Maulana Manazar Ahsan Gilani Ka Munhij Taqabal Adiyaan Aur Nukta Nigah (Tehqeeqi Jaiza)

Abstract

The systematic study of religions is not a Western enterprise, rather it is a purely Islamic discipline that long originated with the advent of Islam. Muslim scholars have taken keen interest and made remarkable efforts to understand other religions implementing different approaches and methods. Some of these approaches were later partially and at times to a large extent, adopted by Western scholars from the 16th century CE onwards. Having said that, it must be emphasized that the endeavours of Western scholars in the study of religions in modern times cannot be overlooked; on the part of the Muslims scholars however, there has hardly been anything new after the 13th and 14th century. In our more recent history however, particularly in the Indian subcontinent, some very learned voices have arisen in the twentieth century; one such voice is that of Mawlana Manazir Ahsan Gilani, a traditionally trained yet extremely enlightened and broad minded scholar who not only brought back the Muslims’ legacy but contributed in this arena in quite a significant, intellectual manner. The work produced by him depicts his concern about the traditional Muslim education along with the challenges and the demands of the contemporary era. Mawlana Gilani's methodological principles are two fold: 1. The religious truths are eternal and are as old as humanity itself. 2. The concept of revelation is universal, and that Allah's guidance takes precedence over His misguidance. Keeping in view these two principles Mawlana Gilani not only challenged the traditional categorization of the world religions but also asserted that Hindus are a People of the Book as in this view there isn’t any difference between the revealed and the non-revealed religions. Mawlana Gilani made sincere attempts to propagate Islam and to reduce the increasing gap between world religions. My thesis aims to highlight Mawlana Gilani's contribution to the study of religions in a detailed manner, his methodologies, his particular views and to what extent he differs from the traditional stance in his views. Therefore the need was felt to make his works on religions and his views, the topic of academic research and the dissertation at hand aims to do just that. The methodology that I am going to follow is both analytical and comparative. The primary sources that I have consulted are his own literary works which is available in the form of books, articles and speeches. I pray to Allah (swt) to accept this humble effort of mine and make it sadaqa jariya for the readers. Aamin.