The present book The Political Interpretation of Islam is a summary of the book Taʿbir ki Ghalati (‘Error of Interpretation’). Here, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan has briefly explained that the writings of Maulana Abul Ala Maududi (d. 1979), the founder of the Jamaat-e-Islami and proponent of a distinctly political interpretation of Islam, are problematic, and continue to be the cause of much strife and conflict across the world till today.
According to the political interpretation of Islam as presented by Maulana Maududi, Muslims’ bounden duty is to establish the political system of Islam all over the world, even if it involves the use of force. In the author’s view this is what has led to violence being perpetrated in the name of Islam. This wrong interpretation was a result of distortion of Quranic teachings. For example, a verse says: “…So that men may conduct themselves with justice” (57:25). This is an injunction to believers to adhere to justice. But this was wrongly interpreted as: ‘You have to implement justice in the world.’ This kind of misinterpretation has been done with the teachings of the Quran. The author clearly explains that there is no Quranic verse that gives the directive to Muslims to establish an Islamic rule.
The result was that Quranic teachings which are the subject of self-following have been turned into a subject of implementation on others by force. In this book the author has attempted to place the concepts of Islam in their right perspective.
