The Error of Political Islam

Preface to the Second Edition and according to a letter dated February 5, 1979, it reached him before his demise. However, some of his disciples did publish responses. Among them was Mr. Amir Usmani (d. 1975), who, rather than addressing the core intellectual objections of Tabeer ki Ghalati (The Error of Political Islam), resorted to mocking its author in his characteristic style to imply that the author was not even worth responding to. Mr. Usmani’s lengthy article was published in his magazine Tajalli at the beginning of 1965. In response, I wrote an Urdu article titled “Critique or Ridicule?” which first appeared in the monthly Nizam (Kanpur) in December 1965 and was later reprinted in other journals. In this article, I systematically demonstrated the baselessness of Mr. Usmani’s arguments from an academic standpoint. “Critique or Ridicule?” has been published separately as part of a book collection titled Ja’izay. After the publication of my article, Mr. Usmani became silent on this subject. Though he lived for another decade, he never again directly addressed the arguments presented in Tabeer ki Ghalati (The Error of Political Islam), perhaps realizing his error. That is why, in the August 1966 issue of the monthly Tajalli, he made up for this through a special issue titled “Crux of Study.” This special issue had featured many prominent writers, including Maulana Maududi. But