Where Does an Erroneous Interpretation of the Deen Take Us?

CHAPTER 5 Where Does an Erroneous Interpretation of the Deen Take Us?  Following the publication of my book Taʿbir ki Ghalati, the Jamaat-e-Islami came out with a considerable number of writings criticizing it. But the end result of these efforts was only to make even clearer than before that in the entire Jamaat-e-Islami circle, not a single person possessed even a single convincing bit of evidence in support of the political interpretation of Islam. This is not really the place to repeat my views about Quranic verses and hadith reports which I discussed in Taʿbir ki Ghalati. Those who would like a more detailed discussion of these issues can find it in that book. Here, I would like to restrict myself to just one conclusion that seems to be a necessary fallout of Maulana Maududi’s interpretation of the deen. And that is that this interpretation has completely transformed the understanding of Islamic history. This is clearly evident in two of Maulana Maududi’s key books: Quran ki Char Bunyadi Istilahen (‘Four Basic Terms of the Quran’) and Tajdid-o-Ihya-e Deen.