Appreciation and interpretation of Religion in the Modern Age

The author acknowledges the great services rendered to Islam by Maulana Saiyid Abul 'Ala Maududi in molding the thinking of modern educated classes and restoring in them the confidence in Islamic values and thought as well as rescuing them from the sense of inferiority or defeatism. In his view, this was a sterling work performed by Maulana Maududi which must be acknowledged and for which the latter was rightly bestowed the title of 'Spokesman of Islam' by many a man of letters. The author, however, deprecates that Maulana Maududi, unfortunately, took up the task of modernizing Islamic thinking and started reorientation of Islamic metaphysics through interpretation of certain definitive terminological concepts of Islam in his famous work titled the 'Four Basic Quranic Terms'. In Maulana Maudidi's view these terms assumed, during the course of centuries, meanings different from those understood at the time of the descent of the Quran with the result that , barring a limited period, they came to be applied in a very narrow and ambiguous sense and obscured the real spirit of more than three fourth of the Quran. The author discusses in this book how the interpretation and emphasis on certain aspects of these terminological concepts by Maulana Maududi have led to a new type of exegesis of the Quran and Islam which has a political coloring and revolves around the 'Kingdom of God' and 'Sovereignty of God' , and reduces the purpose of revelation of the Quran to the establishment of an 'Islamic State'. He fears that the new generation influenced by such ideas and 'researches' would not be prepared to accept any other disposition and a new religious temper would be developed which will have nothing to do with the spirit that was generated by the company and guidance of the holy Prophet. Devoid of any personal prejudice or objective to serve any personal end, this study of the interpretation of certain Quranic concepts by one for whom the author has greatest regard, has been undertaken with scholarly detachment for upholding what the author considers to be right and essential for the Ummah.