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Mawdūdı̄ and the Challenges of Modernity a bd ul la h s ae ed A bū l-alā mawdūdı̄ (often referred to as Mawlānā Mawdūdı̄) was born in 1903 as the youngest of three sons. He lived with his family in Aurangabad , a well-known town in the former state of Hyderabad (Deccan, now known as Maharashtra), in India. His family was strongly religious and had a long tradition of spiritual leadership, with a number of Mawdūdı̄’s ancestors serving as leaders of Sufi orders. Mawdūdı̄ attended high school and began undergraduate studies, but these were interrupted by the death of his father. However he continued to educate himself with the help of various prominent scholars, and became—to a large extent—a self-taught man. As well as speaking Urdu (his native tongue), Mawdūdı̄ became fluent in Arabic, Persian, and English.1 Mawdūdı̄’s early career was in journalism: at age seventeen he became a correspondent, and then later editor, of the Urdu newspaper Tāj (in Jabalpur). He held a series of appointments in Muslim journals, publishing his views on Islam, the conflict between Islam and contemporary ideologies, and how Muslims should respond to modern challenges. Mawdūdı̄ became involved in politics in the 1930s, responding to the political situation in India and the positions of its major parties, the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress and the Muslim League, which sought to represent the views of the Muslim minority. He strongly criticized trends toward nationalism and believed that the solution to the problems faced by Indian Muslims was for each person to recognize Islam as providing their sole source of identity, and for the populace to become more devout Muslims. In 1941 Mawdūdı̄ founded Jamāat-i Islāmı̄ (the Islamic Society ) so that he could train Muslims to become capable of establishing an ‘‘Islamic system’’ of government and society. The organization later became a major player in Pakistani national politics. 125 126 Abdullah Saeed When the Indian subcontinent was partitioned in 1947, Mawdūdı̄ moved with some of his followers to Pakistan, where he quickly took on an important political role as a principal advocate of an Islamic state. In this context he wrote extensively to explain different aspects of the Islamic way of life, especially the sociopolitical aspects. Mawdūdı̄ is reported to have written more than 120 books, booklets, and pamphlets, and to have made more than 1,000 speeches and press statements (of which around 700 are publically available). He was a prolific writer and addressed many subjects and disciplines related to Islam, including tafsı̄r (Qurānic exegesis), h .adı̄th, law, theology, and history. He discussed (and proposed what he considered to be Islamic solutions to) a wide variety of modern problems in the political, economic, social, and cultural spheres, and addressed numerous theological issues. Mawdūdı̄ died in September 1979 in Rochester, New York, while visiting his son and receiving medical treatment for a long-standing kidney ailment. He left behind an impressive legacy, including important scholarly contributions to tafsı̄r, Islamic ethics, social studies, and the problems facing Islamic revival. His multivolume commentary, Towards Understanding the Qurān (which is regarded as his greatest work) took thirty years to complete. It presents the meaning and message of the Qurān in a language and style that is accessible to men and women today and shows the relevance of the Qurān to their everyday problems. This work has had a far-reaching impact on contemporary Islamic thinking in the subcontinent, and (in translation) abroad. Mawdūdı̄ is one of the most widely read Muslim thinkers of modern times and his books have been translated into many major languages of the world, including Arabic, Turkish, Persian , Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Swahili, English, French, and German. Some Muslims have directed criticism at Mawdūdı̄, highlighting that he was not formally trained in Islamic disciplines and was therefore not qualified to express many of the views on Islam which he published, and that he was wrong to emphasize the political dimension of Islam. He has also been widely blamed for the prevalence of anti-Western attitudes among Muslims. Key Aspects of Mawdūdı̄’s Thought as Reflected in the Selected Texts Mawdūdı̄’s worldview was based on the notion that God is Creator, Master, and Sovereign. He believed that God created humankind and that it is therefore the duty...

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