Iqbal is the name of ideology, philosophy: Siraj

LAHORE
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has said Allama Iqbal is the name of an ideology, a philosophy and a continuous struggle for the supremacy of Islam.
Talking to the media at Allama Iqbal Mausoleum on Monday after laying a floral wreath at the grave of the philosopher poet who conceived the idea of Pakistan, Sirajul Haq said if the government was shy of showing its allegiance to Allama Iqbal, the 180 million Pakistanis would proudly take up Allama Iqbal’s mission and carry it to the goal.
Sirajul Haq said by drifting away from Allama Iqbal’s philosophy, the country could neither achieve development and prosperity nor maintain her identity as a respectable and dignified nation. Pakistan is not the name of a piece of land. It is a laboratory for Islamic ideology and a model Islamic, welfare state, he added. He said people ignorant of Iqbal’s concept of Khudi (self realisation) were giving a wrong picture of the country to the world.
Taking strong exception to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s statement regarding a liberal Pakistan, Sirajul Haq said hundreds of thousands of Muslims of sub-continent had not sacrificed their lives for the creation of a westernised liberal state. Muslims in the sub-continent had undertaken history’s biggest migration to be able to lead their lives in accordance with a system based on “La Ilaha Illallah”, he said.
He said Pakistan was the realisation of Allama Iqbal’s dreams and those wishing her to be a liberal state based on western democracy would be frustrated. Sirajul Haq demanded the prime minster to withdraw his statement and said this would restore the premier’s image. He said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in as many as 114 of his speeches and addresses had said that Pakistan would be an Islamic, welfare state, and had categorically stated that people of Pakistan would be enabled to lead their lives in accordance with the Quran and the Sunnah. The Quaid had also clarified that the Holy Quran would be the constitution of Pakistan and it would be governed under the Shariah, he said.
“We want a Pakistan wherein the masses would have the same rights as are enjoyed by the rulers, which is free from injustice and exploitation and poverty, and in which the general public had the basic facilities of health, education and employment,” he explained. Sirajul Haq noted that Turkey which had a secular constitution, was gradually drifting towards Islam while the rulers of Pakistan which had come into being in the name of Islam, and whose constitution negated liberalism and secularism, were bent upon making the country secular.
He said the respect and future of Muslim Ummah lay in holding fast to the system given by Allah Almighty. He said Allama Iqbal was the biggest advocate of the unity of Ummah and wanted the Ummah to rise above petty sectarian and factional difference.