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Amin Ahsan Islahi

The eminent Islamic scholar, Mawlana Amin Ahsan Islahi, 93, who died in

Lahore, Pakistan, on 15 December 1997, will long be remembered for his lasting

contribution to Quranic studies, especially for his approach based and evolved

around the concept of order and coherence in the contents of the divine book.Historically, the idea of coherence in the Quran has always been present in the

writings of various scholars, both old and new, but in modern times, it was Farahi,

the renowned scholar and teacher of Islahi, who first made it the focus of his

scholarly research, and wrote systematically on this subject.

Amin Ahsan Islahi, a most prominent pupil of Farahi, and later a principal of

Madrasah Al-Islah, the educational institution associated with Shibli Nu`mani and

Farahi, learned and mastered Farahi's concept of internal order and coherence in

the Quran and became the most important proponent of this school. Where as the

teacher had left a few isolated writings -- mostly in Arabic and beyond the accessof common readers -- his illustrious pupil developed, elucidated and explained the

subject through his monumental nine volume Urdu Tafthir, Tadabbur-i-Quran

(Pondering on the Quran).

Mawlana Islahi was born in 1904 at Bhamhur, a village in Azamgarh, UP, India,

and completed his scholastic Islamic education under the prevalent religious

system covering the Quran and Hadith and Arabic language and literature. Like

many of his scholarly contemporaries, he was also influenced by the Indian

freedom movement and, for some time, he acted as the president of the local

Congress party.

Freedom of India, and by implication of the Muslims, from the British

imperialism, was of paramount importance to him, as it indeed was in the eyes of

other ulama. In the early 1930s, Mawlana Mawdudi developed a critique of

nationalist politics represented by the Congress and the Muslim League and

called for the formation of an Islamic party dedicated to presenting and projecting

Islam as a complete way of life. This led to the formation of Jamaat-e-Islami in

1941 and Islahi was one of its founding members. When some people left the

Jamaat over some minor differences, Islahi reportedly remarked: I am not

fanatical enough to jeopardise the future of Islam over the length of Mawdudis

beard.

In the Jamaat, Islahi occupied a position, second only to Mawdudi; and he was

generally regarded as the successor to Mawdudi. An eloquent orator, Islahi

actively worked in the election campaigns of the Jamaat, but his heart was never

in politics. Even during his most active days, he never enjoyed politics. He left the

Jamaat in 1958 over some policy differences.

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He considered electioneering a useless exercise for the purposes of bringing about

an Islamic change. According to him the politicians cannot establish Islam: their

sole aim is to gain power, by whatsoever means possible. And if some people use

the name of Islam, they do so to achieve their political aims.

Islamic da`wah (message), Islahi wrote, relies on tabligh (propagation of themessage) and shahadah (testimony -- by observing what one preaches to others),

whereas the main tool of the political parties is propaganda to achieve their aims.

The difference in the word propaganda and tabligh is not merely of semantics, but

they are also world apart in their spirit: The purpose of tabligh is to disseminate

the message of Allah faithfully in its true form fully and completely, while

propaganda is aimed at making the movement succeed by all possible means, right

or wrong. Propaganda is an art developed by modern political movements, and one

of its prominent features is its indifference to all the moral obligations which the

Prophets of Allah have always regarded as an imperative and a necessarycondition for establishing Islam and the Islamic way of life.

Though Mr Goebbels alone is notorious in history for his propaganda skills, to be

fair and just, we find that in the political arena almost everyone has to follow in

his footsteps, and it makes little difference whether one does so under the banner

of politics or uses the name of religion or recites the Kalimah of Islam while

entering the arena.

Those who would like to work for the cause of Islam and its revival, he suggested,

should work among people selflessly, without any desire for power, gaining votes

or indulging in political manoeuvres. They should approach the people solely in

order to serve them, to educate them, and to help them reform their lives morally

and Islamically.

In his view, the Pakistani society was a broken and disintegrated one, afflicted

with a most dangerous malaise: hypocrisy. As such he differed with the view that

if free and fair elections were held the masses would vote for Islam and Islamic

parties.

Soon after the establishment of Pakistan, when its leaders seemed to be going back

on their promises of making it a model Islamic state, Islahi wrote: Hypocrisy is adeadly disease, and there have been in every age and society some people who

were afflicted with it, but we do not find in history a single nation whose leaders

have chosen it as a national policy, taking it to be the key to the resolution of all

their problems. In history there seems to be only one such nation, and that is

unfortunately our nation (Pakistani).

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In his book Pakistani Awrat do Rahay Par (Pakistani Woman at the Cross-roads),

he explains the dangers inherent in such bifurcated social policies of the Pakistani

leadership, as manifest in its attitude towards women and Muslim institution of

family -- perhaps the best example of their hypocrisy. In our view, for healthy

national life it is essential that the leaders should invite their people resolutely and

single-mindedly to the policies that they want to follow and pursue, but to followone path in practice, while portraying beauties of a completely opposite path, is a

most stupid policy from which nothing but only harm can result.

In the light of his social analysis, Islahi believed fervently that no superficial

efforts at reform would succeed in transforming the present Pakistani society into

a vibrant dynamic progressive Islamic polity. Like Mawdudi before him, he held

that an Islamic intellectual transformation in the light and guidance of the Quranic

teachings was an essential pre-requisite to make changes. Islahi had himself

witnessed how Mawdudi the Jamaat -- despite their initial, clear long-term plan

for a total intellectual transformation touching on all disciplines and branches ofknowledge as a necessary condition for any genuine Islamic change -- were soon

sucked into Pakistani politics. He was wary of this danger, and shortly after

leaving the Jamaat, he embarked with a single-minded dedication on his final

intellectual journey from where Mawdudi and Jamaat had left. All his time and

energies were focused on studying, teaching a group of students, and completing

his masterpiece, Tadabbur-i-Quran, the exegesis of the Quran which he

considered pivotal as a reference work for any future work for Islam.

Leaving the Jamaat after devoting 16 years was a painful experience. But he was

steadfast in his commitment to Islamic ideals that had initially taken him into theJamaat. Now he had a fresh opportunity to re-assess his own position and talents,

and needs of the society, concentrating on what he considered to be the most

important task of his life: to explain and to elucidate coherently the message of the

Quran in order to pave the way for the true Islamic renaissance world-wide. The

success in recent years of his approach and thought in attracting attention and

interest of the educated classes within his own country and outside, including the

West, shows his assessment was not wrong.

When this writer joined Islahi's study circle at Lahore in 1963, he seemed to be in

a hurry, not sure how much time was left for the work, and concerned lest the

intellectual trust that he carried from his great teacher should be lost for ever. Hewould often say: Listen attentively, you will have ample time to ruminate and

ponder.

Mawlana Islahi was totally engrossed in the study of the Quran. His pupils were

the beneficiaries of his painstaking efforts. His advice was: Study a surah over

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and over again, until when you close your eye you are able to see it clearly in your

minds eye, its full splendour from top to toe, from the beginning to the end.

During my seven years of studying under him, I found Mawlana Islahi very

sensitive, courteous and caring, frank yet very reasonable, warm and loving.

Anyone who came to see him felt important, a focus of his undivided attention; hewould not intimidate people or make them feel insignificant. His grasp and sweep

of knowledge of literature, poetry, social sciences and human psychology turned

any encounter or even a seemingly meaningless question into a major learning

experience, the taste of which would remain long after the event.

In 1925, Islahi came under the tutelage of the renowned Quranic scholar,

Hamiduddin Farahi which changed the course of his life. During the next five

years, he imbibed from his teacher his theme about the internal order in the Quran

and mastered his technique and methodology for understanding the Quran and the

wisdom enshrined therein, the crux of which, according to Farahi, was its uniqueconsistence and coherence.

The presence of order in the Quran and its parts is nothing new. The tradition

goes back to the Prophet (sws) who was visited every Ramadan by the angel

Gabriel and recited the entire Quran with him. Similarly, when any revelation was

received, the Prophet (sws) would advise his companions where to place it in the

book. As such, the idea of the Quran being a book that is well arranged and has a

definite internal order was fairly known and accepted.

However, to explore and explain it to every age, is a difficult and arduous task.

And both Farahi and Islahi believe that earlier people did not pay enough attention

to this aspect of the Quran, which is, in their understanding, the most important of

its intrinsic wisdom and message. Once they realised its importance, Farahi and

Islahi dedicated their lives to studying and explaining the marvels of the Quran.

Hamiduddin Farahi first became interested in this particular aspect during his

student days at the Aligarh Muslim University. He has written about it in Arabic

and also written the exegeses of some short surahs in the light of these principles.

Some of these were later translated by Islahi into Urdu and were published under

the title of Majmu`a Tafathir Farahi.

Farahi's writings were however, aimed at the Islamic scholars, and were couched

in scholarly language beyond the access of most readers. It was Islahi who

completed the unfinished work of his great teacher by writing an exegesis of the

entire Quran based on his methodology and principles. He started his Urdu tafthir

Tadabbur-i-Quran in 1958, completing it in 1980. His 23 year work contains

some six thousand pages.

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In his tathsir, Islahi repeatedly pays tribute to his teacher for the exegesis, saying it

is all based on what he learned form him, and that all the credit goes to Farahi. The

fact, however, is that Islahi added greatly to what he had inherited. Farahi had

given some rudimentary ideas and principles but did not have the opportunity to

elucidate his philosophy in tangible terms.

Islahi's great achievement lies in the language and form that is both scholarly and

easily accessible to an educated reader. Considering the complexity of the task this

is not small accomplishment. His frequent references to his teacher show not only

his enormous love and reverence for him, but his own forthright sincerity and

humility.

Islahi's tafthir, in his works, comprehends a centurys thinking and work on the

Quran by him and his teacher. Starting his critical study at Aligarh, Farahi carried

on for the next 30-35 years until his death. Similarly, Islahi tells us that the Quran

has been at the centre of his own thought and study for the last 55 years. Thus, thebook covers an entire century of hard work by both. Islahi's methodology is based

on a direct approach to the Quran. Both Farahi and Islahi seek to explain the

Quranic message by focusing on the Quran itself. They stress the importance of

understanding the Quran in the context of its language, Arabic idiom (classical

Arabic literature) as used and understood at the time of its revelation, supported

with internal evidence found in the Book, and the fact that the Quran explains and

elucidates its own meaning in diverse forms and contexts:

This is a book with verses basic or fundamental [of established meaning] - further

explained in detail from One Who is Wise and Well-Acquainted [with all things].

(Hud 11:1)

Above all, this methodology revolves around the Quran's internal order and the

core idea of the entire tafsir is to elucidate it.

According to Islahi's concept of the Quranic coherence, all the surahs are found in

pairs just as there are pairs in life. Every surah is a well-knit unit, has a definite

theme, an introduction, leading to an exposition of its message and arguments, and

ending on a suitable epilogue. Just as there is coherence within a surah and all its

verses are inter-related and bear remarkable relationship to each other, so also

there is coherence between surahs of the Quran. Islahi points out seven distinctgroups of surahs in the Quran, each of which has a definite theme and a distinct

flavour of its own, with a most eloquent exposition of its respective theme.

Islahi holds that the division of the Quran into seven distinct groups is based on

clear evidence from the Quran. He cites the famous Quranic verse (al-Hijr 15:87)

as evidence to prove the presence of these seven distinct Quranic groups.

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According to him, this verse refers to these seven groups, rather than to seven-oft-

repeated (verses) (or Surah al-Fatiha, as it is generally understood). Thus being

the most important element of his methodology of study of the Quran, Islahi gives

prime importance to the elucidation of coherence in the Quran throughout his

masterly work. Every surah is preceded by an explanation of its special theme, and

an analysis of its contents.

Islahi believes that the principles elaborated by him in his tafthir are scientific,

rational, and based on common sense, without which the true message and beauty

of the Quran cannot be understood or appreciated. In the preface to the ninth

volume, he says that he has written this exegesis not out of any desire of authoring

a book, but purely and solely in response to a call of duty. Although we have the

Quran with us, its true knowledge is non-existent. The Quran has rather been

reduced to a means of earning reward or supplications for others; it has been

turned into a commercial object. Those who talk about it most vociferously are

that much ignorant of its knowledge and are remote from it ... But if this Ummahis to survive and exist as a living community, mere, repetition of the need for unity

will not be enough, nor will the repetition of the name of the Quran will be of any

use. Instead, the most important thing to achieve these goals is to explain and

propagate the true understanding and knowledge of the Quran. Those who have

its true knowledge will be able to act rightly, and only through their efforts will

this Ummah find the cure for all its ills.

In the light of experience of those who have regularly followed his methodology

in studying the Quran, including the writer of these lines, it can be said without

hesitation that Islahi has given us in explaining the coherence and the intrinsicorder of the Quran the master key to unravel its inexhaustible treasures. He has

provided us with a set of rules and principles to study and understand the Book of

Allah, and to explore and imbibe its wisdom. Islahi was a prolific writer; he has to

his credit more than 16 titles.

During the anti-Qadiyani movement in the Punjab in 1951, Mawlana Islahi

together with Mawlana Mawdudi and Mian Tufail Muhammad was imprisoned in

Rawalpindi and Multan jails. In 1956, when the government of Pakistan set up the

Islamic Law Commission, Mawlana Islahi - also an eminent expert on Islamic law

- served as a member until the commission was abolished in 1958 by the martial

law regime of General Ayub Khan.

Mawlana Amin Ahsan Islahi is survived by two sons and two daughters. He has

also left behind a group of dedicated pupils determined to carry on his noble

mission.