Mawdudi was one of the descendants of Khwaja Qutb ad-din Mawdud al-Chishti, a notable of the
Chishtiyya Tariqa. Hadrat Muinuddin al-Chishti of Ajmar (Rahmatullahi 'Alayh) was Qutb ad-din’s
caliph, one of those who were ordered and given permission by him to guide the people who wanted to
learn. Mawdudi was born in Hydarabad in 1321 (1903). He died in the United States and was buried in
Pakistan in 1399 (1979). He began to earn his living as an accountant. With his first book, Holy War in
Islam (1927), he spread his revolutionary ideas1. When it was translated into Arabic, it influenced Hasan
al-Banna’s thoughts and caused him to revolt against the government in Egypt and to be killed.
Mawdudi’s inefficiency in knowledge has brought innumerable Muslims like this to substantial and
spiritual death, for no Islamic scholar has ever taken any interest in politics or thought of revolution. They
have guided people to the right course through knowledge and advice. They have known that Islam
would spread not through revolution but through knowledge, justice and morals. Mawdudi strove to solve
all the main principles of Islam with his own reason and always departed from Islamic scholars and
Islamic knowledge. If one observes his books minutely, one will easily see that he was in a struggle of
disseminating his own thoughts under the name of Islam. He put Islam into various shapes in order to
adapt it to modern forms of government. He shaped Islam’s institution of caliphate according to his
imagination and attacked almost all the caliphs. The annihilation of Islamic scholars, and consequently of
Islamic knowledge, by the British and their servants facilitated the spread of his aberrant ideas. The
ignorant people who were not at a level to read and understand the books of Islamic scholars readily
thought of him as a scholar, as a mujahid. His political thoughts were considered extensive Islamic
knowledge.
Mawdudi managed to take advantage of this state of languor in Muslims. Rendering the religion a
means for political purpose, he approached politicians. He interfered with the national movement of
Indian Muslims. In order to appropriate the accomplishments of vigilant Muslims and Islamic strugglers,
he produced many articles in which he played the part of national leadership and inspiration. Acting very
cleverly, he took the lead of the party. Whereas, those who suggested the idea of Pakistan’s
establishment and who worked for this purpose were numerous others led by Ali Jinnah. While Ali
Jinnah was arousing in the Indian Muslims the idea of independence and inviting them to unity, Mawdudi
made demands for his personal advantages. In order to prevent disunion, a fatwa was issued for his
imprisonment. His instigation was suppressed and Pakistan became firmly established in 1366 (1947),
and he was freed in 1950. While he was in prison in 1953, a constitution defending Muslims was prepared and accepted in 1956, but as soon as he got out of the
prison his articles inoculating with revolutionary ideas made a mess. He caused the constitution to be
prohibited and martial law to be declared. In 1962, the new constitution was carried into effect. But
Mawdudi did not keep quiet. He caused the organization of Jamaat al-Islami to be closed. He was
imprisoned again in the early 1964, but under the amnesty he was freed a little later. By shouting “human
rights” and “justice”, he fell for the idea of raising a rebellion. He opened way to tumults in Kashmir.
Indians took advantage of this and attacked Kashmir. The government met horrible and difficult
situations. Dissatisfied with all these eccentricities, Mawdudi co-operated in an underhand way with
those (Najdiyya) in Saudi Arabia. He was enrolled as a member of the assembly of consultation in
Medina, which had been established in order to spread anti-madhhabism in every Muslim country. Yet
the hadith, “Upon him who helps a cruel person, Allahu ta’ala sends that cruel person to worry
him,” manifested and he was imprisoned by those whom he wanted to approach.
Muhammad Yusuf Banuri, (d. 1397/1977), one of the scholars in Pakistan, Director of the Karachi Madrasa wrote in detail in his book Al-ustad al-Mawdudi that Abu 'l-ala Mawdudi (Mawdudi) was
anti-madhhabite and unqualified in Islam. Muhammad Yusuf wrote:
"As an unfortunate coincidence in his youth, Mawdudi employed a mulhid named Niyaz
Fathpuri as his secretary, whose heretical ideas demoralized him. With the help of his
secretary, he could give articles to various periodicles and made his living on writing. Then
he took hold of the directorate of the Jamiyyat al-'Ulama' al-Hind, later editing the
periodicle Muslim with the help of Mufti Muhammad Kifayatullah and Shaikh Ahmad Said
ad-Dahlawi. He started the periodicle Tarjuman al-Qur'an in 1352 (1933). Later the
founded the Dar al-Islam with his four friends namely Muhammad Mauzir Numani, Abu
'l-Hasan 'Ali Nadwi Luknawi, Amin Ahsan al-Islahi and Masud 'Alim an-Nadwi. At last he
established Al-Jamaat al-Islamiyya in 1360 (1941). He wrote many articles with his fluent
pen. He won the appreciation and praise of great scholars such as Shaikh Munazir Ahsan
al-Geilani, Sayyid Sulaiman an-Nadwi and 'Abdulmajid Daryabadi. When he began to
spread his ideas, there arose doubts in the long-sighted men of knowledge. Against his
book, Shaikh Munazir Ahsan al-Geilani was the first who wrote criticism under the heading
"A New Kharijite" in the periodicle Sidq al-jadid which was edited by 'Abdulmajid
Daryabadi. Then Sayyid Sulaiman an-Nadwi and Husain Ahmad al-Madani wrote
refutations against Mawdudi."
"The reason for the heresy of Mawdudi was that he learned religious information from the
non-authority. He could not gain any skill in the Arabic sciences. He could not attain to the
sohbat of real religious scholars. He was not successful in reading, writing or speaking
English and Arabic. All the Arabic books that he edited were written in Urdu originally,
later being translated into Arabic by Shaikh Masud 'Alim an-Nadwi and his disciple.
Because the author was written as Mawdudi on their covers, the readers thought that
Mawdudi wrote them in Arabic."
"Mawdudi is not a man of religion but a politician. He has a fluent style in the Urdu
language, but the sins his books cause are much greater than their benefit. Their harm is
much more. Their evils surpass their good effects. He tries to blemish as-Sahaba especially
in his Urdu books. He defames Hadrat 'Uthman (radi-Allahu 'anh), the Khulafat ar-rashid
(radi-Allahu 'anhum). He alters the terminology of Islam and blessed Ayats. He insults at
the Salaf as-Salihin. All his writings openly reveal his desire for position and fame. The
members of the Rabitat al-Alam al-Islami, which was founded by the la-madhhabi, and
many men of religious post in the Najd and Riyadh all love him and spread his Arabic
books all over the world. Among them are Kusaymi, the author of Sarra', and Nasiruddin
al-Albani, a Khariji mudarris at the Jamiat al-Madina. Muhammad Zakariyya, a Pakistani
man of religion, liked Mawdudi's writings at first, but later he wrote a letter of advice to
him and published a booklet covering his heretical opinions when he understood his heresy
and deviation. Doctor 'Abdurrazzaq Hazarawi Pakistani translated this booklet into Arabic
and published it adding his comments. Those who read it will understand Mawdudi's
opinions openly. Some of his opinions are of fisq (immorality, outright sin); some are bidat';
some are ilhad (heresy); some reveal his ignorance in Islam, and some others show that he
has not understood religious knowledge well. His various writing contradict one another."
"Great Muslim scholars of India of every madhhab congregated at Jamiyyat al-'Ulama' in
Delhi on the 27th of Shawwal, 1370 (August 1, 1951) and reached the conclusion that
Mawdudi and his Al-Jamaat al-Islamiyya caused the destruction and deviation of Muslims
and published this fatwa (decision) in a book and in papers." [Al-ustad al-Mawdudi, p.7.
Reproduced in Arabic by Hakikat Kitabevi, Istanbul, 1977.] And the scholars of Pakistan
passed a resolution that Mawdudi was a heretic who tried to make others heretics; this
resolution was edited once again in the Akhbar al-Jamiyya in Rawalpindi on the 22nd of
February, 1396 (1976)."
"A certain group in the Muslim world propagandize Muhammad 'Abduh, Mawdudi and
Sayyid Qutb's ideas which are against al-Islam, as if they were of ingenuity. They
introduce their rebellious ideas as a struggle of heroism. Lest the pure youngsters should
fall for these tricky propagandas and false appraisals, we have conveyed the truth of the
matter above. The greatest proof for the correctness of these writings, which have been
derived from sources searched for a long time, and for the validity of the identification of
these people is Mawdudi's own words, which are incompatible with Islam's basic teachings
and which are written in the paragraphs above. May Allahu ta'ala protect Muslim children
against being tricked by heretical, aberrant ideas. Amin."