The Rise and fall of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan - Part 2

By NADIA KHAN 

When the Jamaat was formed in 1941, in sub continent, the Muslims compared to the Hindu populace were impoverished, less educated and less powerful. This was because, unlike the Hindus, the Muslims had never embraced the idea of acquiring English education and of recognizing British authority in sub continent.

Since 1857, the British authority saw Muslims as trouble makers and Muslims felt vice versa as Englishmen had snatched the power from Mughals who were -somehow- termed as Muslims rulers. Hence, the Muslims did not have either the British education or the British favour and were neither able to acquire power nor prosperity. Syed Vali Reza Nasr, reports an incident, in the biography of Maulana Maududi, that in 1937 in which Maulana shared a compartment with the then Chief Minister-designate[1] of Bombay B.G. Kher, after which he became convinced to launch a movement against Hindu high-handedness.

The Rise and fall of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan - Part 1

By NADIA KHAN

Despite over half-a-century of its existence, the Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan is at cross roads. Its mixed record of success & failure includes survival in the face of state repression during Auyb martial law, worse political decision making such as active role in the formation of Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) -a political alliance formed in 1990 to topple the govt of Benazir Bhutto- or providing legitimacy to Pervaiz Musharraf’s Legal Framework Order (LFO) using the platform of Mutahidda Majlis e Amal (MMA) but a general failure in an attempt to gain power reins avowedly for the Islamization of Pakistan, are common causes to eye on.

A brainchild of the great Syed Abu A’la Maududi, the Jamaat was initially a  movement of immense potential, but neither was it able to reach its goal nor was it able to follow the plan of its founding-father who had laid down for it, decades before.