Maudoodi Syed Abul ʻAla - Mawlana Mawdudi and political Islam: authority and the Islamic state

Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi (190379) needs no introduction for anyone from South Asia. In fact, in the Muslim intellectual world as a whole, his name is frequently mentioned in debates, conferences and Internet listservs on topics such as Islamic revivalism, democracy, sharia, gender, non-Muslims and jihad. What is often surprising is that, despite his notoriety, he is often misquoted and misunderstood, with views and quotes wrongly or misleadingly attributed to him. The result is that Mawdudi is sometimes presented as one of two extremes: either as more liberal than he actually was, or more traditionalist than, at least, he intended or wished to be. The life and character of Mawdudi is a complex one, tied up as it is with the immense political upheavals that surrounded him at that time, together with the accompanying concerns and debates over Islamic identity, if not the very survival of Islam in the region. To this extent, Mawdudis life and thought can be seen as something of a template that has been repeated across the Islamic world to the present day, hence his name continues to echo loudly.

Mawdudi was many things to many people and, as someone who seems to have rarely taken a moment out to simply reflect and relax, he would approach the world with a kind of vigour and intensity (not always wisely directed, it has to be admitted) that puts most of us to shame. Born in Aurangabad in India, he was a journalist, an Islamic scholar, a Muslim revivalist and a political philosopher. Along with the poet and activist Muhammad Iqbal and the statesman Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Mawdudi is considered at the forefront of the establishment of Pakistan. He is probably most renowned as the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami (the Islamic Party) which continues to be active in Pakistan to this day, as well as its sister organizations in India, Bangladesh, Kashmir and Sri Lanka. Founded in 1941, it is much more than simply a religious or political party; rather it is an Islamic movement, a complete way of life, with an ultimate vision of an Islamic statement founded upon the principles elicited by Mawdudi in his writings and speeches. In its methods, ideology and organization, the Jamaat has proven to be an inspiration and model for many other Islamic groups across the world.

The appeal of Mawdudi resides not only in the Islamic world, however, for here is a man who though perhaps he was reluctant to admit it was influenced by non-Muslim, western thought (as much as he was Islamic thinkers) including Plato, Hegel, Bergson and Marx. This resulted in an interest that is prevalent in much of his writings: placing modern western thought within an Islamic world-view. The importance of Mawdudis thoughts here, particularly his concept of theo-democracy, are crucial in understanding such modern clash of civilizations debates. Mawdudis personality in many ways represents this identity struggle between the values of the west and those of Islam and, ultimately, whether such values are as diverse as people might suppose.

Because of the continued importance of Mawdudi, it is extremely difficult to outline his influence without being painfully aware of what is being left out. Certainly, the Egyptian salafis (revivalists) Hassan al-Banna (founder of the Muslim Brotherhood) and Sayyid Qutb read and were influenced by him. Qutb, the intellectual driving force behind the Muslim Brotherhood and arguably the most significant influence on the more militant Islamic groups that have sprouted, was inspired by Mawdudis writings on the need for an Islamic vanguard. The Palestinian scholar Abdullah Yusuf Azzam was also influenced by Mawdudi and, in turn, Azzam taught a young student named Osama bin Laden. Mawdudis influence can also be found within Shia Islam, notably Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who translated some of his works into Farsi and found the concept of theo-democracy (which, in practical terms, is really a theocracy), fitting for Shia political thought.