Pakistan was established as a homeland for the Muslims of this region. Therefore, its pre-Islamic history is not definitive in determining their national identity. The only binding force among the inhabitants of this country is their common spiritual aspiration. Consequently, the problem of their national identity and statehood has to be resolved in the context of Islamic values.
It is against this backdrop that I have discussed the present topic. The basic question that needs to be asked in this regard is: which interpretation of Islam, conventional or “reconstructive”, provides an answer to the issues of nationality, law and statehood of the Pakistani Muslims? It may be pointed out that my approach is that of a “re-constructionist”, so aptly described by the late Professor Eqbal Ahmed as “one who seeks to blend tradition with modernity in an effort to reform society”. This is precisely the foundation on which Pakistan was established. I have explained in my works that the real reason underlying the objections of the religious stakeholders to the Pakistan movement was their fear that this movement was based on a “reconstructive” rather than a “conventional” interpretation of Islam.
It is therefore necessary to preserve and protect this idealism from religious extremists who do not have a clear idea of a modern nation-state, and who would not let a chance pass by to transform it into a country in which their own traditional version of Islam would prevail. Ideologically speaking, the Muslims of Pakistan do not accept the Turkish, the Saudi, the Iranian, or the Taliban paradigms of nationality and state. On the contrary, they aspire to unify the Islamic world with the projection and propagation of their own reconstructive and progressive model. The stand taken by Pakistan in supporting the international community to eradicate terrorism from the world can be considered as a test of the durability of Pakistan’s ideology.
In Iqbal’s opinion, Islam can succeed in establishing such a society in the form of a Muslim community (Ummah). His ideas with respect to the Individual and Collective Ego are based on the Qur’anic conceptions of a perfect Muslim individual and the Islamic society.
The ethical values which can be derived from his metaphysics are such attributes as love, freedom, courage, high ambition, and supreme indifference towards the acquisition of material comforts. The cultivation of these attributes is likely to result in the fortification of man’s personality. The acts of such a person would be creative and everlasting. The factors which destroy man’s personality arise from stagnation, the opposite of creative activity. Stagnation gives birth to passive virtues like humility, submission or obedience as well as to fear, corruption, cowardice, begging or asking not only for the means of livelihood but also for ideas from others, imitation and finally servitude. Servitude debilitates individuals and societies, and the blind and cynically indifferent rolling on of time obliterates even their trace in history.
With his philosophy, Iqbal desired the rebirth of the spirit of inquisitiveness and defiance among the Muslims so that they, as individuals and as a society, rediscovered their lost position in the fields of creativity and innovation. He demonstrated through an analysis of history, that in the sphere of human knowledge the Western civilization was an extension of the Islamic civilization. Everything in Western thought that led to human progress was an elaboration of those very ideas, theories, and debates which were initiated by Muslim thinkers and scientists. Iqbal’s vision of new Muslim individuals constituting a new Muslim society, created a bridge between Islam and the West. But this dream of bringing into being a ‘new world’ (Jehan i Nau) could not be realized unless the mode of religious instruction was altered and a generation of new Ulema appeared; and a modern Islamic state was established.
Iqbal perceived that Muslim society was suffering from numerous maladjustments. He drew its portrait in one of his Urdu articles, ‘Quami Zindagi’ which appeared in the journal Makhzan in 1904. He observed:
This unfortunate community has been deprived of political, industrial as well as commercial power. Now unconcerned with the demands of times and smitten by stark poverty, it is trying to survive with the help of the useless staff of contentment. Leaving aside other matters, it has so far not been able to settle its religious disputes. Every other day a new sect is brought into being which considers itself exclusively as the heir of paradise, declaring the rest of mankind as fuel for hell. This form of sectarianism has scattered the Muslims in such a manner that there is no hope for unifying them as a single community. The condition of our Maulvis is such that if two of them happen to be present in one city, they send messages to each other for holding a discussion on some controversial religious issue, and in case the discussion starts, which usually does, then it ends up in a deplorable brawl. The width of knowledge and comprehension which was a characteristic of the early Ulema of Islam does not exist any more… The situation is quite serious, and there is no solution of the problem except that the entire community should direct its mind and soul completely towards reforming itself. God does not change the condition of a community unless it changes itself.
According to Iqbal one of the most important factors for the establishment of a new Muslim society is to accomplish a reform in Islamic culture. For this purpose he felt the need for educating and training the Ulema. He argued:
The question of cultural reform among the Muslims is in fact a religious question, because there is no aspect of our cultural life which can be separated from religion. However, because of the occurrence of a magnificent revolution in the conditions of modern living, certain new cultural needs have emerged. It has therefore become necessary that the decisions made by the old jurists, the collection of which is generally known as the Islamic Shari’ah, requires a review. The decisions delivered by the former jurists from time to time on the basis of the broad principles of the Qur’an and the Traditions, were indeed appropriate and practical for those specific times, but these are not completely applicable to the needs and requirements of the present times. If one reflects deeply on the conditions of modern life, one is forced to arrive at the conclusion that just as we need the elaboration of a new ‘Ilm i Kalam for providing a fresh religious motivation, we likewise need the services of a jurist who could by the width of his vision stretch the principle so widely as to cover all the possible situations of the present cultural needs. As far as I am aware, the Muslim world has not yet produced any such great jurist, and if one were to consider the magnitude of this enterprise, it would appear that perhaps it is a job for more than one mind to accomplish, and it may require at least a century to complete the work.
Iqbal wanted to establish an Islamic university for the education of the new Ulema. This was necessary for the realization of many objectives, and one of them, as explained by Iqbal was:
Who does not know that the moral training of the Muslim masses is in the hands of such Ulema and preachers who are not really competent to perform this duty. Their knowledge of Islamic history and sciences is extremely limited. In order to persuade the people to adopt in their lives the moral and religious values of Islam, it is necessary for a preacher of today to be not only familiar with subjects like history, economics and sociology, but he must also have complete knowledge of the literature and modes of thinking of the community.