Witnesses unto Mankind. Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi

      

      Sayyid Abul A‘la Mawdudi

      WITNESSES

      UNTO

      MANKIND

      The Purpose and Duty of

      the Muslim Ummah

      Edited & Translated by

      Khurram Murad

      © The Islamic Foundation 1986/1406 AH. Reprinted 1994/1415 AH.

      ISBN 978-0-86037-172-4 (PB)

      ISBN 978-0-86037-173-1 (HB)

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

      Editor: Khurram Murad

      Cover design: Rashid Rahman

       Published by

      The Islamic Foundation

      Markfield Dawah Centre

      Ratby Lane, Markfield

      Leicester LE67 9RN, UK

      Quran House, PO Box 30611,

      Nairobi, Kenya

      PMB 3193,

      Kano, Nigeria

      New and edited English translation of the Urdu Shahādat Ḥaq (Lahore, 1947), which has previously been translated and published as the Evidence of Truth (Lahore, 1967).

       British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

      Mawdūdī, Sayyid Abūl A‘la

      Witnesses unto mankind: the purpose and

      duty of the Muslim ummah.

      1. Islam

      I. Title II. Murad, Khurram

      III. Shahādat ḥaq. English

      297 BP161.2

      ISBN 978-0-86037-173-1

      ISBN 978-0-86037-172-4 Pb

      Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

      In the Name of God,

      the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

      O believers, bow down and prostrate yourselves, and serve only your Lord, and do good, so that you might attain well-being. And struggle in the way of God as ought to be struggled in His way. He has chosen you, and He has not laid on you in your Din any constriction. Follow the way of your father, Abraham. He has named you Muslims, before and in this, so that the Messenger would be a witness before you, and you would be witnesses before all mankind. So establish the Prayer, give the Alms, and hold fast unto God. He is your Master. How excellent the Master, and how excellent the Helper.

      (al-Ḥajj 22: 77–8)

       Contents

Foreword

Introduction by Khurram Murad

Shahadah in Islamic Life and Discourse

The Inherent Logic of Truth

Human Destiny and the Witness

The Responsibility of the Ummah

Sayyid Mawdudi’s Call

1. WITNESS TO THE TRUTH

Praise and Salutations

Our Message

       The Purpose and Duty of the Muslim Ummah

       Responsibilities and Duties

       The Only Purpose of Existence

       Witness to the Truth

       Nature and Importance

       Responsibility of the Ummah

       How Should We Witness to the Truth?

       Word-witness

       Act-witness

       The Islamic State

       Where Do We Stand?

       Our Word-witness

       Our Act-witness

       And With What Consequences?

       Our Punishment

       In This World

       Punishment in the World-to-Come

       What is Our Real Problem?

       Pseudo Problems

       Our Real Problem

       2. JAMA‘AT ISLAMI

       Our Objective

       Our Method

       Duties of Our Members

       Notes by Khurram Murad

       Appendix: Objections Against the Jama‘at Islami

       Index of Quranic Verses

Foreword

Witnesses unto Mankind: The Purpose and Duty of the Muslim Ummah is a new and edited English translation of Sayyid Abul A‘la Mawdudi’s (1903–1979) Shahādat Ḥaq in Urdu. It contains an address which he delivered on 30 December, 1946 at a regional conference of the Jama‘at Islami, Lahore Division, held at Muradpur, Sialkot, then in pre-partition India, now in Pakistan.*

      Published immediately afterwards, Shahādat Ḥaq has since been reprinted many times, both separately and as a part of a larger collection of Sayyid Mawdudi’s works, Islam