Syed Abul Ala Maududi

Syed Abul Ala Maududi was an Islamic scholar, theologian, and politician who remained active in British India and later in Pakistan. He is best known as the author of the Tafhim-ul-Quran, a significant work that has been translated into many languages including English, Arabic, and Hindi. Wilfred Cantwell Smith described him as the most systematic thinker of modern Islam.

Early life and education

Maududi was born on 25 September 1903 in Aurangabad, which was then part of the princely state enclave of Hyderabad in colonial India. He was the youngest of three sons born to Ahmad Hasan, a lawyer by profession. His elder brother, Sayyid Abu'l Khayr Maududi, later worked as a journalist and an editor. The family possessed Chishti ancestry, as his last name derived from Khawajah Syed Qutb ul-Din Maudood Chishti.

His father provided religious nurture until Maududi was nine years old. This early education focused on Arabic, Persian, Islamic law, Hadith, and the study of mantiq. At age 11, he was admitted directly to the eighth class at Madrasa Fawqaniyya Mashriqiyya in Aurangabad. This institution was founded by Shibli Nomani, a scholar who sought to combine traditional Islamic studies with modern knowledge. Through this school, Maududi developed an interest in natural sciences like physics and chemistry, as well as philosophy.

Tragedy struck when his father moved to Bhopal and subsequently died after a severe paralysis attack. This event left the family without property or money, which forced Maududi to abort his formal education. He moved to Delhi in 1919 at the age of 16 to study the works of Sayyid Ahmad Khan. For five years, he studied Western philosophy, sociology, and history by learning English and German. He eventually concluded that the scholarship of European philosophers had allowed Europe to become a world power.

Career

Maududi began his professional life in journalism at a very young age. He published a piece on electricity in Maarif in 1918 when he was only 15. By 1920, he served as the editor of the weekly Urdu newspaper Taj. After resuming his studies as an autodidact in 1921, he obtained ijazahs, which are diplomas in traditional Islamic learning. He worked as the editor of the newspaper al-Jamiah from 1924 to 1927.

His political and religious ideologies developed significantly during the 1930s. In 1932, he joined the journal Tarjuman al-Quran, where he spent five years developing ideas regarding Islamic revivalism. He viewed Islam as a necessary ideology for politics rather than just a hereditary religion. Between 1933 and 1941, he published several influential political writings. His most prominent achievement was the Tafhim-ul-Quran, a 6-volume commentary that he began writing in February 1942.

Maududi founded the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami and initially worked to oppose the partition of India. Following the partition, he and his followers focused on making Pakistan an Islamic state. He believed that the implementation of sharia was essential to preserve Islamic culture. His influence is thought to have assisted General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in introducing Islamisation within Pakistan. During the administration of Zia-ul-Haq, tens of thousands of Jamaat-e-Islami members received positions in the civil service and the judiciary.

Personal life

Maududi identified as a middle-class man who learned through both contemporary and traditional methods. He chose not to refer to himself as an alim in a formal sense because he viewed many existing scholars as regressive. His intellectual development was shaped by the works of Mulla Sadra, whose ideas on the necessity of Islamic law echoed in Maududi's own writings. He remained committed to securing independence from British rule throughout his life.

Awards and recognition

The scholar received international acclaim from various organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. In 1979, he became the first recipient of the Saudi Arabian King Faisal International Award for his service to Islam. He also participated in the establishment and operation of the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia.