Correspondence with Maulana Abu A’la Maududi

For the past two years, I have been engaged in ongoing discussions on these issues with the top leaders here (in Jamaat-e-Islami). I have been putting my thoughts into writing and sharing them with others, preparing copies of such a long article and sending them to knowledgeable colleagues for their review. Is this the behavior of someone suffering from conceit? If I were driven by false pride, I would have done this instead: as soon as my article was finished, I would send it to one of the many journals that seem eager to publish pieces like this. But I honestly say that the very idea disgusts me—that I should be published in rival journals and engage in shallow publicity against the Jamaat-e-Islami that so many people have been participating in for quite some time. Honestly, my only focus is to understand what true Islam really is. Now that you’ve given me hope, with certain conditions, that you might comment on my thoughts, I am willing to accept all your conditions without hesitation. I assure you that I am completely free from any fear of ‘winning or losing.’ I see it as a victory if I discover the truth, whether it matches my viewpoint or someone else’s. Lastly, let me clarify my main concern. The main difficulty I face is that, in your various writings and speeches, the concept of the Islamic goal or the