Revisiting the Spirit of Pakistan Resolution-III

What went wrong with Pakistan’s ideological development was the death of the creative process of thinking which had given birth to the idea of Pakistan and which could have continued to evolve the guiding principles for the state in a world that was rapidly changing in the wake of the departure of colonizers from the colonies. This arrest of growth was, however, a fate Pakistan shared with other nation-states that were mushrooming all over the world in the post-World War II decades.

During that formative period of these new nation-states, ideological development remained entrenched within the narrow confines of nationalism which came in various brands, often tinged with other ideologies popular at that time. Furthermore, these newly emerged nation-states were rapidly pulled into a cold war between the so-called superpowers; this absorption in the politics of others made them hostage to a new and devastating international polarity that robbed them of any real self-growth. Divided into satellites of the Soviet or Western blocks, these new creations soon lost all sense of direction.

With the demise of the Soviet Union, this strong shackle broke and new possibilities emerged for Pakistan as well as for other colonies of old, which by that time had been thoroughly re-colonized through new mechanisms, involving the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF, and numerous other so-called “International” agencies, which were only “international” in the sense of having a global reach, rather than equitable global representation.

These new mechanisms of enslavement, however, could not take away the consciousness gained through the independence movements of the pre-World War II era. It is true that for the Muslim world this was, and still remains, a complex growth process. Nevertheless, the emergence of a unipolar world, with the United States of America as its economic and military leader, lends a beneficial aspect to the redefinition of Islamic polity, now passing through its initial stages.

This needs to be seen in the much wider perspective of a rapidly shrinking world, wherein it is  impossible for any nation-state to remain isolated. Any nation state not riding one or the other current of mass production or complex technology is destined to perish. Chinese leadership realized that China could ride the first current, the country has become the production center for the whole world and in time, will emerge as a major economic power. But this transformation of communist China into a gigantic factory has come at a very high price; a rapid social transformation is tearing apart all moral and ethical reference points of the old Chinese culture and the next generation is bound to face still more and unprecedented problems.

Europe, on the other hand, launched a massive drive to overcome its human, geographical and economic limitations by inventing the idea of European Union (EU). One of the most brilliant ideas of the twentieth century, the idea came with a strategy for implementation. With the recent expansion of the EU, Europe can rightfully look forward to a time in the not too distant future when it will gain an unprecedented political, military and economic unity, allowing it to survive as a distinct and important player in the affairs of the world.

India, too, made a choice. Suitable to its temperament and culturally far less disruptive than the Chinese choice, India embarked upon a slow but solid scientific and technological advancement which would allow it to develop an economic base of high production and high tech,  enabling it to survive the tidal wave.

Thus we realize that the basic currents of the twenty-first century are qualitatively different from the previous century. The developments which led to the emergence of nation-states are being reversed; instead of division into smaller units, now nation-states are merging into larger units. This is not merely chance; technological, economic and political forces are at work here.

Production technologies have reached a sort of crash-point where they are only viable as mass technologies; this means larger markets are a necessity dictated by basic changes in technologies. This basic change, then, creates a series of causal and relational necessities for smaller units (companies, corporations and nation-states) to merge. Added to these economic factors are social and political elements which have forced these mergers.Hence we witness the emergence of bigger and bigger corporations, the European Union and a much expanded NATO.

In this broad scenario, it must be clear to every reasonable mind that nation-states cannot remain viable units in a rapidly shrinking world. But, in the Muslim world, this realization has so far produced no modus operandi for survival. There have only been the pseudo starts: the Arab League, the World Muslim League and the OIC, organizations which, right from their inception, were not capable of producing any effective response to the challenges of the twenty-first century and no one should consider them relevant to the new and changed realities of the coming decades.

As a consequence of these pseudo starts, the entire Muslim world now faces tremendous internal chaos. But in this chaos, there is a new force. A new generation of Muslims, now living both within the traditional Muslim lands as well as outside, is blessed with a clear realization that there was something fundamentally wrong in the choices made by their grand-parents -choices which locked them into mutually destructive nation-states.

This new generation of  Muslims is now ready to embark upon a re-evaluation of the historical currents that have given birth to these nation states. Pakistan is part of these new developments. This is the future direction of Pakistan; this is the future of the entire Muslim world: to rediscover its own past and to reconnect its present with that past. This will be done at various levels, ranging from the intellectual tradition to the spiritual, political, social and economic levels. This is something that will take its own time; the present violent phase reflects merely the initial, often undirected and crude, phase of this new consciousness.

This new awareness can be simply stated as follows: in the emerging global realities of the twenty-first century, there is a definite place for a uniquely Islamic trans-national polity; this is an awareness that is produced by powerful historical currents and cannot be wished away. In addition to the historical dimension of this consciousness, there is a dimension of its anchorage in faith: Islam as a religion will never lose its force. This is, however, not merely a dogmatic assertion based on personal faith; it is a reality testified by historical facts. For centuries, the twin sources of Islam, the Qur’an and the Sunnah, have remained a formative power in personal as well as communal spheres. Because of their very nature, they cannot be dislodged from this pivotal position. No amount of higher criticism and no amount of historical analysis can reduce the Qur’an to a book of literature or to the status of a guide to personal piety, as the Bible has been. This is in the very nature of the Book, Divinely revealed and uniquely protected.

Likewise, the life of the Prophet of Islam will always remain a living force, guiding, shaping and refining the individual and collective lives of believers. This shining lamp, Siraj al-Munir, as the Qur’an calls it, cannot be extinguished by any blow. Hence, what is required of Muslims is not a defense of Islam per se, but an understanding of Islam and an adherence to its guidance.

Furthermore, no amount of reinterpretation would bring about a reduction of Islam to a personal code of ethics. No matter what the official propaganda may claim in any state, there is no Islam outside the Qur’an and the Sunnah of its noble Prophet, upon whom be peace. As for the so-called enlightened and moderate Islam, let us be clear that it will die its own death, as Akbar’s Din-e Ilahi did. What is of utmost importance for Muslims at this time of their history is, therefore, not a defense of Islam, but fiercely independent and objective re-assessment of their own predicament and direction.

(To be concluded)