Jamaat E Islami(JI) founded by Maulana Maududi touts itself as the reformist face of Islam or the sole Islamic renaissance movement. After Maududi chose to live in
This article wants to cover the synoptic view of Maulana Maududi, aiming to lay bare the ideological foundations of JI. In principle, they are an anti-thesis of the very fundamentals, our nation is based on. Maududi should be primarily considered as a politician rather than any religious scholar. Fundamentally, he treats Islam not as a religion but as a political party aiming to establish the reign of Allah over the earth. It uses contemporary terms and procedures to smuggle into the public discourse, the medieval structures and archaic systems. It was the treatise by Maududi on Jihad which gave the philosophical foundations to all the political Islamists who clearly stress the aim of Islam to be the regime change and how it is impossible for a Muslim to live disciplined in a nation like
In his view “ Islam is neither a community nor a religion. Instead, it is a revolutionary concept of toppling the global social structure and building up Islamic state on lines of its theory and ideologies. Muslim will be the trans national revolutionary brigade gathered together to implement its revolutionary plans and targets. Jihad is the continuous struggle and the revolutionary zeal to accomplish these aims” - Later he identifies Islam as political party whose existence is challenged if it doesn’t embark on its project for toppling the regimes and establishing the Islamic state. It eschews tolerance to other people as it shouldn’t matter to a Muslim, because his existence finds it’s meaning only in an Islamic state or in the struggle for it.
These strict definitions and ultimatum for a Muslim clearly is an open challenge to the secular and pluralist foundations of our state. Maududi himself was nonchalant about the ramifications it could have on the Indian Muslims, which can feed oil onto the fiery flames of Hindu Nationalist extremities. After the anti-Ahmadiya movement which was spearheaded by JI Pakistan and the alleged attempt for a civil war under him, before the Justice Munir Commission, he presented his testimony which tells it all.
Commission: If we have such a theocratic Islamist government, would you allow
Answer: Defintely. I have no qualms, even if they treat Indian Muslims worse than untouchables and Sudras. I have no issues even if they have no participation in their government and have all their civil rights annulled. In fact such a condition already exists there.
Commission: If there starts a war between Indian and
Answer: Their duty is all very unambiguous. Join us. Do not fight along side
How can Jamaat I Islami Hind who still hasn’t steered off any bit from Maududi’s directives be trusted at least to have a legal existence. Its foundations as well as its dangerous adherence to Pan Islamist Jihadist strategy are inimical to our very survival and the indigenous Muslim Community. Now it looks very strange, how could a sane person still use their platform to lecture on secularism and polemics against cultural Fascism?
Fascist Essentials of JI
Maududi’s stance on Secularism, Democracy and Nationalism are even more disastrous for any one in
“ The modern culture which disastrously guide the contemporary intellectual, moral, civilizational, political and economic systems is based on three essential priciples 1) Secularism 2) Nationalism 3) Democracy” “ From our view, these three principles are erroneous beliefs. Not only just erroneous, but we firmly believe them to be responsible for all the adversities to which humanity has been enslaved. In fact, our hatred is against the very same principles. We will have to struggle against it, pulling up all our strength.”
He is detailing why they are dangerous- Nationalism inhibits the trans-National Islamic systems. Democracy as it conceptualizes the sovereignty of people, doesn’t provide space for the Divine authority( all laws are to be framed only by God! Man has no role in it), Secularism secludes religion into the private realms of individual.
Foundations of our nation is challenged by these Maududi dictates. For Maududi, only possible administration would be a theo democracy chaired by the council of Clerics. It amounts to totalitarianism in its worst form, where the power to interpret the divine laws rests only with them and no one can challenge its authority.
Although the aim of JI “Hukumatai Ilahi” has been cosmetically altered by
The nature of that regime is more clarified by Maududi himself, detailing the punishment for an apostate. Any renegade from Islam, later he equates it with JI, is to be punished with death. Thus Maududi effectively builds up an anti-thesis to modernity, aiming nothing less than a medieval Islamic system. He is ruling out any reformation reflecting the changing interpretations as demanded by the time. His intolerance for any other sects not valid under his own definitions is also elucidated by the campaign of hatred and violence he spearheaded against Ahmadiya sect. His campaign smacked clear parallels with the Italian Fascists and Aryan Nazism which thrived on the emotional and religious fervors of a country.
Credentials of Maududi!
Maududi wanted a political reading of Quran, devoid of any concern for its ethics and morals. He treated all other dimensions in the totality of politics of Islamism. A perplexing fact is, a man who was not so proficient in Arabic went on to interpret the nuances of Quran! He was well versed in Urdu, but couldn’t read and write Arabic with confidence. There are numerous instance and anecdotes by other distinguished names to testify this. With his half baked Arabic he went on to derive completely revised (perverted) meaning for the important concepts of Quran. About “four technical terms in Quran”, he boasts himself to unravel the meaning of those terms so far inscrutable to the Arabic scholars and Quran interpreters. Thus, the four terms “ Ilah, Rabb, Ibadath, Deen” which traditionally understood as “God, Guardian ,Worship, Religion” were deconstructed along his political lines associating connotations about reign, ruler and nation. Thus the basic terms were tweaked out of the milieu of faith and superimposed over his political convictions. The same way, he assigned threatening meanings to the basic rituals of Muslim life. Salah (prayer), Sawm(Fasting), Zakat(Alms giving) and Hajj thus were treated by him as military trainings imparted by Islam to its members to establish its domination and struggle. Thus, JI stands for political ambitions of Maududi rather than the Islamic Politics as some want to project.
Trans National Experiences
JI and Maududi inspired a spate of political Islamists harking back to the 14 th century and condemning all kinds of modern evolutions. Muslim Brotherhood Ideologue, Syed Qutb was one among the staunch admirers of Maududi. Muslim brotherhood was effectively machinated by the imperialist forces to destabilize the progressive Nassar regime in Egypt as well as to stymie the Pan Arabic Nationalist spirit. The numerous fundamentalist organizations which imbibed from the ideological grounding of JI later went on to serve the interests of Imperialism in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechniya and countless bloody battles. JI in Bangladesh was the most reactionary collaborators with Pak in Bangladesh. They were instrumental in massacring thousands of secular nationalists and freedom fighters. Their Razakars are still remembered in Bangladesh with utter anger and contempt. Pakistan is the glaring example for the misadventures in the outing of JI umbrella. Practically, it catapulted Pak back into the dark ages by its virulent campaign against films and modern institutions. In Kashmir it sprouted the secessionist campaigns resulting in Hurkatul Mujahudeen. SIMI in India had been the offspring out of the JI umbrella who went a step beyond their parents, literally following the dictates of Maududi.
Kerala Scene- Façade of People Movement!
In Kerala they were hibernating for 4 decades finding it tough to raise its hood as its principal tenets inhibited them from any association into the public domain of an unIslamic nation. But later, in the last 2 decades it is trying to sneak back into the mainstream under the veneer of identity politics and populist issues. The curious case of JI is its non denial of any of the contra-modern tenets espoused by Maudidi, and the simultaneous self projections as the protectors of Secularism and freedom of expression. It was Madhyamam Editor O Abdurahman who had written in support of death to the apostate (Islam and rationalism). The same editor bemoans the shackles on the creativity in India by Hindu Fascists. These contradictions are the thematic feature of any JI articles. They will be hooting to rout the free woman of Taslima Nasrin , but at the same time bleeding their heart at the injustice on freedom of MF Hussain. If we analyze the Madhyamam weekly, it delves on all the exploitations and injustices, under the vast sky, but wont dare to touch any issues brooding in their own community. Their agenda is very clear- destabilizing the political institutions taking the aid of disillusioned left extremists who are all ready to malign the concept of state itself. They want to portray the mainstream society as havens of Upper class hegemony and terror and want to portray the minority as perpetual victims whom no mainstream institution can guarantee any succor. Only JI can lead them! To an extent, JI is leading the grunting discontented members who are cajoled into the Pan Islamist networks to take up arms by preparing them through the ideological training imparted by Maududi preaching.
The irony is still multiplied when JI Kerala cant afford to translate all the books by its founder Maududi which will back fire in a politically and socially more conscious society like kerala. Even if they do, they cant do it with full justice to the original text, seeking ameliorated translations. Many volumes of Maududi dealing with Purddah, Punishment for Apostates and Jihad were thus left not translated by an otherwise active Islamic Publishing House. Whatever it tried, it wasn’t successful in its mission for the suzerainty over the Muslim population of Kerala. So, nowadays JI is out with their own Youth Movements Solidarity pretending to be actively involving in all the basic issues and putting on the mask of Leftism. JI is also venturing to build its own political party in the recent future. Ask any of these Solidarity Social Justice champions about secularist thoughts of Maududi or women liberation, they will quickly change the subjects and shirk away from you. Historically, it would be the ironical twist to the political disattachment practiced by them since the Independence; also, a portent signal to the much dangerous identity based Pan Islamist Politics. And we cant expect in their eventual contribution, anything radically different from their brotherhood in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Its the duty of a politically and socially conscious civil society and political establishments to exercise a check over JI's political overtures and machinations. The monster of Pan Islmaist Maududism must be confined to its archaic texts alone!
