What is the resemblance/connection between Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat e Islami?What are the core teachings of Jama’at e Islami? Is there an in-built tendency of militancy in the Jamaat e Islami ideology?

The questions raised are interrelated and have overlapping answers. The issue is multifaceted and multidimensional. There are currents and crosscurrents running under the surface. Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab does not agree with many theological discourses of Ibn e Taimiya and on many points enters a caveat. But his neo Kharijite version is same as that of Ibn e Taimiya, which is invoked by Wahhabis of today. The Saudi Govt. nevertheless follows Wahhabi theology and works for the advancement of Wahhabism. Similarly the concept of modern day Jahiliyya is common between islamshanti.wordpress.com: Maududi of Pakistan and Syed Qutub of Egypt. Maududi does not believe in State Nationhood and yet works within the state, without giving up his world view of Modern Jahiliyya and pan-Islamism. Ahrar and Maududi were and continue to be at daggers drawn and yet they worked together in 1953 violent agitation. There are other such parallels and intersections. In short Militant organizations, political Islam and various other organizations, with variant sectarian theological moorings, converge at a point and work for a common militant fundamentalist agenda. It is this converging point that we are trying to determine and understand.

Motivating ideology—worldwide context

Extensive research has been carried out in recent years to trace the roots of extremism and violence in some Islamic organisations and movements. Abdul Wahhab’s movement has been traced to Ibn e Taimiya, who was also the favorite of Maududi. Ibn e Taimiya propounded the thought that armed Jihad is permissible even against Muslim rulers and societies which do not follow the Islamic law. Jama’at’s ideological affinity is with Wahhabi Sunnis, Jama’at’s international activities are intertwined with Rabeta Alam e Islami, based in Riyadh with various organizations in Medina and Morocco.

“The idea that Jahiliyya was not a bygone era but a current condition connects Qutub to both Wahhabism and Maududi. There is no question that Maududi influenced Qutub: He had shepherded the Pakistani author’s works to publication in Arabic translation.”⁽⁵⁾

Rasheed Raza of Egypt is said to have rediscovered Ibn e Taimiya. The present day fundamentalists invoke Ibn e Taimiya. Ibn e Tamiya had justified war against Mongols who had converted to Islam. Ibn e Taimiya emphasized that Mongols did not apply Muslim Sharia Law and followed their own customary laws. Ibn e Taimiya condemned the Mongols as worst than Khawarij (i.e. Kharijis) and declared that it was obligation of every good Muslim to fight against them.⁽⁶⁾

“Ibn e Taimiya put his anti-Mongol theology in such general and abstract terms that present day rulers in Arab world can equally be regarded as apostates according to the norms which he created for the Mongols^.”(7)

“Ibn e Taimiya’s condemnation of Mongols was dictated by particular military circumstances of the Mamlook—Mongol wars of the time.” ⁽⁸⁾

“Many modern Muslims prefer to regard this condemnation as generally applicable and valid for all places and times”⁽⁹⁾

“Rasheed Raza and Hassan al Bann’a the founder of Muslim Brotherhood shared the same line of reasoning. “it is with Hassan al Bann’a that professional violence became part and parcel of the movement, we now call Islamic Fundamentalism”⁽¹⁰⁾

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