Question:

Salaam brothers,

My question is related to the current political vacuum in Pakistan were it has seen all forms of kufr from democracy to military take-over. The question now is not if we need the Islamic state but how are we going to establish this state. What is JI method for establishing this state. There is a group currently working in all Muslim countries with a fixed method based on quran and sunnah (hizb ut tahrir) established using ijtihad by the founder of party. Have JI done ijtihad on this issue, as it was new reality for the Muslims when the khilafah was destroyed in 1924.

Imran,
England

Answer:

WaAlaikum Assalam brother Imran,

Rather than giving my own opinion whether the establishment of Islamic state is obligatory for the Muslims or not, I quote the Prophetic mission and purpose from the Qur'an itself. See verse 28 of Sura Fat-h. It says: "It is He (Allah) Who has sent His Apostle with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion". We as Muslims believe in the finality of the prophethood and the fact that the mission now stands assigned to the Ummah (li takunu shuhad'a a'lan-Na'ss, and, Kuntum khaira ummatin ukhrijat lin-Na'ss). That is more than enough for us to understand that every generation of us is bound to complete the prophetic mission in its respective given age and social setting. If other Islamic groups are thinking and doing the other way, they must be having their arguments and should better be asked directly to prove the soundness and validity of their approach. Instead of commenting on their approach we pray for their success, because like any other Muslim, our only desire is the completion of the mission (yes, Khilafah towards the end), no matter how it comes about. We do our way because we are convinced it is in accordance with the teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam). We however, do not deny the right of other groups to pursue their own way, if they are convinced they are right.

Let me now take up your question concerning what Sayyid Maududi did by way of propagating his thoughts and organizing a practical movement. This detail is already available in print and also briefly on this website, if you could scan through it from the beginning. For your convenience, I am making below a note once again.

Having compiled his voluminous scholarly work Al-Jihad fi al-Islam at the age of 24 in 1927, Sayyid Maududi proved as possessed of extraordinary knowledge as well as keen and profound thought. He also proved his arrestingly confident tone about Islam. There was no weak-kneed inclination to compromise, no "apologies" for Islam and no vain attempt to show Islam in harmony with the prevalent respected ideas of the time. Maududi's strong conviction about the intrinsic soundness and distinctness of the teachings of Islam, and about their continuing relevance for all mankind, were too transparent to be missed by any of his intelligent reader. Making that debut of 1927, and particularly since the mid-thirties, his has been a major, dominating figure on the intellectual scene of the South Asian sub-continent. Soon his writings were translated in Arabic and English, which attracted increasing number of people far beyond the confines of the sub-continent. He is certainly the most read among the current Muslim authors, and has contributed immensely to the contemporary resurgence of Islamic ideas, feelings and activity all over the world. Islam was not merely an intellectual concern for Maududi. In his youth, he passed through an experience that showed the zeal and vitality of a convert. Since then he consciously tried to live Islam and to live for Islam. At this very young age (his early twenties) he devoted all his energy to expounding the teachings of Islam. Noting with deep sense of grief that almost no other person or group was fully realizing the urgency of the task in its totality he did all in his power to transform Islamic teachings into practical realities. He was emphatic in asserting that Islam is not merely a body of metaphysical doctrines, nor merely a bundle of rituals, nor even merely a set of rules of individual conduct. It is indeed a WAY OF LIFE (al-Deen), the basesof which lie rooted in Divine Revelation. This is where Maududi distinguishes himself from other contemporary thinkers and reformers. He takes the scheme as a whole and works to establish a way of life which is permeated with God-consciousness and righteousness in human life. To this end Maududi founded a movement known as Jama'at-e-Islami in 1941 and led it as its chief (Ameer) till 1972, though he remained the major source of guidance and inspiration for those associated with the party, till his death (in September 1979)

In his endeavours, both as an academician who cleared many a wrong perception about Islam and as a man of action engaged in grim struggle for the implementation of the Islamic vision, he stands in the galaxy of the great luminaries and heroes of Islam. One of Maududi's major characteristic has been his ability and success to bring out the relevance of Islam to the problems and concerns of man in the present age. This was largely because he combined with his Islamic scholarship an awareness and knowledge of the intellectual trends and practical problems of man in the modern age. While encountering the challenge of the "modernity", he displays neither ultra-conservative rigidity - that makes Islam look like out-dated - nor the proneness to be overawed by the ideas and institutions current in our time, just for being fashionable or having currency with the present day leading nations. One aspect of his ijtihad is that he proved the necessity for the Muslims to creatively appropriate the healthy and beneficial elements from the cumulative treasure of human experience and to employ them to serve the higher ends of life embodied in the Islamic tradition. He thus successfully brought together the two extremes of human society. Yet in the process, while he attracted many, he also repelled many others, particularly the ultra-conservative and the ultra-westernized elements of the Muslim society.

As Iqbal lamented:

"Wa'iz-e-tang nazar ney mujey ka'fir jana
aur ka'fir ye samajhta hey Musalman hun mein".

One last though not the least, notable feature of Sayyid Maududi's approach, which is prominently clear in his struggle all through his life, and which is the guiding principle of Jamaat's policy todate, is the conviction that no lasting change is possible without convincing an effective number of the masses. Clandestine efforts and bloody revolutions are as much out of question in Maududi's movement as the piece-meal and patchwork approaches. No matter how much time it takes, the best approach is the change of common mind. To that end all modern means of mass contact and awareness are to be employed. The Jama'at therefore, is not averse to constitutional means of "elections", because the occasion provides an opportunity to reach people at the grass-roots and present before them a clear programme of reforms and a neat and pious group of candidates for their representation. We are sure that one day (and very soon Insha Allah), this approach will attract popular support. The people are already fed up with the corrupt leaders and dirty practices and they seem to be increasingly realizing that good governance is not possible without good leadership.

Hope this sufficiently lengthy exposition of the thinking and approach of Sayyid Maududi and the party be founded some 60 years back, makes the case concerning the questions raised. Notably it attempts to clarify Jama'at's position vis-a -vis other contemporary movements and groups.
Wassalam,

M. Haq

Index Q&A