Encyclopedia of Islam

Jamaat-i Islami

 

(Urdu: Islamic Group)

The Jamaat-i Islami is an Islamic political party in 

p

akistan

 founded in 1941 by a

bU

 

al

-a

la

 m

aWdUdi

(1903–79), the most widely influential Muslim 

thinker of South Asia in the 20th century. It is 

an ideological movement that has aimed to cre-

ate an Islamic state in which all aspects of social 

and political life would be governed according to 

Islamic standards and law. The Jamaat initially 

rejected the Pakistan independence movement 

and remained apart from political participation, 

believing that Islam is a universal system not to be 

encompassed by the boundaries of a nation-state 

and choosing to focus instead on developing its 

ideological support base. But upon the creation 

of Pakistan in 1947 based on religious identity, 

but not religious law, the Jamaat mobilized into 

a political party to work toward making Pakistan 

an ideal Islamic state founded on an Islamic con-

stitution based on the q

Uran

 and s

Unna

 and a 

legal system based on 

sharia

, mirroring the socio-

religious system as established by m

Uhammad

 (d. 

632) and the first four 

caliph

s.

The Jamaat believes in peaceful political prog-

ress toward an Islamic state through democratic 

process and works toward the development of 

a large Islamic base in society, attempting to 

effect social change through state institutions. 

It believes that technological modernization is 

required for the development of Islamic society 

but is opposed to what it views as Western-style 

modernization with its marginalization of religion 

and its moral corruption evident in 

hUman

 

rights

, 

Women

’s advancement outside the home, birth 

control, and bank interest. Like its founder, most 

of the Jamaat’s members and leaders are educated 

laymen rather than trained 

Ulama

, and their focus 

is often more on political concerns than religious 

ones. The Jamaat is supported by an elected coun-

cil, has varying levels of membership, and is led 

by a president who is elected by party members 

for a five-year term. Alongside the ulama of Paki-

stan, the Jamaat participated in the violent anti-

Ahmadi movement in 1953, which resulted in the 

declaration of Pakistan’s a

hmadiyya

 community as 

a non-Muslim minority. It has survived as a politi-

cal party during Pakistan’s periods of martial law 

and political turbulence by operating as a religious 

organization. Outside of Pakistan, the Jamaat has 

branches in i

ndia

, k

ashmir

, and b

angladesh

, and 

it publishes a monthly Urdu-language magazine 

out of Lahore called the Tarjuman al-Quran. Its 

active student wing is called the Islami Jamiat-i 

Talaba (Islamic Association of Students, IJT). The 

Jamaat had associations with the Islamic revolu-

tionary government in i

ran

 and is known to have 

ties to s

aUdi

 a

rabia

.

See also 

democracy

; 

government

,  i

slamic

; 

i

slamism

; 

reneWal

 

and

 

reForm

 

movements

.

Megan Adamson Sijapati