Ideology of Pakistan

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Ideology of Pakistan in the Light of Statements of QUAID-I-AZAM and ALLAMA IQBAL

Introduction:

It is important to understand the Ideology of Pakistan in the light of the statements of Quaid-e-Azam M.A.J and Allama Muhammad Iqbal.We will be talking about the concept of TWO NATION THEOEY and the concept of Muslims as a nation in the light of the statements made by these two great leaders. We will emphasize on two points no 1 Muslims are a separate nation with their distinct culture, civilization, heritage, interest and concerns and their objective is to preserve and protect this identity. This sense of nationhood developed earlier than the establishment of Pakistan and this sense ultimately created the state.Therefore, the issue is how to protect and promote this separate identity, what should be the measures and methods to achieve that objectives.

Background:

The basic issue is what was the basis of this separate identity or Muslims as a distinct nation, the core of this separate identity is provided by Islam. Islam has served as the sheep anchor for this concept of separate nation and on that basis this cause was promoted and we will see how far these two personalities played their role. This concept of separate nation on the basis of Islam has 3 aspects.

The teachings of Islam:

• The teachings and principles of Islam which are the universal aspects of this concept of nation.

The Muslim rule:

• The Muslim rule which give the sense of confidence, sense of identity and sense of importance to Muslim in this part of the world and also the cultural influences that came from central Asia because the Muslim conquerors came from this region, so some of our habits, food and dresses has been influenced and same can be said about the language.

The local environment:

• The 3^rd aspect relates to the local environment and a condition that is what kind of conditions the Muslims were living in what kind of geographic conditions, interaction with other people also influenced their habits and options. I give you an example, suppose if you are living in hot climate that would influence the kind of dress you wear, similarly that can influence the food you eat and this is going to be different if you are in cold climate where your dress can be influenced by the weather conditions by the topography whether you live in plain or you live in mountain area all these things influence the people habits behaviors and the choices of the people they acquire.

So these factors were the basis of the identity that the Muslims developed in this part of the world.
The role of leadership:

While discussing the Muslim nationhood I may mention here that the role of leadership is very important. The role of leadership is very important to put nation on the way. A good leadership infuses the qualities of awareness, consciousness, mobilization, sense of direction, and defense against the adversaries and in this way a group of people becomes highly motivated goal oriented and a motivational force, and that facilitate the implementation of an ideology. The Muslims were lucky having such competent leadership Leadership plays a vital role in propagating ideology and it is in this context, the context of leadership that the role of Quaid-e-Azam and the Allama Iqbal becomes important. Now the question is what kind of role these two leaders played.

An Assessment of Quaid-e-Azam’s personality:

M. A. Jinnah was a history-making leader who not only left his imprints on history but also changed the course of history by creating a new state Pakistan. He possessed a visionary leadership who could look into future and to think about the situation which the Muslims of South Asia were to face over a long period of time, commitment to the cause and political mobilization capacity. He was able to give them a direction to the Muslims. He was a Charismatic Leader in the real sense of the meaning. A charismatic leader is a particular kind of leadership which is shaped by two basic factors 1 the personal attributes of a leader what are the personal qualities of a leader, his visionary dispositions, his capability to mobilize people 2^nd the context and the situation because the charismatic leaders come up in a situation of crises when traditional institutions have been dislodged new and modern institutions have been set up whose credibility is not established people are not satisfied with it and they are looking for alternatives a better solution better prospects. It is in this kind of situation that you have charismatic leaders.

Quaid-e-Azam came on the political scene when the Muslims were facing a serious crises, crises of identity, and crises of how to deal with the situation under the British rule. What should be the future of the Muslims of the Sub-Continent and it is in this connection that he emerged as a charismatic leader. I explain an incident to understand that why he was a charismatic leader (Buzarag wali kahani jo eng nahin janta tha) this is what is charismatic leadership. That is he enjoys the total commitment and total loyalty of the people, people have faith and confidence on him that he can solve the problems and that is what kind of popularity he enjoyed.

ROLE OF JINNAH

Quaid-i-Azam played an important role for the development of the concept of the Muslim nationhood, Two Nation Theory and ideology of Pakistan. Jinnah played a decisive role in articulating the concept of Muslim nationhood and also bringing Muslims in line with that kind of thinking and pursuing these faced strong opposition from the Hindus and the British. He started his political career in 1906 when he became secretary to a Congress political leader Dadabhai Nooro ji. Three years later in 1909 when new Act of India was enforced, he was elected to the Legislative Council in 1909 from Bombay and from onward he remained the member of the legislative council for most of the time. In 1913 he formally joined the All India Muslim League (AIML) that was established in 1906. Now from 1913 to 1920 he was member of both the political parties and enjoyed respect in both the political parties. Having disagreement with Gandhi on the issue of Swaraj (self-rule), complete freedom from the British and on using extra-constitutional means, Jinnah resigned from the Congress in 1920 and devoted him completely for the help and guidance of the Muslims of India.

During all these years the emphasis of Quaid-e-Azam was on that the Muslims being distinct nation and a separate identity have their own interests which need to be protected and these kind of ideas were reflected in his statements which he gave from time to time. His early efforts to promote Hindu-Muslim unity were materialized when THE LUCKNOW PACT (1916) was signed. If we look at the LUCKNOW PACT which was an understanding, an agreement between the AIML and the Congress party was facilitated by Quaid-e-Azam. The issue of the rights of the Muslims was adequately dealt with in this pact. For example the question of Separate Electorate the Congress accepted the Muslim demand of Separate Electorate, they also agreed that in the Central Legislative Assembly one- third seats would be reserved for the Muslims and there were also guarantees and provisions for the protection of the minority rights. In other words now Quaid-e-Azam was working towards constitutional and political arrangements for the protection of separate identity of the Muslims of India.

If you look at the subsequent developments the NEHRU REPORT which came in 1928.

In the Nehru Report, the accepted Muslim rights were ignored which were given to them in 1916. Jinnah retaliated forcefully by presenting fourteen Points in 1929.For example the principle of Separate Electorate was discarded in the Nehru Report.Quaid-e-Azam objected to that and wanted the Nehru Report to be amended but that never happened because the Congress was not willing to amend the Nehru Report. One year later Quaid-e-Azam presented his famous FOURTEEN POINTS.A speech which he made in March 1929 that speech is generally described as Jinnah’s Fourteen Points is a charter of Muslim rights and Muslim interests that represents the political, administrative and religious interests and demands of the Muslims. If you want to know that what kind of demands the Muslim League was making as an expression of Muslim nationhood and distinct Muslim identity then you would have to look at the 14 points of Quaid-e-Azam.

He defined Muslim identity and mobilized them with reference to Islam and convinced others that Muslims are different from the Hindus and the Congress. Islamic principles, concepts and symbols surfaced in his speeches and statements.

Jinnah used the term NATION for the Muslims of India in Feb 1935 (Legislative Assembly). He argued that the combination of religion, culture, race, arts, music and so forth make a minority a Separate Entity. From 1935 to onward Quaid-e-Azam engaged in a very active mobilization of the Muslim community and he began to emphasize on Islam and Muslim identity more often because he thought that a common denominator, set of values, principles broadly shared by the Muslims could be an important political symbol to uniform them and an important political instrument for mobilization. Therefore he emphasize that Islam is important and core that Muslims were advocating and propagating. And from 1935 onward he began to talk about separate interests and separate identity of the Muslim, you find that in his statements and speeches. He issued several statements where he emphasize time and again that Muslims are not a minority, they cannot be treated as a minority but a separate entity and a separate nation which fulfill all the conditions of being a separate and distinct nation. So there is a repetition of this theme in his speeches and statements. In March 1936 Bombay, he stated that the Muslims could arrive at a settlement with Hindus as TWO Nations. In 1937 there were provincial elections in India and the Congress won the elections in 6 provinces and the performance of the Muslim League was very poor. In this context Nehru issued a statement that there are two parties in India, the British and the Hindus’ he questioned this statement and said that Muslims are a 3^rd party in India, he asserted that there is also a third party in India, the Muslims. In 1939, he roared that the Muslims and Hindus are two nations and they are going to live as a nation and playing part as a nation: His well known statement which in my view is the most comprehensive statement of why and how the Muslims of this region are a nation. He said,

We are a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, names and nomenclature, sense of values and proportion, legal laws and moral code, custom and calendar, history and tradition, aptitudes and ambitions; In short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all cannons of international law, we are a nation.

Quaid’s article:

Then if you look at his speech which he made at the Lahore session of the meeting of the Muslim League where resolution for separate state was passed this speech is basically a re statement of what is a separate nation. In addition to that Quaid-e-Azam wrote an Article which was published in a British magazine called “Time and Tide” and the date was March, 9 1940.This Article is the only which Quaid-e-Azam wrote himself and again this article addresses two major issues.

• How and why Muslims are a different nation
• What should be the political future of India, what should be the safe of the region and how best the interests of the Muslims could be protected and here the Quaid-e-Azam was talking about a separate state for the Muslims because sufficient guarantees could not be available.

So in other words we could argue that Q A was playing a very important role in shaping the concept of Muslim nationhood for the Muslims of this region had he had a very clear view of Islam for the Muslims of this region and also for Pakistan that came into existence.

Jinnah’s View:

Speeches and statements: 1940-47

Jinnah believed in the force of Islam as he said that “Islam is a dynamic force that can unite the Muslims. It can help the Muslims to overcome the present crisis. It’s a source of inspiration and guidance providing ethical foundation, a framework in which human action can be conducted, in his view Islam was a social order and civilization to society and to the political process. It provides guidance and inspiration for constitution making and governance”.

Guidance & inspiration for constitution-making and Governance

However when Q A was talking about Islam he was also talking about the modern notions about state, governance, civil and political rights. All the ingredients of modern polity and modern arrangements. For Pakistan he talked about Islam as well as democracy. He assured that constitution of Pakistan would be framed by the elected assembly.

Modern, Democratic and Islamic State

For Pakistan he talked about democracy, socio-economic justice and on an emphasis that constitution would be made by an assembly or by representatives. And in this connection he also talked about the rights of the minorities gave assurance of equality of all citizens and rights and freedom to religious minorities in the new state.

In his view, Pakistan was to be a modern democratic state that derived its ethical foundation from Islam where the source of guidance and inspiration for constitution making and governance is going to be Islam. That is how Quaid-e-Azam during all these years when he was leading the Independence Movement and then he became the Governor General of Pakistan projected the TWO NATION THEORY and the Muslim nationhood and the ideology of Pakistan.

ALLAMA IQBAL:

VISION OF A SEPARATE MUSLIM STATE

Allama Iqbal was another important political leader who played crucial role in developing Muslim consciousness amongst the Muslims of South Asia. Men like Allama Iqbal are born but in centuries. Throughout his career, he was conscious of significance of Islam in lives of the Muslims. He was a poet and philosopher. His first public appearance was in 1899 at the annual session of Anjuman Himayat-i-Islam in Lahore when he presented the poem, Nala-i-Yatim, and that was the beginning of his career as a poet. He was a great poet and philosopher.

At initial stages Dr Iqbal was a nationalist by ideas and his poetry contained verses like Tarana-i-Hind. His poetry was a critique of the existing societal conditions prevailing in India. He was a nationalist in his orientation and he was talking about whole of India, he was talking about all kind of people and that you can see in his well known poem Taran-e-Hind where he talks about India as a whole. The change in his thinking came later on through reflection and through a deep study of Islamic history and also world history. He went to England for higher education in 1905 and for the next 3 years he was in England he was in Europe and especially in Germany. At Cambridge he did Honors ultimately got degree in Bar at Law and he got his PhD from Munique University in Germany, where his name was recommended by his teacher at Cambridge University England. He recommended that Munique University should give him degree and ultimately he got PhD degree. Let me tell some interesting facts about his stay in Germany which are relevant today. He spent couple of months in the Hindenburg city of Germany where he lived. Now the govt of Pakistan had identified the house where he lived besides that a road is also named as Iqbal offal on the name of the poet because he had spent time there and the 3^rd interesting thing about that is, there is a poem of Iqbal Dariye Naqar ke Kinare and Nakar is that river which passes through the city of Hindenburg and his German translation was made by a German scholar Anna Mari Shiml and that translation is fixed on the Bank of the river Nakar.If you visit Hindenburg even today you will find Iqbal,s poem written in German language there. Being educated from Europe, he knew all weak aspects of the Western culture. He criticized capitalism, materialism and lack of spiritualism. On his return from Europe to India Iqbal focused attention on the causes of decline and degeneration of the Muslims and how they could regain glory. How could they overcome the problems which they are facing and he was focusing on Muslims in general and Muslims of this region in particular?

IQBAL- Focus on the conditions of the Indian Muslims

He was convinced that Islam can salvage the Muslims

And he was also convinced that Islam has always saved Muslim and they will have to turn towards Islam to deal with the current situation

For Iqbal Islam is a living and dynamic ideology that can meet modern challenges or the challenges of the present day, and only through Islam and only by following the principles of Islam he thought that they could deal with the situation. He also talked about the re-interpretation of Islam to deal with the modern conditions.

In fact his discussion of Islam and the kind of role it could play in the lives of the Muslims is to be found in his lectures, 6 lectures which he delivered in 1929 and 1930 which were published as Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam which is a difficult study. That’s why many people does,t pay attention to it but it is very important to understand his views on Islam.

Address to the Muslim League Session, Allahabad, December 1930

Iqbal also played very active role in practical politics for the Muslims of South Asia. He was a participant in the Round Table Conference in 1931 and in 1932 and Iqbal was also involved in politics in Punjab. In fact he was elected to the legislative council of Punjab once but most of his time was devoted to the Muslim League in this province and some of his views are expressed in his letters which he wrote Quaid-e-Azam in 1936 and in 1937 and now we will look on his Presidential address which he delivered to Muslim League in his annual session at Allahabad in Dec 1930.This presidential address and visions the establishment of a state for Muslims in South Asia, this was a dream which Iqbal saw in 1930.He argued that;

“I would like to see the Punjab, NWFP, Sind, Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state as a self government within the British Empire or without. This is the final destiny of the Muslims of North West India.”

He thought that if this kind of solution is found then this would provide balance and security for India and for Muslims it would provide them an opportunity to flourish and develop themselves and also enable them to focus on Islam.

Later, if you look at his letters which he wrote to Quaid-e-Azam, he articulated these views more clearly in those letters and he also included Bengal in his discussions. This is how he articulated his views.

Concluding remarks:

Above discussion shows the concept of nationhood, Two Nation Theory and ideology of Pakistan with reference to 2 prominent personalities who played a crucial role in shaping those ideas and implementing them.Iqbal was a visionary and an intellectual who saw the dream that one day a state will be created but he didn’t live to see that state coming into existence. He died in 1938.Quaid-e-Azam was a states man, strategist and an advocate of the case for the Muslims and he led the establishment of Pakistan on Aug 14^th 1947.