Dr Syed Javed Hussain
Salman Taseer was killed on 4th January, 2011 in Islamabad, the capital of the country, by his own guard who did not like his views on a law that protects the honour and dignity of Holy Prophet of Islam.
Mr. Taseer was very candid in demanding some improvements in the law so that it could not be exploited by people with ulterior motives. The extremists did not like his stance on the law.
The murder only brings to the fore the crucial debate taking place in Pakistan at a time when country’s civilian rulers are grappling with the chaos of Pakistan ideology. Country’s birth was cataclysmic; whereas, the debate on the ideology that caused it is equally tumultuous.
Both Islamists and secularists have remained at loggerheads with each other right from the beginning regarding Jinnah’s objectives for creating Pakistan. Off and on a new concept of Pakistan on behalf of the Quaid is being brought forward to compound the situation.
Speeches of the Quaid are quoted out of context and sometimes unscrupulous zealots would even audaciously appropriate Quaid’s hitherto unknown intentions to substantiate their point of view.
In the name of Pakistan ideology, these zealots have wrecked Pakistan. They simply have forgotten that whatever source the ideology of Pakistan may have sprung from (secular or Islamic), it meant peace, prosperity, security, stability and dignity for its people. Common sense dictates that every national ideology must contribute to these ends.
They have ignored what the Quaid had said at Lahore on October 24, 1947: “I would like to impress upon every Mussalman who has at heart the welfare and the prosperity of Pakistan, to avoid retaliation and to exercise restraint … Do your duty and have faith in God. There is no power on earth that can undo Pakistan.”
Even six years before this, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, addressing the Punjab Muslim Students Federation in 1941, highlighted the nation’s future course of action in crystal-clear terms. He said, “There are at least three main pillars which go to make a nation worthy of possessing a territory and running a government. One is education. Next, no nation and no people can ever do anything very much without making themselves economically powerful in commerce, trade and industry. And lastly, you must prepare yourselves for your defence, defence against external aggression and to maintain internal security.”
If it were not their nuclear baggage they seems to have faltered on all counts.
Islamists in their midst claim that Pakistan was created in the name of Islam so that Muslims should live according to the precepts of Islam; therefore, there should be ‘Nizam-e-Mustafa’ (System of Governance Illustrated by Holy Prophet Muhammad) in the land of the pure. Their understanding of ‘Nizam-e-Mustafa’ accords lesser status to non-Muslim segments of society, which is secondary to their believing counterparts.
The secularists, on the other hand, fearing the tyranny of the mullah, demand abandonment of Islam altogether from public life, making it a private affair of each citizen as in the West. Moderate and enlightened circles of society believe that these extreme elements of society, by not recognising Islam’s absolute regard for an individual’s right to personal freedom and choice of religion, are doing a great disservice to Islam.
They tend to forget that Holy Prophet (PBUH) said, “All men are equal in the eyes of God. And your lives and your properties are all sacred; in no case should you attack each other’s life and property. Today I trample under my feet all distinctions of caste, colour and nationality.” The Holy Quran says: “There is no compulsion in religion.”
Despite these clear injunctions fanatic Mullah have promoted despotism, bigotry, fanaticism and intolerance to such an extent that the West as well as fellow citizens have begun to fear Islam. One wonders why these so called Islamists have just enough Islam to hate, but not enough to love. They fail Islam by not living peacefully and allowing others to do so, otherwise, they would rather be accomplishing the very purpose of Islam.
Rising above the politics of secularists, nationalists and Islamists, as it was the most crucial period of Pakistan life, the Quaid made the most important speech of his life. While addressing the first constituent assembly of Pakistan on August 11 1947, in a true spirit of Islam, the Quaid said: “You are free; 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 .We are starting with the fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.”
Lessons of history tell that intelligent people foresee a change and adjust to it constructively; average people experience it when it has happened and then try to adjust themselves to it to make the best of the situations; below-average people first bear with the consequences of the change, weather it through and when there is time for yet another adjustment they begin to accommodate the earlier one; whereas dumb and fool weather through all the changes without adjusting themselves to any, the change withers itself out and passes on into history leaving behind a few unshapely traces, like the remnants of a strong storm; such people have no mark on history. Pakistan needs to exert as a nation.
This is high time Pakistani leaders realised the gravity of the situation and adjusted their priorities to raise the nation. However, they cannot do so until they have delivered themselves from their own petty, myopic and biased ‘self’ with a sense of sacrifice to their nation.
Scholars of Islam need to take the world into confidence and make it obvious that there is nothing in Islam that is incompatible with human dignity, individual freedom and liberty of choice in religion. At home, however, they must maintain full distinction between Islamic democracy and plain stupid, stolid theocracy.
Sources:
The Holy Quran.
Mahomed Ali Jinnah, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah: speeches and statements as Governor General of Pakistan, 1947-1948, Govt. of Pakistan, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Directorate of Films & Publications, 1989
3- Benazir Bhutto, Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West, Harperluxe, 2008.
4- Mary Anne Weaver, Pakistan: In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003.
Introduction
Both Islamists and secularists have remained at loggerheads with each other right from the beginning regarding Jinnah’s objectives for creating Pakistan. Off and on a new concept of Pakistan on behalf of the Quaid is being brought forward to compound the situation.
First time its appeared in the Suite101 on Jan 9, 2011