Syed Abul A‘la Maududi was a renowned Indo-Pakistani Islamic scholar, thinker, philosopher, jurist, and journalist. He was not merely the propagator of Dīn-e-Islām but the renovator of its true essence as well. He believes that politics was indispensable for Islam, which necessitates instituting the Shari‘ah in the state and safeguarding Islamic culture and civilisation from what he perceived as the evils of secularism, nationalism, and women’s emancipation.
This book is the text of the speech delivered by Maulana Maududi at the inaugural ceremony of Idār’a-e-Ma‘ārif-e-Islami, Karachi (Pakistan) on the 22nd of September, 1963. Syed Maududi, in his speech, categorised knowledge into two categories. First is absolute knowledge, which a person acquires through the experience of his/her life, and this is identical in a wide-ranging populace. Second is interpretative knowledge, which people interpret from the absolute knowledge according to their thoughts and system of belief, which leads to varied cultures and civilisations. He elucidates this with the example of food, which is similar to everyone, yet different people prepare it in different ways according to their tastes.

Book Review
Ilmī Taḥqīqāt Kyun Aur Kis Tarah?
Pages: 20
Price: ₹12
Publisher: Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers, New-Delhi
Author: Syed Abul A‘la Maududi

The author says that the community/ civilisation tied to Ilm (knowledge), indispensable for the advancement of Muslim Ummah, dominates the world economically, politically, and socially. Devoid of knowledge no civilisation can lead the human race. Leadership is always attached to knowledge. Humankind as a species got Vicegerency (Khilāfah) on earth only based on Ilm. Hardships that the Ummah endures from illegal invasions, occupations, poverty, and civil war are the result of slackness and backwardness in the various fields of knowledge. The civilisation that progresses and interprets knowledge the best consequently dominates the world. Currently, the West is the most advanced in various fields of knowledge and hence dominates other civilisations politically, economically, and socially. Maududi recommends the following for the Ummah:
• Ilm should be made absolute so that the world may realise that it is not the property of the West. It can be demonstrated by accomplishing research in all fields of knowledge.
• Ilm should be made divine by interpreting it according to the Creator of knowledge. It means that we should Islamise knowledge so that people may observe and see the power and creation of Almighty Allah in every field of knowledge.
• The Islamic curriculum based on which different books of Science & Technology, Philosophy, Education, Politics, Sociology, and Medicine, etc., should be published for the general public.
Maududi argued that the Muslims settled in the west are governed by non-Islamic laws. Their kids study a curriculum based on western civilisation. They should be taught different subject-matters of the Shari‘ah (Qur’ān, Sunnah, Fiqh, etc.) in diverse foreign languages, particularly in Hindi and English, so that it is uncomplicated for such Muslims to comprehend and follow Islam. Furthermore, it may smooth the progress of preaching Islam in western countries. Maududi at the end informs people that Idār’a-e-Ma‘ārif-e-Islami is a step towards it and recommends the audience to assist it through all possible ways in this splendid and divine cause.

—The writer is a doctoral candidate at Shah-i-Hamadan Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Kashmir, Srinagar. [email protected]

Zahid Ahmad Dar