The constitution of the Jamaat-e-Islami defines its objective in terms of establishing Hukumat-e-Ilahiya or Divine Government, explained as the implementation of the Islamic way of life. Before founding the Jamaat, however, Maududi had studied earlier Islamic revivalist movements with great care. He wanted to understand not only what they had achieved but also why some of them had failed to attain their objectives. A substantial part of that inquiry is reflected in his book Tajdid-o-Ihya-e-Din (Renewal and Revival of Islam).
The book occupies a foundational place in Maududi’s thought. It is significant that it was also used in the organizational training of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba. Why did Maududi consider it necessary for the workers of his new movement to study the earlier attempts at Islamic revival, particularly their failures? The answer reveals something essential about his method. It is often said that human beings learn less from the experiences of others than from the tragedies that happen to them personally. Maududi did not want the movement he was establishing to learn its lessons only after suffering its own failures. He therefore studied the history of Islamic revivalist movements himself and tried to ensure that his own workers understood both their achievements and their shortcomings.
Tajdid-o-Ihya-e-Din is striking in this respect. It describes the trials through which those who made the revival of Islam their life’s mission had to pass. It gives the members of a movement not only a sense of courage, determination and vision, but also an appreciation of the sacrifices made by earlier generations in the service of their faith. At the same time, it exposes the weaknesses and mistakes that contributed to the failure of earlier movements. Among these were questions of ideological preparedness, training, moral discipline and character. In discussing the Mujahideen movement of Syed Ahmad Shaheed and Shah Ismail Shaheed, Maududi regarded its leaders and followers as exemplary in moral character. Yet, he argued, the society in which they attempted to bring about fundamental change was not adequately prepared for it. From this Maududi drew an important conclusion: before attempting to change the system, an Islamic movement must first bring about a moral and intellectual transformation in the society in which it works. But how was such a transformation to be achieved? Maududi addressed this question in several of his works, particularly Islamic Nizam-e-Zindagi aur Us ke BunyadiTasawwur (The Islamic Way of Life and Its Basic Concepts) and Tehreek aur Karkun (The Movement and the Worker). He also set out a remarkably concise programme in an address to the Jamaat-e-Islami’s annual general gathering in Karachi on 11 November 1951. He identified four fundamental elements of an Islamic movement’s strategy: 1. Purification and reconstruction of thought; 2. Finding, organizing and training righteous individuals; 3. Reforming society; and4. Reforming the system of government. These were not merely abstract propositions. Maududi went on to describe how they could be translated into practical work at the local level.
His programme included reforming the mosques of a locality and acquainting ordinary residents with the basic teachings of Islam; establishing adult education; setting up at least one reading room; organizing collective efforts to protect people from oppression and injustice; working with residents on sanitation and public health; maintaining lists of orphans, widows, persons with disabilities and poor students and arranging assistance for them; and, where resources permitted, establishing schools or religious seminaries where moral training would accompany education. This was the kind of practical programme with which the Jamaat-e-Islami entered the field.
The Jamaat did not achieve the ultimate political objective it had set for itself during Maududi’s lifetime. Yet the significance of its programme cannot be measured simply by numbers or electoral power. Despite its relatively limited organizational strength, its intellectual and moral influence was widely recognized. Even its opponents could not easily ignore it. This was, in considerable measure, the result of the disciplined character of its organization and its workers.
The 22 Points formulated by the Ulema, the adoption of the Objectives Resolution and the constitutional recognition of the sovereignty of Allah and the role of the Qur’an and Sunnah in legislation were important milestones in Pakistan’s constitutional history. The Jamaat-e-Islami played a significant role in the intellectual and political campaign surrounding these developments. At the same time, the contribution of other religious and political forces cannot be denied. The Objectives Resolution, for example, was a product of a broader constitutional process and the Jamaat itself does not claim that it alone produced it.
The larger point, however, is that Maududi’s struggle was not ultimately about winning elections or occupying office. Political struggle normally reaches its climax when power is attained. Maududi’s achievement, as his followers understand it, lay elsewhere: in shaping the intellectual and constitutional direction of the state without himself ever attaining political power. That is perhaps the most distinctive feature of his political legacy. He built a team before he could build a government.
And that team was shaped through the crucible of his four-point objective and his seven-point programme. It was not merely an electoral machine. It was conceived as an organized body of individuals who were expected to study, think, train, serve society and develop a particular moral character. This brings us back to the question with which we began: what distinguished Maududi from so many other thinkers and reformers? It was not simply that he wrote extensively about Islam. Others did that. It was not simply that he advocated the revival of Islam. Others had done that before him. Nor was it simply that he entered the political arena. Many others did that as well.
His distinctive contribution was to bring these elements together: thought, writing, ideological formation, organization, training, social reform and political action. This was Maulana Maududi—and this was the system of training and character-building that he developed. It was this method, above all, that distinguished him from many of those who preceded him, from his contemporaries and from those who came after him. His greatest legacy may therefore lie not merely in what he wrote, but in what his writing set in motion: a disciplined movement of people who sought to turn an intellectual vision into an organized way of life.—Concluded.
—This writer is former advisor to President, author & mass media theorist.
(farooq.adilbhuta@gmail,com)
