Towards Understanding Islam

English 1980 Edition

Towards Understanding Islam is a book written by Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi which gained its author a reputation as a religious teacher and major thinker.[1] This book has been translated into a number of languages.[2] Jamaat-e-Islami claim that it has been translated into 13 languages. One English translation of this book is by Prof Khurshid Ahmad.

Under the subtitle Editor's Introduction in November 1979[3] Prof. Kurshid Ahmad tries to introduce the book: "Originally written in 1932 in Urdu, under the title Risala-e-Diniyat, the book was intended as a textbook for students of the higher classes and for the general public. It served an important need and became a popular Islamic reader. Most of the schools and colleges of the South Asia adopted it as a textbook in theology and made its study a part of their curricula. It has been translated into many of the world's languages, including: English, Arabic, Hindi, Persian, German, French, Italian,[4] Turkish, Portuguese, Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Malayalam, Tamil, Pashto, Balochi, Bengali, Gujarati and Sindhi. It is also translated in Telugu, Kannada and Marathi.

Description

"Islam is not a 'religion' in the sense this term is commonly understood. It is a system encompassing all fields of living. Islam means politics, economics, legislation, science, humanism, health, psychology and sociology. It is a system which makes no discrimination on the basis of race, color, language or other external categories. Its appeal is to all mankind. It wants to reach the heart of every human being," writes Sayyd Abul Ala Mawdudi, in his book Towards Understanding Islam.

Mawdudi argues that Islam is about much more than daily rituals and habits passed down from parent to child over 1400 years. Rather, it is to be regarded as a dynamic system for the whole of life.

The purpose of this book, which was written in 15 days,[5] is to provide both Muslims and non-Muslims with a brief but comprehensive view of Islam. This is why a discussion of minute details has been avoided and why the author has sought to portray the entire picture of Islam in a holistic perspective. The book also tries to provide a rational basis for Islamic beliefs.

Foreword to the Book

By Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi

The present edition of TOWARDS UNDER STANDING ISLAM is not only a new translation of my book Risala-e-Diniyat but is also an entirely new and revised edition of it. The first edition of the book which was rendered into English by the late Dr. Abdul Guhani (Director of public instruction, Afghanistan), was very brief and sketchy. Unfortunately Dr. Abdul Ghani died immediately after the completion of the translation and thus he did not live to improve and revise it. Later on I revised the original book and made substantial additions to it. Now Mr. Khurshid Ahmad has very ably and skillfully rendered a new translation of the revised edition of Risala-e-Diniyat and my heartfelt thanks are due to him for this labour of love. I am confident that in this new form the book will be much more useful for the purpose for which it has been written.

My purpose in writing this book has been to provide all those persons -Muslims, non-Muslims-who have no access to the original sources of Islam with a brief treatise giving a lucid, comprehensive and all-embracing view of Islam. That is why I have avoided discussion over the minute details and have endeavored to portray the entire picture of Islam in one perspective. Moreover, I have not confined myself to stating what we Muslims believe in and stand for, but have also tried to explain the rational bases of our beliefs. Similarly I have not only presented the Islamic modes of worship and the outlines of the Islamic way of life but have also tried to unveil the wisdom behind them. I hope this small treatise will go a long way to satisfy the intellectual cravings of the Muslim youth and will help the non-Muslims in understanding our real position.

Lahore, 11 September 1960

ABUL A'LA MAWDUDI

Chapters of Towards Understanding Islam

About the author

Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi (1903-1979), one of the chief architects of the contemporary Islamic resurgence, was a prominent Islamic thinker and writer of his time. He devoted his entire life to expounding the meaning and message of Islam and to organizing a collective movement to establish the Islamic Order.

In this struggle, he had to pass through all kinds of suffering. Between (1948-1967), he was put behind bars on four occasions, spending a total of five years in different prisons in Pakistan. In 1953, he was also sentenced to death by a Martial Law Court for writing a "seditious" pamphlet, this sentence being later commuted to life imprisonment. In 1941, he founded Jamaat-e-Islami, of which he remained Amir until 1972 and which is one of the most prominent Islamic movements today. He authored more than one hundred works on Islam, both scholarly and popular, and his writings have been translated into more than forty languages.

See also

External links

Online edition of the book

References

  1. ↑ E. Lerman (1981) Middle Eastern Studies 17 (4) 494-509 "Mawdudi's Concept of Islam"
  2. ↑ JI: The Founder: His Writings
  3. ↑ Towards Understanding Islam
  4. ↑ INDICE Conoscere l'Islam - www.islam-online.it
  5. ↑ Vali Nasr (1995), Mawdudi and the making of Islamic revivalism, Oxford University Press, p. 27
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