The A to Z of Islam by Ludwig W. Adamec

Author:Ludwig W. Adamec
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2009-06-12T16:00:00+00:00

MATN. The text of a hadith, a report, supported by a chain of transmitters (isnad). It relates an action or pronouncement of the Prophet.

MATURIDI, ABU MANSUR AL- (d. 944). A theologian from Samarkand who founded his own orthodox school, the maturidiyyah, in a dispute with the Mu’tazilites. He accepted man’s free will and assurance of salvation; in legal matters he followed Hanafite law. He led an ascetic life and was believed to have performed miracles. Maturidi died in Samarkand, where his school is still dominant.

MAUDUDI, SAYYID ABU’L A’LA (1903–1979). Founder of the Jama’at-i Islami in India (1941) and one of the ideological fathers of the Islamist movement. Born in Aurangabad, India, he was educated in Islamic studies at a madrasah and later at the Dar al-Ulum of Heyderabad. His formal education was ended at age 16 when his father died, and Maududi started a career in journalism. He founded his own journal, The Translator of the Koran (Tarjoman al-Koran) in 1935 and became a prolific writer, opposing Westernization as well as the creation of Pakistan. After partition of India in 1947, he settled in Pakistan and promoted his ideas of an Islamic state, which led to the drafting of a constitution that was, however, never implemented. His conditions for the establishment of an Islamic state included affirmation of the sovereignty of Allah, acceptance by the government that it would exercise its powers within the boundaries laid down by Allah, approval that all existing laws that were contrary to the shari’ah would be repealed, and agreement that all laws would be in accordance with the teachings of Islam. His ideas had a considerable impact on the political life of Pakistan, and the Jama’at-i Islami continued to agitate as a vanguard of Islamist causes. General Zia-ul-Haq staged a military coup against an elected government in 1977, seeking to make Pakistan an Islamic state. Many, but not all, of Maududi’s ideas were finally realized. The war against the communist regime in Afghanistan contributed to the growth of an international Islamist movement, which has since become a destabilizing factor in a number of Muslim countries.

MAWALI. See MAWLA.

MAWARDI, ABU AL-HASAN AL- (974–1058). Jurist and moralist, famous for his Book of the Principles of Government (Kitab al-ahkam al-sultaniyyah), which is a valuable source on the organization of civil administration in the caliphate. It was the earliest and most important treatise on Islamic government at a time when the ‘Abbasid caliphate was under Shi’ite Buyid control. Al-Mawardi defined the functions of the caliph as safeguarding Islam from innovation, providing justice, protecting the borders of Islam, executing the penalties of the shari’ah, garrisoning the borders, compelling unbelievers to convert or submit and pay the poll tax (jizyah), levying taxes according to the Koran, regulating the expenditures of the state, appointing the right people to offices, and supervising the administration.

Jurists, philosophers, and Islamic thinkers like al-Mawardi, Ibn Taimiyyah, al-Baqillani, and Ibn Khaldun have greatly influenced Islamic political theory. Educated in Baghdad and Basra, alMawardi served as a judge in a number of towns before settling in Baghdad as a juridical expert at the court of the caliph.

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