Finding Islam in the “Islamic” Republic of Pakistan.
For the most part of its brief history, Pakistan has been called an “Islamic” republic on paper. In reality, however, it could not be farther away from the truth. No, my claim here does not present “women in sleeveless dresses” and “how is PEMRA allowing this on TV” as its supporting premises. In fact, I for one think that on the surficial level, we look very much like an Islamic country. On streets, the majority of the women we see cover their heads and many men have beards. There’s a masjid at the corner of every street. We also have Quranic verses and ahadith pasted around on walls and billboards. So yes, for a bystander, we very much have an “Islamic” exterior.
My concern is with what lies beneath the surface, and the truth is, we are completely devoid of any semblance to Islam – with the exception of charity only. Allow me to present my arguments.
1. Complete Absence of Rule of Law
The World Justice Project (WJP) placed Pakistan at 129th out of 140 countries in 2022[1]. For anyone who is even minutely aware of the justice system in Pakistan, the shocking part of this report would be that there are countries below us as well. In Pakistan, not only is justice always delayed, but it is not even served after years of court hearings. Cases like those of Mukhtaran Mai rape case, Shahrukh Jatoi, Nazim Jokhio, and Arshad Sharif murder cases and Khadija Siddiqui’s stabbing are glaring examples of how deeply ruined the rule of law is in Pakistan. Despite all witnesses and documentation, the culprits are not only roaming freely, many are even holding important positions in the government.
On the contrary, one of the fundamental aims of Islam are to establish justice in the society. The Quran orders in the clearest terms to “be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allāh, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives” (Quran 4:135). The same message was reiterated by the Prophet (PBUH) when he said that previous nations were ruined because they punished the weak and let the powerful roam free.
One is compelled to then ask – does Pakistan’s standing in terms of rule of law warrant the addition of “Islam” into its name?
2. Persecution of Minorities
Islam is the predominant religion in Pakistan, however, large numbers of Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis are also nationals of the country. The constitution provides them an equal standing as that of Muslims in every sphere of life. The reality is, however, that the non-Muslim members of the society remain largely discriminated against in Pakistan. Over the past month alone, a Sikh shop owner and a Christian citizen have been murdered in Peshawar in two separate attacks and two Hindu doctors have been killed in Karachi. Not only this, mobs attacking non-Muslims over blasphemy charges have become common in recent years.
This treatment of non-Muslims, again, is in stark contrast to the teachings of Islam. The Prophet (PBUH) in Madina made a pact with the Jews of the city in the Charter of Madina whereby in terms of politics, economy and security of the city, there was no difference between Muslims and non-Muslims. The Quran permitted that non-Muslims may choose to settle their matters according to their own laws or the Islamic law, whichever they deem fit. The Prophet said that “one who kills a man under covenant (i.e. a dhimmi) will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise” (Bukhari). Similarly, non-Muslims have absolute freedom of religion, and their places of worship cannot be taken over by Muslims. It is historically recorded how Umar ibn al-Khatab was careful not to pray in the Church of Holy Sepulcher during his visit to Jerusalem after the conquest, as he was fearful that Muslims might use this as a practice to take over the sacred buildings of other religions.
Here again we see how Pakistan fails to meet the criteria set by Islam. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, some radicals have made the masses fall into the error that they constantly have to be up in arms against non-Muslims, going against the spirit of the religion.
3. Corruption and Business Ethics
Pakistan ranked 140th out of 180 countries in Corruption Perception Index 2022[2]. In our country, everyone from the highest office holder down to the traffic warden on the road, tries to extract as much benefit from their position as possible. It takes different shapes – bribery, giving wrong measure in trade, embezzlement and so on. Giving low quality goods, hoarding and highly pricing necessities like wheat and sugar during shortages, delaying submission of work in offices are more common than one would hope.
On the contrast, the Quran explicitly narrates the story of the nation of Shoaib (A.S), that was destroyed for cheating in transactions multiple times. The Quran says, “fulfill the measure and weight and do not deprive people of their due” (7:85). The message is repeated again and again in Quran and ahadith. Some reports state that during the Caliph Umar gave Shifa bin Abdullah the responsibility to patrol the markets to ensure that there were no errors in measurement and quality of goods by sellers. Strict punishments were carried out when such instances occurred. Umar (R.A) also used to record the assets of any government employee at the time of appointment. If there was an abnormal growth in assets during the time of their appointments, they were called back to Madinah and punished.
It is unfortunate then, that in a country that takes pride in being “created on the name of Islam”, not even the milk for infants is safe from admixing. It is hard to blame politicians only when every individual citizen tries to take all possible benefit, given the chance – often resorting to fraud and deception (again, big sins in Islam).
4. Discrimination against Women
Islam came down as the first religion that treated women as equal humans and gave them a respectable position in the society. In fact, the sanctity of a woman’s character in Islam is so high, that one of the seven big sins is slandering a chaste woman! In a society where it was acceptable to bury daughters alive, Islam gave women a share in inheritance (Quran 4:11), along with categorically stating that anything a woman earns or gets in inheritance is only hers. Her husband, brothers, father or sons have no right to forcefully take it from her. The religion also gave the women the right to choose their spouse, the right to education, the right to work and more.
On one side you have this elevated status of women, then you have Pakistan, that ranks second worst in Global Gender Gap Index[3]. Rapes, honor killings and acid attacks are regular news on TV, even though a majority of these crimes go unreported, being “social taboos”. Most women never get their share in their fathers or husbands inheritance because they are taken away by their brothers or in-laws. Access to education still remains a distant dream for most girls of the country. And consent in marriage? Yeah, no we don’t talk about such “liberal” concepts here.
Perhaps our countrymen need to be reminded of the Quranic verses that say, “and when baby girls, buried alive, are asked: for what crime they were put to death” (81: 8-9). In many instances, the only difference between pagan Quraysh and present day Pakistan are the means of persecution of their daughters.
Who is to blame?
I can write an entire research paper on all that is opposed to Islam in Pakistan. It is unfortunate that a majority of our ulemas have limited this beautiful religion to simply namaz, roza and hajj. The misuse of this religion by many religious figures to blame women’s clothing for natural disasters, create rifts between sects, incite violence against non-Muslims and prevent people from developments in science and technology has pushed Pakistan so back in history. The only Islam we have left is an empty structure, devoid of any substance. The situation is exactly what Iqbal aptly captured when he said:
رگوں ميں وہ لہو باقی نہيں ہے
وہ دل ، وہ آرزو باقی نہيں ہے
نماز و روزہ و قربانی و حج
يہ سب باقی ہيں ، تو باقی نہيں ہے
However, blaming only the ulema is the easy escape. The blame lies on all of us. We all have our copies of the Quran, placed at the top-most shelf of our homes “out of respect”. In fact, we respect the Book so much, we forget to actually open it and read. Allah repeatedly says “do you not ponder” in the Quran. The responsibility to read and understand the religion is on every one of us. We had to CORRECT the ulema for their misuse of the religion, rather than blindly following them.
The blame lies on you and me for failing to create an “Islamic” Republic of Pakistan. One where everyone could have lived together in harmony.
[1] World Justice Project, https://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/Pakistan.pdf
[2] Corruption Perception Index 2022, https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022
[3] Global Gender Gap Report 2022, https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2022/
So well articulated and well research. Amazing read
This is such a well put piece of writing. Commendable.