Jamaat-e-Islam

 

The party was founded in British India on 26 August 1941 by Syedd Abul Ala Maududi as a movement to promote Islamic values and practices. It is not simply a religious or political party. It bears the logo from a verse in the Quran " Ud-Khulu Fis-Silmi Kaffa" meaning "Enter In Islam Full Fledge" - Take Islam as a complete way of life.This movement and its constitution has following major notable points: Human kind will find peace and growth only when it will accept and practice true teachings of God "Allah" in all spheres of its life, from individual level to national and international levels. These teachings are presented by prophets in different ages and Muhammad has left the last book of God - The Quran - in its original form and his personal teachings are recorded in different hadiths which are sufficient to establish a complete code of life.This movement will not adopt any illegal or underground means to come to power. It will educate people in the first course about real Islamic Values and participate in elections.With the support of common Pakistanis, the JI organized a movement in 1948 to convince government to initiate Islamic Constitution. As a result, The Constitution Preamble, commonly known as "Qaraardad e Maqasid" was approved by the national assembly which in principle accepts that all laws and amendments will be Islamic or made Islamic.The writings of Maududi gained a wide audience. It is to be noted that in JI no body asks for any position or responsibility. It is the movement which elects its top leadership to lead. On health grounds Mr. maududi excused to lead the movement in 1972 and requested the Top Elected Body of the movement "Shoura" to select someone else to perform the duties of Chief " Ameer".Liberal groups in Pakistan raised the question of whether the JI could be regarded as a political party or a subversive group. The Pakistani supreme court ruled in favor of the JI as a "legitimate political group". They became an opposition party from 1950-1977.By 1976 Jamaat's street power multiplied by 2,000,000 new entrants when it swore to organize marches to Islamabad for implementing Sharia. In 1977, Maududi cobbled together a grand alliance of rightist parties and launched a "civil disobedience campaign", leading to his arrest. So powerful had [Jamaat] become in Islamist ranks by then that the Sunni government of Saudi Arabia personally intervened to secure Maududi's release by dangling the specter of "revolution" in PakistanInitially supporting the incoming President of Pakistan, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, they had conflicts with the decade-long Zia regime when he chose to ban student unions in 1988, including the ones under JI, such as the IJT. The IJT became major recruiting grounds for the ranks of the JI and they havoc the concept of student unionsIn their aggressive support for Islamization of Pakistan, they piloted the Sharia bill through the Pakistani Senate in 1986. Over the course of the 1990s their influence diminished somewhat. In the 1993 national elections, the JI captured only 3 seats in the national assembly.During the democratic interlude of 1988-99, the Jamaat continued to act as an "eternal opponent" of non-Islamic rulers, while grabbing power-sharing chances, especially under Nawaz Sharif The 1999 Pervez Musharraf coup was welcomed by the JI, but once Musharraf started reforms, they turned against him and started preaching radical Islamism, warning that "Pakistan's destiny lay in the Islamic revolution" and that party workers "were ready to sacrifice their lives for the cause of Almighty Allah and His Prophets"