[1] Described by Wilfred Cantwell Smith as "the most systematic thinker of modern Islam",[2] his numerous works, which "covered a range of disciplines such as Qur'anic exegesis, hadith, law, philosophy, and history",[3] were written in Urdu, but then translated into English, Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Burmese, Malayalam and many other languages.

[14] They are thought to have helped influence General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to introduce the Islamization in Pakistan,[15] and to have been greatly strengthened by him after tens of thousands of members and sympathizers were given jobs in the judiciary and civil service during his administration.

Meanwhile, his father shifted to Bhopal – there Maududi befriended Niaz Fatehpuri, another modernist – where he suffered a severe paralysis attack and died leaving no property or money, forcing his son to abort his education.

He also learned English and German to study, intensively, Western philosophy, sociology, and history for full five years: he eventually came up to the conclusion that "ulama' in the past did not endeavor to discover the causes of Europe's rise, and he offered a long list of philosophers whose scholarship had made Europe a world power: Fichte, Hegel, Comte, Mill, Turgot, Adam Smith, Malthus, Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Darwin, Goethe, and Herder, among others.

The family provide financial help and allowed him to devote himself to research and political action, but his wife had "liberated", modern ways, and at first rode a bicycle and did not observe purdah.

In 1938, after meeting the famous Muslim poet Muhammad Iqbal, Maududi moved to a piece of land in the village of Pathankot in the Punjab to oversee a Waqf (Islamic foundation) called Daru'l-Islam.

[citation needed] Jamaat-e-Islami actively opposed the partition of India, with its leader Abul A'la Maududi arguing that concept violated the Islamic doctrine of the ummah.

[11][12] Maududi held that humans should accept God's sovereignty and adopt the divine code, which supersedes manmade laws, terming it a "theodemocracy",[49] because its rule would be based on the entire Muslim community, not the ulema (Islamic scholars).

[60] In particular, Maududi advocated that the Pakistani state should be in accordance to Quran and sunnah, including in terms of conventional banking and rights to Muslims, minorities, Christians, and other religious sects such as the Ahmadiyya.

[51] However it was shortly thereafter that Islamism gathered steam in Pakistan in the form of the Nizam-i-Mustafa (Order of the Prophet) movement, an alliance of conservative political groups united against Zulfikar Ali Bhutto which the JI gave shape to and which bolstered its standing.

[65] When General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrew Bhutto and came to power in 1977, he "accorded Mawdudi the status of a senior statesman, sought his advice, and allowed his words to adorn the front pages of the newspapers.

[71] According to at least one biographer (Vali Nasr), Maududi and the JI moved away from some of their more controversial doctrinal ideas (e.g. criticism of Sufism or the Ulama) and closer to orthodox Islam over the course of his career, in order to "expand"the "base of support" of Jama'at-e Islami.

The moment it began to be sent down, it impelled a quiet and pious man to ... raise his voice against falsehood, and pitted him in a grim struggle against the lords of disbelief, evil and iniquity.... it drew every pure and noble soul, and gathered them under the banner of truth.

[79] Mawdudi adopted classical Hanbali theologian Ibn Taymiyya's doctrines on apostasy, which asserted that an individual may only be considered a Muslim if his or her beliefs found an adequate representation in their acts.

[80]But in rejecting Islam (Maududi believed) the non-Muslim struggled against truth: His very tongue which, on account of his ignorance advocates the denial of God or professes multiple deities, is in its very nature 'Muslim'....

[103] According to Irfan Ahmad, while Maududi opposed all Western influence in Islam, "the greatest threat to morality" to him was "women's visibility" in the bazaar, colleges, theatres, restaurants.

[106] Mohammad Najatuallah Siddiqui writes, As to the argument that family planning enables better nourishment and education of children, Mawdudi refers to the beneficial effects of adversity and want on human character.

[62] Maududi dismissed the need for a "new science of economics, embodied in voluminous books, with high-sounding terminology and large organisation",[120] or other "experts and specialists" which he believed to be "one of the many calamities of modern age".

[122] This led to overproduction and a downward spiral of lower wages, protectionism, trade wars and desperate attempts to export surplus production and capital through imperialist invasions of other countries,[123] finally ending in "the destruction of the whole society as every learned economist knows".

[139] Unlike Islamists such as Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Maududi had a visceral antipathy to socialism,[131] which he spent much time denouncing as "godless" as well as being unnecessary and redundant in the face of the Islamic state.

He openly opposed land reform proposals for Punjab by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan in the 1950s, going so far as to justify feudalism by pointing to Islam's protection of property rights.

[87][148]Abul A'la Maududi, condemned Mughal Emperor Akbar's belief in an individual's common spirituality (controversially known as the Din-e Ilahi, or "Religion of God") as a form of apostasy.

"[Quran 4:80][173] Sharia was perhaps most famous for calling for the abolition of interest-bearing banks, hadd penalties such as flogging and amputation for alcohol consumption, theft, fornication, adultery and other crimes.

[184] According to scholar (Vali Nasr), Maududi believed that the sharia needed to be "streamlined, reinterpreted, and expanded" to "address questions of governance to the extent required for a state to function."

[240][241] The state's legislature "should consist of a body of such learned men who have the ability and the capacity to interpret Quranic injunctions and who in giving decisions, would not take liberties with the spirit or the letter of the sharia".

Just for one single battle preparations have often to be made for decades on end and the plans deeply laid, and while only some thousands fight in the front line there are behind them millions engaged in various tasks which, though small themselves, contribute directly to the supreme effort.

In Pakistan, (where the JI claims to be the oldest religious party[51]) it is "hard to exaggerate the importance" of that country's "current drift" toward Maududi's "version of Islam", according to scholar Eran Lerman.

[14] They are thought to have helped inspire General Zia-ul-Haq to introduce "Sharization" to Pakistan,[15] (Sharia laws decreed by Zia included bans on interest on loans (riba), deduction by the government of 2.5% annual Zakat tax from bank accounts, the introduction of Islamic punishments such as stoning and amputation with the 1979 Hudood Ordinances.

One policy of Zia's that was originally proposed by Maududi, and not found in classic Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), was the introduction of separate electorates for non-Muslims (Hindus and Christians) in 1985.

Qutb "borrowed and expanded" Maududi's concept of Islam being modern, Muslims have fallen into pre-Islamic ignorance (Jahiliyya), and of the need for an Islamist revolutionary vanguard movement.