Composite Nationalism and Islam: Islam/Muslim Politics

Composite Nationalism and Islam: Islam/Muslim Politics

By- Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani

Introduction by Barbara Metcalf

Written in 1938, Composite Nationalism and Islam laid out in systematic form the positions that the author had taken in speeches and letters from the early 1920s on the question of nationalism as well as other related issues of national importance. The book aimed at opposing the divisive policy of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League. It mainly deals with two aspects, i.e. the meaning of the term qaum and how it is distinct from the term millat, and secondly, the crucial distinction between these two words and their true meanings in the holy Koran and the Hadith tradition. By proposing composite nationalism, this important book strongly argues that despite cultural, linguistic and religious differences, the people of India are but one nation. According to the author, any effort to divide Indians on the basis of religion, caste, culture, ethnicity and language is a ploy of the ruling power.

Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani (1879-1957) was born in village Bangarmau, District Unnao of Uttar Pradesh, India. He graduated from the famous Islamic Seminary, Darul Ulum, Deoband. He served as president of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind for seventeen years (1940-1957). He played a leading role in India’s freedom struggle. For more than three years, he was incarcerated at Malta with Maulana Mahmood Hasan and his companions. He was severely opposed to the Two-Nation theory and was a great critics of Muslim League. The Government of India conferred upon him the ‘Padmabhushan’ award in 1952. He, however, politely declined to accept it.

Translators: Mohammad Anwer Hussain (M.A. Political Science, AMU) is currently associated with Jamiat Ulama-i-Hindi, New Delhi.

Hasan Imam is a Mumbai based writer and journalist.

ISBN  81-7304-590-9    2005   152p.   Rs.300/ pounds 35

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