| Answer: The debate whether Pakistan had been created in the
name of Islam or its founder had intended to establish in it a secular democracy
has been going on here ever since its creation. In this regard, the Quaid’s
speech in the Constituent Assembly on 11th August 1947 is often presented as
evidence on the fact that his intentions were to establish a secular Pakistan.
It seems that this speech of the Quaid has unfortunately been misinterpreted.
The non-Muslims of Pakistan are Mu‘āhids ie, those have
come under an Islamic State on account of a treaty with it. In their case, the
Sharī‘ah permits an Islamic state to conclude a treaty with them on whatever
terms it deems proper and can even treat them equally with the Muslims
politically by accepting for them all the rights which Muslims citizens are
given by the Sharī‘ah on the condition that the Mu‘āhids, as faithful citizens,
accept the superiority of the Sharī‘ah at the state level. Consequently, the
Prophet (sws), in his own times, concluded a similar treaty with the Jews of
Madīnah. In this document, which came to be known as ‘The Mīsāq-i- Madīnah’ the
Jews acknowledged the superiority of the Sharī‘ah by accepting Allah and His
Prophet (sws) as the final authority in all differences of opinion. By virtue of
this treaty, the Jews, as Mu‘āhids, were granted equal rights of citizenship in
the state of Madīnah:
وان يهود امة مع المؤمنين لليهود دينهم
وللمسلمين دينهم مواليهم وانفسم
And [according to this pact], the Jews are acknowledged
with the Muslims as one nation. As far as religion is concerned, the Jews shall
remain on theirs and the Muslims and their allies on theirs.
The non-Muslims who became citizens of Pakistan at its
birth agreed to live in this country of their own free will knowing full well
its ideological status. They were well aware that at if they were to live as its
citizens, they would have to accept the superiority of the Sharī‘ah because the
Quaid had unequivocally declared: ‘The Qur’ān shall be the constitution of this
state’, and had stated in one of his speeches: ‘We have not demanded Pakistan
merely as a piece of land for the Muslims; we intend to make it a testing place
for the implementation of Islam’.
It was this status of the non-Muslims which the Quaid as
the founder of Pakistan and the leader of the Muslims of the sub-continent
announced on 11th August 1947 in the Constituent Assembly. It was neither a
statement concerning the secular nature of a state nor a statement annulled by
subsequent statements. It was something which was in direct accordance with the
Sharī‘ah as regards the position of the non-Muslims of the newly founded state.
It said:
... Now, I think we should keep that in front of us as
our ideal and you will find that 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 an Islamic Sate.*
It is evident that this part of the Quaid’s speech
actually means that there shall be no discrimination between citizens of
Pakistan on the basis of religion. The words ‘because that is the personal faith
of each individual’ have not be said in the context of deciding the religion of
a state; the context, clearly concerns the rights of Muslim minorities and these
words mean that an individual’s personal faith must not become the basis of
special treatment by the state. Consequently, in light of these terms of the
treaty, the non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan are liable to accept the supremacy
of the Sharī‘ah at the State level and not to challenge this status and in
return the state of Pakistan is committed to accept them as politically equal to
the Muslims as long as they remain faithful to this country and abide by the
terms of the treaty concluded with them.
|