Mawlana Mawdudi and Political Islam

In introducing this book, the publishers begin by noting that “Mawlana Mawdudi was one of the most influential and important Islamic thinkers of the modern world”. This is certainly a judgement the majority of admirers and critics would both agree on. For Mawlana Mawdudi has made his mark on modern Islamic thought like few others, and has defined the trajectory of the modern Islamic revival movement in more than one direction. The book promises to be the “first to engage critically and assess his career and legacy within the wider context of political Islam.” Whether it delivers on this promise is altogether another thing. The author, Dr Roy Jackson, who teaches religion and philosophy at the University of Gloucestershire, informs us that he has been studying Mawlana Mawdudi for over 20 years. He also makes no secret of his lack of sympathy for his subject. He concludes his study by offering the opinion that “Mawdudi’s band of Islamic political ideology represents a dangerous strand of fundamentalism.” This conclusion is presented in a short ‘endnote’ of just three paragraphs at the very end of the book. This short note also links Mawdudi to Egyptian militant groups through Sayyid Qutb. That is a sign of problematic scholarship, especially when the author links the founders of radical Islamic groups in Egypt to the Muslim Brotherhood. The fact was that most of them had no links to the Brotherhood, and their sources of inspiration were not Qutb or Mawdudi, but classical texts like those of Ibn Taymiyyah. But that is another matter.