Quaid-e-Azam’s Pakistan – An Islamic State

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the great leader of Sub-Continent

Religion is a perennial and inevitable factor in order to maintain peace and harmony. It is a powerful constituent of any cultural norms and values, and because it addresses the most profound existential issues of human life (e.g., freedom, inevitability, fear, faith, security, tolerance, right and wrong, sacred and profane), religion is deeply implicated in individual and social conceptions of peace. To transform the conflicts besetting the world today, we need to uncover the conceptions of peace within our diverse religious and cultural traditions, while seeking the common ground among them.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah struggled for an Islamic State. He wanted Pakistan to be a sole Islamic State, where Muslims of subcontinent can live freely and practice their lives according to Islamic ways. He also wanted Pakistan a welfare state, where minorities have complete security to practice their lives according to their belief systems. In other words, an ideal Islamic State, just like our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) guided us. Therefore, his idea was an Islamic Democratic Welfare State.

On February 1948, in a radio broadcast to the people of the United States of America, he spoke of Islamic system of government to be adopted in Pakistan. He said:-

“The constitution of Pakistan has yet to be framed by the Pakistan Constituent Assembly. I do not know what the ultimate shape of this constitution is going to be, but I am sure that it will be of a democratic type, embodying the essential principles of Islam. Today they are as applicable in actual life as they were 1,300 years ago. Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught equality of man, justice and taught us democracy. We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan.”

In a letter to Peer Sahib of Manki Sharif, on November 1945, Quaid-e-Azam said:-

“It is needless to emphasize that the Constituent Assembly which would be pre-dominantly Muslim in its composition, would be able to enact laws for Muslims, not inconsistent with the Shariah laws, and the Muslims will no longer be obliged to abide by the un-Islamic laws.”

On February 14, 1948, in Sibi (Pakistan) on an annual gathering known as ‘Sibi Darbar’, Muhammad Ali Jinnah proclaimed:-

“In proposing this scheme, I have had one underlying principle in mind, the principle of Muslim democracy. It is my belief that our salvation lies in following the golden rule of conduct set for us by our great lawgiver the Prophet of Islam. Let us lay the foundations of our democracy on the basis of truly Islamic ideals and principles.”

Today, when our country of going through a time of political and social reforms, anti Pakistan activists, movements and some regional political parties are trying to create chaos by diverting the attention of the people of Pakistan from core issue toward useless and misleading ideologies, trying to divide us in different groups on the base of cast, class and religious beliefs. They have invented some fancy slogans, such as, “Whose Pakistan you want, Taliban’s or Quaid-e-Azam’s, you must decide now”, etc.

This kind of tone and ideology which has a sense of categorization & classification was never presented by Quaid-e-Azam ever. Quaid-e-Azam was not a secular neither an extremist. His idea about Pakistan was simple, a one free Islamic State for Muslims of Sub-continent where they can practice their lives according to Islamic laws.

Only three days before Pakistan formally appeared on the world map, Mr. Jinnah, in his memorable speech to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan stated the principle on which the new state was to be founded. He said:-

“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 this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and citizens of one state. In the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state.”

Quaid-e-Azam’s statement clearly describes his views about an Islamic state, where not only Muslims would be able to live their lives free from any fear, but also the minorities. He wanted a true and an ideal Islamic state where minorities must have complete freedom and right to live and practice their lives according to their own belief systems. Mr. Jinnah’s vision was to follow the road path provided by our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Without Islam and Islamic rule of law, Pakistan can never become a true Quaid-e-Azam’s state. Islam and Islamic way of governance is the only solution by which hatred, intolerance, religious extremism, caste & class differences, colour differences, social and cultural differences can be exterminated.

Today on 136^th birthday of our great leader, let us take the great Quaid’s directives to make our nation and us proud. Let us eliminate all misappropriations, corruptions, hatred of all kind from our society and concentrate on national unity, faith and discipline.

Unity, Faith, Discipline: These are the rules, given by Quaid-e-Azam.

Unity: The state of being united or joined as a whole as people or group with harmony and agreement.

Faith: A strong belief in God and his doctrines of religion, based on spiritual apprehension with complete trust or confidence.

Discipline: A code of behavior, a practice of training people to obey rules and follow guidelines, and performing accountability to violators.

We must not forget the sacrifices of thousands of martyr men, women and children who lost their lives and a lot more for this country. We need to open our eyes and refresh our knowledge about the true purpose of this Holy land.

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Tags: islamic democratic state, islamic state, pakistan corruption

Category: Politics