Deeper reflections

Pakistanis are progressing with the incredible energy of an elemental force to build up their state.  National consolidation requires the complete unity of the Muslims. Punjabi or a Sindhi or a Pathan or a Bengali or a Chitrali or a Baloch or a Shia or a Sunni (and others) will all agree that “We Muslims believe in one God, one Book, the Holy Quran, and one Prophet. So we must stand united as one Nation. You know the old saying that in unity lies strength; united we stand, divided we fall.” - Mr. Jinnah

The purpose of unity requires Pakistanis to engineer the next stage in our national life that views religion as a philosophical and historical concept, not an operational principle of strategy. Doctrinal differences and deeply felt religious beliefs can not be intertwined with the business of the State.

The extraction of principles, insights, and meaning from our great miraculous Book ought to be conducted with rational precision, but Pakistanis will not enforce Muslim scripture as the central arbiter of personal, political, and international life. This is not because of the scripture itself but because those in charge of deciphering the meaning from scripture have grossly erred. We’ve recently observed the insane actions of TLP (far-right religious party) that killed 2 policemen, injured over 600 and disturbed law and order over a crazy demand of the expulsion of the French envoy over the issue of blasphemy. 

The Citizens of Pakistan demand decisive action** against these insane religious zealots. We must set an extremely strong precedent against them and absolutely prevent this class of maulvis from interfering with Pakistan’s international diplomacy.

It is impossible to map out the exact dimensions of the field in which an individual shall exercise his influence, and to which he is to be rigorously confined. Give an individual influence in one matter, especially if that be such a matter as religious belief and ceremonial, you would inevitably include a vast number of other purposes in the self-same destination. This does not in the least prejudice practical ways of dealing with certain existing circumstances, such as the propriety or justice of allowing a Muslim people to have an Islamic university. It is only an argument against erecting into a complete and definite formula the division of a society into two great castes, the one with a religion of the spirit, the other with a creed of the letter.    

Supposing that the enlightened caste was to consent to abandon the common people to what are assumed to be lower and narrower forms of truth, which is after all little more than a fine phrase for forms of falsehood, what can be more futile than to suppose that such a compromise will be listened to for a single moment by a caste whose first principle is that they are the possessors and ministers, not of an inferior or superior form of truth, but of the very truth itself, absolute, final, complete, divinely sent, infallibly interpreted? The disciples of the relative may afford to compromise. The disciples of the absolute, never. 

Let us remind ourselves that “Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught equality of men, justice, and fair play to everybody. We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities of Pakistan. In any case, Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic state, to be ruled by priests with a divine mission.” - Mr. Jinnah. 

The following words by Mr. Jinnah have always shaped our foreign policy doctrine “Our object should be peace within and peace without. We want to live peacefully and maintain cordial and friendly relations with our immediate neighbors and with the world at large”. To obtain peace within, it is required of the People of Pakistan to fulfill their national duty of gracefully diluting and diminishing the influence of religious zealots. The state-based international order that aims at an equilibrium of competing parts, requires a deeply interconnected system to promote strong collaboration and an empathetic understanding of each other's sensitivities. The merits of the free speech argument have little bearing on the empirical consequence that violence was caused in the Muslim world, and this is easily avoidable. The whole unfortunate fiasco placed French lives in danger in Pakistan and, Pakistani lives in France. 

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The Muslims are conscious of the fact that history accorded no other political enterprise, that spread with such inexorable results, as Prophet Muhammad’s. At the same time, we recognize that no single society has ever had the power nor leadership nor resilience nor faith nor dynamism to impose its writ enduringly throughout the world. None. Historic relics such as the Caliphate and Sultanate ended with the great Ataturk and from the creation of nation-states, by both Mustafa Kemal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. We can no longer waste time on dead concepts and illusions. Now we must focus our gaze on rewiring the Muslim consciousness in terms of national unity, national identity, and national interest.  

Now are the time and the new age of scripting the renaissance of Islam through the advance of science, literature, language, art, math, business, fashion, commerce, and various forms and expressions of human genius. Now is the time to accomplish great tasks in a short time, we can never consider our past achievements as sufficient because we must be and are determined to accomplish even more and greater tasks. We shall raise our country to the level of prosperous and civilized nations of the world. We shall endow our nation with the broadest means and sources of welfare. We shall aspire to raise our national culture above the contemporary level of civilization. We should judge the measure of time not by the mentality of past centuries, but in terms of the concepts of speed and movement of our century. Compared to the past, we shall work harder. We have no doubt that we will succeed in our noble endeavors because the Pakistani nation is made of sterling material and is of excellent character!