Correspondence with Maulana Abul Lais Islahi Nadwi

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE “This literature, overall, accurately reflects Jamaat’s objectives.” To me, this sentence suggests that you treat this literature as an authoritative interpretation of the Jamaat’s ideology. Your clarification that “it is, however, a product of human intellect and, like all human works, may contain errors” is unnecessary because, when I say that members of Jamaat-e-Islami see Maulana Maududi’s literature as an authoritative interpretation of Jamaat’s ideology, I do not mean they consider it infallible like divine scripture, free from all errors. The “certain issues” you acknowledged within the literature are an inherent feature of human discourse; a few lines or paragraphs in any human writing may have such inconsistencies. No human text is completely free of them. The issue here isn’t minor, accidental oversights but the overall interpretation that runs throughout the literature’s pages. And as you pointed out, you see this interpretation as an accurate representation of Jamaate-Islami’s ideology. Therefore, I have again concluded that remaining within Jamaat-e-Islami is not my option. As I have clearly stated, I disagree with Maulana Maududi’s approach to explaining deen. Since this interpretation is, in your view and that of the Jamaat’s members, an accurate reflection of the Jamaat’s ideology, the correct course for me is to separate from it.