Rab and Illah

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Mawdudi's Comprehensive Conception of God: A Comparative Study of

Mawdudi's Concept of Rabb and Ilah With Common Secular Notions of God
Article · December 2023

DOI: 10.55057/ijarih.2021.3.4.2
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International Journal of Advanced Research in Islamic and Humanities
e-ISSN: 2682-8332 | Vol. 3, No.4, 8-14, 2021
http://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijarih
Mawdudi's Comprehensive Conception of God:

A Comparative Study of Mawdudi's Concept of Rabb and Ilah
With Common Secular Notions of God
Md Maruf Hasan1*, Akram Uddin2, Mohammad Shamsul Alom3
1
Post-Graduate Researcher, Department of Usul al-Din and Comparative Religion, IRKHS, International
Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2
Post-Graduate Researcher, International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation, International Islamic
University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3
Post-Graduate Researcher, Department of Political Science, IRKHS, International Islamic University
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: marufenglish021@gmail.com
Accepted: 15 December 2021 | Published: 31 December 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55057/ijarih.2021.3.4.2
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Abstract: Syyied Abul A'la Mawdudi is well known for his contribution to political Islamic
thought and to the study of the Quran. This article will examine one aspect of Mawdudi’s work
that has not been usually highlighted; this article compares Mawdudi’s concept of Rabb & Ilah
to the common secular notions of God. This comparison allows the notions of God that are
dominant in secular society to be critically examined on the background of Mawdudi’s thought.
From Mawdudi’s works it is clear that in his view most Muslims have subconscious accepted
secular definitions of what God is. Mawdudi focuses on two specific Arabic terms, “Ilah” and
“Rabb” to understand the concept of God in his book entitled, “Four Basic Quranic Terms”.
This article will investigate Mawdudi's unique contribution to conceptualizing the terms “Ilah”
and “Rabb” and how his unique conception of them provides a critique of secular education's
own conception of the similar terms. The research uses a comparative methodology because
in only via comparing Mawdudi’s ideas with that of secularism can the uniqueness of his ideas
become clearly seen. This study finds that Mawdudi’s conception of God is more sophisticated
and nuanced than secularism tends to portray. The article concludes that Mawdudi’s thought,
especially on the issue of God, can provide fresh perspectives to critically engaging with
secularism.
Keywords: Mawdudi, God, Ilah, Rabb, Secularism

___________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
Most of the education system in the Muslim world is based on secularism. The same applies to
the media even when they speak positively about God and religion. This is due to the secularism
providing the mainstream definition of God.
It is common to find religious people describing God as a positive belief. By this, religious
people mean that God is just another set of beliefs that anyone can hold or reject based on their
own preferences. It is a good belief because it makes you happy. Thus, God is a ‘happy-making’
belief in the same way that craving chocolates is a ‘happy-making’ belief.
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e-ISSN: 2682-8332 | Vol. 3, No.4, 8-14, 2021
For Mawdudi, God is not a belief but the very basis for any proper worldview. Mawdudi
contends that without the concept of God it will be highly problematic to even understand
things such as Society or Economy or Human Rights.
This article, firstly, discusses the importance of the two terms, “Ilah” and “Rabb” which is
about God. Secondly, it explains why these terms are significant and why Mawdudi provides
a comprehensive analysis of these two terms. Thirdly, it tells how Mawdudi explains these two
terms and compares it to how these terms are usually understood in secular education.
According to Pak, secularism’s influence on education is to remove God as a serious topic of

discussion from the education syllabus (Pak, 2005). In his view secularism provides better
education because it neglects to mention God. Since in his view God is just a personal belief
which anyone can hold, it becomes more of an individual choice than a rational decision. This
view differs drastically from Mawdudi who saw that education itself as a field that has to be
centered on God. The reason Mawdudi says God is central to education is because without God
education has no underlying values. Mawdudi’s argument is that if God is taken out of the
education system, all you are left with is human instincts that have no limiting factor. We can
see Mawdudi’s critique of secular education in the history of World War I and World War II
where both these wars were done with very highest level of scientific advancement, yet they
cost millions of lives. In addition, Aslan and Rausch say that society that is based on secularism
is a society where God is not given any basis in the framework of society (Aslan & Rausch,
2013). Mawdudi disputes this, because in Mawdudi views Rabb and Ilah have the basis how
good society runs.
2. Mawdudi’s Life, Works, Ideas
According to Encyclopedia Britannica (2020), Sayyied Abul A’la Mawdudi was born in
Hyderābād state, India in 1903, and he died in Sept 1979, in New York, USA. In his early
teenage life, family crisis prevented him to complete his formal education, but he continued his
self-study. At young age, he was introduced and convinced about the consequences of modern
western education and he pointed the flaws of secular education system. Mawdudi emphasized
on Islamic Revealed knowledge, culture and heritage in his writings. He established a political
party in 1941 called, Jamaʿat-i Islami expecting to reform Muslim society; and he produced
intellectual works extensively in various topics in favour of Islamic heritage. He is, in fact, well
known for popularizing Islam into politics considering Allah (God) has only right to hold
sovereignty in a state, and, thus, he was in favour of Theo-democracy which western societies
have abandoned due to bad experience with church. For Mawdudi, political power should
reflect to establish the divinely oriented principles of the Islamic jurisprudence (Sharīʿa). If
Islam is considered as a universal code for life, the government should be comprehensive and
should be in the hands of professional and intellectual Muslim leaders who can lead people
according to divine law to bring justice, peace, harmony and prosperity in society among
people regardless the differences in beliefs. Since Muslims as a whole share the same mindset
to God in terms of Aqidah, this government should be termed as “theo-democractic,” in which
the community is encouraged to follow the Islamic law and practice moral values based on the
teaching of Quran and Sunnah (teaching of prophet Muhammad). Mawdudi is famous for the
Quranic exegesis Tafhim-ul-Quran, a commentary of the Qur’an. He delivered an important
speech addressing Muslims in modern world and the speech was transcribed later on in a textual
form. The book was named as Quran Ki Char Bunyadi Istilhan (Four Basic Qur’anic Terms).
This speech was to convince Muslims about the importance of the four Quranic terms Rabb,
ilah, deen, ibadah which Muslims should comprehend in this modern context.
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3. Methodology of Mawdudi
Mawdudi uses a combination of textual and comparative methods in his book entitled “Four
Key Terms in Quran”. Textual method is his reference to various places in Quran which refers
to Rabb and Ilah taking into the context. So, in each place mentioned there is various context
and he tries to capture that in his own conceptualization of what these terms mean. In addition,
in comparative method, he compares what the text of the Quran says and what the context says
with what in general notion among many Muslims regarding Rabb and Ilah. He also refers to
other religions mentioned in Quran to understand the concept of Rabb and Ilah.
4. On Rab and Ilah
Shiekh Salih Fawzan (2009) wrote a book on Tauhid (oneness of God) and he mentions about
Rabb and Ilah, but his description of Rabb and Ilah is very limited. Basically, he states that
Rabb is the creator and Ilah is the one we worship. The difference is that someone like Shiekh
Salih Fawzan, comes from the Hanbali school of thought and the Hanbali school of thought is
very restrictive in how it views the use of Islamic terms. What it means is that for them Islamic
terms have a very narrow scope and should only be used in that narrow scope whereas Mawdudi
has a very expansive scope. He sees Rabb and Ilah not just as something limited in meaning,
but rather as something that encompasses every single aspect of the Islamic worldview.
Furthermore, Imam Gazali discusses different aspect of God’s names and attributes, but Imam
Gazali did not specify or highlight that Rabb and Ilah is a foundation for the Islamic worldview
(Gh̲azālī, Burrell, & Daher,1992). This is only found in Mawdudi’s work which explains a
certain shift in the Islamic thinking. In the past the concept of God was seen to be spread across
the ninety-nine names of Allah, but in the modern contemporary time because of extreme
ignorance and lack of education among Muslims, the contemporary Muslim scholars have to
focus on the most basic terms which are Rabb and Ilah.
Moreover, Sayed Qutub looked at the concept of God in terms of more political term whereas
Mawdudi looked at it more in terms of world view (Quṭb, 2006). If anyone does not understand
the four basic Quranic key terms (Ilah, Rabb, iba’dah, deen), it is very difficult for the person
to comprehend Tawhid or to believe in oneness of God and to see its complete wisdom. As a
consequence, the person will have ambiguous concept about the foundation of Islam and he or
she cannot give complete worship or ibadah for God only, rather the person will have tendency
to give his or her worship or ibadah other than God unknowingly. To make it clear, we can
bring the example of early revelation time during Makkah. The concept of Rabb and Ilah was
clear to these people and they understood very well because they already used these terms to
refer to their ideals. When Muhammad brought the message saying there is no Illah except
Allah, they clearly got that Allah has no least share with any other Ilah or Rabb. The concept
of Rabb and Ilah carry the most significant source to lead life based on any divinely religious
values. If the concept of Rabb and Ilah is clear to a person, he or she can lead his or her daily
life in a comprehensive and meaningful way (Maudoodi, & Asad, 2000, p.7-8).
It is important to ordinary Muslims to understand these two terms because of the Shahada.
Mawdudi also thinks it is important because if people do not understand the terms, they really
cannot understand Islam anyway. Mawdudi mentioned that a Muslim may recite the Shahadah
that there is no Ilah but Allah, but in practical life he or she can treat others as Ilah. In addition,
a Muslim will keep on saying that there is no Rabb but Allah, but he or she will treat others as
Rabb way (Maudoodi, & Asad, 2000, p.7). Treating others as Rabb and Ilah happen due to lack
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of understanding and that is why it is important to know, according to Mawdudi, these two
terms “Rabb” and “Ilah”.
According to Mawdudi, Only One Allah (God) who has authority and power over everything
in the earth and heavens. All blessings come from Allah over his all creation. Everything is
bound by law made by Allah willingly or unwillingly. No one in the heavens and earth has the
share or least authority. Since he alone created everything in the heavens and earth, he only
deserved to be worship. Thus, anything that human beings worship besides Allah is inherently
wrong. E.g. praying other than Allah, seeking refuge, turning for hope and fear, seeking
someone for intercession with God, treating as final authority. All these actions can be done
only for Allah because he has only authority over heavens and earth as the Creator way
(Maudoodi, & Asad, 2000, p. 20). Mawdudi provides so many Quranic verses to make his
statement clear. For instance, Allah mentions, “The Day they come forth nothing concerning
them will be concealed from Allah. To whom belongs [all] sovereignty this Day? To Allah, the
One, the Prevailing.” (Al-Qur'an Al-Kareem, 40:16). In fact, Rububiyyah is only for Allah, it
is comprehensive by looking at the fact that fabric of the universe is following supreme law.
Hence, it would be destructive if a person denies the reality of the universe and the existence
of one God and associates anyone as Rabb and Ilah other than Allah.
5. Secular Notions of God
Common secular society’s view god in a very simplistic way, because it does not differentiate
between Rabb and Ilah. So, Rabb means one thing and Ilah means another thing in Islam, but
in a secular society you only have God. The Concept is only God. So, there is no discussion of
do you believe in God or not? There is no discussion or awareness in the secular discourse of
the concept of Rabb. Rabb is meant as lord, is the one you served. So, they do not have that.
In a secular society, God is seen as personal belief that is not so different from a lifestyle choice.
So, when you say I belief in God or I don’t believe in God, basically it has the same significance
in secular society as saying that you like to eat strawberries or you do not like to eat
strawberries. That means believing in God is considered just as personal belief. Most of the
time this personal belief does not have effect on their life whereas it does have affect for
lifestyle choice which means the concept of God has no intellectual impact at all in secular
society.
In the most sympathetic form of secularism, God is some kind of spiritual force or spiritual
thing but it is not clearly defined whereas as in Islam we have the concept of Rabb and Ilah.
These are clear distinct definitions of what God is. Hence, in the most sympathetic form of
secularism, God is a vague, unknown entity or force or kind of spiritual thing in secular society.
It is not clear and it is not described properly. Cliteur mentions about ambiguity to understand
the concept of God in secular world, “What is “reality”? Is the love for my daughter “reality
“or “a reality”? Is the dream I had last night part of “reality”? These are all difficult problems
that have to be solved first if one is to discuss whether God is “reality” (or “a reality”). And
what characteristics should reality have if it is to be “ultimate”? And what justification do we
have for identifying such vague concepts with “God”?” (Cliteur, 2010).
God is an important issue that forms the very basis for thinking, basis for society, basis for
understanding, basis for everything. So, if there is no God, there will be problem of how it is
possible for us to properly understand the world? What this means is that God has a big
significance when it comes to our thoughts and this is the difference with secularism.
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Secularism makes God nothing more than a personal choice whereas in Mawdudi’s concept of
God it is the very basis how we can think and how we can relate to everything in this universe.
Therefore, whether or not we accept it, it is a matter of great importance and it is not just a
personal choice in Islam.
Mawdudi has a very complex, sophisticated view of Rabb and Ilah whereas in the secular view
God is meant as something simple. The problem is that by simplifying everything, secularism
in fact misrepresents the position of religious people, especially people like Mawdudi. Due to
this misrepresentation, secularism can make its own claim that God is not an important issue
because secularism itself makes God into such a simple view whereas if we look at Mawdudi,
we see very complex, sophisticated, interconnected set of ideas that all branches out from the
central concept of God, “Rabb” and “Ilah”.
In secularism, God is like some kind of vague spiritual force, but Mawdudi’s view God is not
only specifically clearly defined, but its importance is the clarity of who God is. This is very
apparent in the Quran and Sunnah. So, when we read Mawdudi, we get the idea that God is
most clear concept for us that we should follow him, we should worship him, he is the only of
thing that we focus on, but in secularism what we see is God is just a kind of spiritual vague
thing.
According to Jackson, Mawdudi’s political thought has many branches and touched many
areas, but the central theme in all of these political thoughts is a concept of God, the importance
of God (Jackson, 2011). Jackson, however, uses the term God in his book in his study of
Mawdudi. This shows that in the English language there is only one term ‘God’ which is only
known by one name whereas Mawdudi wants to stress that in Islam God is so central that he is
known as Rabb and Ilah. In this sense we can see the effect of secularization. Even on those
academics who are most close to Mawdudi, because when Mawdudi uses the terms Rabb and
Ilah, these academics translate them into one term of God.
Mawdudi’s view on Rabb and Ilah shows that for him these terms actually contain a very
comprehensive meaning of the entire facts of life whereas most other people consider “Rabb”
and “Ilah” as God is not that much important or meaningful for the society. For Mawdudi’s
point of view, these terms are something more comprehensive and richer and he also has a far
richer and sophisticated conception about “Rabb” and “Ilah”. Mawdudi's work is based on the
principle of Rab and Ilah (Mawdudi, 2018; Maudoodi,1967; Maudoodi & Murad,2003). Even
his most political ideas contain explicit references to Rabb and Ilah (Maudoodi, 2005).
Academics have investigated Mawdudi's ideas and found them to be an original contribution
to Islamic discourse (Gilani, 1988; Jameelah,1982). In particular, it has been found that
Mawdudi's ideas tackle contemporary issues without neglecting the primary sources of Islamic
Revelation (Hasan, 1984). Mawdudi's ideas differ from the secular ideas in many aspects. This
means Mawdudi has contributed to a critique of secularism as many other academics after him
have done (Al-Attas, 2014; Al-Azm, 2014; Ardic, 2011).
6. Concluding remarks
In conclusion, it can be summarized that Syyied Abul A'la Mawdudi is still famous for his
exegesis of the holy Quran. This article has mainly tried to explain one single part of
Mawdudi’s work that was not previously emphasized; this paper has compared Mawdudi’s
notion of Rabb & Ilah to the general secular notions of God. This comparison permits the ideas
of God that are central in secular society to judgmentally scrutinize on the background of
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e-ISSN: 2682-8332 | Vol. 3, No.4, 8-14, 2021
Mawdudi’s thought. In Mawdudi’s works it is evident that in his view most Muslims have
subconsciously accepted secular definitions of what God is. Mawdudi emphasized on two
specific Arabic terms, “Ilah” and “Rabb” to understand the concept of God in his book entitled,
“Four Basic Quranic Terms”. This article has shown Mawdudi's unique contribution to
intellectualizing the terms “Ilah” and “Rabb” and how his unique conception of them offers a
critique of secular education's own conception of the similar terms. The article has used a
comparative methodology because in only via comparing Mawdudi’s ideas with that of
secularism can the uniqueness of his ideas become clearly seen. This study found that
Muadudi’s conception of God is more sophisticated and nuanced than secularism tends to
portray. This can be suggested that Mawdudi’s thought, particularly on the issue of God, can
provide new viewpoints to critically engaging with secularism. Muslim world is in crisis
economically, politically, ideologically and this is the duty of Muslim leaders and intellectuals
to come up with practical solution to solve the major difficulties that Muslims are facing in
society. Mawdudi realized the critical crisis for Muslims in Muslim society due to the rise of
secularism. German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche indicated similar issue for
Christian society in his philosophical novel “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” and his great work “The
Gay Science”.
References
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Tawḥīd = al-Mulakhkhas fī sharḥ kitāb al-Tawḥīd. Riyadh: Al-Maiman Publishing
House.
Al-Attas, S. M. (2014). Islam and secularism. Kuala Lumpur: IBFIM.
Al-Azm, S. J. (2014). Secularism, fundamentalism and the struggle for the meaning of Islam:
Collected essays on politics and religion. Berlin: Gerlach Press.
Al-Qur'an Al-Kareem. Surah Ghafir [40:16], Accessed August 30, 2020, from
https://quran.com/40/16.
Ardic, Nurullah (2011). Islam and the politics of secularism: The Caliphate and Middle
Eastern modernization in the early 20th century.Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Aslan, E., & Rausch, M. (2013). Islamic education in secular societies: In cooperation with
Sedef Sertkan and Zsófia Windisch. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Edition.
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2020, September 21). Abū al-Aʿlā al-Mawdūdī.
Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed August 30, 2020, from
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abul-Ala-Mawdudi.
Cliteur, P. (2010). The secular outlook: In defense of moral and political secularism. Malden,
MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Gh̲azālī, A. H., Burrell, D. B., & Daher, N. (1992). The ninety-nine beautiful names of God =
al-Maqṣad al-asnā fī s̲ h̲arḥ asmāʼ Allāh al-ḥusnā. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society.
Gilani, A. S. (1988). Mawdudi: Thought and movement. Lahore: Islamic publications.
Hasan, M. (1984). Sayyid Abul Aʻala Mawdudi and his thought. Lahore: Islamic Publications.
Jackson, R. (2011). Mawlana Mawdudi and political Islam: Authority and the Islamic state.
London: Routledge.
Jameelah, M. (1982). Who is Maudoodi? Delhi: Taj Company.
Maudoodi, S. A. (1967). The meaning of the Quran. Lahore, Pakistan: Islamic Publications.
Maudoodi, S. A. (2005). Towards understanding Islam. United States?: Yahiya Emerick?
Maudoodi, S. A., & Asad, A. (2000). Four basic Quranic terms. Delhi: Markazi Maktaba
Islami.
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Khutubat. New Delhi: Markazi Maktaba Islami.
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Mawdudi, S. A. (2018). Let Us Be Muslims. Kube Publishing Limited.

Pak, S. (2005). At the crossroads of secularism and Islamism. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI.
Quṭb, S. (2006). Basic principles of the Islamic worldview. North Haledon (New Jersey):
Islamic Publications International.
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Mawdudi's Comprehensive Conception of God: A Comparative Study of

Article · December 2023

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Mawdudi's Comprehensive Conception of God:

*Corresponding Author: marufenglish021@gmail.com

Accepted: 15 December 2021 | Published: 31 December 2021

Keywords: Mawdudi, God, Ilah, Rabb, Secularism

According to Pak, secularism’s influence on education is to remove God as a serious topic of

2. Mawdudi’s Life, Works, Ideas

4. On Rab and Ilah

5. Secular Notions of God

Mawdudi, S. A. (2018). Let Us Be Muslims. Kube Publishing Limited.

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