Jinnah and the Islamic State: Setting the Record Straight Author(s): Pervez Hoodbhoy Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 42, No. 32 (Aug. 11-17, 2007), pp. 3300-3303 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4419894 Accessed: 08-01-2020 05:06 UTC

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This content downloaded from 134.114.107.228 on Wed, 08 Jan 2020 05:06:42 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Perspectives

society of cosmopolitan Bombay and Jinnah and the Islamic State: metropolitan London than with those who he led and represented. His Urdu was barely understandable. Nor were his cu- Setting the Record Straight linary tastes quite those of strict Muslims. But the authorities of Pakistan Television took this, as so much else, in their stride. What was Mohammed Ali Jinnah's position on the contentious So, in the 1980s, a steady stream of pro- issue of secularism in Pakistan? What was his stand on Pakistan as found pieties emanated from a stern, sherwani-clad man who filled television an Islamic state? What legacy did he leave for the citizens of his screens across the country. Gone were his country on a question with which they continue to grapple? elegant suits from Savile Row, as was any reference to his marriage with a Parsi PERVEZ HOODBHOY Jinnah's thoughts inevitably enter the woman. Jinnah had miraculously morphed argument. This, of course, does not neces- into a deep-thinking Islamic scholar. W hat did Quaid-e-Azam sarily mean that Pakistan was, or is, An interesting consequence of this Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the obligated to become the fulfilment of his deliberate state-organised obfuscation was founder of Pakistan, want for vision. Pakistan is much more than Jinnah that many Pakistani liberals concluded the country he was destined to create in and it will eventually go in the direction that the truth must have been the very 1947? Surely I cannot say anything new that its people want it to go. But it certainly opposite. They insisted that, in fact, Jinnah on this venerable and much-discussed is of the greatest intellectual and historical had envisioned Pakistan as a secular, but historical subject; the experts know much interest to ask two key questions: Muslim majority, country. As proof, they more. But, as we approach Pakistan's (a)60th Did Jinnah want Pakistan to be a Muslim pointed to two of his oft-quoted speeches anniversary, the matter of Jinnah and majority the state where individuals, whether that suggest a secular outlook. Delivered Islamic state is still a hot one. It is con- Muslim or otherwise, would be free to live just before, and after, Partition, these had founded both by the wishful thinking theirof lives more or less as they do in been slyly concealed from the public media my well-meaning liberal friends, as well countries in the rest of the world? during the Zia years: as the conveniences invented at different Or, You are free; you are free to go to your times by Pakistan's military, political, and (b) Did Jinnah want an Islamic state? And, temples, you are free to go to your mosques religious establishments. Therefore, it if so, what was his understanding of such or to any other place of worship in this a state? seems to me that objectivity, honesty, and State of Pakistan. You may belong to any clarity are still desperately needed if we These have always been loaded ques- religion or caste or creed- that has nothing are to clean out old cobwebs and chart a tions with various sides making excellent to do with the business of the State... You new course for the future of our country. arguments for their own purposes. But it will find that in course of time Hindus What is Pakistan all about? For decades, is time to stop cherry-picking and, instead, would cease to be Hindus and Muslims Pakistani school children have grown up scrutinise the totality of Jinnah's words would cease to be Muslims, not in the learning a linguistically flawed (but catchy) and actions. Else, at the end of the day religious sense, because that is the per- sonal faith of each individual, but in the rhetorical question sung together with its we shall end up merely reaffirming our political sense as citizens of the State answer: Pakistan ka matlab kya ? La illaha existing preferences and prejudices.2 (Address to the First Constituent Assem- illala! (What is the meaning of Pakistan? bly, August 11, 1947).3 There is no god but Allah!). They have Secularist or Theocrat? been told that Pakistan' s raison d'etre was Similarly, Jinnah had indeed come Qut the creation of an Islamic state where the To be sure, a dispassionate examination forcefully against theocracy: sharia must reign supreme. of Jinnah's positions has been unusual in"Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic Surely this has had its effect. A recent Pakistan because of the ideological needs state to be ruled by priests with a divine survey by the website World Public of the state. Truth was anf immediate mission. We have many non-Muslims - Opinion.Org (April 24, 2007) found that 54 casualty when Zia-ul-Haq brought his new Hindus, Christians and Parsis - but they per cent of Pakistanis wanted strict appli- Islamic vision of Pakistan in 1979. Imme- are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the cation of the sharia while 25 per cent diately thereafter, Jinnah had to be entirely same rights and privileges as any other wanted it in some more diluted form. resurrected and reconstructed as an Is- citizens and will play their rightful part Totalling 79 per cent, this was the largest lamic - rather than Muslim - leader. in the affairs of Pakistan" (Broadcast Ad- percentage in the four countries surveyed This task challenged even the best ofdress to the people of the United States (Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia).1 spin-masters. As perhaps the most of America, February 1948).4 But was sentiment for sharia and the westernised political leader in Indian These speeches unequivocally demon- Islamic state strong in 1947 among those Muslim history, Jinnah was culturally and strate Jinnah's strong sense of justice and who fought for Pakistan? socially far more at ease with the high secular leanings at a personal level. They

3300 Economic and Political Weekly August 11, 2007

This content downloaded from 134.114.107.228 on Wed, 08 Jan 2020 05:06:42 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms also show his preference for secularism anti-League propaganda in the North-West seeks to articulate and protect this ambi- over theocracy in one important sense of Frontier Province (NWFP) - where the guity. the word: a secular state is necessarily League and also specifically Jinnah were On the other hand, in a much less neutral in matters of religion and neither accused (though not by Khan Abdul ambiguous statement, part of the same supports nor opposes any particular set of Ghaffar Khan, to whom the quote that will press statement from which the above quote religious beliefs or practices. Proponents follow is addressed) of being "un-Islamic" is taken, Jinnah stated: "I want the Muslims insist - and rightly so in my opinion - that - does cast a shadow of doubt on how of the Frontier Province clearly to under- a secular state is about creating a level secularJinnah' s politics was. In apress state-stand that they are Muslims first and Pathans playing field for all beliefs and religions ment made by Jinnah where he condemned afterwards..."7 and not about denigrating or suppressing Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan's resolution According to the Pakistani scholar Ishtiaq any of them. for a free Pathan state, he said: Ahmad, there is even support for the sharia But let us not jump the gun. Secularism The Khan brothers...have raised another to be found in a few of Jinnah's pronounce- is just as much about the nature of law as poisonous cry that the PCA (Pakistan ments, like when he promised the Pir of it is about the state treating all religions Constituent Assembly) will disregard the Manki Sharif to enforce in exchange for the equally. As a philosophy, secularism is fundamental principles of the Shari'ah andPir's support to the Muslim League in the fundamentally a post-Enlightenment belief Qur'anic laws. This, again, is absolutely 1946 elections.8 At the same time, there was that all laws governing human activities untrue. More than thirteen centuries have dissatisfaction in places within the League and decisions should be based upon the gone by.. we have not only been proud of ranks because of Jinnah's refusal to support concept of reasonableness, not upon the our great and Holy Book, the Qur'an, but the establishment of sharia in Pakistan.9 we have adhered to all these fundamentals orders of some alleged divine authority. While it is absolutely true that Jinnah Secular laws are devised by humans ac- all these ages, and now this cry has been was emphatic that Hindus and Muslims raised...[that] we cannot be trusted.6 cording to their perception of society's could not live together as one nation, he needs. And because needs change accord- We can see here that Jinnah is evasive left a legacy of ambiguity on what he ing to times and circumstances, the laws about what place Islamic law would have wanted Pakistan to be. in a secular society must necessarily change in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly. He from time to time rather than being given refers repeatedly to the "fundamentals" Analysing Ambiguity once and for all. of the sharia and Qur'anic law, without It is a fact that Jinnah never called for ever specifying what those fundamentals Why did a man known for his integrity Pakistan to be a secular state-not publicly, are and where Pakistan's constitution would fight shy of expressing his beliefs openly at least. Jinnah's statements from the 1930s depart from other "non-fundamental" and forthrightly? The answer lies in the onwards do not contain a single occur- aspects of Islamic law. On close obser- political reality of building a coalition of rence of the word "secular", although my vation, Jinnah's concluding words from zamindars, pirs, and parts of the Indian well-meaning liberal friends are, of course, the above quote are interesting. He laments Muslim elite. Had Jinnah campaigned for free to indulge their fantasies if they so that the Khan brothers of the Frontier a liberal, secular Pakistan - and that too want. It is reputed that Jinnah privately have raised a cry that the Muslim League in competition with the secular Indian pledged (to an American diplomat) that cannot be trusted. Trusted to do what National Congress under the leadership of Pakistan would be a "secular state" (using exactly? Could one interpret this as Jinnah' Jawaharlal s Nehru - he would have cer- these words). But, as a statesman and appeal to the Pathans to "trust" that tainly he lost the leadership of the Pakistan politician, he had a different line. Even would enforce the sharia in Pakistan? What Movement. So, Jinnah opted for ambi- when confronted by journalists, he would is certain is that there is plenty of ambi- guity, hoping that: avoid giving a straight answer. For ex- guity in this statement (and there are many(a) People in his Muslim League would ample. consider the following extract from others like it) -and that Jinnah consciously not notice his lifestyle too much, his July 15, 1947 press conference:5 When asked whether Pakistan would be a secular or theocratic state, Jinnah re- Anveshi Short Term Fellowship Programme 2007-08 torted that "You are asking me a question that is absurd. I do not know what a theo- Anveshi Research Centre for Women's Studies invites applications from cratic state means." suitable candidates to its Short Term Fellowship Programme for the year 2007- When another journalist suggested that 08. Five candidates will be supported through a resident fellowship for a period the questioner meant a state run by of one year, during which they will be paid a monthly stipend of approximately 'maulanas', Jinnah retorted, "What about Rs 9,000. [a] government run by Pundits in Hindustan?" The programme is designed to mentor promising individuals, mostly women, preferably from marginalized communities through small well-defined Jinnah continued to hedge: "Then it tasks and specially tailored training programmes through the fellowship period. seems to me that what I have already said We encourage other organizations to depute their employees to this is like throwing water on duck's back fellowship. Please visit the website www.anveshi.org and click on the item (laughter). When you talk of democracy, titled "Invitation to Short Term Fellowship Programme 2007-08" for details I am afraid you have not studied Islam. We and application form. learned democracy thirteen centuries ago." If secularism is about the nature of law, This programme has been funded by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. a study of Jinnah's attempts to counter the

Economic and Political Weekly August 11, 2007 3301

This content downloaded from 134.114.107.228 on Wed, 08 Jan 2020 05:06:42 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms (b) That the contribution he was making a broadcast address to the people of the said: "The Government of Pakistan has no to the' welfare of Muslims - by helping US in February 1948 (ironically, the same desire whatsoever to interfere in any way level the playing field - would dominate speech of which a portion was quoted with the traditional independence of the everything else, earlier in this essay as an example ofJinnah Tribal Areas. On the contrary, we feel as (c) That a liberal, secular Pakistan would coming out forcefully against theocracy), a Muslim State [emphasis added], we can one day follow once the messy business Jinnah described Pakistan as "the premier always rely on [the] active support and of Partition was over with, and it was Islamic State".10 Given who he was, what sympathy of the tribes".11 unnecessary to raise the issue of could he have really meant? At the conclusion of this statement, secularism now. Jinnah was a lawyer par excellence and Jinnah chose to use the term "Islamic State": Jinnah has often been accused of being an adept leader of men, but he never claimed In the end, I would appeal to all the dif- communitarian. But ironically, as the late to be a scholar of Islam. In fact, he knew ferent elements in the Frontier Province Eqbal Ahmad was wont to point out, it was no Arabic or Persian. He wrote no book and in the Tribal Areas to forget past Jinnah, then a Congress leader, who had or treatise, and his speeches do not suggest disputes and differences and join hands warned against the spiritualisation of any real familiarity with Islamic history or with the government of Pakistan in setting Indian politics. Jinnah was adamantly jurisprudence. When he spoke on the up a truly democratic Islamic State.12 opposed to the use by Gandhi of religious Islamic state he made no specific reference He used similar terminology - referring symbols in politics. He was right. A deeply to the Hadith, or to the works of classical to Pakistan as a "Muslim State" - in a divisive view of the world naturally Muslim scholars. Maybe it wasjust as well statement of assurance to the people of emerged once the terms of discourse shifted for this difficult matter. Baluchistan.13 But, in another press state- in this way. And as India approached Jinnah often used the terms "Muslim ment (which was not addressed to any independence, leaders of sectarian out- State", "Islamic State" and sometimes specific audience) about the question of look and sentiments such as Sardar simply "State". But those were used loosely, minorities in Pakistan, which appeared Vallabbhai Patel and Rajendra interchangeably,Prasad and imprecisely although, two days before the one quoted above, gained commanding positions one in must the say, the choice of terms was not Jinnah urged people to "make the building Congress. entirely random. Much depended on the of Pakistan, as one of the greatest States But I have yet to address the second audience to be addressed. For instance, in the world, successful."14 question raised earlier. Jinnah alluded many in a press statement on July 31, 1947 Ayesha Jalal cautions against using times to an Islamic state. For example, in addressed to the Tribal Areas, Jinnah Jinnah's references to the sharia or the

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3302 Economic and Political Weekly August 11, 2007

This content downloaded from 134.114.107.228 on Wed, 08 Jan 2020 05:06:42 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Islamic state, in piecemeal fashion. She people, said Maudoodi. He insisted that Islamic state in Pakistan cannot be taken says that they need to be placed within the secularism was the enemy of the Islamic seriously. The future of Pakistan - how properhistorical context while paying keen state, as were people like Jinnah and others secular or how Islamic it is to be - can attention to what Jinnah, the man and the who he regarded as creatures of western only be decided by the citizens of the visionary, really stood for: culture. During the 1940s, Maudoodi re- country that Jinnah made. m1l

He was from first to last a constitutionalist ferred to Jinnah in speeches as "Kafir-e- Email: hoodbhoy @lns.mit.edu who had argued at the time of the debate Azam" (the great unbeliever) and to the idea of Pakistan as "Na-Pakistan" (land on the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1930 that if there was a clash between a of filth). Notes so-called religious and public morality, On the other side of the divide, al- then morality had to prevail, mullah or no Mawardi's connection between state and [This essay originated from a lecture in Karachi in 2007, delivered at the invitation of the Jinnah mullah. There was no change in this basic religion is refuted by other Islamic schol- Society in cooperation with the Oxford University. outlook even as he made tactical adjust- ars, such as the greatest Muslim historian Press of Pakistan. The author thanks Alia Amirali ments in his later years to accommodate and social anthropologist of all times, Ibnfor valuable additions and researching references.] new political exigencies. When asked toKhaldun:16 discuss the future constitutional frame- 1 World Public Opinion.Org, 'Muslims Some wrongly assume the imamate to be the work for the Muslim homeland he was Believe US Seeks to Undermine Islam', pillars of the state. It is one of the general demanding, he insisted that it would be up http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/ public interests. The people are delegated articles/brmiddleeastnafricara/ to the people of Pakistan to decide what to take care of it. If it were one of the pillars 346.php?nid=&id=&pnt=346 sort of a state they wanted even though he of faith, it would be something like prayer, 2 Ayesha Jalal, The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the had no doubt that their choice would be and Muhammad would have appointed a Muslim League and the Demandfor Pakistan, for a moderate, democratic and forward- representative, exactly as he appointed Abu Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1985, looking state.15 Bakr to represent him in prayer. is an exception to generally mediocre scholarship on the creation of Pakistan. It is Throughout history, the nature of the It is clear that even if Jinnah had been meticulously researched and has a brilliant Islamic state has been sharply contentious. a profound scholar of Islam, he would still and dispassionate discussion of Jinnah and his The Holy Qur'an, the source of all author- have left us with a legacy of confusion. politics. Pakistan's creation was accidental, ity for Muslims, does not speak of an This is simply because the notion of an she argues, and Jinnah initially used the notion Islamic state. Pre-Islamic Arabia had no Islamic state is an impossibly confused of Pakistan as a political bargaining chip. His demand for a separate Muslim state evolved state and Prophet Mohammed created one. So, quite wisely, Jinnah makes only out of circumstances rather than ideological the Medina state after 'Misaq-e-Medina', vague allusions to Islamic principles of belief, and came at a much later stage. an accord with various Jewish and pagan fair play and justice. For example, before 3 http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/Quaid/ tribes. But there was no written law, much the Sibi Darbar in 1948, he said: speech03.htm less a constitution. There was no taxation 4 http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/Quaid/ Let us lay the foundations of our demo- speech25.htm system nor any police or army, no concept cracy on the basis of truly Islamic ideals 5 Jinnah Papers, Zawar Zaidi (ed), Vol III, doc# of territorial governance or defence. Each and principles. Our Almighty has taught VIII.2 (in Appendix VIII), p 1005, Government tribe followed its own customs and tradi- us that our decisions in the affairs of the of Pakistan, distributed and published by OUP, tions. There were inter-tribal wars and all state shall be guided by discussion and Pakistan, 1997. consultations.7 adult tribals took part in defending one's 6 ibid., Vol II, doc# 299, p 563 (quote on p 565). tribal interests. The only law prevalent was This is a popular, not a scholarly, style. 7 ibid. that of 'qisas', i e, retaliation. Jinnah does not mention 'jizya' - the 8 Ishtiaq Ahmed, 'The' Fundamentalist Dimension in the Pakistan Movement', The Lacking specific guidance from the Holy tithe that would have to be paid by non- Friday Times (Lahore), November 22, 2002. Book, Islamic scholars have created their Muslims living in a Maudoodian 9 In a letter to Mountbatten describing own understandings of what an Islamic Islamic state. Nor does he touch the con- dissensions amongst the Muslim League state should be. Abul Hasan al-Mawardi cept of the status of 'zimmi' (second-class leaders, Rob Lockhart wrote: "...and some are (974-1058), a scholar in service of the citizen) accorded to non-Muslims, or annoyed because Jinnah said he could not establish sharia law", Jinnah Papers, Vol IV, Abbasid rulers and one of Islam's first many other critical issues that would doc# IV.17 (in Appendix IV), p 462. political theorists, justifies the need for a confront citizens living in a religious 10 http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/Quaid/ religious state and writes of "A leader state. speech25.htm through whom he [Allah] provided forTo conclude: I think it is pointless to seek11 ibid, doc# VIII 4, p 524. the deputyship of the Prophet", meaning a consensus on the nature of the state 12 ibid. a caliph who would be god's vice-regent that Jinnah wanted for Pakistan. He cer- 13 This statementappeared in The Pakistan Times, August 13, 1947, reproduced in Jinnah Papers, on earth. Agreeing on al-Mawardi's need tainly did not want a theocracy or aTaliban ibid, doc# VIII.8, p 527. to unite state and religion, the ideological state, nor one in which the non-Muslim 14 This statement appeared in The Pakistan Times, founder of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Maulana minorities would be persecuted and July 29,1947, reproduced in the Jinnah Papers, Abul Ala Maudoodi, conceptualised harassed (as they are today). But Jinnah's ibid, doc# VIII.2, p 522. yet another vision of an Islamic state statements at different times and circum- 15 Ayesha Jalal, private communication, nearly 900 years later. The head of such stances are far too widely spread out to August 3, 2007. 16 The Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun, translated by a state, he said, should be a pious Muslim conclude anything substantial beyond Franz Rosenthal, Princeton University Press, male who would Islamise the nation and these truths. Not being sufficiently well- 1969, p 169. make better Muslims of his subjects. versed in Islamic history or theology, 17 http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/Quaid/ Sovereignty would lie with Allah, not the Jinnah's allusions to establishing an speech22.htm

Economic and Political Weekly August 11, 2007 3303

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