Daily Times

Pakistan turns 67 today but this young nation with all its strengths and achievements is challenged with putting in place most essential elements of a fair state: peace, justice, law and order. The teachings of tolerance and sanctity of human life propagated by our Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and promoted by Pakistan’s founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah remain far from being materialized. Security of life and property, justice and equality before law and protection of human rights irrespective of caste, creed and colour were to be the essential principles for the people and leaders of Pakistan, first for being predominantly Muslim and second for being Pakistani. However, the principles of statehood taught by the Prophet (PBUH) of Islam and founder of Pakistan could never become part and parcel of governance at a higher level or people’s way of thinking at a common level. These principles could never find space in any channels of mass education and communications and were never absorbed in the national thinking, resulting in what could be the obvious logical outcome: today’s blood-soaked Pakistan, insecurity of life and property and conflict on the basis of ethnicity, religion and sect that has shattered the fabric of society.

To determine the direction to survive and grow, nations need vision and guidelines from various sources including history, philosophy, ideology, culture, faith and the vision of the founding fathers. These essential guiding principles are adopted by nations as part of their indoctrination schemes with a view to make every generation know the essence and ethos of their particular nationhood and ways to keep it intact.

For the people of Pakistan, important sources of guidance for running the affairs of state were to be the teachings and practices of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the philosophy of the founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah. More particularly, the last sermon of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), which set the direction for the Muslim ummah for all times to come and Quaid-e-Azam’s first presidential address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947, which pinpointed the important principles for the new state, could have been the two documents to provide the basis for national policies. These two addresses were never heeded and never popularised among the citizens of Pakistan as benchmarks of good practices.

The last sermon of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) holds an important place in the history and faith of Muslims and it is more relevant to the people of Pakistan as it was delivered at the time when consolidation of an Islamic state was completed. On accomplishing his mission the Prophet (PBUH) wanted to give guidelines to the Muslims for all times to come and had asked those present there to spread the message around the world. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s first Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947 was delivered at a point of time when the founding father had accomplished his mission of creating a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Subcontinent.

The last sermon of the Prophet (PBUH) is a valued document on human rights where he urged creating peace and justice and granting rights to the people without discriminating on the basis of race, wealth, position or kinship. He had called for giving respect and space to people of different colour and creed. Security and sanctity of human life was a matter of top priority as he said: “O’ People, just as you regard this month, this day, and this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust.”

The Holy Prophet (PBUH) made it clear to the people that the sanctity of life had been declared by Allah in the Qur’an. People were to be protected and their lives preserved. Their properties are to be protected and saved. The sanctity of life is to remain well preserved until the Day of Judgment.

In his farewell sermon Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also asserted equality of all mankind as he said: “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.”

The Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) last sermon is full of wisdom and provides guidelines on protection of human rights and creation of a just system devoid of exploitation and cruelty. It covers many aspects of life and governance. The entire sermon needs to be read time and again by Muslims but unfortunately we hardly make any effort to popularise it or make it an essential guiding principle for public and social policies.

Similarly, the first presidential address of the Quaid-e-Azam to Pakistan’s first constituent assembly was very much in line with the teachings of the last sermon of the Prophet (PBUH), where Quaid-e-Azam called for creating justice and equality for all the citizens of the state. This address of Jinnah set the guiding principles for the leaders and legislators of what they are required to do and defined the responsibilities of the state. Jinnah deemed protection of the people as the most important function of the state, as he said: “The first observation that I would like to make is that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the State.”

The Quaid’s vision of Pakistan was embedded in a rights-based approach. He had thought about the protection of the rights of Muslims in an independent subcontinent. It was the fear of Muslims not getting fair treatment after independence that had led Jinnah to decide that a separate state was inevitable for the Muslims of the subcontinent.

In Pakistan we do not see the vision of the founder being upheld at any level. We made our society deviate from the Prophet’s (PBUH) teachings and Quaid’s vision to an extent that lives, properties and religious beliefs are at risks. Protection of faith is now a far cry. Following a sect different from the mainstream means an ever-lurking life threat. Quaid-e-Azam had a vision of Pakistan where religion and faith were not politicised. He hoped for the sort of harmony where religion would not matter, as he said in his first presidential address: “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 the State.”

Jinnah had a very clear vision about the equal rights of every citizen of Pakistan and believed that progress could be realised in the real sense of the word through justice by making everyone equal before the law. In his first presidential address he said: “If you work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what his colour, caste, or creed, is first, second, and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make.” Jinnah was a highly intelligent and wise person and an outstanding lawyer of his time and he could foresee the relationship of peace and progress with justice and fairness.

In the times of dictatorial governments both Islam and Jinnah’s guiding principles were politically traded off to prolong their rule. Particularly under the draconian regime of Ziaul Haq, irreversible damage to society, particularly to the rights of non- Muslim Pakistanis and non-mainstream Muslim sects and women was meted out when laws (like the blasphemy law that existed since the time of the British Raj) were modified in a manner that paved the way for victimisation of even innocent people belonging to marginalised segments. Quaid’s first presidential address dealt in detail with the menace of corruption, overlooking merit, and many more points on which Pakistan is challenged today. This document needs to be read and understood by every Pakistani time and again so that it becomes a part and parcel of our lives. Pakistan would have made progress in the real sense and would have been a peaceful place and lives of people would have been much more secure if the last sermon of the Prophet (PBUH) of Islam and the first presidential address of Quaid-e-Azam were made a part of people’s thought process.

Neither the national curriculum nor the national media of Pakistan promoted among people the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the vision of the founding father that were aimed at safeguarding the rights of the people and creating an environment of peace and justice. In the books of history at school and college level you may find Jinnah’s 14 points, Cabinet mission, etc, but not the full text of his first presidential address.

One can bet on testing many educated people, policy makers, and national leaders including parliamentarians on the text of the Prophet’s (PBUH) last sermon and Jinnah’s first presidential address. The answers would be anybody’s guess! Mercifully, the Election Commission of Pakitan didn’t think of testing the knowledge of parliamentary candidates on the guidelines provided by these two essential documents while quizzing them for eligibility for the elections. The country has been saved from embarrassment but not from violation of rights and justice.

Pakistan turns 67 today but this young nation with all its strengths and a