JAMĀʿAT-I ISLĀMĪ (The Islamic Society), a Muslim religio-political organization in the Indian subcontinent, was founded in August 1941 on the initiative of Abū al-Aʿlā Mawdūdī, who had issued a public invitation to all who were interested to meet in Lahore. In his earlier life Mawdūdī had worked as a journalist, but in 1932 he became editor of the religious monthly Tarjumān al-Qurʾān, which later served as the principal organ of the Jamāʿat. During the 1930s Mawdūdī participated in the debates about India's political future and opposed both the united Indian nationalism of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim nationalism of the Muslim League. All nationalism he thought contrary to Islam and insisted that the identity of Muslims derives from Islam alone.

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