Daily Times

There is always a sense of despondency amongst liberal and progressive minded people in Pakistan. Inevitably, most conversations turn to religious extremism and how it plagues Pakistan. All of this is true, but there is no reason to fear that all is lost irrevocably for us. History shows that nations often go through a period of turmoil, only to completely reinvent themselves after going through a crucible of fire. Many people say that the Muslim world needs to go through a period of reformation akin to what the Christian west experienced in the 16th and 17th centuries. My submission is that the Muslim reformation is already here, and this is precisely what any reformation feels like. It is not like the reformation in Europe happened as a seamless and smooth transition. The Christian reformation was a bloody and an extremely unsavoury process that engulfed Western Europe like a wild fire.

Take the case of England for example. It was by a quirk of fate — the refusal of the Pope to annul King Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon — that led to the separation of Church of England from the Catholic Church. Yet England like the rest of Europe had been deeply divided over theological issues even before that. Some of these seem rather trivial today. One major bone of contention between the traditionalists and reformists was the Doctrine of Transubstantiation i.e. the bread and wine during mass become the body and blood of Christ. The reformists rejected this and other such beliefs as papal paganism. In their zeal the reformists were every bit as extreme as the traditionalists if not more. The reformists believed that the world was divided in the “elect” and the “damned,” the elect being those who had seen the light, and were seeking salvation through the Holy Bible instead of the ceremonies such as the mass.

It was not smooth sailing for either party after Church of England’s declaration of independence from Rome. The ultimate authority now rested in King Henry VIII. In the initial years of the Church of England, the reformists seemed to be winning. Churches were shorn of Catholic pomp and ceremony. Monasteries were abolished — though largely because the King wanted to take over their extensive properties. Rosary beads and other Catholic relics were deemed heretical. It was during this time that Sir Thomas More, once England’s chancellor and a close friend of King Henry VIII, was tried and executed for denying that King of England could be the spiritual head of the Church of England. Some years later, Thomas Cromwell, More’s successor and a reformist, also fell this time to a traditionalist plot.

King Henry VIII attempted to balance out the traditionalist and reformist factions by issuing often contradictory instructions on how to worship. By 1546 or so when the ailing King sued for peace with Catholic France, denial of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation itself had become the biggest crime of heresy, and there were scores of Englishmen and Englishwomen who were burnt at the stake for denying it. The most famous amongst them was 26-year-old Anne Askew who was brutally tortured by Thomas Wriothesley and Richard Rich of the King’s Privy Council. She was then burnt at the stake on July 16, 1546.

It took many decades for the reformist and traditionalist factions to settle down. King Henry VIII was succeeded by his son King Edward VI who was a reformist and England’s first Protestant monarch. He died when he was only 16, and was succeeded by his half-sister Queen Mary I who restored Roman Catholicism to England and began hunting the reformist again. As many as 280 Protestants were burnt at the stake during her reign. After her death, her half-sister Queen Elizabeth I restored Protestantism in England. The British Parliament in her time passed the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity, which firmly established the Church of England and at the same time the heresy laws were repealed. Catholics remained outside the fray, even when tolerated. In 1701, parliament passed the Act of Settlement, which limited the throne to non-Catholic heirs, which continues to date. Over time though England progressed and matured to the point where today it became liberal democratic state promising complete equality to all its citizens.

England is just one example that I have quoted mainly because I am familiar with its history. The story was the same all over Europe. Catholics and Protestants were engaged in vicious conflict all over Europe for centuries. But ultimately reformists succeeded, not just in the Protestant sphere but also amongst Catholics. On the heels of reform came the age of reason and enlightenment. From there were born the modern ideals of religious freedom, equality and the separation of church and state.

I have no doubt that sectarian conflict, fratricidal violence and religious radicalism that one sees in the Muslim world today are pangs of the process. Ultimately, the march of humanity is unidirectional and the Muslim world will catch up at a relatively faster speed. It was the printing press that had ushered in the Christian reformation, bringing the message of Luther and Calvin to the common man. In the case of the Muslim world, that printing press is the Internet. An increasing number of young Muslims around the world are being exposed to ideas that challenge their deeply held beliefs. Some respond with outright rejection of the faith, and that is to be expected. Others become defensive about their beliefs, and in turn, become more rigid in their beliefs. A great number, however, are those who are trying to reconcile their faith and heritage with the modern world. Ultimately, it is they who are going to succeed. It is about the realisation that is slowly dawning upon most Muslims that they have to share this world with billions who do not agree with their beliefs, and that they cannot wage an eternal war against the rest of the world. This is what any reformation is truly about.

The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore and the author of the book Mr Jinnah: Myth and Reality. He can be contacted via twitter @therealylh and through his email address yasser.hamdani@gmail.com