Quaid e Azam’s Pakistan…

Raza ul Haq

As the 77th Independence Day of Pakistan, approaches, the secular and liberal sections of the country have increased their propaganda, once again, regarding the raison d'être for the creation of Pakistan, falsely claiming that Pakistan’s rationale is economic and political, not religious. Almost all of these secular and liberal sections of our society, especially vocal in the English Press, use the fake narratives and quotes generated by Justice Munir, who mislead the entire nation by attributing forged quotes to Quaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, first in his Munir Report 1953, and then his (in)famous book, From Jinnah to Zia, 1980.

Let us set the record straight...

Jinnah was perfectly aware of the fact that Islam and theocracy were completely incompatible. While many continue to falsely associate Jinnah’s references to the protection of minorities and tolerance of other creeds, with his alleged secularist ideology, Jinnah himself explained this in a broadcast talk to the people of Australia as Governor General on 19 February 1948, “The great majority of us are Muslims. We follow the teaching of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). We are members of the brotherhood of Islam in which all are equal in rights, dignity and self-respect. Consequently, we have a special and a very deep sense of unity. But make no mistake; Pakistan is not a theocracy or anything like it. Islam demands from us the tolerance of other creeds and we welcome in closest association with us all those who, of whatever creed, are themselves willing and ready to play their part as true and loyal citizens of Pakistan.” This speech is further proof of the fact that Jinnah essentially attributed the equality in rights, dignity and self-respect, what many term as democratic principles – to Islam. He then further justifies his aversion to theocracy namely that it is contrary to the tenets of Islam, where a certain class of men place themselves above others to rule as religious dictators or stooges with ‘Divine Law’ very conveniently manipulated to suit their own vested interests. Therefore, Jinnah viewed democracy not in the secular sense but rather as part of the Islamic process. He used the word ‘democracy’ as though it were part of modern Islamic lexicon. Islam refers to this consultative process in fraternity as "Amruhum Shura Baynahum" or “Consult amongst thyselves”. The careful reader can also note that whilst Jinnah spoke against theocracy in the passage quoted above, he mentioned Islam in the very next sentence – not secularism as would be expected had he been a secularist. Most importantly, this passage has been taken from a speech which was made much after the 11 August 1947 speech where he supposedly declared his belief in secularism without actually saying the word.

As far as the speech made on 11 August 1947 is concerned, where Jinnah said, “You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed. That has nothing to do with the business of the State,” he made this statement because in the past the religion of the majority led to the discrimination against other religions and minorities, which is why he alluded to them in the course of the same speech in another excerpt conveniently ignored. “As you know, history shows that in England conditions, some time ago, were much worse than those prevailing in India today. The Roman Catholics and Protestants persecuted each other. Even now there are some States in existence where there are discriminations made and bars imposed against a particular class. Today, you might say with justice that Roman Catholics and Protestants do not exist; what exists now is that every man is a citizen, an equal citizen of Great Britain and they are all members of the Nation,” Jinnah said in the same speech on 11 August 1947. Therefore, Jinnah was trying to emphasize the Islamic principle that the state is responsible for the wellbeing of its citizens on the basis of Islamic injunctions. Unity amongst Muslims, however, was a principle that needed to be pursued at all cost.  In a speech made on 17 April 1948 Jinnah candidly emphasized the responsibility of the Muslims to stand united based on the fundamental tenets of Islam, “Whatever I have done, I did as a servant of Islam and only tried to perform my duty and made every possible contribution within my power to help our Nation. It has been my constant endeavor to try to bring about unity among Musalmans, and I hope that in the great task of reconstruction and building up great and glorious Pakistan, that is ahead of us, you realize that solidarity is now more essential than it ever was for achieving Pakistan, which by the grace of God we have already done. I am sure that I shall have your fullest support in this mission. I want every Musalman to do his utmost and help me and support me in creating complete solidarity among the Musalmans, and I am confident that you will not lag behind any other individual or part of Pakistan. We Musalmans believe in one God, one book – the Holy Quran – and one Prophet. So we must stand united as one Nation.”

Jinnah also realized the importance of having an economic model that was in consistence with Islamic principles. Jinnah’s aversion to the western economic system could be understood from the speech he made during the opening ceremony of the Peshawar Branch of the State Bank of Pakistan in 1948, where he famously said, “I shall watch with keenness the work of your research organization in evolving banking practices compatible with Islamic ideas of social and economic life. The economic system of the West has created almost insoluble problems for humanity and to many of us it appears that only a miracle can save it from disaster that is not facing the world. It has failed to do justice between man and man and to eradicate friction from the international field. On the contrary, it was largely responsible for the two world wars in the last half century. The adoption of Western economic theory and practice will not help us in achieving our goal of creating a happy and contended people.  We must work our destiny in our own way and present to the world an economic system based on true Islamic concept of equality of manhood and social justice.” In his address to the Karachi Bar Association on 25 January 1948 Jinnah said, “Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. Islam has taught equality of men, justice and fair-play to everybody. What we need is there for anyone to fear democracy, equality, freedom on the highest standard of integrity and on the basis of fair-play and justice for everybody.”

All in all, the false narrative woven by the secular and liberal sections of Pakistan is a house of cards built on fabricated and misinterpreted versions of Jinnah’s vision about Pakistan! Nothing could be farther than the truth. Contrary to the false and confused narratives and whatever absurd arguments they give in support of that, the fact remains that the raison d'être – the rationale for the creation of Pakistan – was both religious and ideological, with politics and economics playing the role of simply an ‘executive brainstorming’ for running the nascent country of Pakistan to be, after independence. The secular and liberal elements of Pakistan sound like a broken record, given the real historical perspective of the creation of Pakistan and all the present changes occurring around the globe right before their own eyes. Secularism and liberalism are now on a ventilator and soon to be dead and buried. Should that not be a wake-up call for us all to embrace the Truth and quit twisting facts and fabricating opinions?

Given the context, it is necessary for Pakistan to strengthen its ideological basis by practically establishing and making dominant the Absolute Sovereignty of Allah (SWT) in the country by moulding it into a true reflection of the Khilafat-e-Rashida, in letter and spirit. The ideology of Pakistan is a God-Given ideology and it is totally in sync with human nature at all levels. It is our obligation to spread and proliferate that ideology in the entire world, so that all rival false ideologies could be emphatically defeated. The imperative precondition for all of that to happen is that we must become a practical and tangible model of our ideology ourselves. May Allah (SWT) grant us the strength and courage to make Pakistan an ideal Islamic state, based on the lines of the Khilafat-e-Rashida. Aameen!

Courtesy: Perspective, the online Journal of Tanzeem e Islami

Link: https://www.tanzeem.org/magazines/15-perspective-august-01-to-15-2024/