played a leading role in Egypt’s mUslim brother-
hood, adapted Ibn Taymiyya’s ideas and viewed
all modern secular governments (among other
non-Muslim entities) as part of jahili culture
and as legitimate targets for militant attacks. The
Jihad Group of Egypt, under the leadership of
Muhammad Abd al-Salam Faraj (d. ca. 1981),
drew explicitly on Ibn Taymiyya’s writings to jus-
tify the assassination of President anWar al-sadat
(d. 1981), whom they accused of not being a true
Muslim, like the Mongols of the past.
See also arabian religion, pre-islamic; idola-
try; Jihad.
Jon ArmajaniFurther reading: G. R. Hawting, The Idea of Idolatry
and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999); Sayyid
Qutb, Milestones (Chicago: Kazi Publications, 2003);
Emmanuel Sivan, Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and
Modern Politics (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press, 1990).
Jamaat-i Islami (Urdu: Islamic Group)
The Jamaat-i Islami is an Islamic political party in
pakistan founded in 1941 by abU al-ala maWdUdi
(1903–79), the most widely influential Muslim
thinker of South Asia in the 20th century. It is
an ideological movement that has aimed to cre-
ate an Islamic state in which all aspects of social
and political life would be governed according to
Islamic standards and law. The Jamaat initially
rejected the Pakistan independence movement
and remained apart from political participation,
believing that Islam is a universal system not to be
encompassed by the boundaries of a nation-state
and choosing to focus instead on developing its
ideological support base. But upon the creation
of Pakistan in 1947 based on religious identity,
but not religious law, the Jamaat mobilized into
a political party to work toward making Pakistan
an ideal Islamic state founded on an Islamic con-
stitution based on the qUran and sUnna and a
legal system based on sharia, mirroring the socio-
religious system as established by mUhammad (d.
632) and the first four caliphs.
The Jamaat believes in peaceful political prog-
ress toward an Islamic state through democratic
process and works toward the development of
a large Islamic base in society, attempting to
effect social change through state institutions.
It believes that technological modernization is
required for the development of Islamic society
but is opposed to what it views as Western-style
modernization with its marginalization of religion
and its moral corruption evident in hUman rights,
Women’s advancement outside the home, birth
control, and bank interest. Like its founder, most
of the Jamaat’s members and leaders are educated
laymen rather than trained Ulama, and their focus
is often more on political concerns than religious
ones. The Jamaat is supported by an elected coun-
cil, has varying levels of membership, and is led
by a president who is elected by party members
for a five-year term. Alongside the ulama of Paki-
stan, the Jamaat participated in the violent anti-
Ahmadi movement in 1953, which resulted in the
declaration of Pakistan’s ahmadiyya community as
a non-Muslim minority. It has survived as a politi-
cal party during Pakistan’s periods of martial law
and political turbulence by operating as a religious
organization. Outside of Pakistan, the Jamaat has
branches in india, kashmir, and bangladesh, and
it publishes a monthly Urdu-language magazine
out of Lahore called the Tarjuman al-Quran. Its
active student wing is called the Islami Jamiat-i
Talaba (Islamic Association of Students, IJT). The
Jamaat had associations with the Islamic revolu-
tionary government in iran and is known to have
ties to saUdi arabia.
See also democracy; government, islamic;
islamism; reneWal and reForm movements.
Megan Adamson SijapatiFurther reading: Mumtaz Ahmad, “Islamic Funda-
mentalism in South Asia: The Jamaat-i-Islami and
the Tablighi Jamaat of South Asia.” In Fundamental-K 388 Jamaat-i Islami