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PAKISTAN KI KAHANI |
By: Mansoor Hussain
Every so often, we hear a loud criticism that no Government has tried to implement Islamic law in Pakistan ever since its inception. Why were the Islamic laws not enforced here? You would be surprised to note the proportions and the nature of the conspiracy that prevented this country from becoming a state based on laws of the Quran. In a nutshell, the chief obstacle was the question, “What type of Islamic legislation can be enforced in a country where there are a large number of different sects of Islam with their conflicting sets of Islamic jurisprudence called Maslak”!
Propaganda of the Religious Clerics and Spiritualists
For finding an answer to this question, a conference was held of different heads of sects, 31 in number. They unanimously resolved that the legal code of Pakistan should be based on the Book (the Holy Quran) and the Sunnah. First to sign the resolution were late Maulana Maudoodi, late Maulana Muhammad Ismail, President of Central Jamaat Alhadeeth. The discussion they had about definition of Sunnah was published in detail in a publication with the title "Jamaat Islami's View About Hadeeth". After passing this resolution they proclaimed that they had done their job and if, after that, the Government did not enforce Islamic laws, it would only be due to bad faith on its part. However, all this was a big hoax. These same people knew very well that no legislation based on the Book and the Sunnah could be compiled which would find acceptance with all sects, including the various signatories of the resolution.
In course of these proceedings, late President Muhammad Ayub Khan even came up with the offer that if the Ulema (clergy) compile a set of laws with unanimity, he would sign the legislation for enforcement without demur. This offer was spurned with the accusation that he was trying to exploit differences between the Ulema!
Not only this, but as time passed, their propaganda regarding lack of will to implement Islamic laws continued against successive Governments. However, in 1970 late Mr. Maudoodi admitted publicly, that indeed no legislation based on the Book and the Sunnah could be promulgated as could be acceptable to all sects. None of the Ulema contradicted him: none branded him a Munkar-I-Hadeeth (a rejecter of Prophet's traditions).
He was asked how, in that situation, could Islamic legislation be enforced. He retorted that Fiqh Hanafi (Hanafi Jurisprudence) be enforced. This was clearly a subterfuge. He was himself against that Fiqh; the Fiqh itself was fragmented, and it was obvious that other sects, most notably Shiites, would resist its imposition. No one asked him, -
(I) Why did he sign the Resolution in 1951 if he knew that no one system based on the Book and the Sunnah was acceptable to all sects, as he was belatedly admitting?
(ii) Now that he was advising adoption of Hanafi Fiqh would that satisfy all other sects?
All successive Governments knew the consequences of enforcing any one fiqh to exclusion of others; that is why they did not accept his counsel.
AN "INNOCENT" DEMAND BY ADHERENTS OF THE AJAMIST CREED
The Last Arrow in Their Bow
Allama Iqbal died much before inception of Pakistan. The Quaid-e-Azam, to all practical purposes, passed away before he could, so to speak, lay the first brick of the edifice called Pakistan. This was sheer bad luck for Pakistan. Religious parties, who had opposed creation of Pakistan till the very last minute, came in to exploit the void. They started making demands for installing "Sharia" system here because, in their words, Pakistan was achieved in the name of Islam. And of course, they claimed that they would be the arbiters of what type of Islam would be enforced!
It was ironical that those who opposed establishment of this very Pakistan state, were now claiming the right to prescribe what system of government it should have
The “Sacred” Deception
If real Islam could have been made the law of Pakistan, no "ism" could have withstood its onslaught. However, the Islam that our theocracy wants to be implemented is disenchanting, indeed alienating for our young generation. The notion that the new generation is drawing nearer to Islam is wishful thinking, if not outright deception. The present generation detests strife between religious leaders and the resultant bloodshed in places of worship. "The Book" means the Qura'an, which is common to all sects Sunnah is not. All sects have different Sunnah; there are differences regarding definition of the word Sunnah too. These differences are glaring.
Everyone knows what is happening in Pakistan today in name of Hadeeth. Brothers in Islam! The innocent looking demand for enforcing "The Book and Sunnah" is the trap that caused dismemberment of Pakistan of Allama Iqbal and Quaid-e-Azam and now what remains of Pakistan is heading towards destruction because of this same trap! Let us reflect!
A Trinity of Conspiracy
The conspiracy by Hindus, our religious hierarchy and the Western nations was slow moving initially, and the Western nations were apprehensive that this slow pace might result in a complete stop. To counter this possibility they cooked up a scheme-fill old wine of Islam of the monarchial variety in new bottles in a way that no one could tell the difference. The new bottles they named Fundamentalism. They have spread this movement so wide that it has branches all over the world, not only in Muslim countries but also in Europe, America and Canada. Important religious leaders and conservative professionals are connected with this movement.
The powers behind the conspiracy have opened floodgates of money in such a way that the surge is sweeping away the Islamic world. The Islam that these Fundamentalists present is the same as fashioned in days of monarchies. They are now presenting it in a modernistic style. To them the new advantage is that those who were wary of Maulvis in the past are attracted towards the 'new' presentation even though there is no difference in substance between the new and the old. In this way the movement is being carried forward on strength of money and propaganda. On the other hand, glare of 'modernism' has so blinded the elite that they cannot distinguish between the fake and the genuine. "Religious" ritual is so ornamented that the common folk cannot escape the trap. This is a real success story for the Western nations and other opponents of Pakistan movement.
Our Misfortune
In course of the Pakistan movement, the Quaid-e-Azam had said,
"Our security, our deliverance, and our honour lies in achieving Pakistan. If we fail in this movement, not only we will be ruined, but also Muslims and Islam will be wiped off the map of the sub-continent." (Speeches, Vol.2, P.255}
Had the Quaid-eAzam been alive, he would have been shocked at what is happening to Islam even after achieving Pakistan even though its very purpose was the renaissance of Islam. It is their sheer misfortune that Muslims have failed and opponents of Qura'anic Islam and Pakistan have triumphed. This misfortune is not of Muslims alone; it is of the entire humanity because Pakistan was to constitute a laboratory for a system, which would help humanity attaining its destiny. For this reason, Pakistani Muslims are blameworthy not only for their own misfortune but also of the humanity at large. Muslims got this unique opportunity after a thousand years but squandered it away. Woe upon us!
To enforce Islam in the piece of land we achieved for this purpose, we needed persons of a stature equal to the heights and grandeur of Islam. Dwarfs like the leaders that followed have proved incapable of attaining those heights. Pakistan Muslims have not been found fit enough for receiving the big bounty. When the Qura'an gives the good news that 'you shall overcome', the news carries a tag that says, "If you are believers". Muslims did not fulfill that condition, so could not make the grade.
Allah has mandated the Qura'an to be a way of life for humanity, until eternity. Its system is not tied to any specific land, class of people, or period of time. Whichever people, at whatever time, will adopt it after deliberating over its substance with vision and wisdom, will benefit from it. People who are enamoured with 'religiosity" and superstition will not share that bounty.
Devotees of The Persian Deities
When Iqbal gave concept of Pakistan he described the basic object as giving Islam an opportunity to cast away the stamp forced upon it by Arab monarchial orders. Our conventional religion, our Sharia, our culture, our outlook on life, our conventions and rituals, in short all traits that we call Islamic, date from the time of Arab monarchies, especially the Abbassia period. Allama Iqbal had coined the term Ajamite (non-Arab) Islam, for this culture, because it had attributes borrowed from the non-Arab (mainly (Persian speaking) world. The under noted verse from him carries this characterization: -
- The Sharia, The Path, Mysticism and The Word,
- All are devotees of the Persian Deities.
Had Pakistan started with a clean slate regarding Islam, i.e. no room was left for custodians of monasteries of dead Ajamite concepts, the Pakistani nation could have repeated, before the whole world, words of the holy Prophet which he uttered in his address in the last Friday of his life: -
Verily, I trample beneath my feet, all conventions and laws of the period of Jahiliya (Ignorance).
And The Qura'anic Pakistan would have been the transmitter of his great affirmation of revolutionary proportions.