
Islamic Revivalism and Abu Al’a Maududi
By Ayesha Omar
In the annals of 20th-century Islamic thought, few figures loom as large as Abul A’la Maududi (1903-1979), a seminal thinker whose ideas have profoundly shaped the contemporary discourse on political Islam. Maududi’s intellectual legacy, characterised by a systematic attempt to reconcile Islamic principles with modern statecraft, continues to resonate across the Muslim world and beyond.
As the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, a politico-religious movement in Pakistan, Maududi articulated a vision of an Islamic state that challenged both Western political paradigms and traditional interpretations of Islamic governance. His conceptualisation of Islam as a comprehensive system encompassing all aspects of human life, including politics, has been instrumental in shaping the ideological landscape of various Islamist movements.
Maududi is considered an Islamic revivalist thinker due to his capacious approach to reinvigorating Islamic thought and practice in the modern era. His work encompassed a comprehensive reinterpretation of Islamic principles within the context of contemporary challenges, positioning Islam as a holistic system capable of addressing all aspects of life. These ideas were largely formulated as a response to Western colonial influence and modernisation, emphasising the preservation of a distinct Islamic identity.
Central to his revivalist ideology was the concept of an Islamic state governed by divine law, coupled with a call for active political engagement to achieve Islamic objectives. His focus on Islamic education and social reform as means to create a truly Islamic society further underscored his revivalist agenda. Some of these ideas were re-imagined by the Egyptian Islamist thinker Sayyid Qutb in his scholarly writings.
As the contemporary scholar on Maududi, as scholar Humeira Iqtidar, points out, the most seminal contribution of Maududi to Islamic political thought lies in his elucidation of the concept of divine sovereignty, encapsulated in the term ḥākimiyyat-i ilāhiyya.
This theoretical framework represents a concerted effort to reconcile the notion of God’s supreme authority with the sovereignty of the modern nation-state. Maududi’s conceptualisation sought to operationalise divine sovereignty within contemporary state structures, emphasising the cultivation of a moral polity and the establishment of Islamic legitimacy in governance. This work, she further points out was characterised by a focus on enhancing governmental efficacy and promoting consultative governance models congruent with Islamic precepts.
While acknowledging key aspects of state sovereignty, Maududi’s theoretical framework provided critical insights into the limitations of liberal conceptions of state sovereignty and offered alternative paradigms. It was an approach that synthesised diverse intellectual traditions within an Islamic framework, demonstrating an intellectual flexibility that engaged with and adapted European ideas while maintaining fidelity to core Islamic principles.
While many viewed Maududi’s articulation of divine sovereignty as a reactionary response to modernity, criticising his reliance on pre-modern ideas, it is undeniable that Maududi drew from pre-modern Islamic history and philosophy.
However, he creatively reinterpreted these ideas to address contemporary political challenges like nationalism. Maududi’s engagement with various philosophical ideas, his critique of existing institutional structures, and his nuanced proposals for modern governance were novel. Moreover, his refusal to conform to colonial epistemology while engaging with European thought reveals a distinct contribution to contemporary Islamic thought. Perhaps it is this contribution alone that continues to inform contemporary discussions on the limitations of Eurocentrism and the importance of de-parochialising political theory.
*Dr Ayesha Omar is a Senior Lecturer in Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand and currently a British Academy International Fellow at SOAS, University of London. She is working on a new book project on Black Intellectual History in South Africa.