Article 1: The name of this Jamaat shall be “THE JAMAAT-E- ISLAMI HIND”, and this constitution shall be called “THE CONSTITUTION OF THE JAMAAT-E-ISLAMI HIND”. 

Article 2: This constitution shall come into force on the First of Ramadan-ul- Mubarak, 1375 AH, corresponding to the thirteenth of April 1956 AD. 

Article 3: The basic creed of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind is “La Ilaha Illallahu Muhammadur Rasulullah”, i.e. the Divine Being is solely Allah, there being no god except Him, and that Muhammad (Allah’s blessings and peace be on him!) is Allah’s messenger. 

Explanation: The meaning of the first part of this creed — i.e., the exalted Allah being the only God and no one else being a god — is that the very same Allah is the Rightful Deity and Law — giving Sovereign of all human beings Who is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Controller, the Lord of us all and of the entire universe as well as the Sovereign and the Author of all the creations. He alone is deserving of worship and He alone is the Rightful One to Whom obedience and allegiance are due, and no one in any of these capacities is His associate. 

Knowing and acknowledging this reality it becomes imperative that man -

• should not regard anyone except Allah as his patron, fulfiller of desires, provider of needs, remover of difficulties, redresser of grievances. protector and helper, for, in reality no one else has power at all in his own right;
• should not reckon anyone except Allah as benefactor or injurer, nor fear any one, nor stand in awe of anyone, nor put his trust in anyone, nor pin his hopes on anyone, for the master of all authority is, in reality Allah alone;
• should not worship any one except Allah, nor offer oblations to anyone, nor bow (in reverence) before any one; in a word, should not deal with anyone in the manner in which polytheists have been acting towards their gods, for Allah alone deserves to be worshipped;
• should not supplicate anyone for except Allah, nor seek refuge in anyone, nor invoke anyone for assistance, nor even consider anyone so powerful and meddlesome in Divine dispensation that Divine decree could be averted through his intercession, for, in the Kingdom of God all are really helpless subjects, be they angels, Prophets or saints;
• should not recognize anyone except Allah as lord of the Dominions and Supreme Authority, nor acknowledge anyone competent to command and forbid on his own authority, nor own anyone as being in his own right a permanent and absolute law-giver and law-maker; and should refuse to acknowledge as valid all those allegiances which are not subservient to the allegiance of the One Allah and His Law, for Allah is the only legitimate Lord of His domain and the only lawful Sovereign of His creation. To none, excepting Him, accrues the right to lordship and sovereignty.

Furthermore, by subscribing to this Creed it also becomes imperative that man -

• should renounce his self-will, give up the servitude of lusts and base urges and live as a servant merely of Allah Whom he has acknowledged as his One God;
• should not regard himself as the absolute owner of anything, but should regard everything, even his very existence, his bodily organs, his mental and physical faculties, as emanating from Allah and endowed as a trust by Him;
• should consider himself responsible and accountable to Allah; and, in respect of the use of his faculties, his dealings and the utilization of resources, should ever keep in view the fact that on the Day of Judgment he has to render account of all these things to the Exalted Allah and has to receive reward or punishment for his deeds;
• should make the approval of Allah the sole criterion of his likes and the disapproval of Allah the criterion of his dislikes;
• should make the seeking of the pleasure of, and closeness to, the Exalted Allah the sole object of all his exertions and endeavours and the pivot of his entire existence;
• should accept in the spheres of moral behaviour and conduct in social and civic spheres, in economics and politics — in a word, in every sphere of life — only Allah’s guidance as ‘the Guidance’ and acknowledge only that code as ‘The Code’ which is laid down by Allah or which is in consonance with His Command and Guidance, and should reject all that which goes against His Shariat (Law). The meaning of the second part of this Creed — i.e., Muhammad (Allah’s blessings and peace be on him!) is the Messenger of Allah — is that the last Prophet, through whom authentic Guidance and complete Code of Life to be followed till the Last Day was sent from the Rightful Deity and Sovereign of the Universe for all human beings inhabiting the face of the earth and who had been commissioned to act in accordance with this Guidance and Code and present a complete model, is Hazrat Muhammad (Allah’s blessings and peace be on him!).

Knowing and recognizing this reality, it becomes imperative that one -

• should accept without demur every teaching and every guidance that is proved to emanate from Muhammad (Allah’s blessings and peace be on him!);
• only this much should suffice to urge a man to do a certain thing and to make him desist from anything, that the command to do that thing or its prohibition is confirmed by God’s Messenger(Allah’s blessings and peace be on him!); no other reasoning should be the basis of his obedience;
• should not acknowledge the permanent and absolute leadership and guidance of anyone excepting God’s Messenger; the act of following others should be subject to its conforming with Allah’s Book1 and the Sunna 2 of Allah’s messenger and not independent of these;
• should take the Book of God and Sunna of His Messenger alone as the real sanction and authority and the ultimate source to fall back upon in every matter of his life; should adopt an idea, belief or method which is in accordance with the Book and the Sunna and should give up that which is against them;
• should eradicate from his heart all prejudices current in pre-Islamic days, whether they have anything to do with his person and family, or tribe and race, or nation and country, or community and Jamaat. He should not be so enamoured of or devoted to anybody that love and devotion to him should subdue the love and devotion to the truth brought by God’s Messenger or should become its rival;
• should hold no human being, except the messenger of God, as the criterion of right and wrong, nor regard anyone above criticism, nor be under mental servitude of anyone, but assess and judge everyone according to the same perfect criterion framed by God and place a person only in that category in which he fits in the light of that criterion.

1. “Allah’s Book” and “the Book” signify the Quran
2. “Sunna” means the sayings, precepts and practices of the Prophet.

Article 4: the objective of the Jamaat-e-iIslami Hind is Iqaamat-e-Deen,1 the real motive of which is solely the achievement of divine pleasure and success in the Hereafter. 

Explanation: the word “ Deen” in the term “ Iqaamat-e-Deen” means that true Deen which Allah, the Lord of the worlds, had been sending through all His prophets in different ages and different lands and which He revealed in its final and perfect form for the guidance of all men, through His Last Prophet, Hazrat Muhammad (Allah’s blessings and peace be on him!), and which is now in the world the only authentic, pristine Deen and the only one which is acceptable to Allah, the name of which is Islam. 

This Deen encompasses the exterior and the interior of man as well as all individual and collective aspects of his life. There is not even a single aspect of human life ranging from beliefs, rituals and morals to economic, social and political aspects which may be beyond its pale. 

Just as this Deen ensures Divine pleasure and success in the Hereafter, it is also the best system of life for the proper solution of all worldly problems, and righteous and progressive reconstruction of individual and social life is possible only through its establishment. 

Iqaamat of this Deen means that it, in its entirety and without exercising any discrimination or division, should be sincerely followed and followed single-mindedly. It should be so enforced and given effect to in all aspects of human life, individual as well as corporate, that the development of the individual, the reconstruction of society and the formation of State should all conform to this very Deen. 

The ideal and the best practical example of the Iqaamat of this Deen is that which was set up by Hazrat Muhammad (Allah’s blessings and peace be on him!) and the rightly-guided Caliphs (may the Exalted Allah be pleased with them all!). 

1. It is very difficult to give an English equivalent of the term ‘Iqaamat — e-Deen’. It may, however, be rendered as the Establishment, Realization or Pursuit of Religion. ‘Religion’, ‘Way of Life’ or System of Belief and Action’, are however, very imperfect renderings of the word ‘Deen’. 

Article 5: For the attainment of its objective the methodology of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind shall be as follows:

• The Quran and the Sunna shall form the basis of all the Jamaat’s activities. All other things shall be kept in view secondarily, and only to the extent to which these could be accommodated in accordance with the Quran and the Suuna.
• In all its actions the Jamaat shall be bound by moral limits and shall never adopt such means or ways which are against truth and honesty or through which may come about communal hatred, class struggle and Fasaad fil arz1.
• For the achievement of its Objective the Jammat shall adopt constructive and peaceful methods; that is, it shall reform the mental outlook, character and conduct through propagation (of Islam), instruction and dissemination of Islamic ideas, and thus shall train public opinion in order to bring about the desired righteous revolution in the social life of the country.