One group [of commentators] has intellectually accepted the philosophy, moral concepts and social principles on which Western civilization and culture are based. They consider life and its problems from the same viewpoint as was adopted by the architects of modern Europe, and now they want to mould the social pattern of their respective homelands also after the same Western pattern. They sincerely believe that the real aim of education for a woman is to enable her to earn her living and to acquire the arts of appearing attractive to the male. Her real position in the family according to them is that, like the man, she should also be an earning member, so as to subscribe fully her share to the common family budget. They think that a woman is meant to add charm and sweetness to communal life by her beauty, elegance and attractive manners. She should warm people up by her sweet, musical words, she should send them to ecstasy by her rhythmic movements and she should dance them to the highest pitch of pleasure and excitement. They think that the woman’s role in national life consists in doing social work, attending municipal councils, participating in conferences and congresses, and devoting her time and abilities to tackle political, cultural and social problems. She should take part in physical exercise and sports, compete in swimming, jumping and racing contests, and set new records in long-distance flights. In short, she should do anything and everything outside the house and concern herself less with what is inside the house. This is their ideal for womanhood. It leads to worldly prosperity, and all the moral concepts that run counter to it are devoid of sense and meaningless. To suit the purposes of the new life, therefore, these people have exchanged the old moral concepts for the new ones, just as Europe did. For them, material gain and sensual pleasures are of real worth, whereas a sense of honour, chastity, moral purity, matrimonial loyalty, undefiled lineage and the like virtues are not only worthless but antiquated whims which must be destroyed for the sake of making progress. These people are indeed the true followers [Urdu momin] of the Western creed. They are now trying their utmost to spread and propagate it in Eastern countries also by the same techniques and devices as have already been adopted in the West.

Maududi articulated a deep critique of nationalism, and this section details some of his concerns about the possibility of majoritarian oppression and legitimate exclusion built into democratic nationalism. Written between the 1930s and mid 1940s the essays selected detail Maududi’s critique of nationalism. In the highly charged context of declining but violent colonial power and increasing enthusiasm for anti-colonial nationalism, Maududi made his arguments against Muslim nationalists who supported the formation of a separate nation-state for Muslims, as well as nationalist Muslims, those who supported the formation of an Indian nation-state after independence from British rule.

Nature has created man, like other species, as male and female, each possessing a strong natural urge for the other. The study of other animal species has shown that their division into male and female and the natural urge in them for the opposite sex is confined to the propagation of the species only. That is why their sexual urge is just proportionate to requirements to that end. Moreover, this urge has been so controlled in them instinctively that they never transgress sexually the limits set for their nature. Contrary to this, man has been endowed with this urge in an unlimited, unparallelled measure, knowing no discipline whatever. Man knows no restriction of time and clime. Man and woman have a perpetual appeal for each other. They have been endowed with a powerful urge for sexual love, with an unlimited capacity to attract and be attracted sexually. Their physical constitution, its proportions and shape, its complexion, touch and each element, all have a strange attraction for the opposite sex. Their voice, their gait, their manner and appearance, each has a magnetic power. Moreover, the world around them abounds in factors that further arouse this sexual impulse and make the one inclined to the other. The soft murmuring breeze, the running water, the natural hues of vegetation, the sweet smell of flowers, the chirping of birds, dark clouds, the charms of the moonlit night, in short, all the beauties and all the graces of nature stimulate directly or indirectly this relationship between the male and female.

Now we have to dwell on the question of how we can achieve those objectives of Islamic qawmiyyat [nationhood; selfhood] in India which we defined in the previous publications. As far as we know, no ‘Muslim’ individual or group disagrees with this objective. The difference, if there be any, lies in determining the correct path to achieve this objective. Now, we need to critically analyse the various paths before us. The correct path will become evident after such an analysis.

It is an irony of fate that, nowadays, the demand for the enforcement of Islamic law has become surrounded by such a thick mist of misgivings that a mere reference to it, even in a Muslim country like Pakistan, raises a storm of criticism. Thus, for instance, the questions are asked: can a centuries-old legal system be adequate to fulfil the requirements of our modern state and society? Is it not absurd to think that a law which had been framed under certain particular circumstances in bygone days can hold good in every age and every clime? Do you seriously propose to start chopping off the hands of thieves and flogging human beings in this modern, enlightened age? Will our markets again abound in slaves and deal in the sale and purchase of human beings as chattels and playthings? Which particular sect’s legal system is going to be introduced here? What about non-Muslim minorities, who will never tolerate the dominance of Muslim religious law and will resist it with all the force at their command? One has to face a volley of such questions while discussing the problem, and, strangely enough, not from non-Muslims but from the Muslim educated elite!

Arguments that are put forward against pardah are not merely negative in nature but have a positive and affirmative basis. These arguments are founded not just on a dislike for restricting women’s mobility and veiling as an unnecessary imprisonment, both of which should be done away with. Proponents of these arguments have in mind a totally different way of life for women. They also have an altogether different concept of the relationships between the male and the female. They want women to follow one particular way and not the other. Thus, their main objection against pardah is that if the woman remains confined to the house and veiled, she cannot follow that particular way, nor can she do anything else that is expected of her.

This chapter contains excerpts from Maududi’s immensely influential text Al Jihad fil Islam. Refuting colonial pressures to decry violent resistance, Maududi built a philosophical and historial argument regarding the specific conditions, modes and methods of war permissible in Islam. Several abridged English translations exist but are highly selective in foregrounding parts that press the necessity of violence in particular contexts. Many were published by activists who were attracted by the unapologetic tone of Maududi’s justifications of violence as part of a political struggle. However, Maududi had constructed a much more complicated argument, with comparisons across religious traditions (Buddhist, Hindu, Judaic, Christian), as well as empires in different times and regions (Roman, Sassanid, Islamic and Modern European) to frame his reading of the ethics and norms of war in the Islamic tradition. This text also contains the first articulation of some key ideas and concepts that Maududi continued to develop over the course of his career. Methodologically, too, it signposts his use of broad historical generalizations, as well as a systematic breakdown of arguments that remained central to his thinking.

Maududi’s ideas on Islamic economics have also been very influential across the Muslim world, and some argue that he should be recognized as the father of the contemporary Islamic finance sector, valued at roughly $3.5 trillion today. Arshad Zaman has rightly argued that Maududi’s insistence on using the term ma‘ashiyyat, which carries the meaning of ’provision of livelihood’, rather than iqtisādiyyat, which is more readily translated as ’economics’, is significant . Maududi was making an explicit statement against the centrality of wealth acquisition and generation associated with the term iqtisādiyyat. This collection of essays was first published in 1969, and the writings included range over the thirty years preceding its publication.

This extensive introduction presents Maududi’s anti-colonial concerns, cosmopolitan sources and conceptual innovations, while also providing an overview of existing scholarship on his thought. Will be of particular interest to scholars of political theory, history, politics, Islamic studies and South Asian studies.

To clearly distinguish the second type of evil, against which Islam calls its followers to raise their swords, from the first type and to make its nature more explicit, God describes it with the terms fitnah and fasād. Therefore, all the verses that permit or prescribe fighting against evil or command its removal through the use of force invariably employ the terms fitnah and fasād instead of munkar, evil.