The Impact of Islamization on the Christian Community in Pakistan Patrick Sookhdeo School of Oriental and African Studies University of London Ph.D. 1999 ProQuest Number: 11010520 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11010520 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract Christianity arrived in the area which is now Pakistan well before the advent of Islam, but was extinguished for a while by Muslim persecution, before being re-introduced by Western missionaries. The Pakistani Christian community of today numbers about three million people, who are mainly the descendants of mass conversions of Chuhra people about a century ago. Consequently the community has a low socio-economic status on average. Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, apparently intended equality for all citizens, but there has been a range of other opinions as to the place of Islam in Pakistan and the status of non- Muslim minorities. The passing of the Objectives Resolution in 1949 began a process of Islamization, which included changes to the legislation and constitution and an increasing level of discrimination against Christians at many levels of society, significantly by zamindars and the police. Some of the types of discrimination correspond to the traditional dhimmi status of Christians in a Muslim society; others do not, notably the “blasphemy law” which has interesting links with apostasy. The Shari’ah has gained increasing prominence in the legislation. As citizens of a state created to be a homeland for Muslims, many Christians have an identity crisis and some have emigrated. For historical reasons, mainly connected with the influence of missionaries, Christians were apathetic in their response to Islamization and tended to withdraw from the majority society and from politics. The Punjabi biradari culture created disunity which also weakened their response. In recent years, they have become more active in national protests, inter-faith dialogue and engaging the international arena. They are now as active in politics as they can be within the separate electorates system. Many would rather have their own state or autonomous Christian province within Pakistan but this is unrealistic. 2 Contents Introduction Chapter 1 Historical and sociological factors affecting the Christian community in Pakistan Chapter 2 The ideological development of the state of Pakistan and its ramifications for the Christian community Chapter 3 The relevance of the concept ofdhimmi in theory and practice Chapter 4 De facto discrimination against Christians Chapter 5 The development of national legislation and attitudes to blasphemy and apostasy, and their outworkings in practice Chapter 6 Christian responses to Islamization and discrimination Chapter 7 Conclusion Bibliography Introduction Pakistan came into being in 1947, the first state in modem times to be created on the basis of religion (quickly followed by Israel in 1948). Much has been written of the events leading up to its creation for there was scarcely a more significant event for the British Empire in the twentieth century than the loss of India, the jewel in the crown, and its splitting into smaller gems. Much has been written of the ideological and political development of Pakistan after independence, as the place of Islam in the homeland created for Muslims of the sub-continent was slowly and painfully worked out. But comparatively little has been written of the situation of the millions of Christians in the Muslim homeland. Alone among the religions of the world, Islam has a defined set of rules in its Shari’ah for relationships with adherents of other faiths. These rules have been unaltered since the tenth century (C.E.)1 and assume a dominant role for Muslims. Christians fall into the category of “People of the Book”, who have a privileged position relative to other non- Muslims, though are of lower status than Muslims. Nowhere in the modem Muslim world are Christians treated exactly according to the Shari’ah, but almost everywhere they are discriminated against to some extent. The very fact that little has been written about the situation of Christians (and indeed other non-Muslims, excepting Ahmadiyyas) in Pakistan is itself a symptom of their problems. Their existence is often ignored, and many Muslim authors writing on the 4 social, political and religious situation of Pakistan make no reference to the presence of non-Muslim citizens. Christian scholarship includes some sociological studies by Westerners, mostly missionaries, and the excellent work of the Christian Study Centre (CSC) in Rawalpindi. But this material is limited in quantity. There is a lack of Western academic sources on the practical problems of daily existence faced by Pakistani Christians. The lack of attention paid to their situation both by their Muslim compatriots and by their co-religionists in the West is one of the main grievances of Pakistani Christians. The discrimination and injustice which they face go unnoticed by others. “We are the voiceless,” said the Church of Pakistan Bishop of Peshawar, Munowar Rumalshah, about the Pakistani Christian community, in an address that repeatedly pointed to the inability of Christians in Pakistan to make known their situation. It is the voicelessness of the Christians of Pakistan which has prompted this study. Its purpose is to trace the impact which the gradual Islamization of Pakistan has had on the Christian community and to examine their responses to it. In doing this it draws on studies of the ideological, legal and constitutional development of Pakistan and the implementation of Islamic law in historical and contemporary contexts, but the bulk of the study covers a subject area which has not, to the author’s knowledge, been traced at an academic level before. 1 Khadduri, Majid War and Peace in the Law o f Islam (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1955) p.36 2 Rumalshah, Munawar “Hear the cry - of the voiceless: being a Christian in Pakistan” in Sheridan, Sharon Hear the cry! Standing in solidarity with the suffering Church Report of a consultation organized by the 5 The very voicelessness of the Christians has imposed certain constraints on the manner in which the study has been conducted. Although there is a wealth of scholarship on historical Islamic issues such as the Shari’ah, dhimmi, apostasy and blasphemy, with respect to the situation of Christians in Pakistan - particularly in modem times - the number of detailed academic sources available is small. Even the Journal for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies has little of direct relevance to the subject of this study. CSC publishes a journal, Al-Mushir, as well as organising seminars and conferences with detailed reports. Their material was particularly valuable in the areas of the sociological understanding of the Christian community and the contemporary debates on the relationship between the Christian community and the Muslim majority in Pakistan. At what might be termed a semi-academic level, particular mention must be made of the carefully checked material produced in the publications of the two Pakistani Christian human rights organisations, the National Commission for Justice and Peace, and the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, both based in Lahore. Given the limited academic sources, much information has therefore been extracted from accounts in contemporary newspapers and magazines. Collections of cuttings held by the CSC and by the F.S. KhairUllah Institute for the Study of Religion and Culture, Lahore, have been searched. With the exception of the publications mentioned above, most material produced by the Pakistani Christian community consists of unpublished papers, privately circulated pamphlets, private letters, open letters, church newsletters, Episcopal Council for Global Mission, New York, April 1998 (New York: Anglican and Global Relations, 1998) pp.39,44 6 conference reports from the Church of Pakistan and other Christian groupings, press releases etc. Some of these are expressed in far from perfect English, which should not be allowed to detract from their importance as the first-hand expressions of the community which is the subject of this study. To this raw source material have been added articles in Pakistan’s lively and free press, in which a range of opinions including secular liberal Muslim, conservative Muslim and extremist Muslim are expressed. It is not often that Christians are able to gain space in the newspapers, though they may be the subject of articles by sympathetic journalists. (Though there have been several attempts to start Christian newspapers, none have survived for more than a month.) Most of the material used is in English, which, as it happens, is the language normally used in official church documents in Pakistan. The author has paid three visits to Pakistan during the course of this study, not only to access papers and written materials, but also to interview individual Christians. By virtue of his position as a presbyter in the Church of Pakistan, the author has been able to include amongst these interviewees a number of senior Pakistani Christian leaders. Three have been particularly helpful, namely, Rt Rev. Dr Michael Nazir Ali, formerly Church of Pakistan Bishop of Raiwind, and now Church of England Bishop of Rochester, United Kingdom, Rt Rev. Mano Rumalshah, Church of Pakistan Bishop of Peshawar, and Mr Zafar Ismail, the international director of the Open Theological Seminary, Lahore.