The managing committee of India’s Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has decided to remove books by the Pakistani author, Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, and the Egyptian Islamic author, Sayyid Qutb, from its syllabus after a complaint from a Hindu social activist and academician.
These books were in the Department of Islamic Studies’ curriculum and were taught in the BA and MA classes. The decision was made after a written complaint was filed to India’s Prime Minister (PM), Narendra Modi, which demanded that none of the books by the aforementioned authors be taught at the institution.
A senior staff member at AMU stated, “This decision has been taken in response to a recent letter that was written by social activist and academician Madhu Kishwar, along with some other academicians, to PM Modi, in which the books of these authors were demanded not to be taught to the students”.
The academicians had not just named the AMU, but also the Jamia Milia Islamia and Hamdard Universities, claiming that all these universities had books written by Pakistani authors in their curriculum.
Other Indian academicians also claimed that the Pakistani Islamic scholar, Maududi, is known for his anti-Hindu statements, which renders including books by such authors in the curriculum ‘controversial’.
However, AMU’s Islamic Studies Department Head Professor, Muhammad Ismail, denied that the academic books contain anything objectionable and remarked that the “board has decided to remove all books written by Pakistani authors from all curriculums, even though these books do not promote anything controversial and have been on the curriculum of AMU for a long time”.
