Jump to content

Javed Ahmad Ghamidi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Saadsaleem (talk | contribs) at 03:57, 6 August 2006 (→Websites). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Javed Ahmed Ghamidi (جاويد احمد غامدي) (—1951) is a well-known Pakistani Sunni Islamic scholar, exegete, and educationist.

Introduction

Javed Ahmed Ghamdi was born on 18th April, 1951. He studied traditional Islamic disciplines and is a graduate in English Literature from Government College, Lahore. He is the president of Al-Mawrid, Institute of Islamic Sciences, Lahore. He is also member of Council of Islamic Ideology, Pakistan Government.[1]

Interaction with other Islamic scholars

Ghamidi worked closely with Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi (سيد أبو الأعلى المودودي, alternative spelling Syed Maudoodi; often referred to as Maulana Maududi) (1903–1979) for about nine years before voicing his first differences of opinion, which led to his subsequent expulsion from Mawdudi's political party, Jamaat-e-Islami in 1977. Later, he developed his own view of religion based on hermeneutics and ijtihad under the influence of his mentor, Amin Ahsan Islahi (1904–1997), a well-known exegete of the Indian sub-continent who is author of Tadabbur-i-Qur’an, a Tafsir (exegeses of Qur'an). Ghamidi's critique of Mawdudi's thought is an extension of Wahid al-Din Khan’s criticism of Mawdudi. Khan (1925- ) was amongst the first scholars from within the ranks of Jamaat-e-Islami to present a fully-fledged critique of Mawdudi’s understanding of religion. Khan’s contention is that Mawdudi has completely inverted the Qur’anic worldview. Ghamidi, for his part, agreed with Khan that the basic obligation in Islam is not the establishment of an Islamic world order but servitude to God, and that it is to help and guide humans in their effort to fulfill that obligation for which religion is revealed. Therefore, Islam never imposed the obligation on its individual adherents or on the Islamic state to be constantly in a state of war against the non-Islamic world. In fact, according to Ghamidi, even the formation of an Islamic state is not a basic religious obligation for Muslims.

Ideology

Ghamidi believes that there are certain directives of the Qur’an pertaining to war which were specific only to the Prophet Muhammad and certain specified peoples of his times (paricularly the progeny of Abraham: the Ishmaelites, the Israelites, and the Nazarites). Thus, the Prophet and his designated followers waged a war against Divinely specified peoples of their time (the polytheists and the Israelites and Nazarites of Arabia and some other Jews, Christians, et al) as a form of Divine punishment and asked the polytheists of Arabia for submission to Islam as a condition for exoneration and the others for jizya and submission to the political authority of the Muslims for exemption from death punishment and for military protection as the dhimmis of the Muslims. Therefore, after the Prophet and his companions, there is no concept in Islam obliging Muslims to wage war for propagation or implementation of Islam. The only valid basis for jihad through arms is to end oppression when all other measures have failed. Another corollary, in his opinion, is that death punishment for apostasy was also specifically for the recipients of the same Divine punishment during the Prophet's times -- for they had persistently denied the truth of the Prophet's mission even after it had been made conclusively evident to them by God through the Prophet.

Ghamidi’s understanding of Islamic law has been presented concisely in his book Mizan, (Lahore: Dar al-Ishraq, 2001). Some of his views have become controversial in Pakistan. Ghamidi's inspiration from his mentor, Amin Ahsan Islahi and non-traditionalist approach to the religion has parted him from traditionalist understanding on a number of issues. Some of the notable points which he mentioned in his writings are summarized below:

  • Jihad (armed struggle) can only be done to end oppression; it cannot be done for proselytization.
  • Jihad can only be done by a Government with atleast half the power of the enemy.
  • The formation of an Islamic state is not a religious obligation per se upon the Muslims. However, he believes that if and when Muslims form a state of their own, Islam does impose certain religious obligations on its rulers as establishment of the institution of salah (obligatory prayer), zakah (mandatory charity), and 'amr bi'l-ma'ruf wa nahi 'ani'l-munkar (preservation and promotion of society's good conventions and customs and eradication of social vices; this, in Ghamidi's opinion, should be done in modern times through courts, police, etc. in accordance with the law of the land which, as the government itself, must be based on the opinion of the majority).
  • Modern Non-Muslims are different from kuffar (Non-Muslims of Muhammad's time), who challenged the Prophet despite the fact that they knew the truth with their best knowledge.
  • The Islamic punishments of hudud (Islamic law) are maximum pronouncements that can be mitigated by a court of law on the basis of extenuating circumstances.
  • The Shariah (Divine law) does not stipulate any fixed amount for the diyya (monetary compensation for unintentional murder); the determination of the amount—for the unintentional murder of a man or a woman—has been left to the conventions of society.
  • The Shariah is from God while Fiqh (rulings of Islamic jurists) is purely a human work based on social norms, human instincts, traditions, and thoughts. Former cannot be challenged.
  • The Shariah does not require a woman to cover her face; it also does not unequivocally require her to cover her head.
  • Just like Quran, Sunnah (the way of the prophet) is only what Ummah (Muslim nation) received through ijma (consensus of sahaba) and tawatur (perpetual adherence of the Ummah).
  • Unlike Quran and Sunnah, hadith (individual reports from Prophet Muhammad) can be challenged if it contradicts with first two sources.
  • Ceteris paribus (all other things being equal), a woman's testimony is equal to that of a man's.
  • Quran and Islam did not forbid women from leading society or prayers.
  • Isra and Mi'raj (ascention of Prophet Muhammad), was a dream.[1]
  • Jesus was given death in this world and then raised bodily by Allah (The God).[2]

Websites

Ghamidi's students are running many Islamic websites. Some of these websites have question-answer service and are quite popular over the internet.

Pupils

Moazzam Safdar, Dr. Agha Tariq, Mustansir Mir, Talib Mohsin, Ahsan Tihami, Afzal Ahmad, Abdul Sattar Ghauri, Muhammad Sami Mufti, Dr. Munir Ahmad, Khalid Zaheer, Shakeel ur Rehman, Sajid Hameed, Moiz Amjad, Shehzad Saleem, Asif Iftkhar.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Ghamidi, Javed Ahmed Mizan (Urdu). Lahore: Dar al-Ishraq, 2001.
  • Burhan. Lahore: Dar al-Ishraq, 2000.
  • Al-Bayan. Lahore: Danish Sara, 2000.


Secondary Sources

Notes

  1. ^ Council of Islamic Ideology, Government of Pakistan

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Javed_Ahmad_Ghamidi&oldid=67941991"