Religion and Political Development in Pakistan

70 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXVI, No.2, Winter 2012 Religion and Political Development in Pakistan Muhammad Islam* Introduction The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between religion and politics in Pakistan. Of course, there are many religions in Pakistan and most of them interface with politics in one way or another. As compared to the majority religion, namely Islam, most other religions’ interaction with politics is, sporadic and their impact on political processes is insignificant. A comprehensive study of the relationship of all existing religions with politics in Pakistan is outside the scope of this article; which has a rather modest goal in view. Here the focus will be on the interaction between Islam and state authorities during the process of political development in Pakistan. The examination does not adopt a normative approach toward the relationship between Islam and politics. In other words, this study neither laments nor eulogizes the political role of Islam; instead, it seeks to capture the empirical relationship between Islam and politics in Pakistan. The argument of this study is that the political role of Islam in Pakistan has been both pervasive and functional. More precisely, Islam and politics interacted with each other in many areas and both conservative and liberal national leaders used religion in order to broaden their support in society, strengthen and legitimize their authority position, and justify their public and foreign policies. *Muhammad Islam is an associate professor at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, his interest is center Africa, North and South America. 71 Islam, Muslim Nationalism and the Pakistan Movement In the case of Pakistan, the relationship between religion and politics can be traced back to the independence movement against the British rule1 and the demand for an independent Muslim state in the Indian subcontinent. In the available literature one comes across various explanations of the creation of Pakistan;2 however, the ideological explanation is dominant. According to the ideological explanation, Islam was the main source of the demand for a separate Muslim homeland in the Indian subcontinent. Advocates of this explanation hold that Islam provided the Muslims of British India a perspective on the colonial rule, their place in it, their relationship with other religious communities and the need for an independent Muslim homeland. According to them, a number of Muslim scholars, leaders, and groups in the British India attributed the decline of the Islamic civilization in the Indian subcontinent to the colonial rule, viewed the British rulers as enemies of Islam, struggled to liberate the Indian Muslims and demanded an independent Muslim state on the basis of two-nation theory.3 The two-nation theory claimed that two nations, one Hindu and one Muslim, lived in the Indian subcontinent and the Indian Muslims, as a distinct nation, needed a separate homeland. In other words, Islam played an important role in the development of Muslim identity and nationalism during the colonial rule.4 According to some scholars, the 1 Manzoor Ahmad is of the view that “In almost all the Muslim countries ruled by the British, French or Dutch masters, movements against colonial rule drew strong support from a religious reinterpretation of Islam which equated Islam with power or at least considered it as an essential component of religious faith…” See Manzoor Ahmad, “Islam and Democracy in Pakistan,” in Pakistan: Prospects and Perspectives, ed. Manzoor Ahmad and Khalida Ghaus (Karachi: Royal Book Company, 1999), 65. 2 Hamza Alavi, “Class and State,” in Pakistan, the Roots of Dictatorship: The Political Economy of a Praetorian State, ed. H. Gardezi and Jamil Rashid (London: Zed Press, 1983); Hamza Alavi, “Social Forces and Ideology in the Making of Pakistan,” Economic and Political Weekly 37, no. 51 (December 21-27, 2002), 5119-5124; Lawrence Ziring, Pakistan At The Crosscurrent of History (Lahore: Vanguard, 2004), 1-44; Anwar Iqbal Qureshi, “Economic Basis of Pakistan,” in The Case for Pakistan, ed. M. Rafique Afzal (Islamabad: National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, 1979); K. K. Aziz, The Making of Pakistan: A Study in Nationalism,3rd ed. (Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications, 2005). 3 Ishtiaq Husain Qureshi, The Struggle For Pakistan (Reprint, Karachi: University of Karachi, 1984); Aziz...