically correct. He doesn't seem to care
what people will say and how
they will attack him or Maulana Maudoodi because
of it. Here are some major
impressions:
Maudoodi was truly dedicated to the
relationship he had with Allah. All
else came second. Unfortunately he was living in
a society which was corrupt
to the nth degree and most people though
emotionally tied to Islam were
ignorant and superstitious. He and Mian Tufail
and the entire Jamaate Islami started
organized Islamic work from zero and built it
into a formidable force in
Pakistan.
Mian Tufail and other central personalities
of the Jamaat were sufaid
poosh [middle class] people who believed in rule
of law, discussion, dialogue
and peaceful means. Right from the beginning they
ran into state oppression
coming from corrupt politicians and military
rulers. The secularized Pakistani
ruling class which has been pillaging Pakistani
relentlessly saw Maudoodi as the
obstacle in their way. He was subjected to
incredible abuse by those in power.
The Pakistani rulers were not interested in
Islam. They were not willing
to listen to basic issues related to state
ideology. The peoples' movement to
define Qadianis (Ahmeddis) as non-Muslims was
seen as a threat. Maudoodi was
great at defining things and believed that by
writing well he could solve
issues. The rulers thought otherwise. In response
to his book on Qadianis, they
arrested him and sentenced him to death for
sedition. [He was released following
street protests and changes in government.]
Maudoodi refused to ask for mercy
when he was sentenced. That was the spiritual
power of the man which
energized the movement.
The history of Pakistan is linked at every
step to the Islamic struggle
led by Maudoodi, both in its successes and in its
failures. He defied the
military power of Field Marshal Ayub Khan and was
imprisoned along with the entire
central committee of Jamaate Islami. On the other
hand, the Field Marshal knew
that Maudoodi was the essence of Islamic
Pakistan. When
India
crossed into
Pakistan in 1965, Maudoodi, forgiving what the
government had done to him, came
on the radio to urge people that Jihad against
India was their religious duty.
Mian Tufail's book is also about the HUMAN
EFFORT which was required at
the level of everyday life to make organized
Islamic movement a reality. When
Mian Tufail, with his wife, first joined Maudoodi
in Pathankot, there was no
electricity and the land was covered with tall
weeds. The foundations of the
Jamaat were laid in poverty and with hard and
persistent effort.
An amazing insight which comes out of Mian
Tufail's narration in
MUSHAHIDAAT is about his wife, Mahmudah. Such
women are the foundation of Islamic
society, though seemingly not attracting any
attention at all. She went with her
husband through thick and thin, often in intense
poverty, bearing him numerous
children, never complaining about his repeated
arrests by the government. She
worked steadily, studied much, and supported the
Islamic struggle with all
her power by supporting her husband. Such women
might be the reason why Pakistan
has survived. Together Mian sahib and his wife
were the kind of couple, old
fashioned but invincible, about whom Milton wrote
in his unabashed male
chauvinism:
He for God
She for God in him
I have never agreed with Mian Tufail on the
policies of Jamaate Islami
but it can be said in all honesty: He is a real
gentleman but not the kind of
person one can defeat. In fact quite complex.
MUSHAHIDAAT is also antidote for the
poison the opponents of Islam
have spread about Jamaate Islami in the form of
propaganda that: Maudoodi opposed
Pakistan, or that Maudoodi got money from
America, or other such frivolities.
Mian Tufail does a good job of pointing out who
were the opponents of
Maudoodi who spread this propaganda and the
emptiness of their claims.
The saddening part of Pakistani politics is
that many of the traditional
religious groupings did not understand the modern
world and were skillfully
used by Pakistani rulers against Jamaate Islami.
Jamaat for long could not
succeed in Pakistani politics not because of
secular rulers but because the
sectarian religious people saw him as a threat to
their narrow view of religion.
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2003-08-02 Sat 17:58ct