About the Author:
Sheikh Abul A'la Maududi (1903– 1979) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar, intellect, and preacher. He played a major role in reforming Pakistan’s politics and was the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami.
This book is taken from a lecture given by Sheikh Abul A'la Maududi at the Jamaat-e-Islami conference in Karachi in 1951. Sheikh Maududi discussed the programs developed by Jamaat-e-Islami to address the issues affecting Muslim countries, particularly in Pakistan. He emphasized that the group's goal is to eliminate systems that do not adhere to Islamic principles and to establish a way of life based on obedience to Allah and faith in the Hereafter.
Sheikh Maududi pointed out that Jamaat-e-Islami aims to reform Pakistan first, making it a model for global reform. The objective is not only to prevent corruption and rectify what has been ruined but also to establish a way of life centered on worshiping Allah and aspiring to the Hereafter, as humanity’s true happiness and success can only come from this.
A Look at History
To understand the root causes of our current issues and to develop an effective plan to eradicate these problems, we must review our history, for the foundation of many of our troubles can be traced back to British colonialism.
Causes of Our Enslavement
The subjugation faced by Muslim lands in the last century was a direct result of religious, moral, and intellectual decline, which led to our subjugation by British colonialism. Religious conditions deteriorated as no organized efforts were made to spread and teach Islam after the initial Islamic conquest of Sindh. Consequently, the masses remained in ignorance. Governments did not care about teaching the correct Islam for the new converts, the efforts were completely made by sole individuals, thus people remained influenced by pre-Islamic customs.
Moral conditions also worsened, reducing the middle class to mere laborers exploited for money, while the wealthy pursued personal interests. Our enemies exploited our weaknesses, with the British occupying our lands with assistance from some of our own people. Even today, leaders exploit these weaknesses for personal gains, using religion to please rulers and kings.
Intellectually, there was stagnation, as innovation and creation ceased. Education was limited to the knowledge passed down from ancestors without any new contributions, resulting in intellectual stagnation.
Foundations of Western Culture
While Muslims were in decline, Europe was experiencing a renaissance that clashed with Christianity in the Middle Ages. This conflict led to the separation of religion from politics, economics, ethics, law, science, art, and social life, creating a secular atheist mindset. Western philosophy became materialistic and superficial, leaving no room for unseen truths.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, philosophical theories dominated European culture and civilization. Notable among these were Hegel's historical philosophy, which posited that each era builds on new ideas that clash with old ones to create new civilizations; Darwin's theory of evolution, which saw life as a struggle where only the fittest survive; and Marx's materialist view of history, which attributed historical movements to class struggles driven by self-interest.
Western ethics became utilitarian and empirical, valuing morals only for their worldly benefits and pleasures. Western politics adopted secularism, nationalism, and democracy, divorcing religion from human affairs and making the people the sole arbiters of right and wrong.
The Comprehensive Influence of Western Culture
Western culture had a widespread impact on us due to their extensive means of dissemination, propaganda, and education. They also controlled beneficial tools like law and the judiciary, using their political influence to dominate every aspect of our livelihood, thereby tightening their grip on society.
The Influence of Western Education
Westerners imposed their education system on us, tying economic opportunities to those who received this education, which was filled with theories and scientific manifestations contrary to our culture. They uprooted our pure Islamic culture, replacing it with foreign cultures that does not suit our heritage or identity.
The Influence of the Economic System
They imposed their economic system on us, blocking opportunities to anyone who rejected its principles, forcing us to consume what is prohibited without distinguishing between halal and haram. Many of us no longer adhered to Islamic teachings that prohibited much of what the Western system allowed.
The Influence of the Law
Westerners imposed their laws on us, making massive changes to our social and legal perceptions. Law is closely related to the morals and society of people, and when they replaced our Islamic laws with theirs, they uprooted our ethical and civil system, replacing it with an unethical un-Islamic system.
The Influence on Morals and Society
They did not stop there but also imposed their moral and social corruption on us. Emulating Western morals became a mark of honor, leading to widespread immorality through obscene images, cinemas, and radio, significantly affecting the morals of society.
The Influence of the Political System
They imposed their political theories and systems on us, shaking our religious beliefs. Despite their departure after partitioning our lands, the divisions they created did not resolve past differences but became a base for new conflicts, proving the unsuitability of these systems for our people.
Our Response to Western Culture
Our response to Western culture appeared in two different forms, each with far-reaching consequences:
- Emotional Response: This was characterized by submission and compliance, with some insisting on accepting everything the powerful Western nation offered and submitting to its laws and teachings. This led the majority to adopt the Western perspective on religion and life, fundamentally changing our religious and moral nature. People forgot that Western opposition was directed at the church and its teachings, applying the same view to Islam and its teachings, and accepted the Western notion that religion has no role except in personal matters.
- Static Response: Another group clung to the old ways in all aspects of life, rejecting any influence from modern culture. While this response helped preserve our heritage and pass it on to future generations, it also inherited the flaws of the old system and failed to maintain the true essence of our religion, morals, and culture.
Consequences
This interaction and response to Western culture led to significant moral and religious losses, with our original values and culture replaced by a Western culture based on materialism and utilitarianism. Religious leaders abandoned societal leadership, and Western-educated elites took over, diverting society from its Islamic values and morals.
What Do We Want?
We are facing two choices:
- Following the path of previous rulers by adopting a materialistic culture that ignores religion and the Hereafter, potentially leading us to a situation similar to America and Russia. However, this option is harmful and contradicts what’s right, and is unlikely in Pakistan due to the deep-rooted love of Islam in its people.
- Following the straight path outlined by Islam through Allah’s Book and the Prophet's Sunnah. This is our aspiration and what we expect the Muslims of this country to seek. Implementing Islam as a way of life requires significant effort to overcome the resistance that will arise from changing old habits.
It is necessary to distinguish between the genuine progress achieved by the West in the fields of civilization and science and their misleading philosophical and ideological beliefs. We should adopt what benefits us and avoid what misleads us. To achieve this goal, we need individuals with strong Islamic competencies and mindsets, capable of facing difficult challenges and refuting fabricated allegations.
We must also change the current system, establishing educational, legal, economic, and political systems based on pure Islamic principles. This would make Islam the dominant system in our lives and turn Pakistan into a center for the call to goodness in the Islamic world.
Jamaat-e-Islami's Program
Sheikh Maududi concluded his speech by discussing Jamaat-e-Islami’s reform program, which consists of four parts:
- Purifying Ideas: Removing all corruption and showing the correct principles that should be followed, teaching the public how to apply Islamic principles to contemporary issues. We aim to change ideas that conflict with our principles and feed minds with new revivalist thoughts.
- Selecting Righteous Individuals: Identifying and nurturing righteous individuals from all sectors and regions who seek reform and are ready to sacrifice for it. We gather them into a unified system and train them intellectually and morally, taking from our nation the righteous individuals who are not currently serving Islam and engaging them in organized efforts for reform and construction.
- Social Reform: Addressing every social class according to their circumstances and our resources, dividing workers based on their abilities and talents. The goal is to eliminate intellectual, practical, and moral chaos that has engulfed the nation and instill correct Islamic thinking in its members. This is achieved not just through preaching and guidance but by implementing organized programs such as illiterate education, cleanliness campaigns, supporting families, orphans, widows, the elderly, students, and the poor, and establishing schools, depending on our capabilities.
- Reforming Governance and Administration: It is impossible to reform the current life’s corruption while the governance and administrative system remains corrupt. We must eliminate corruption in authority and replace it with a righteous one. If the righteous control power, they can make significant changes in education, law, and administration in a few years that non-political efforts cannot achieve in a century. The path to this change is through elections, educating public opinion, changing people’s criteria for electing representatives, and reforming election methods from fraud and deception. This will place governance in the hands of righteous individuals capable of advancing the country's system based on pure Islamic principles.
