Misguided Ideology of Dr. Israr Ahmad

بســم اللــه الرحمــن الرحيــم

والصلاــة والسلاــم علــى نبيــه الكريــم

وعلــى اهــل بيتــه الطيبيــن الطاهريــن المظلوميــن

والعاقبة للمتقين

Dr. Israr Ahmad (1932-2010), the founder of Tanzimi Islami, an offshoot of Mawdudi’s Jama’ati Islami, was well known for his enlightened explanation of the Quran al-Karim. Nevertheless, he was affected by the political fikr introduced by the likes of Mawdudi.

Dr. Israr Ahmad was one of those individuals who taught the idea that the Umma is at present non-existent: “Today there is no Muslim Ummah united in one whole, only numerous Muslim states inhabiting their own territories.” (Rise and Decline of Muslim Ummah, p.27) This view that the Umma is non-existent or absent was shared by the likes of Sayyid Qutb and the Saudi cleric Salman al-Awdah. It is definitely an idea that smacks of mass-Takfir or at the very least characterized with that kind of dangerous thinking. While it is true that the Muslim Umma is no longer under the authority of a single state, but rather split up into numerous states, that is hardly a basis to declare that the Umma is non-existent or absent. The fact of the matter is that the Umma is not a political unit but refers to the Muslims as a collective. The adherents of the modern political fikr are notorious for redefining terms, such as Umma, without any evidence, to fit into their manufactured narrative that is largely influenced by revolutionary Marxism. With respect to ethnic nationalism as a means of resisting European colonialism, Dr. Israr Ahmad argued: “there is in fact no harm in adopting it as temporary expedient defensive strategy, provided that it is not accepted as a permanent base for Muslim ideology” (ibid, p.29). One is at a loss to understand how such a Machiavellian principle could ever be justified in light of the teachings of the pure Islamic methodology. Regarding supererogatory acts of worship, or the Nawafil, Allah Most High says:

وَمَا يَزَالُ عَبْدِي يَتَقَرَّبُ إِلَىَّ بِالنَّوَافِلِ حَتَّى أُحِبَّهُ

“My slave does not cease coming close to Me with the supererogatory till I love him” (Hadith Qudsi)

But Dr. Israr Ahmad, in yet another example of the level of misguidance which resulted from the political fikr he championed, wrote: “It has always been my position that it is permissible to engage in supererogatory acts of devotion in order to get nearer to Allah (SWT), provided Islam is dominant.” (The Reality of Tasawwuf in Light of the Prophetic Model, p.46).