Author: A.B.S Jafri
Publication: Dawn, Karachi
Date: March 15, 2001
Suddenly the government of Pakistan,
and the provincial governments, apparently under instructions from Islamabad,
have become aware of the existence of fundamentalist extremism in the country,
as if there has been a flash of divine revelation. Extraordinary measures
were put into effect all over the country as the date of the hanging of
a Sipah-i-Sahaba activist began to draw near.
All this has had the look and feel
of something close to panic. Every city down to little townships declared
it had 'beefed up security'. For no stronger reason than a convicted killer
was being sent to the gallows after a ten-year-long judicial process, going
right up to the Supreme Court. In our country people ending up on the gallows
is not unknown. No such precautions had to be taken when a charismatic
prime minister was hanged in 1979. Why this 'beefing up of security' across
the country this time?
After the dreaded event, so much
has happened that ought to make every sensible citizen in the country sit
up, think and worry about the extent of religious extremism that holds
the country in its grip. Let us first try to muster moral courage and ask
ourselves one straight question: What was the role of religious preachers
(the maulanas and the ulema) or parties (Jamaats, Jamiats, Tehriks) in
our career from May 10, 1857, to August 14, 1947? This question should
have been a part of our national consciousness all along. It is unfortunate
that we should have failed to see this disturbing phenomenon developing
until now when the government feels called upon to 'beef up security' all
over.
Immediately after the decline and
fall of Muslim power in the subcontinent, the defeated and demoralized
Muslims took shelter in their mosques and the sanctuaries of the religious
fundamentalist preachers. They withdrew into their grey, melancholy shell,
resigning from real life to see what they thought would be salvation in
the sermons of the self-proclaimed holy men. The majority community took
advantage of this defeatist Muslim withdrawal from the field. Under the
influence of the fundamentalists, the Muslims withdrew into mourning, denying
themselves relevant education and disciplines. This exactly is the case
with the education imparted by the 'deeni madaris' in Pakistan today Inevitably,
the Muslims stagnated in the illusion of religious renaissance and the
false promise of a return to glory through the gates of seminaries. This
was self-defeating withdrawal from the world of reality. Time left them
behind.
This will always be the direct result
of falling into the trap of feeble minded preachers who pretend to show
us the way to heaven but tell little of life here below. What we are going
through now is the repeat of that fatal mistake made in the middle of the
19th century. We are now in the 21st century. Once again we have thrown
ourselves into the snare of the same clergy with its cloistered single-track
minds that can lead only into a dim sort of limbo. If not arrested now,
Pakistan may be on its way to losing all relevance to the contemporary
world.
What has the clergy contributed
to human happiness, let alone salvation? Look at the indisputable truths
of history. After the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, a disillusioned
Europe sought refuge at the feet of their Christian clergy. The religious
fundamentalists gave Europe its 600 years of what is called the Dark Ages
- 500-1100 AD. During those benighted centuries, the people of Europe fought
religious battles, burning people at the stake, killing one another in
the name of divine power. We are now doing the same to ourselves, killing
one another in the name of religion.
Incapable of rational interaction,
the people of Europe in that dark phase rendered themselves unable to agree
upon anything of value to life. While their holy men quarrelled over the
number of angles that can be accommodated on the point of a needle, their
bemused followers made life miserable for one another and also for themselves.
Then followed a slight relief from
the suffocating atmosphere of fundamentalist intolerance and obscurantism
in the Middle Ages - 1100 AD to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. This
defeat at Constantinople itself signified the demise of an atrophied culture
presided over by fake men of piety. Altogether, nearly a thousand years
were lost in Europe, thanks to religious fundamentalism.
Sensible people like Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan rescued the heart-broken and bewildered Muslim community from the
shackles of the so-called pious men and from the grim confines of their
seminaries. It was not an easy mission. Up against him were the Muslim
fundamentalists. Sir Syed was subjected to attack at all levels, including
character assassination. He was abused in the name of Islam and cursed
as Kafir by the men who had held the Muslims in their fundamentalist thrall.
In the process they had thrown their hapless victims into the Dark Age
of the Muslims of South Asia. The majority community had forged ahead.
We are still paying for the lost time. There is no denying this truth.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah took up the
thread from where Sir Syed and his dedicated associates had left it. Any
wonder the fundamentalists meted out the same treatment to him as the holy
men had given to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan? Jinnah was also rewarded with the
same vilification and cursing. He, too, was labelled Kafir. But he went
on to lead the Muslim people to score a triumph history has few parallels
of. This triumph was despite the determined opposition by all the pious
men then in the field. Now the same element is once against in action.
Instead of uniting the nation, as Sir Syed and Jinnah had done, the mullahs
have divided the country into more than 80 sects fighting one another with
lethal weapons. This is Muslim killing Muslim, in the name of Islam. We
are doing exactly as the Christian clergy had led their follower to do
through the Dark Ages of Europe. The fundamentalists know no compassion,
no pity.
What is the contribution of the
Muslim religious fundamentalists in the making of Pakistan? It is next
to nothing. In fact, it is all negative. Regardless of their ferocious
difference among themselves, all fundamentalists were dead set against
Pakistan. The Jamiatul- Ulema-e-Hind was uncompromisingly opposed to Pakistan.
No comment on the record of its Pakistani incarnation, the Jamiatul-Ulema-e-
Pakistan.
The Jamaat-e-Islami, in its infancy
during the struggle for Pakistan, was totally opposed to the idea. It is
only a relatively recent development that the JI has taken kindly to this
country, only to kowtow to the longest military dictatorship in our history.
Then, there was the Ahrar party (also called the Nationalist Muslims) the
Khaddar-clad soul-mates of the Congress. They too were opposed to Pakistan.
Today the surviving veteran of the Ahrar battle against Pakistan is amongst
us, the legendary Nawabzada Nasrullah. May he live long.
No committed Islamist ever stood
for Pakistan during the crucial phase of the movement for its creation.
Now the same Islamic fundamentalists are up in arms (literally) and whatever
they are doing is patently dangerous to the unity and peace of Pakistan.
Already we have more than eighty Islamic fundamentalist parties, tearing
the country apart, dividing it into so many hostile bits and pieces. Can
one nation sustain so many parties, most of whom also happen to be feuding
among themselves? Or can one nation manage to sustain itself if it is divided
into so many factions at daggers drawn with each other?
We must also try to find out the
inspiration and motivation behind so many parties. What exactly are they
trying to work for and attain in this country - and why and how? Where
do these parties obtain their sustenance from? Who are the people who provide
these fundamentalist parties with the funds? What are the spiritual and
worldly purposes of the promoters?
In 1947 when Pakistan was a proud
nation on the rise, there was virtually no Islamic fundamentalist tendency
of any hue or shade. Now we have a mind-boggling number of them and no
two of them are willing to break bread or pray together. What kind of Islamic
society are we going to have if all of these quarrelling fundamentalists
and their armed bands are allowed to engage in killing one another? What
happy Isle are these Islamic fundamentalists going to lead this country
to?
