Ideology of Pakistan

Ideology, as a philosophical term, means the “Science of Ideas”. ‘Idea’ is again a very comprehensive term. Suffice to say, ‘idea’ means a basic concept and that the basic concepts on which any ‘system’ is built constitute its ‘ideology’. Hence, the meaning of ‘Islamic ideology’ is a state based on the code of natural laws according to which the Muslim Ummah will form the government.

The ideology of a nation always reflects the state of the people’s minds, their emotions, hopes, aspirations, ideals, objectives and the subsisting will to realise them. The worth of any ideology depends on the extent of people’s dedication to it.

Pakistan’s emergence was not just the emergence of a new state, but it was created on the basis of Islamic ideology.

The objective of the Pakistan Movement was not to separate some provinces to save them from Hindu domination. Had it been so, the Muslims of the minority provinces would never have taken the active part in the freedom movement. In fact Muslims from provinces in which they were minorities were the worst sufferers - both before and after partition. They knew that if Pakistan was created they would stand to gain nothing, indeed they might lose everything. In spite of this, Muslims of the minority provinces joined those of the majority provinces in their struggle for freedom, simply because they believed that they were fighting, not just for a territory, but for the preservation of their culture, civilisation, language, literature and Islamic way of life.

In the presidential address at the Lahore Session of the All-India Muslim League in 1940, Quaid-i-Azam declared: “Muasalmans are not a minority as it is commonly known and understood. One has only got to look round. Even today, according to the British map of India, 4 out of 11 provinces, where the Muslims dominate more or less, are functioning notwithstanding the decision of the Hindu Congress High Command to non-cooperate and prepare for civil disobedience. Musalmans are a nation according to any definition of a nation, and they must have their homelands, their territory and their state.”

For the Muslims of the subcontinent the demand for Pakistan was an expression of their deepest emotions, for their political and cultural identity, whose roots were embedded in the State of Medina founded by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and that of the Khulafa-e-Rashideen. In this sense, the Pakistan movement was based on Islamic ideology. Pakistan, thus, was created as the first Islamic State after the establishment of the State of Medina in 622 A.D. as an ideological state on the basis of Islam.

As a matter of fact, Pakistan was created the moment the first non-Muslim converted to Islam in India, long before the Muslims established their rule. As soon as a Hindu embraced Islam he was outcast not only religiously but also socially, culturally and economically - that is why a separation was necessary. The Congress consistently promoted a slogan of one Indian nation which made many Muslims, including Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, realise that it was impossible for Muslims to get their full representation under the doctrine of ‘one nation’.

Other Muslim leaders who often referred to the Muslim community as a nation or nationality were, Sir Aga Khan (1877-1951), Justice Ameer Ali (1849-1928), Choudhry Rahmat Ali (1895-1951) and others. Later on, in the beginning of the twentieth century, Maulana Muhammad All Jauhar (187E3-1931) also declared that there were two nations in the subcontinent.

Allama Muhammad lqbal went a step further and vigorously proclaimed the need of a separate state for the Muslims of the subcontinent. Claiming that the communal problem of India is international and not national, Dr. lqbal argued:

“We are 70 million, and far more homogeneous than any other people in India. Indeed, the Muslims of India are the only Indian people who can fitly be described as a nation in the modern sense of the word. The Hindus, though ahead of us in almost all respects, have not yet been able to achieve the kind of homogeneity which is necessary for a nation, and which Islam has given you as a free gift. No doubt they are anxious to become a nation, but the process of becoming a nation is kind of travail, in the case of Hindu India, involves a completely overhauling of her social structure.”

In the entire struggle of the Muslims of the subcontinent for a separate homeland, the attitude of Hindus was one of stiff opposition and antagonism. In fact the Hindus did not reconcile to the Muslim demand for a separate state as declared in the Lahore Resolution in 1940. It was described by Gandhi as a “suicide”, a “sin” and “a vivisection of Mother India” which could be allowed only “over his dead body”.

According to Allama lqbal a separate Muslim State within the subcontinent would not be a theocracy. It would provide, on the other hand, an opportunity for Islam “to rid itself of the stamp that Arabian Imperialism was forced to give it, to mobilise its laws, its education, its culture and to bring them into closer contact with its own original spirit and with the spirit of modern times”. This mixture of modernism and fundamentalism which he had in mind makes hardly any provision for a secular state for Muslims.

Discussing the aims and objectives of the creation of Pakistan, in a message to the Frontier Muslim Students Federation in June, 1945, the Quaid declared:

“Pakistan not only means freedom and independence but the Muslim Ideology which has to be preserved which has come to us as precious gift and treasure and which we hope others will share with us.”

Talking to the Muslim League workers at Calcutta on March 01, 1946, the Quaid further elaborated:

“I am an old man; God has given me enough to live comfortably at this age. Why would I turn my blood into water, run about and take so much trouble? Not for the capitalists surely, but for you, the poor people. In 1936, I have seen the abject poverty of the people. Some of them did not get food, even once a day. I have not seen them recently, but my heart goes out to them. I feel it and, in Pakistan, we will do all in our power to see that everybody can get a decent living.”

To sum up, the ideological orientation of Pakistan is nothing but the Islamic ideology and ultimate aim of it is the establishment of an Islamic Welfare State where no one is exploited. In an Islamic Welfare State, it is the duty of the State to see that there is none without food and clothes and every individual is provided at least with all the bare necessities of life.

-The author was a HEC Eminent Scholar and former Director, Quaid-i-Azam Academy, Karachi.