[This pamphlet is essentially the speech delivered by Sayyid Abul A‘la Maududi, the then Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, at the annual conference of Jamaat-e-Islami held on 19 April 1945 at Darul Islam, Pathankot.]
We offer millions of thanks to Allah Ta‘ala that, having seen this dry, dull and tasteless movement of ours ultimately succeed in creating an unexpected curiosity and enthusiasm in people’s hearts, we are offering millions of thanks to Allah Ta‘ala.
Indeed, the da‘wah with which we have risen seems to have no more obsolete a commodity in the marketplace of movements in the present world. Moreover, in the methodology we have adopted, not one of the means and devices generally used nowadays to expand a movement rapidly and attract the people towards it is present. Holding meeting after meeting, bringing out processions, filling the air with various slogans, raising flags, delivering fiery speeches—none of these things has any place in our methodology. [At that time, on the one hand, the Congress movement for an undivided India and, on the other, the Muslim League movement to partition India and establish Pakistan had become intensely competitive. At that time, Jamaat did not join the political turmoil, but quietly devoted itself to da‘wah and organisation. Therefore, Jamaat did not then begin processions or other political activities.] Nevertheless, we are observing—and our hearts bow down in gratitude to God at seeing it—that gradually large numbers of people are being attracted towards this da‘wah of ours, and people are joining these dull conferences of ours in groups from distant places. In our view, the attraction drawing people is nothing other than the natural attraction of certain truth. For we possess no other thing besides the real truth with which to attract people.
The Purpose of the Conference
In fact, creating a spectacle or stirring up excitement to attract people towards ourselves has never been the purpose of our conferences. Through this conference, our members will become acquainted with one another and organised; there will be no gap of unfamiliarity among them; they will unite closely; they will devise means of mutual consultation and cooperation; and, in order to advance their principal work, they will determine ways of removing dangers, problems and obstacles—this is generally the purpose of our conferences. In addition, one of the objectives of this conference is to obtain an opportunity to review our past work, understand our faults and shortcomings, and think about removing them. Furthermore, people who sympathise with us, support our ideals and way of thinking, or are doubtful about our work are given an opportunity at this conference to understand our da‘wah and work directly. Consequently, if their hearts are convinced beyond doubt of our true principle, they may join our Jamaat. Often, many kinds of misconceptions arise merely because of lack of contact and distance. Therefore, closeness, meeting, direct discussion and the establishment of personal contact are the only effective means of removing them. Thus we offer thanks to God for this, and we also thank those who have spent their time and money to attend our conference merely to hear what we have to say. We respect their desire to seek the truth. For where none of the commonly used means of creating enthusiasm is present, they have come solely for the purpose of examining with deep and subtle insight the work begun in the name of Allah by a handful of God’s servants, and judging whether the work is truly for Allah. If this search for truth is undertaken with purity and cleanliness of heart and mind, He will not allow their effort to fail. Rather, there is no doubt that He will show them the path of truth.
There are many people at this conference who wish to know in detail about our da‘wah, purpose and methodology; therefore, I wish first to discuss this subject.
Our Da‘wah
It is generally said about our da‘wah that we call people to establish an Islamic state. The expression Hukumat-e Ilahiyyah itself naturally gives rise to a kind of misconception—and some deliberately try to create misconceptions around it. People generally think, or are made to understand, that an Islamic state means merely a political system. It is said that our sole purpose is to establish that particular political system in place of the present state system. Then, since those who strive to establish this state system will also obtain responsibility for administering it, it is very easily made to appear that we want to seize power. Thereafter sermons on religiosity begin. We are branded as people concerned with worldly or material interests. Yet Muslims ought to work only for the deen—Islam—and the Hereafter, not for the world. Secondly, it is also said that government is not something to be demanded; rather, as a result of living a religious life, people receive it as a gift from God. In reality, these statements about us are often made without understanding the actual truth. In some places they are propagated with particular cleverness merely to prevent, by this means, many of God’s servants—even if not us—from joining this great movement of truth. Yet if anyone reads our books with an open and liberal mind, they can easily understand that establishing merely a state system is not our purpose. In reality, our ultimate objective is to create the complete revolution prescribed by Islam in the total life of humanity. It was for this revolution that Allah sent the prophets. Through their call and movement, the leadership of all the prophets fulfilled one purpose.
If our da‘wah is to be presented in simple and clear language, it may be presented in the following three points:
1. We generally call all people, and Muslims in particular, to accept servitude to Allah.
2. Our call to all who claim or profess to have accepted Islam or submitted to it is this: remove hypocrisy and inconsistency in conduct from your practical lives, and if you claim to be Muslims, prepare yourselves to become genuine Muslims and complete exemplars of Islam.
3. The system of human life that today is under the leadership of those who follow falsehood and of sinful disbelievers must be radically changed, and leadership and authority, both in principle and in practice, must be entrusted to Allah’s righteous servants. Although these three matters are clear, misconceptions and the debris of neglect and indifference have accumulated over them continuously for a long period; therefore, it has now become essential to explain them in detail not only to non-Muslims but also to Muslims.
Various meanings are given to servitude to God. Some think that it is sufficient merely to call God ‘God’ with one’s lips and accept oneself as God’s servant. They believe that there is no harm in not acknowledging God or accepting His servitude in moral life, practical affairs and collective matters. Or they hold that God must be acknowledged as the supernatural Creator, Provider and Lord of worship, while there is nothing improper about removing and dispossessing Him from authority and leadership in practical life. Another notion regarding servitude to God is that life may be divided into two parts—religious and worldly—and that it is enough to serve God only in religious life by observing certain conditions concerning faith, worship and halal and haram. But in worldly matters—in civilisation, society, politics, economics, knowledge, science, arts and literature—people will remain completely free from servitude to God. For these fields they will either formulate principles themselves or follow principles formulated by others.
We consider all these commonly held notions about servitude to God erroneous and wish to eradicate them. Our struggle against these mistaken notions of servitude is as intense as, or more intense than, our struggle against the disbelieving system of life. For these notions have completely distorted the foundation and form of the deen of Islam. In our view, when the Glorious Qur’an, all the earlier heavenly books, the Last Prophet and the other prophets sent to different parts of the earth called people, with one voice, to accept servitude to God, they meant that people must acknowledge God completely as Ilah, Rabb, Lord of worship, Ruler, Owner, Master, Guide, Lawgiver, Reckoner and Rewarder, and must conduct every aspect of their entire life—private, social, moral, religious, civilisational, political, economic, scientific and ideological affairs—entirely on the basis of servitude to God. In the Glorious Qur’an, the command “Enter into Islam completely” was given to direct this very task. That is, you may not leave any aspect or department of your lives outside servitude to God. Serve and obey God with your entire being; do not leave any aspect of life or any action free from servitude to God; do not abandon God’s commands and laws and live independently and arbitrarily, or follow and obey any independent and arbitrary human being. In reality, this is the meaning of servitude to God that we proclaim. We call all Muslims to accept this form of servitude.
The Essence of Hypocrisy
Secondly, we also call those who claim to follow Islam, or who have accepted Islam, to abandon hypocrisy in practical life and keep their lives pure of inward and practical inconsistencies. By ‘hypocritical policy’ is meant the condition in which a person makes no effort at all to establish a way of life completely opposed to his own faith and deen; rather, considering the prevailing sinful and God-defying way of life favourable to him, he becomes absorbed in planning his prosperous ‘future’ within it. Even if he tries to change it, his purpose is not to replace the sinful way of life with the establishment of the deen of Islam; rather, his purpose becomes the establishment of one kind of sinful state system. In our view, this methodology is nothing other than a wholly hypocritical methodology. For having faith in one kind of way of life while being practically content with its opposite is plainly contradictory. The sign of sincere faith is that the way of life in which one believes must be put into force as the law and regulation of practical life; and no matter how many obstacles arise in living according to it, one’s heart must become distressed and restless at each one of them. Genuine faith is not prepared to tolerate even the slightest obstacle in the path of its development. And there can be no question of watching the entire deen remain subject to an opposing kind of state system and tolerating it, because in such a condition no part of the deen can be implemented. In some countries, the prevailing and established way of life may, considering certain parts of Islam harmless, allow them to continue as a favour; but all other affairs of human life continue according to rules and principles opposed to the deen of Islam. Those who think that, even in this situation, faith suffers no harm are plainly mistaken. There, all other matters are considered while treating the disbelieving system as a permanent destiny. Whatever its value may be from the outward perspective of jurisprudence, from the perspective of the deen of Islam there is no difference between this kind of faith and actual hypocrisy. Numerous Qur’anic verses also designate and establish it as hypocrisy. It is the aim of our effort to purify the lives of all who pledge to accept servitude to God, in the above-mentioned sense, from this kind of hypocrisy; we must continue this effort unceasingly, with wholehearted sincerity, according to the correct meaning of servitude to God. For we have finally resolved that in our complete lives we shall follow only the way of life, laws and regulations, civilisation, moral character, social order, politics, economics, and principles of thought and action that Allah sent through His prophets, and that for a single moment we shall not accept even the slightest influence of any other ideal or principle in place of the true way of life given by God—not in any action of life, not even in the smallest matter. No one should remain unaware of how contrary to genuine faith it is to be satisfied with even a minor matter of a false system of life, participate in efforts to establish and maintain it, or try to establish one false rule in place of another.
The Essence of Inconsistency in Conduct
Secondly, after hypocrisy, the thing we call upon all Muslims, old and new, to remove from their lives is inconsistency in conduct—the discord between word and deed. When a person claims verbally to believe in an ideal but acts contrary to it, that is called inconsistency. Following different principles is also called inconsistency. Therefore, if anyone claims to make his entire life follow servitude to God, then, while conscious, he can in no way perform even a single action in life contrary to this servitude. If some error or deviation occurs because of human weakness, he must immediately acknowledge his fault and return to servitude to God. Constructing one’s entire life in complete consistency on the basis of acknowledging servitude to God is an essential demand of faith. Far from permitting many-facedness, genuine faith does not even tolerate being double-faced. If, on the one hand, we claim to believe in God, the Hereafter, revelation, prophethood and the Shariah, while on the other hand we attend materialistic educational institutions that create disbelief in God and the Hereafter in order to gain worldly interests, honour and superiority, and strive to establish such an educational system and encourage others to do the same, then in our view this is nothing but a many-faced policy. On the one hand, we claim to believe in God’s Shariah, while at the same time we become judges and lawyers in courts established on laws written by God’s enemies and rely entirely on the judges of those courts to determine truth and falsehood, right and wrong. On the one hand, we go to the mosque and pray; on the other, immediately after leaving the mosque, in our dealings, means of livelihood, marriages, distribution of inheritance, political movements and all kinds of worldly affairs, we forget God and His Shariah and serve our own selves in some matters, ancestral customs in others, social conventions elsewhere, and the God-rebellious rulers elsewhere. On the one hand, we repeatedly promise God, saying, ‘We are Your servants; we worship and serve You alone’; on the other, we worship such ‘idols’ as are connected with some interest, love, sympathy, mental conditioning, convenience or advantage of ours. All this is nothing but inconsistency in conduct, contradiction and hypocrisy. No clear-sighted person can deny that countless such contradictions exist in the lives of present-day Muslims. In my view, this is a deadly disease of the Muslim nation, which is hollowing out its character, nature, deen and faith from within like a worm. The basic cause of the weakness now evident in every field of their practical life is also this inconsistency and contradiction in conduct. For a long time the Muslim nation has been consoled with the claim that if one bears witness to Tawhid and prophethood with one’s tongue and performs a few religious observances such as prayer and fasting, every duty has been fulfilled; thereafter, even if one adopts a deen-opposing and faith-opposing methodology in all other affairs of life, one’s faith will not be harmed in the least and there will be no danger concerning one’s salvation. The scope of this allowance gradually expanded so far that, in the end, even praying was no longer considered an indispensable condition for being a Muslim. Muslims were also firmly made to believe that acknowledgment of faith and Islam was sufficient, and that there was no harm even if one’s entire practical life followed ideals completely opposed to Islam. As a result, we now see every kind of sinfulness, disbelief, disobedience, wrongdoing and manifest rebellion against God being freely passed off in the name of Islam. Muslims today cannot even understand that most of the paths to which they devote their time, labour, wealth, strength, ability, competence, skill, life and soul, and behind whose aims and objectives they strive individually and collectively, are completely opposed to their faith. In fact, while this condition remains, there is no benefit even in non-Muslims accepting Islam. For however many people enter this salt mine separately, they will merge with the salt and become indistinguishable from it. Therefore, calling Muslims to purify their lives from all these inequalities and inconsistencies in conduct is an inseparable and important part of our fundamental da‘wah. We call every believer to become a completely single-minded follower of one principle and one ideal, and, if unable to sever relations with every action opposed to faith and the Islamic way of life, to strive and struggle unceasingly to do so. Likewise, we tell every believer to understand deeply and clearly all the demands of faith and remain prepared to fulfil them.
The Necessity of a Fundamental Change in Leadership
The third aspect of our Islamic da‘wah is striving to bring about a radical change in leadership. The third matter must be accepted as the inevitable consequence of the two matters I have explained above. If we are to surrender ourselves to the servitude of the One God and strive to become completely single-minded in this matter, leaving no gap for any kind of hypocrisy or inconsistency, then inevitably we must strive to create a revolution in the present system of life and state. At present, our system of life and state is founded on kufr, atheism, shirk, sinfulness and immorality. Without exception, the statesmen who plan, think about and administer it disobey God and His laws. Indeed, so long as authority and leadership remain in the hands of such people, and so long as the master keys to every matter—knowledge and science, arts and literature, education, propaganda and broadcasting, the making and enforcement of laws, finance, trade and industry, agriculture, state administration, management, international relations and everything else—remain in their hands, living in this world like true Muslims and accepting servitude to God as the ideal of life will not merely be practically difficult; it will be entirely impossible to leave future generations believing in Islam. Moreover, every sincere servant of God has the duty to strive, according to God’s pleasure and law, to remove destructive and ruinous conditions from the world and establish peace, security, comfort and prosperity. But until authority over the country and state is entrusted to God’s righteous servants, this vast and noble objective can never be achieved. Indeed, if sinful and immoral people, rebels against God and abject slaves of Satan remain the leaders, managers and directors of the world, the result will be the complete opposite of removing oppression, tyranny, unrest, disorder, moral collapse and widespread decline. Therefore, if we are ‘Muslims’, it becomes our indispensable duty to strive and struggle with all our might to terminate forever the leadership of misguided leaders from the face of the earth, crush the supremacy of kufr and shirk, and establish the true and correct way of life—the deen of Islam.
How Will the Change in Leadership Take Place?
But this change in leadership cannot be brought about merely by wanting or wishing for it. Allah certainly places great importance on the proper ordering of the earth, and some degree of qualification, strength and distinctive ability is necessary to administer and organise the world. Unless these are properly acquired, no group of people can take the great responsibility of administering the world into its own hands and carry it out correctly. If no organised group of God’s righteous servants is capable of administering the world, then, according to God’s law, authority over the world’s management and administration is entrusted to the hands of ‘faithless’ and dishonest people. But if such a group truly exists—people possessing genuine faith, who are truly righteous, and whose essential qualities, strength and competence for administering the world are greater than those of the disbelievers—then it must be remembered that God’s law is never unjust, nor does it seek disorder. Therefore, in such circumstances, it is impossible to suppose that leadership of the world would remain in the hands of sinful and disbelieving people. Thus, my objective is not merely to transfer authority in the world from the hands of sinful and disbelieving people to those of righteous believers; our principal objective is also actively to form an ideal group of believers and righteous people. Our da‘wah is that such a group and organisation of believers and righteous people be formed—one that will not merely be strong in faith or merely be sincere followers of Islam, nor merely have pure and purified individual and collective character, but will also, with sincerity, demonstrate superiority many times over existing ways of life, societies and states in actually administering the world, society and state.
Opposition and Its Causes
This, in brief, is our objective. It is toward this that we invite the inhabitants of the world. But it is a matter of great wonder that the first opposition to this movement has come from the Muslims. The non-Muslims—who might have opposed this movement—have to this day said nothing against it, nor has anyone in practice offered any opposition anywhere. I cannot say whether this situation will continue in the future, nor is it possible to estimate how long it will last. Nevertheless, having heard the above-mentioned da‘wah, it is not the non-Muslims who have turned up their noses at it, regarded it as a warning of danger, or come forward to oppose it; it is our Muslim brothers who have done so. Perhaps it was in circumstances of this kind that the People of the Book—the Jews and Christians—were told: ‘Do not be the first to reject it.’
I have discussed this matter with Hindus, Sikhs, and Englishmen. After listening in detail to what we had to say or reading our books, not one of them has so far called it ‘untrue.’ Nor have they expressed any need to oppose it. Many non-Muslims have gone so far as to say that if the da‘wah of Islam had been presented in this country much earlier, and if all the strong Muslims, both outsiders and natives, had tried to establish it, the condition of the country could have been entirely different. Many non-Muslims have gone so far as to say that if any society or group worked according to this ideal with wholehearted devotion, and if its life and death were dedicated to this purpose, non-Muslims would have no hesitation or reluctance about joining it. Despite this, the Muslims have become exceptionally eager to be the first to oppose us. They have taken the lead in spreading slander against us and bringing various baseless accusations. Among the Muslims, the religious party is showing the greatest eagerness. The most amusing matter is that to this day no one has had the courage to call our objective and da‘wah invalid or ‘untrue.’ Perhaps the sole reason is that no one can launch a frontal attack on our da‘wah and movement. Therefore, it is attacked sometimes from behind, sometimes from the right, and sometimes from the left. Sometimes it is said: ‘What you say is correct, there is no doubt about that; but the activists have this or that fault.’ Someone says: ‘Its truth is undeniable, but to conduct a movement of this kind one needs people like the Companions—and where can such people be found today?’ Sometimes it is said: ‘This is undoubtedly the da‘wah of Islam, but it cannot possibly work in this age.’ Someone says: ‘No one can utter a word against the truth of this da‘wah, but accepting it would be dangerous for Muslims in view of their present political and economic condition.’ Nor does the matter end there. If a servant of Allah among the Muslims accepts this da‘wah, strives to remove genuine hypocrisy and practical inconsistency from his life, and resolves to place his entire life under the servitude of Allah, then his brothers, parents, relatives, and friends become the first to resolve to oppose him. Many religious and muttaqi people have also been seen—people bearing the mark of prostration on their foreheads and whose tongues remain occupied with religious discussion twenty-four hours a day—who feel not the slightest hesitation in opposing him. They are not at all prepared to tolerate their son, brother, or any relative joining this movement. Indeed, the fact that Muslims have opposed this movement first—and that the religious have done so more than the worldly—is undoubtedly evidence of a grave disease. Although this disease had been covered by a glittering exterior, there is no doubt about its antiquity. Had we presented the da‘wah merely as an intellectual and research-oriented movement and invited people to try to establish this objective in practice, we could say that instead of opposition, showers of praise and thanks would have fallen upon our work from every direction. Can any Muslim accept that one should serve anyone other than Allah, or that Muslims should engage in hypocrisy and acts contrary to faith, or that authority and leadership over human life should not be in the hands of righteous Muslims but should remain in the possession of the disbelievers, or that the laws of disbelief should prevail in the world instead of the Shariah of Allah? Yet I can say with complete certainty that not one of all the things we have said to this day has been presented merely as a scientific theory; rather, along with it we have called for practical action accordingly. Had we not done so and presented it merely as a theory, not a single Muslim would have dared to utter a word against it. But the fact is that we cannot do that. From the perspective of faith, our da‘wah is first to realize every truth in our own lives, and then to establish it in practice within our surroundings and throughout the world. From a historical perspective, it may be said that exactly this kind of situation had previously arisen in the life of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him). Everyone familiar with the poetry and literature of pre-Islamic Arabia will admit that the Tawhid and moral code presented by the Prophet were not at all new in Arabia. Similar monotheistic doctrines and ideas had been presented by numerous poets and orators of the Age of Ignorance, and they too had spoken many of the teachings of Islamic morality. The difference, however, was that the Prophet (peace be upon him) presented pure and unmixed truth as a complete way of life, called upon people to remove from practical life every tendency opposed to true Tawhid and to build the whole of life upon its foundation, and also invited them to establish the principles of moral character as the practical basis of complete real life. This is precisely why, when we call people not only to speak and preach these things but also to abandon all the benefits connected with the false system and to follow Islam with complete devotion, concentration, and consistency, and furthermore call upon them to strive for the establishment of truth by dedicating their lives, wealth, time, and effort, everyone can understand that this ‘heinous crime’ (?) is indeed unforgivable. If our words are accepted as true, and if it is said that this is what Islam demands; that one must be single-minded and devoted in fulfilling it; that a believer must not compromise with the false system but must create confrontation with it; and that struggle and conflict are therefore desirable, then there remains no alternative but to adopt one of the following two means. One must either bear the sacrifice of personal interests and plunge into this movement in practice (but the intensity and importance of this task are frightening), or, after acknowledging it, remain away from this movement merely on the pretext of personal weakness.
But even acknowledging this is not easy. For if one acknowledges it, not only is the certainty and guarantee of salvation in the Hereafter lost, but their age-old established superiority and prestige in the religious and spiritual sphere are also impaired. Accepting such a loss is truly difficult. Therefore, a large group has adopted a third path in this matter. They cannot call our da‘wah and movement wrong, because there is not the slightest scope anywhere for saying so. Yet even while acknowledging its truth in clear language, they leave aside the principle and vilify particular individuals, thereby making the matter as confused as possible so that the justification for remaining aloof from this movement of truth may be established. In this regard, I only wish to say that they should consider today that the words and arguments they are presenting to silence people will not enable them to silence Allah Himself on the Day of Judgment.
Our Method of Action
I shall now try to present briefly the method of action adopted for this movement of ours. Like our fundamental da‘wah, our method of action has also been derived from the Qur’an and the methods of action of the prophets. We first tell those who accept our da‘wah to shape their lives in practice according to servitude to Allah and to demonstrate their wholehearted devotion and concentration in this work. We also tell them to purify their lives from every act contrary to faith. It is from this point that the purification of their character, the formation of their disposition, and its testing begin. Those who have received higher education with great and lofty goals before them must themselves demolish with their own hands the sky-high castles of dreams they have built and step into a field of life in which the prospects of honor, rank, and economic comfort are not visible in their own lives, nor even for several generations after them. And those whose financial prosperity rests upon plundered wealth, the appropriated shares of partners, and property and land acquired by depriving heirs of their rights must, as a result of joining this movement, give up everything and become destitute. Their sole reason is that the God whom they have acknowledged as their Owner and Master does not at all approve of anyone’s unjustly taking another person’s property. Those whose means of livelihood were contrary to the Shariah or connected with the false state system find that, far from dreaming of advancement, even swallowing a mouthful of food earned by their present means becomes unbearable. Consequently, they strive with all their might to abandon their present means of livelihood and adopt another pure way—even if it is as lowly as it may be. Besides this, as I said above, as soon as a person adopts this ideal in practice, those closest to him become his enemies. His parents, brothers, friends, wife, children, and close relatives are the first to enter into conflict with his faith. With the acceptance of this command, the peaceful and affectionate home of many people turns into a wasp’s nest. In fact, this is the first training center for the workers of the Islamic movement. Through this center we obtain workers of upright, devoted, trustworthy character and firm disposition. This is a natural condition from Allah in favor of the Islamic movement. Those who fail this initial trial by fire fall away automatically from this movement and organization; we do not have to take any special trouble over them. Those who succeed in it prove the existence of their initial devotion, concentration, patience, endurance, firm resolve, love of truth, and strong disposition—qualities that are absolutely essential for taking at least the first step on Allah’s path and completing the first chapter of the test. We can regard those who succeed in this chapter as relatively more trustworthy and advance them toward the second chapter. For in this chapter an even more difficult test appears. That test creates another furnace; it likewise selects and casts away the ‘counterfeit coins’ and keeps the pure and genuine coins with us. To the best of our knowledge, we can firmly say that this is the eternal and everlasting method for separating the genuine and effective elements from the human mine and making them more capable of work. The taqwa that develops in this furnace, even if it does not pass the standards of the science of fiqh and is incomplete by the standards of a pir’s khanqah, is essentially the kind of taqwa that becomes capable of undertaking the grave responsibility of directing the world and bearing the onerous burden of this enormous trust. The taqwa produced in a khanqah may not be capable of bearing even one hundredth of this burden.
Secondly, the members of the Jamaat are also entrusted with the responsibility of propagating the ideal. It is one of their foremost and principal duties to spread among all the people in their immediate surroundings the light of truth they have received. They are considered responsible for striving so that, in these various circumstances, at least some people may accept this truth. A new test begins here as well. First of all, under the pressure of this propagational work, the life of the propagator himself begins to become faultless. For as soon as this work begins, countless telescopes and searchlights are directed toward his life and character. Thus, even if there is some minor thing contrary to faith in the propagator’s own life, this free corrective effort makes it clear to him, and by constantly applying the lash it makes his life flawless and pure. If the propagator has truly believed in this da‘wah with wholehearted devotion, he will not become at all enraged or offended by this criticism, nor will he ever try to conceal the faults in his work by contrivance. Rather, in the light of people’s criticism, even if it is intended merely as purification, he will have the opportunity to purify himself without effort or expense. A vessel that hundreds of hands strive to scrub and polish will ultimately become clean and clear, no matter how heavily its dirt has accumulated—there can be no doubt about that.
Nor is that all. As a result of this kind of propagational process, many qualities and characteristics are developed in our workers that can later be used independently in greater fields of work. As the propagator advances through various adverse and discouraging circumstances, arrows of ridicule rain upon him in some places, he must hear insulting remarks in others, and he is welcomed with countless kinds of reproach and various foolish acts. Elsewhere, all sorts of blame and accusations are raised against him, making his life burdensome; in some places, novel means are adopted to entangle him in various kinds of fitnah, quarrels, and disputes; elsewhere he is driven from his home, deprived of his inheritance, and cut off from friendships and family ties, making his life unbearable in his own surroundings. Even in such circumstances, the worker among us who does not lose courage, does not withdraw from this movement of truth, is not prepared to surrender before the people of falsehood, does not become agitated and lose the balance of his judgment, but instead strives unceasingly to make his life conform to his ideal with a scientific method of action, profound intelligence, flexible firmness, steadfastness, honesty, justice, piety, and a wholeheartedly sincere mind—there can be no doubt that the higher and nobler qualities within him will fully develop and reach excellence. Indeed, these very qualities are absolutely essential in the later stages of the Islamic movement.
For propagating the ideal, we have tried to teach our workers the method of action set out in the Qur’an. That is, to invite people toward Allah’s path with the help of reason, knowledge, intelligence, and noble admonition, and gradually, according to a highly natural and orderly method, to try to build real life before people upon the foundations of the primary and fundamental principles of Islam. Workers are particularly forbidden to engage in unscientific practices such as giving anyone more spiritual nourishment than he can bear, presenting subsidiary matters before fundamentals, or wasting time trying to remove outward defects instead of trying to remove basic faults. Rather than treating people afflicted by depression and errors of belief and action with hatred and contempt, our work is to try, like a skilled physician, to treat their actual disease with sympathy and a desire for their welfare. To learn to respond to reproach and stone-throwing with beneficial action, to show patience when subjected to oppression and persecution, not to engage in futile argument and self-interested disputes with ignorant and foolish people, and to disregard meaningless talk like a noble and elevated soul—these are the characteristics of our workers. Instead of pursuing those who try to remain distant from the ideal of truth, it is obligatory to give greater attention to truth-seeking people, however low they may be in worldly rank. In this striving, it is the duty of our workers to keep away from hypocritical and ostentatious actions, not to count their achievements and proudly present them before people in an attempt to attract their attention, to perform every deed solely for Allah, and to hope to receive its reward from Allah alone. They should feel that Allah sees all their deeds and will surely grant them the full reward for all their work. Whether the people of the world understand its value or not, and whether people give any benefit or punishment, it makes no difference. Indeed, this method of action requires extraordinary patience, endurance, and tireless striving. Even after working continuously for a long time, one may perhaps gain no benefit at all. Although under an artificial and ostentatious method of action, enormous and attractive results can be obtained through a short period of work, our workers will never accept it. As a result, deep insight, seriousness, intelligence, efficiency, and presence of mind develop among our workers. These qualities are of the utmost importance in the extremely critical and laborious stages of this movement. Although the movement may advance somewhat slowly as a result, each of its steps is established on a firm and deep foundation. Only with this kind of method of action is it possible to draw the best part of society into the movement. Instead of creating a vast crowd of worthless people with superficial vision, this method enables us to gain the most upright people in society as workers for the movement. There can be no doubt that one such worker is far more valuable and powerful than a thousand useless and worthless people. A major part of our method of action is that we have deprived ourselves of the assistance and opportunities provided by the laws and courts of the false governing system. We will not seek any help from the false state system to protect our human rights, our lives and property, or our honor and dignity—although this has not been imposed as a duty upon all our members; rather, it has been presented to everyone as a high standard, and everyone has been given the freedom to adopt it. If they wish, they may reach this higher standard; otherwise, defeated by blows and counterblows in adverse circumstances, they will decline. Of course, a limit has also been set here for downward movement. Those who cross even that final limit, who fall below it, will no longer be allowed to remain in the Jamaat. Anyone who brings a false lawsuit, gives false testimony, or becomes involved in a lawsuit without a reasonable cause—who becomes involved in a case out of sheer selfishness, to satisfy a lust for gain, or to preserve the baseless honor of a friendship or family relationship—can have no place in Jamaat-e-Islami.
Many people are apparently unable to understand the rationale behind this policy we follow regarding law and courts, and therefore raise various baseless questions. But a little reflection reveals its immense underlying value. First, through this we can prove by practical action that we are an idealistic Jamaat. It should be remembered that this is not a matter of amusement or enjoyment; for this reason one must submit oneself to an extremely bitter and difficult trial by fire. When we say that no one besides Allah has the right to make laws for human life, and when we claim that sovereignty belongs solely to Allah and that no one can have the right to exercise authority or rule on earth without obeying Allah and following His law, then, when it is also our belief that whoever judges and decides people’s affairs without divine law is a kafir, fasiq, and zalim, it cannot in any way be proper for our rights to be established according to our beliefs and claims and on the basis of Allah’s law while entrusting the judgment between truth and falsehood to the power of the false state. If we can naturally place the responsibility for judging right and wrong upon the false state authority and yet fulfill our duty properly even in times of harm and danger, then this will be clear proof of our honesty, character, firmness, idealism, and profound consistency between our beliefs and practical deeds. Conversely, if any interest, hope, greed, fear of danger, or blow of oppression and persecution compels us to act against our faith, this will expose our inner weakness and the hollowness of our character and disposition, after which no further proof will be necessary. Secondly, this is for us an unquestionable standard for proving the loyalty of our members. Through it we can accurately know which people among us are trustworthy and firm, and in what kinds of trials they may be expected to succeed.
Its third and immense benefit will be that, after adopting this policy, our members will naturally be compelled to establish their relationship with society on the basis of justice and morality instead of law. They will have to raise their moral character to such a high standard—to become within their surroundings such living embodiments of the ideal of truth, commitment to Islam, fear of Allah, and benevolent action—that the people of society will naturally be compelled to protect their rights, honor, and lives and property. For apart from this moral protection, they have no other means of self-defense in this world. If, in such circumstances, they fail to obtain moral security, their condition will undoubtedly be like that of a young goat among a pack of jackals in a dense forest.
Fourthly, by casting ourselves and all our interests and rights into danger in this way, we wish to expose completely the moral condition of present society. When, knowing that we do not seek the assistance of the police or courts, attacks of brigandage are made upon our rights from every direction, the moral condition of our country and society will become evident before the world. It will then be possible to understand how many among us have merely pretended to be ‘respectable’ out of fear of the law, government, and police, and how many have hidden themselves under the false covering of religion, morality, and humanity and, if they do not fear arrest, can openly demonstrate the validity of brigandage. It will further be proved that, if they find the time and opportunity, these ‘respectable’ religious people can present practical evidence of the lowest characterlessness, irreligiousness, and brutality. Indeed, this is carrying a loathsome growth within our national moral character toward destruction. As a result of this method of action of ours, this internal disease will become manifest before the people. Seeing it, may the eyes of our society be opened, and may a correct understanding arise of the severity of the grave disease that has been ignored to this day. (The policy of not seeking the protection of law and courts existed during the British period. It was abandoned during the Pakistan period. This policy remains in force during the Bangladesh period. It is very good if anyone can follow this difficult policy of the British period. Of course, this policy is not something to be imposed—it is something to be practiced.)—Translator
Examine this da‘wah and method of action of ours with deep insight; test it through severe criticism; understand toward what we are calling people and how truthful the method of action we have adopted for that purpose is. Examine deeply whether it is consistent with the commands of Allah and His Messenger, and to what extent it can serve as a remedy for the individual and collective diseases of present society. Also consider to what extent the great objective for which we are conducting this movement—the making of Allah’s religion supreme and the eradication of false ideologies—can be effective.
I shall now discuss several doubts and misgivings and present my answers concerning them.
The Excuse of the Ulama and Pirs
An old question is being raised anew. It is this: Are the great scholars and pirs of the country not well acquainted with the Din of Islam? Could they not understand earlier the form in which it has now become manifest through Jamaat-e-Islami? Moreover, as has been said, despite being told repeatedly, they do not accept it. Not only that, they are not even prepared to cooperate with it. What, then, is the reason for this? Does this prove that whatever is propagated by the Jamaat concerning the Din of Islam is, in essence, something outside the Din of Islam?
The brief answer to this question is that, instead of trying to understand the Din of Islam through people of the present or the past, I have always tried to understand it through the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him). Therefore, in order to know what God’s Din demands of me and of other believers, I have paid no attention at all to what any eminent person does or says. Instead, I have always tried to understand the Qur’an and the Messenger’s method of action. I shall therefore draw your attention too to this way of acquiring knowledge. Judge only, with a pure and impartial view, whether the direction in which I am calling you and the method of action adopted for it are undoubtedly proved by the commands of the Holy Qur’an and the actions of the prophets. If this is proved from the Qur’an and Sunnah—and if you are prepared to acquire knowledge from the Qur’an and Sunnah—then accept my da’wah and join me. If there is anything contrary to the Qur’an and Sunnah in our da’wah and method of action, prove it without hesitation. If it is truly proved that we have deviated even a particle from the Qur’an and Sunnah anywhere, we shall not delay for a moment in accepting the genuine truth. But if, in proving truth and falsehood, you rely on particular individuals rather than on the Qur’an and Sunnah, that is your choice. Entrust yourselves today to the hands of your future leaders, and say before God that you had left your Din in the hands of individuals instead of the Qur’an and Sunnah—if you think you can offer such an answer before God and be saved, you may do so without concern; I have nothing more to say on the matter.
Ridiculing the Dervish Ideal
It has been said: “Jamaat-e-Islami is merely a group of dervishes, or world-renouncing people. It has severed every connection with the practical affairs of the world and with contemporary politics and gone to sit in a corner. Yet, in the present critical period facing Muslims, it is their duty to come forward and think about the future of the entire nation. Not Muslims alone; non-Muslims too are compelled first of all to engage in shaping their own political future. Therefore, those who are concerned with the problems of practical life cannot participate in this movement. Surely, only a few world-renouncing and religious-minded people can join it?”
The question is sarcastic and reveals a superficial outlook. Our present politicians too have entered the field of action with this same superficial outlook. They consider only political problems and changes in outward appearances important, and seek to solve all their problems by this route. But their vision does not reach the foundations upon which the edifice of politics is built. Why have the present political problems become so complicated? The answer is that this country was conquered by people who came from several thousand miles away—not because this country’s society, moral character, beliefs, thought, culture and civilization, energy, and ability were at their highest development. Taking advantage of the Muslim nation’s long-standing apathy, neglect, and weakness, a neighboring nation became stronger than it even amid this subjugation. Consequently, the Muslims faced the complicated question: should they first save themselves from the enemy within the house, or protect themselves from the enemy outside? This, in reality, is the brief essence of Muslim politics in subjugated India. Muslims and the other neighboring Indian nations wish to solve this problem through minor outward changes in the country’s state system. I consider this politics and this method of solving the problem utterly meaningless and imprudent. In my view, spending even a moment on it is fruitless. The essence of the present political complications and problems not only in India but throughout the world, in my opinion, is this: “Humanity has lost its proper place in the world and is vainly trying to gain what is not its proper place, while it has based its moral character, culture, civilization, economy, and politics upon rebellion against God. As a result, a great catastrophe has arisen throughout the world. A violent storm of wickedness and unbelief has risen. The attempt to reinforce this disastrous outcome merely by changing the form of the world order is called ‘world politics.’ But in my view—and fundamentally in Islam’s view—this politics is utterly meaningless, merely the product of a superficial outlook. On the basis of what I have learned of Islam’s teachings, I can say that there is only one solution to all the political problems and complications of India’s Muslims, all the inhabitants of India, the Muslim world, and indeed all humanity: that we all worship the One God, accept His laws and ordinances as our system of life, and take the authority to administer the world order from the rebellious, wicked, and unbelieving hands and place it in the hands of God’s righteous and virtuous servants. Those to whom this politics is not agreeable, and who wish to solve their problems through some other kind of politics, follow an entirely separate path. Their path has no connection with mine. Try to solve your problems as you see fit. But my colleagues and I, after deep consideration, shall devote all our strength to the ideal and method of action in which we believe the welfare of our country, our nation, and the entire world lies. If the people of the world heed our words, they will benefit; if they do not, they themselves will suffer. It will neither harm nor benefit us.”
Then, in reply to the ridicule directed at the proposal to form a group of dervishes and world-renouncing people, we say that there should be no room for any misconception or misinterpretation in this regard. In reality, we wish to form a group whose every member will, on the one hand, surpass the ordinary pious and God-fearing people of society in taqwa and piety, and, on the other, be far ahead of ordinary worldly people in the ability and efficiency required to administer the world. In our view, one of the principal causes of all the world’s disintegration and catastrophes is that, because of an incorrect understanding of honesty and righteousness, sitting in a corner and severing all connection with the work and activity of the real world are regarded as piety. As a result, the responsibility for administering the entire world falls into the hands of the most dishonest people. Although these dishonest people utter the name of righteousness, it has no connection with them and serves only to deceive the people. This catastrophe can be remedied in only one way: a well-organized Jamaat of God’s righteous servants must be formed. Every member of this group must fear God, be just and trustworthy, be adorned with the character and qualities chosen by God, and at the same time possess the greatest ability to administer the world, so that they may defeat the worldly people of the present world precisely in their worldly affairs. In our view, there can be no greater politics than this. Moreover, no political movement can be more timely or successful than organizing the people of justice. Indeed, until such a group is formed, the present leaders, devoid of moral character and ideals, will have the leisure to graze about in the pasture of the world. But when this group is formed, believe me: authority over the politics, economy, knowledge and science, literature, justice, and everything else—not only of this country but of the entire world—will be entrusted to this new idealistic group. Then the lamps of the wicked and unbelieving will not be able to burn here at all. I cannot say how this revolution will be accomplished. But I have an unquestioning faith that it will take place, as certain as tomorrow’s sunrise. The condition, however, is that a group of righteous people must be organized and built up.
Advice to the Workers of the Jamaat
Having concluded the general discussion here, I now wish to say a few particularly important things to the workers of the Jamaat.
First of all, what I wish to tell you is something I say at every conference, yet I shall say the same to you today. Deeply feel the importance of the tremendous responsibility that, knowingly, deliberately, and after giving a pledge to God, you have placed upon your shoulders. Your duty in this matter cannot be fulfilled merely by observing God’s law yourselves to the greatest extent, by making your faith, words, and deeds consistent, or by shaping every aspect and department of your lives according to the Islamic ideal. Rather, it is one of the principal demands that the Din of Islam makes of you that you strive to liberate humanity from the destructive practices of all the other religions and systems of life in the world through the Islam in which you have believed, the ideal that you have accepted as the Din of your Lord, and the path that you regard as the eternal truth and the only path for all humanity, and to bathe and inundate it in the flood of the true Din and boundless welfare. For Islam, you must show far greater devotion and self-sacrifice than the followers of the false systems of society in the present world show in support of their respective false and destructive ideas. Before your very eyes, countless people readily endure the greatest dangers, enormous waste of wealth and property, irreparable loss of life, the destruction of country after country, and the sacrifice of their own children and relatives—simply because they wish to make the way of life they consider correct, and the system in which they believe their welfare lies, victorious not only in their own countries but throughout the world. You must surpass them in patience, self-sacrifice, exertion, suffering and hardship, endurance, and love for the purpose of your lives. But in view of the present level of your financial contributions, expenditure of time and labor, love for your objective, and sacrifice for its sake, you have no right even to cherish the hope that this banner will be raised at your hands. Secondly, I have always felt the need to tell you that you must understand the importance of the fundamental and principled matters of the Din of Islam. Excessive importance has so far been placed on matters of detail. If the entire religious community has been afflicted by this disease and become decrepit, abandon it. I feel that, despite the utmost efforts of myself and several other prominent members of the Jamaat, the disease of giving excessive importance to matters of detail still exists in our Jamaat. At times this disease manifests itself so intensely that, instead of abandoning it according to our advice, futile attempts are made to involve us ourselves in matters of detail. This matter should be deeply understood. However important the detailed issues over which you dispute may be, Allah the Exalted did not send a single prophet to establish any one of them as such. The purpose of the coming of the prophets and the revelation of God’s Book was to establish God’s true Din. The central aim of all their striving was to make humanity obedient and subject to the One God and free it from every other form of servitude. All people were to be obliged to follow the law of Allah alone, fear God alone, and obey God’s command alone. The distinction between truth and falsehood, and the guidance of the true path in life, is acceptable only when given by Allah. Eliminating every unjust and sinful system opposed to God’s principles and establishing all welfare systems ordained by God is also an essential duty of tawhid. Establishing this Din of Islam is our objective. As Muslims, we have been commanded to do this work. Try to understand deeply the importance of this work. Be certain that if this work ceases, the false system of life will prevail in the world, and as a result God’s wrath may descend upon the people of the world. Also know that the only way to protect oneself from that wrath and attain God’s pleasure is to dedicate one’s strength, wealth, time, life and soul, mind, and speech—everything—to establishing God’s Din of Islam. If you can truly feel this in your hearts and minds, you will never become involved in these futile disputes. I think the basic reason for becoming involved in these controversies and sophistical arguments is failure to understand correctly the profound truth of the Din of Islam and its demands.
Another fault is becoming apparent among our workers. In terms of the Jamaat’s ideal, objective, and ideology, they may have understood it well, but they have not understood its method of action at all. Their attention is therefore repeatedly being drawn to this, yet they make special efforts to pull and stretch our objective together with the methods of other groups and create an unprecedented mishmash. When they are forbidden to do this, they think that a dynamic method of action is being needlessly ignored. Perhaps they think it is being done merely out of jealousy. Some have become so rash that, when warned about such activity, they immediately say, “The name of the Jamaat will be used, not anyone else’s.” Perhaps they imagine that the purpose of this effort and striving is simply to put a registered trademark of the Jamaat into operation. More astonishing still is that, despite understanding this, they remain associated with us to this day. Some of our Jamaat branches have been seriously afflicted by this disease. Among many others, there is a desire and idea to adopt a highly dynamic method of action and immediately accomplish something enormous. In reality, this is nothing but the old disease of action without thought. It has been infecting Muslims for ages. Thus it is no less dangerous than thought without action. I wish to say with certainty that if there were truly anything living in the present religious and political parties, we might have hesitated to form a new group. But, relying on whatever wisdom, knowledge, and insight Allah has granted me, I can say in clear terms that not one of the currently established movements and leaderships possesses the real capacity to cure the Muslims’ serious disease. Quite apart from establishing Islam and fulfilling its demands, whatever these groups say about the Muslims’ problems and disease is extremely superficial. They have no understanding of Islam’s true demands. Nor have they correctly grasped the real cause of the worldwide triumph of unbelief and wickedness and the weakness of the Din of Islam. Moreover, although we do not call wrong the superficially directed movements that have been conducted to change this condition, although we do not criticize their defects, and although we respect their underlying motive, there is no doubt at all about their failure, because they have not deeply understood what work must be done in which fields and in what sequence to change this condition, and have therefore adopted a highly dynamic method of action. I can say with certainty that even if movements of this kind continued for several centuries with complete success and excitement, they could not create even the slightest revolution in the system of human life. If a genuine revolution is to arise, it will arise as a result of this Islamic movement, and for that reason the method of action we have adopted alone can be natural and effective. It was adopted only after a profound study and examination of the true nature of the Din of Islam and its history. There is no doubt, however, that our method of action requires immense patience, is slow, and offers no hope of any perceptible result in the near future; rather, it requires uninterrupted striving for a long period. Yet there is also no doubt that this is the only way to achieve success in this work; apart from it, the objective cannot be attained by any other path. Those who do not like either our objective or our method of action must not be allowed to try to revise, alter, or expand either of these two according to their wishes. Anyone wishing to walk with us must follow our ideal and method of action with wholehearted support. Those whose hearts are attached to other movements may examine those paths and viewpoints.
A recent example has been found of the dangerous weakness of superficiality, ostentation, and haste that is generally seen among Muslims today. A few months ago I proposed a method for educating adults. But it attracted and inspired no one. Yet many people from different places are demanding that they go about in groups from village to village and lane to lane, and adopt some method of action capable of producing enormous results immediately. However great the result such a method may produce in superficial appearance, there is no doubt that it will be short-lived. Yet despite being repeatedly made to understand this, they are not refraining from this astonishing effort. One kind of method of action consists in gathering a number of uneducated people, teaching them for a year or more, and preparing them according to the Islamic ideal. Their beliefs and creed, moral character, daily conduct, purpose in life, and standards of good and evil—in every respect they are to be changed according to Islamic injunctions and appointed as workers of the Jamaat. Workers produced through this kind of adult-education method can easily be appointed as workers in the Islamic movement among laborers, farmers, and the mass front.
Another kind of method of action is to gather thousands of people within a very short time, preach to them a few elementary matters of Islam, and immediately create a kind of activism among them. But activity generated by such sudden enthusiasm can never produce lasting benefit. Between these two methods of action, I see that people’s enthusiasm for the first is very low, while they are flocking toward the latter. The first method is essentially productive of lasting results, but it requires time, striving, and patience. When we consider this situation, two weaknesses of the Muslims become clear. Indeed, these weaknesses have compelled them throughout the ages to waste their strength, labor, time, and wealth on temporary, enthusiasm-driven activities. On this subject I can say only this much: as long as the responsibility for directing Jamaat-e-Islami remains entrusted to me, I shall try to employ my colleagues only in genuine, sound, and correctly productive work; I shall never knowingly employ them in fruitless efforts.
Before concluding my address, I wish to tell you one final and important thing. There are some people in our Jamaat who adopt an extremely harsh and merciless attitude in tabligh and propagational work. From the questions being put to me, it can easily be inferred that they are less concerned with drawing misguided people toward Islam and guiding them onto the right path than with separating people from within our own ranks. Religious enthusiasm has awakened in them far more hatred, disregard, and anger than a spirit of sympathy and goodwill. That is why they ask me: Why do people who have such-and-such weakness not sever their connection with the Jamaat? Why should we pray with them? Or why should they not be called unbelievers and polytheists? But these questioners have felt no need to ask anything about what means and methods might bring misguided people toward the truth. Their apathy, contempt, and conduct are grievous; it is our duty to try to illuminate them with the light of Islam. I think that those who, by God’s grace, have found guidance to the true path have allowed this attainment of truth to produce pride in their hearts instead of gratitude. I hope my impression is mistaken. But in this connection I wish to say clearly that every member of the Jamaat must carefully examine his own heart. The fear of God should remain active in everyone’s heart in this matter, and each person must remain alert every moment against Satan’s deception. The condition of a few healthy people in a locality afflicted by an epidemic is exactly like that of some people in today’s stricken society who have been blessed with sound knowledge and the ability to do good works. If the handful of healthy people in that locality possess even a little skill in treating illness and have some medicine available, what is their true duty? Should they show hatred toward the victims of the epidemic? Should they drive them away, or leave them in that condition and try to flee themselves? Or should they put themselves in danger and take care to treat and nurse the sick? Even if some filth touches their bodies in this effort, they must endure it with an open heart. I can say firmly that if they adopt the first course, they will be found guilty before God; and because they possess health, experience in treatment, and the necessary medicines, they will be proved even more guilty. Understand this example deeply, and also consider what the correct course can be for those who, in the sight of the Din of Islam, are healthy, possess sound knowledge of the Din of Islam, and possess effective means of reforming society according to the ideal of truth, so that they may attain God’s pleasure.
— The End —