A Brief Introduction to the Khaksar Tehrik:

The Khaksar Tehrik, based in Lahore, Pakistan, was established by Allama Mashriqi in 1930, keeping in mind the plight and poor condition of the masses in India. The Tehrik was created to free India from foreign rule, to uplift the masses, and to revive the lost glory of the Muslims, who had previously ruled India for almost one thousand years. Although Mashriqi firmly believed that the right to rule India belonged to the Muslims, at the same time, he wanted to create an environment of fairness, justice, and equal rights for non-Muslims as well. For this reason, non-Muslims were allowed to join the Tehrik and the Tehrik was kept free of prejudice against any people, regardless of caste, color, creed, or religion.

The Khaksar Tehrik itself was a very well organized movement comprised of dedicated and selfless people. The movement worked under a charter that everyone was to follow, with no exceptions. The charter ensured fairness to all; even Allama Mashriqi, founder and leader of the Tehrik, was held accountable for his actions. The Tehrik was also kept free of any membership fee. All Khaksars were required to bear their own expenses and devote time to the cause. This helped to develop the spirit of self-reliance and encouraged the Khaksars to spend their own money and time for the national cause.

Khaki Attire and Spade:

The Khaksars all wore the same khaki attire with the word "Akhuwat" (brotherhood) written on the sleeve of their shirts. In their hands, they carried a belcha (spade). There was a very specific reason for their choice of attire. The Khaki color of their clothing was chosen because it is closest to the color of the Earth. Also, Khaksar means "a humble person." The spade represents humility, which is a part of every Khaksar. In the same way that a spade is used to level the ground, the Khaksars used it as a symbol of the "leveling" of society. Most importantly, the Khaki attire and spade helped to remove the barrier between the rich and the poor. This dress code was created to bring equality among all the people regardless of their economic or social background.

Some Functions of the Khaksar Tehrik:


1-Reform the nation by laying emphasis on character building.

2-Remove sectarianism and prejudices and bring brotherhood and unity to the people.

3-Impart the spirit of sacrifice for the national cause.

4-Make community service an integral part of every Khaksar. Every Khaksar was required to perform community service for Muslims as well as non-Muslims. The community service included helping the poor, elderly, sick, needy, etc. Khaksars were also required to help keep their respective neighborhoods clean. In the event of a national calamity or disaster, Khaksars were required to render all services to help the affected people. Social service created brotherhood and a spirit of nation building among the Khaksars and set an example for others to follow. The gathering of Khaksars every evening brought them together and gave them a sense of achievement and pride because they were performing a collective duty towards the national cause.

5-Remove distinction between the rich and the poor. Every Khaksar was required to wear Khaki clothes in order to bring equality and a sense of belonging to the Tehrik.

6-Impart discipline in every Khaksar.

7-Impart soldierly and disciplined training in order to ensure the physical and mental health

8-Produce leaders. To achieve this, a system of ranks was introduced to the Tehrik.

9-Achieve freedom.

10-Finally, bring peace and unite humanity by creating love among the people.

Mashriqi worked tirelessly to achieve the goals that he had set forth for the Khaksar Tehrik. The noble ideals of the Tehrik combined with Mashriqi’s passionate speeches and writings soon attracted large numbers of people, predominantly Muslims. These people came from all walks of life and from every part of the Indian sub-continent. By the late 1930s, the Movement was at its peak and had not only spread to every corner of India, but had established offices in other countries as well. Mashriqi’s followers, supporters, and sympathizers were now well into the millions.

Growth of the Khaksar Tehrik Under Mashriqi’s Leadership:

The Khaksar Tehrik grew by leaps and bounds in India under the leadership of Allama Mashriqi. He was not only a genius but an exceptional visionary and one of the most talented and selfless people the world had ever seen. Allama Mashriqi's sincerity, devotion, and outstanding organizational skills helped the Khaksar Tehrik spread to every corner of the Indian sub-continent.

The Pakistan Resolution (Lahore Resolution) and the Massacre of the Khaksars on March 19, 1940:

By the late 1930s, the Khaksar Tehrik had become the most organized
movement in the history of India. The Khaksars’ tremendous popularity became a threat to the Government of India and other opponents. As such
the Government decided to eliminate the Khaksar Movement. The Punjab Premier, Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, supported the Central Government and started imposing restrictions on Khaksar activities.

In the early months of 1940, Mashriqi went to Delhi in order to ask the Viceroy of India to remove the restrictions on the Khaksar activities. During his stay in Delhi, Mashriqi also held meetings with Quaid-e-Azam (Muhammad Ali Jinnah) and other Muslim leaders. Mashriqi asked Quaid-e-Azam and the other Muslim leaders to use their influence on the Punjab Premier to remove the restrictions. However, the restrictions remained in place.

While Mashriqi was making these efforts in Delhi, a Khaksar took the initiative to form a jaish (contingent) of 313 Khaksars (on March 19, 1940). The jaish began marching towards the Shahi Masjid (Mosque) in Lahore to offer prayers. Although the Khaksars were marching peacefully, the police intercepted them and asked them to halt their parade. However, the Khaksars kept on marching, ignoring the police who were standing in their way. A senior police officer could not tolerate the defiance of his order and slapped the Salar of the Khaksars. The situation quickly deteriorated. The police, mounted on horses, tried to run over and through the Khaksars. The determined Khaksars remained steadfast and the police resorted to lathi charge and then open-fired ruthlessly on the Khaksars. Many of the Khaksars were brutally killed (Shaheed) or injured. The indiscriminate firing was no less than the notorious massacre at Amritsar by General Dyer on April 13, 1919.

The massacre of the Khaksars on March 19 was not only a tragedy for Lahore, but for the entire nation. An official report stated that 32 people died on that fateful day (Source: The Tribune, April 16, 1940). However, K.L. Gauba (Member Legislative Assembly) wrote in his book Friends and Foes that “According to eye witnesses the dead were more than 200” (Source: Friends and Foes by K.L. Gauba, page 204, Publisher: Indian Book Company [New Delhi, India]).

In order to control the situation in Lahore, the military was convened. After the bloody clash, the city of Lahore was essentially under emergency laws; the news media was censored and processions, public speeches, and gatherings were banned. The Khaksars who were killed were not to be addressed as martyrs or heroes in the public media. Any news about the Khaksar incident had to be approved by the Government before it was published. Only the Government’s version of the story was to appear in the news media. Allama Mashriqi was arrested along with thousands of prominent Khaksars. His phone was disconnected and the Khaksar Movement was banned. Mashriqi’s bank account was seized and his property was confiscated. The Khaksar Tehrik’s headquarters (in Lahore) were raided.

During the raid, many Khaksars were arrested, literature and other materials were confiscated, and Mashriqi’s son, Ehsan Ullah Khan Aslam, was hurt by the police when they hit him with a tear gas grenade. Ehsan Ullah Khan Aslam later died because of the head injury he received from the grenade. At the time of Ehsan Ullah Khan Aslam’s death, Mashriqi was in jail and was not allowed to attend his funeral (Mashriqi wrote a poem in memory of his son in his book Hareem-e-Ghaib).

Quaid-e-Azam’s Statement after the Massacre on March 19, 1940:

Upon hearing of the news of the killing of the innocent Khaksars, Quaid-e-Azam issued the following statement (on March 20, 1940):

"I am deeply grieved to hear the tragic account of the incident in Lahore last evening regarding the clash between the Police and the Khaksars resulting in terrible loss of life and injury on both the sides. I hope the Khaksars will carry out the instructions issued by their leader, Mr. Inayatullah Mashriqi, published in the newspapers of this morning. As one who has always been so kindly treated by the Khaksars, I appeal to them most earnestly to keep peace and not precipitate matters by defying law and order. It is difficult to say anything till I am in possession of full facts of the situation." Source: The Tribune, Lahore March 21, 1940

The Pakistan Resolution (Lahore Resolution) and the Khaksar resolution:

It is important to note that after the massacre of the Khaksars, the All India Muslim League did not postpone its 27th Annual Session at Minto Park, Lahore. The historic Session started on March 22, 1940 and ended on March 24, 1940.

On March 24,1940, the Pakistan Resolution was passed by the Muslim League. On the same day and at the same Session, Quaid-e-Azam presented a resolution on the Khaksar massacre. This Khaksar resolution, which was unanimously passed with loud cheers, reads as follows:

"This Session of the All India Muslim League places on record its deep sense of sorrow at the unfortunate and tragic occurrence on the 19th of March, 1940, owing to a clash between the Khaksars and the police, resulting in the loss of a large number of lives and injuries to many more, and sincerely sympathizes with those who suffered and with their families and dependents.

This Session calls upon the Government forthwith to appoint an independent and impartial committee of inquiry, the personnel of which would command the perfect confidence of the people, with instructions to them to make full and complete investigation and inquiry in the whole affair, and make their report as soon as possible.

This Session authorizes the Working Committee to take such actions in the matter as they may consider proper immediately after publication of the report of the Committee. This Session urges upon the various Governments that the order declaring the Khaksar Organization unlawful should be removed as soon as possible."

Important Note on the Date of the Pakistan Resolution (Lahore Resolution):

It is important to note that the Pakistan Resolution was not passed on March 23, 1940, as is the common misconception. In fact, it was actually passed on March 24, 1940.

Tragedy Unites the Muslims:

Unfortunately the historic Khaksar resolution is mostly unknown to the public because it does not appear in the supplements published by the media each year on March 23. The history of Pakistan is incomplete without discussing the tragedy of March 19, 1940 and the Muslim League's Khaksar resolution, which was passed on the same day as the Pakistan Resolution (Lahore Resolution). History is witness to the fact that behind every freedom movement lies the blood and sacred lives of martyrs. The massacre of the Khaksars became a turning point in the struggle for the independence of Pakistan. Indeed, the foundation of independence was actually laid with the killing of the innocent Khaksars on March 19, 1940. The significance of the Session of the Muslim League in Lahore, which took place only three days after the massacre, was greatly enhanced as a result of the killings of the Khaksars. No Muslim could ignore the incident at that time and the tremendous sympathy and support for the Khaksars was seen at the Session. The crowd at the Session chanted slogans in favor of the Khaksars and denounced the Premier of the Punjab. Various newspapers, including The Hindustan Times (which was in fact an anti-Khaksar newspaper), wrote that during the Session, slogans of "Khaksars Zindabad" were raised and the meeting was "frequently punctuated with Khaksar slogans." Source: The Hindustan Times, March 25,1940

Thus, the massacre of the Khaksars helped unite the Muslims under the Muslim League while Mashriqi and thousands of the Khaksars were in jail and the Khaksar Tehrik was banned. Within seven years of the massacre of the Khaksars, the Muslims of the Indian sub-continent had an independent homeland. The British divided the sub-continent into Pakistan and India and so, two separate homelands, one for the Muslims and the other for the Hindus, came into existence.

The Unforgettable Contributions of Mashriqi and the Khaksars to the Creation of Pakistan:

After the massacre, Allama Mashriqi, who had began the movement to remove the nation from the shackles of foreign rule, was kept in jail for almost two years without a trial. Thousands of Khaksars were sentenced to anywhere from six months to life imprisonment. While Mashriqi was in jail, he was told that if he didn’t disband the Khaksar Tehrik, he wouldn’t be released. But Allama replied that the Movement was not his personal property and refused to succumb to any pressure. Requests made by other political leaders and public outcries for his release were ignored by the government. Mashriqi wrote a letter from jail to Dr. Rafiq Ahmed Khan of Aligarh Muslim University. In his letter he stated, "My last days are nearing. It will be alright if I receive a reply and I am released. Otherwise I am going to die…I am not going to change my decision nor do I repent for it. I am happy because I am going to lay down my life..." At the conclusion of his letter, Mashriqi stated, "Again gird up your loins. Do not let my face be blackened. Save the honour of Islam…"

Ultimately, Mashriqi had to fast to the point of death in order to obtain his release. The Government of India at the time kept Mashriqi’s fasting a secret. However, the news was leaked out and Mashriqi’s release became inevitable. Finally, on February 18, 1942, he was released, but his movements were still kept restricted to Madras. When Mashriqi emerged from jail, he was a skeleton and would have surely died if his release had been delayed any further.

After his release from jail, Mashriqi resumed his activities for the freedom of India, despite the fact that his movements were restricted to Madras. The restriction on his movements and the ban on the Khaksar Tehrik was ultimately removed in December, 1942 and Mashriqi finally arrived in Lahore as a free man in January, 1943. He was given a rousing welcome upon his arrival. He continued his services for freedom and remained dedicated to the cause of uplifting the nation until his death. Everything he said and did was what he thought was right for the nation.

The Khaksar Tehrik and Allama Mashriqi’s services to the cause of freedom are unforgettable. Their sacrifices, struggle, and efforts for independence served an integral part in the appearance of Pakistan on the world map on August 14, 1947. It is unfortunate that the Muslim League that came to power after independence completely denied the Khaksars’ contribution and their struggle towards freedom and took full credit for the creation of Pakistan. The nation must not be kept ignorant of the atrocities that Allama Mashriqi and the Khaksars faced during their struggle and their efforts in mobilizing the nation to rise for freedom. A great injustice to the Khaksars has been done in the history books of Pakistan. It is the duty of the Government of Pakistan to let the nation know about the suffering and contributions of Mashriqi and the Khaksars. Mashriqi was the only prominent Muslim political leader to suffer so greatly at the hands of the rulers. All Mashriqi ever wanted was to rebuild the nation and lead the people to freedom.

The Public Media:

Pakistan’s media, particularly radio and television, has never made a serious effort to convey to the public the contributions of Mashriqi and the Khaksar Tehrik towards the creation of Pakistan. The media has even covered those that looted the country and emptied its exchequer, yet they have failed to let the nation know of the services of noble patriots and heroes such as Allama Mashriqi and the Khaksars. Radio and Television have not conducted any significant programs on the life and times of Mashriqi and his Movement.

Historians and Research Institutes:

It is sad and disheartening that historians are not adequately covering the role that Mashriqi and the Khaksars played. Non-Khaksar historians have done a great injustice to the nation by not highlighting the positive role played by Mashriqi and the Khaksars in Pakistan’s history. While some historians have ignored the crux of the Khaksar Tehrik, many others have even distorted their role and have only given credit to the Muslim League in the creation of Pakistan. Thus, they have wiped out the role of Mashriqi and the Khaksars in Pakistan’s freedom movement.

Government-owned historical research institutes have not collected enough material (from various sources within and outside the country) on the Khaksar Tehrik. It is the duty of such institutions to collect these materials and make them accessible to the public. Furthermore, no research academy or institute has been formed to conduct independent research on Mashriqi and the Khaksar Tehrik. It is suggested to those who are in control in the Government of Pakistan that they make public Mashriqi’s services to the nation. This is not only their moral obligation, but also their national duty. The following steps need to be taken forthwith:


1-A research academy should be formed to conduct complete research on
Mashriqi and his Khaksar Movement.

2-Mashriqi’s books and speeches need to be translated into English and other languages.

3-A library exclusively for Khaksar literature should be formed.

4-All Khaksar materials should be collected from the public, government departments, the India Office (U.K.), and historical resources in India.

5-Mashriqi and the Khaksars’ role should be made a part of the educational curriculum at all levels.

6-An official and unbiased biography on Mashriqi should be published depicting his purpose of establishing the Khaksar Tehrik (Movement)

7-Ichhra, where Mashriqi started his movement in 1930, should be renamed after him and a monument should be built at his grave.

8-University should be named after Allama Mashriqi.

9-A monument should be erected in Lahore at the site of the massacre of March 19, 1940.

10-March 19 should be declared “Martyrs Day” and special seminars should be held in major cities in remembrance of those Khaksars that laid their lives on that day.

11-Roads should be named after Mashriqi and the Khaksars that were killed.

12-Official seminars on the Life and Times of Allama Mashriqi should be held on annual basis.

13-National media should be directed to broadcast/publish special programs on Mashriqi.

14-A film and television program should be made on Allama Mashriqi and The Khaksar Movement.

15-A national holiday should be observed on Mashriqi’s birth or death anniversary.

It is very unfortunate that there are those with vested interests who want the nation to forget the contributions of Mashriqi and the Khaksars. We must remember that a nation that forgets its history is one that loses its foundation and direction.

A Brief Introduction of Pakistan’s Archaeology Derived from Pakistan heritage foundation document

Pakistan is one of the countries in the world with diversified ecological and cultural treasure. Archaeological development in the past and present highlights major discoveries, expeditions and research in Pre-History, Proto-History, early-History, Late History and Muslim periods.

Research of the early phases at Mehar Garh and Kili Gul Muhammad (Balochistan) established the findings that switching over to food production from hunting and gathering in Pakistan took place around the same period (Early Holocene 9th Millennium B.C) as that of the Syria, Turkey, Iraq and North Western Iran.

Mahenjodaro / Harappa Civilization’s rise and fall of the great Civilization remained an unsolved mystery. It was due to research, discoveries and investigation of many sites in the province of Balochistan, Sind, Punjab and North Western Frontier Province that the origin and Evolutionary stages of the Indus Civilization were comprehensively established.

The Great Gap between the fall of Harappan / Indus Civilization ( 18th 19th century B.C) and the beginnings of Achaemenum period (6th Century B.C) still needs to be solved the discoveries of Buddhist sites also shed light on Art and Architecture of Gandahara periods. The discoveries at Bhambore and Udigram District Swat confirmed the 1st and earliest and late Muslim invasions, which influence the dynamics of different Islam styles, art and Architecture.



Pakistan’s Pre-Historic Culture (A brief Introduction)

Pakistan’s cultural activity classified into three 3 important zones:

1. Pre-Historic Zone

2. Proto-Historic Zone

3. Historic Zone



1. Pre-Historic Zone of Pakistan is further divided in to 3 three phases.

A. Paleolithic

B. Mesolithic

C. Neolithic

There phases are further grouped into

I. Lower and Early Stone Age

II. Middle Stone Age

III. Upper or late Stone Age.



A. Paleolithic phase: Paleolithic phase and cultural activities started about two 2 million years ago and continued till 10,000 BC.

Pakistan “Hand Axe Culture” was reported by Dr Terra and Paterson (Yale and Cambridge Expedition 1936) Visited Hamalyan region, Kashmir and Foothills of Punjab. They claimed four Glacial phases in Kashmir. Their later discovery of Stone Age was SOAN valley culture, which was related to these glacises.

The interglacial and inter pluvial climatic conditions give birth to the development of human cultural activities in the region.

Pleistocene geology of Pakistan (Potohar area)

The potohar region is an elevated plain which includes Rawalpindi and other parts of Punjab. The Siwalike are comparatively recent formation, comprising of wind blown material and fresh water deposits. These important deposits are dated as early as late Miocene till early middle Pleistocene age.

The Siwaliks series in Pakistan cam be observed particularly in the north West Pakistan such as at Bannu and Nowshera.

a) Lower Siwaliks.

b) Middle Siwaliks.

c) Upper Siwaliks.

All the three groups except the top most have yielded fossils of mammals, including these of anthropoids (Ape).

A. Early Stone Age of Pakistan:

Beside the classification of river SOAN terrace formation the expedition (Yale and Cambridge) divided the entire SOAN valley culture into five 5 phases.

This grouping is on the bases of cultural assemblages in the SOAN valley.

Classification of SOAN valley culture is:

1) Pre Soan

2) Early Soan

3) Late Soan

4) Chauntra Culture

5) Evolved Soan.

In early Stone Age of Soan valley important tools like pebble, choppes chopping & Abbevillion – Acheullean type tools were reported.

B.Middle Paleolithic of Pakistan:

The Middle Paleolithic culture is the developed stage of lowers Stone Age. Fire was regularly used; economy was based on hunting gathering & collection of fruit & vegetables. Men for the 1st time sheltered himself inside the rock shelters. The world famous middle Stone Age site located in the Mardan district known as Sanghao cave. Its 1st period is assigned to middle stone age sanghao cave industry to be placed of Mousterian phase of Afghanistan & central Asia, belongs to upper Pleistocene of 60000 B.P to 20000 BP. Middle stone age discoveries of Soan valley are important due to denticulate & Notched tools.

c. Upper Stone Culture of Pakistan:

This (upper Stone/late stone age) is generally regarded as Blade industry. Microhthic tools, Barbed Harpoon, Sharp point & some bones tools were also introduction. The phase dated from 35000BP to 10000 BP. In Pakistan (Balochistan) cave Art started & 9 caves have been so far discovered the Zoomorphic figures are also depicted in two-dimensional methods. These painting have close comparison with the cave art of Alta Mira Spain, which is dated from 22000 BP to 12000 BP.

B.MESOLITHIC CULTURE OF PAKISTAN:

The Mesolithic phase is the beginning of microlithic culture. This period is dated to 10000 BP. The quartz tools, char tools, blades (Geometrical shape tools like lunette, trapezes & Triangular are reported. These tools from Cryptocrystalinesilike.

C. NEOLITHIC CULTURE OF PAKISTAN:

This place was replaced by the Proto-Historic event, such as world Famous Indus valley civilization / Harappan Civilization, the man of this era contributed a lot in agriculture, & demonstration of animals.

This stone age of Pakistan is the beginning of the settled life. It converted into villages & towns. The houses were for the 1st time constructed with burnt bricks. Ceramic traditions made its introduction. Three different techniques for pottery formation adopted.



1st-- Basket mark pottery

2nd-- Hand made ceramics

3rd-- Wheel made pottery

Kiln were made & used to make bricks & ceramics were baked. Clay figurines were replaced by terracotta figurine.

Terra cota heads, semiprecious stone were used which shows the long distance trade between Neolithic sites of Pakistan, Afghanistan & Iran.

Burial tradition & burial pottery in Pakistan started in this area. Cottonseed discovery in excavation indicating the weaving / Clothing industry. Different basic methods were used for these artifacts. i-e

I. Flanking

II. Grounding / Polishing

III. Pecking Technique

Sickle blades for Agriculture is also the significant achievement of this era.

The earliest settlement of this era is Meher Garh dated to 8215 B.C & its last phase is 2500 BC. This was the evolution birth of the great Indus civilization, which started from 2350 BC. The important sites are:

* Mehen Garh.

* Killi Gul Mohammad

* Quetta Valley locality 17, 24, 25 & 34

* Gumla, D.I. Khan

* Kot Dijji Sind

* Sherren Khan Tarakai Bannu.

* Takot Bridge Alai Hazara

* 103 caves in Las Baila

* lakehenjodara Sukker

* Jalipur 65 Km f Grappa.

* Saria Khola Taxila.

* Rehman Dheri D.I. Khan.



PROTO HISTORY OF PAKISTAN

The sheltering, domestication of animals early agriculture & exploitation of plants & animals is specialty of early Holocene period.


Period I. Neolithic

a: Aceramic Neolithic, 8200 B.C

b: Ceramic Neolithic 6th millennium BC.



Period II. 6th millennium BC

a: Developed unorganized building.

b: early Chalocolithic.



Period III. Second half of the 6th millennium BC (Chalcolithic Period)

Period IV. Late chalocolithic (early Bronze age) 3500-3200 BC

Period V. Bronze age 3200-2500 BC


Pakistan’s Proto-History extended back into 2nd half of the 4th millennium BC. Photographic details / symbols, carved seals trademark, symbols, engraved pottery are significant specialist of this great phase.

The discovery & study of Amri has brought light on Pre-Harappan in Southern Sind. In early 60’s J.M casal made the 1st scientific & comprehensive investigation. He established the sequence of Pre & Early Harappan below the mature Harappan phase. In Early Harappan sites, bowls, Goblets, Vases, painted pottery, copper & bronze chert Blades, polychrome painted & geometric designs & figurines of birds & animals are striking element of this phase.

The planned, fortified architecture of the towns & villages is the main contribution of this era discoveries Terracotta figurine & artifacts of bronze & copper found at Rehman-Dhei, Mohenjo-Daro, Shahr-I-Soktha East Iran, and Mundigak Southern Afghanistan & Nimazgah Tepe Central Asia. Closely linked & resemble with each other.

The evidence of indigenous development of Indus Valley is available from early Harappan sites e.g. (Amri , Mehargarh , Kot Dijj, Gumls & Reham Dheri).

The Indus valley gave birth to one of the main & most accomplished urban system in the 3rd millennium BC. The urban system of Indus valley later developed under the sophisticated township, house, drainage, sewerage & drinking water supply planning & system.

The long distance trade, roads, baked bricks architecture, standardized weight, measures, seals with writing & Craft specialization, civic discipline & administration is the hall mark of this society, which is rarely witnessed in the then contemporary world. This civilization spread from the foothills of Himalayas to the Indian Gujarat, Rajisthan & Pak-Iran border land.

The ancient Pakistan developed an urban civilization contemporary to the Egyptian & Mesopotamian, but in many aspects for supervision to its western counter part in over all urban achievements. The cities of Harappa & Mohijo-Daro become the hallmark & birth of oriental Civilization South & Southwest Asia.



POST-URBAN PHASE OF PAKISTAN

Around 2000 BC Pakistan Indus urban system declined & collapsed, the fragmentation of Indus civilization into Regional, & Rural culture developed the bases for post urban phase of Pakistan, for 1500 years the great planned cities of Indus civilization no longer existed. The scattered evidences of post urban culture are available in all over Pakistan’s different localities. This “Dark ages” dated form 18th – 19th century BC the arrival of Achaemenian in the 6th century BC.

Some sites of Balochistan, Sind & Punjab indicate the new arrival form Iran & Central Asia. The violent destruction of Rana-Ghundai & Dahar Kot in Northern Balochistan shows the fall of Indus civilization & rise of the new Aliens.

In the geometrical discoveries of Shah-i-Tump the copper stamp seals, copper shat-hole axe & painted gray pottery seals, copper pins with spiral loops or mushroom heads, painted pottery with naturalistic & abstract designs in monogichrome & polychrome have clear influence form Iran, Caucasus central Asia, Afghanistan & west. The post-urban phase of Pakistan divided 1st phase 18- 17th century BC. The characteristic of this phase is mud-bricks structures associated with large platform, yielded pottery, hand made coarse painted designs & figurines of Horses & Camels. The 2nd & 3rd phase (1370-1340 BC) &1000-80 BC respectively carry almost the same tradition as sub phase (18-17th century BC) but the last phase is with same introduction of Iranian influence.

Some of the Harappan (black on red) pottery also continued in these phases.


Gandahara grave Culture

Northern valleys of Swat Dir & Chitral hundreds cemeteries founded & covering a span of over are 1000 year. To these sites the Italian Archaeologist called the Pre-Buddhist period. But later on they realized that these cemeteries belonged to Asakenios of lower & upper Swat. Despite the cemeteries site spreading in vast area of NWFP of the general categories of these graves are

a: Double pit/bi- Chamber graves

b: single pit/uni- Chamber graves.



Disposal of the Deads:

1. Inhumation

2. Cremation

3. Fractional

Funerary Goods:

* Vessels & pottery made on wheel

* Small, Medium & Large size jars

* Cooking pots

* Rectangular & square boxes.

* Bowls

* Drinking cups (gray & black ware)

* Beads (particular in female burial)

* Toilets objective.

* Copper & bronze pins.

* Short draggers

* Knives

* Swords

* Arrow Heads

* Spear

* Iron Artifices.

* Female figurines (Limited in No)



Buddhist / Gandahara Art in Pakistan.

Hundreds of Buddhist sites yielded thousands of sculptural pieces during the last two hundreds years. The chronology of these Buddhist sculpture were started from 3rd Century B.C to 10th Century AD.

The Indus-Oxus regions cover the valleys of the Indus & Oxus & the territory between them. This land-mass comprised a number of ancient states, more or less independent among which (Uddiyana) (Malakand division) & Gandahara (Peshawar Valley) were situated in present Pakistan & Kapisa (Punjshir – Ghorband Valley) & Bactria Afghanistan. The sculpture of their states slightly different for each other.

Buddhist monuments such as Dharmarajika stupa at Taxila, the great stupa at Butkara, Asokan rock-edicts in Shahbaz-Garhi & Mansehra in the North-West-Frontier-Province of Pakistan & inscription near Jalalabad in Afghanistan suggest that Buddhism was introduced into this region by missionaries at the Asoka Maurya is the early half of the 3rd century BC or even earlier. It has been a dominant region here for about a millennium for the Artistic Buddhist activities.

The Buddhist at was religious & its purpose was the propagation of Buddhist but later on changed to the provision of cult objects.

In the upper Indus Valley two neighboring ancient states Uddiyana & Gandahara played a dominant role in the promotion & evolution of Buddhist art in Indus region. It was in the historical profile that these states developed a hybrid culture drawing influence form Persia, India, central Asia, Greece & Rome & which resulted in diversified artistic traits in Buddhist art.

The long march of academic pursuit can be summarized into three phases.

i. Antiquarian interest.

ii. Beginning of Systematic Archaeological Research.

iii. Reconstruction of Archaeo-Environment.

The latest research, based on the excavated material from various site in the Swat Valley bring us to the conclusion that the Swat Valley might have been the place where the origin of the Indus-oxus school took place.

Swat is beautiful but it might have been paradise in the past when its natural beauty was fully intact.

It is fall of Buddhist monuments but more 75% still remain to be explored that need serious attention of scholars, Govts & Privates sectors.


Hindu Shahis of Pakistan:

Evidence for various archaeological sequence & historical monuments Pakistan has been the home of multiple culture devises in nature because of invasions & mass migrations from the North-West & East.

The indigenous Indus valley culture was fallowed by that of the Vedic people / Aryans, who came down from the steeps in (2000 BC).

Brahmanism culture was also enriched by the influx of traits from other alien nations-

* The Achaemenian of Persia

* Greeks

* Indians

* Bactrian Greeks

* Scythe – Parthian

* Kusanas

* Kusanao-Sassanians

* Huns


Form 6th century BC to 6th Century AD. The history of the Hindu Shahis can be traced back to the Turk Shahis of Kabal. The former was founded by Kallar, an usurper of the throne of Lankaturman, the last ruler of the Turks Shahi dynasty of Afghanistan, in AD 843.

He shifted his capital to Hund on (North West Frontier Province) the right Bank of the Indus, in the Peshawar Valley in due course of time the Hindu-Shahi rulers realized them suzerainty in other part of the Indus region. However the (world Famous) salt range in believed to the their stronghold as the frequency of the Hindu temples.

Epigraphy in Pakistan:

In the reconstruction of a history, or in studying the political, administration, legislative & dynastic records of extent civilizations. Epigraphy plays a very important role, as it provide a sure hosts for even line of research connected with its past.

Pakistan depends largely for its political & cultural history an art & architecture, numismatics, inscriptions & external records. The earliest literary references to the region were found for the 1st time in the oldest document of the indo-Aryans, the eigveda but a clear-cut & detailed definitions is found for the 1st time in the accounts of the visited Buddhist sites in Gandahara in the early 7th century AD. Portion of the ancient history of Pakistan is reconstructed mainly form the Literacy & archaeological evidences in the shape of inscriptions, coins & monuments is more important then Literacy record.

Local & foreign epigraphy mentions the region as early as the time of Darius 528-19 C-BC. The name Gandahara also appeared in Kambojas rock edict of Ashoka. During the conquest of Cyrus & the arrival of Islam, Pakistan was under the native sway for a few hundred years. Otherwise the country suffered a succession of foreign invaders.

* Achaemenian 558-327 BC

* Greek 327-05 BC

* Bactrian 190-90 BC

* Sakan 90- BC- 64 AD

* Kushan 64 AD – 460 AD

Who founded kingdoms in the region, thus left important material in shape of inscription & coins, which can be found through out the country.

The Indus Harappan Civilization seals & inscription is still on unsolved mystery. Many efforts have been already done & still continued, but unfortunately, it has not been solved. The art of writing in Pakistan Starts with the discovery of the Mauryan inscription. To day we know that in Pakistan the most popular earliest script was KHAROSHTHI, which was written for right to left. The script was in use for 3rd century BC to 3rd/ 4th century AD. Then this script was replaced by BRAHMI script which was more convenient for the local language with conquest from Arab Muslims, another type of script introduced called Arabic (8th A.D) was introduced. This script also passes through stages. The earliest was Kufic found at Mansura (Sind) the Tochi valley inscription shows that the Indian scripts were in use side by side with that of the Arabic & Persian script. 5000 different inscriptions have been recorded by Pak-German study group in 1979. Different script has been used in these inscriptions. i-e

* Kharoshthi

* Brahmi

* Sharda

* Sogdian

* Middle-Pessian

* Parthian

* Bactrian

* Chinese

* Hebrew

* Syrian

* Tibetan

* Arabic

Rock Art in Pakistan:

The 1st great discovery of the 19th century in the history of archeological finds of Pakistan an inscribed seal picked up by Alexandra Cunningham from Harappa in 1873. But the recent Landmark discovery is neck-Griddle by a shepherdess. Thousands of rock carving documented in the upper Indus valley.

No wonder rock carving can be found in even other parts of Pakistan geographically speaking the upper Indus of high mountains. This area of Pakistan is a region of impressive mountains consisting Karakoram, Himalaya & Hind-Kush. The river Indus digging a number of deep gorges. Runs first between Haramosh & Karakoram & near Haramosh Indus River, changes its directions to the South. It is crossed by a number of routes, which since at least the 3rd century BC have served as trading link between China, central Asia & the Indo-Pak subcontinent. This mysterious world never have attracted the attention of the orient lists un till the discovery of 30000 carving engraved on the surface of cliffs, rocks & huge boulders found in various localities. This important region which played a backbone role in the commercial & cultural exchange between central Asia & the Indian world was badly ignored.

Apart form the religious or symbolic figures, some of these carving depict eroticism, fighting, dancing & hunting scenes.

Besides them, more then 5000 inscriptions have been recorded so far. In addition to the historic group of carving numerous prehistoric engraving we also found. Among them the foremost are the representation of

* Animals

* Giants

* Mask

* Mastoids

* Prints of hands & feet

* Anthropomorphic representation

What exactly are there carving? We may never be able to understand fully the origin & the specific role of all of them; it seem however that they played an important role in the religious, social & cultural in the religious, social & Cultural life of the than engravers.

Coinage in Pakistan:

The earliest indigenous coinage found in Pakistan & India were struck in Silver & Copper/ Commonly known as “Punch–Marked Coins” the manufacturing technique of their coin was “Punching with separate pressed dies”.

Some scholar are of the view that these coins were introduced in the 6th / 7th century BC. Some 10th century BC & some traces its origin in the beginning of 2nd Millennium BC.

The Puncher marked coins are reordered from Kabul valley, Pakistan and up to the Ganges valley in India, Which shows that these coins were widely circulated until the post Mauryan period.

The coins of Indu Greek Kings, very well known in Pakistan, and Afghanistan are among the 1st in the group of alien’s rulers.

There Greeks are called with different names such as

Ø Indus Greek

Ø Indo- Greeks 256 BC

Ø Indo Bactrian Greek (1st Century BC)

Ø Graeco- Bactrian.

The coins show Hellenistic influence having Greek deities, legends & fabrics. The issued coins in Silver, Copper and in Gold & Nickle in attic weight standards. 0

The Indo – Greeks were succeeded by two dynasties i-e.

- Scythians

- Parthian

In their coins along with Greek influence some Indians deities were added. Mouse, Azes I&II & Gondophares are important rules of their dynasties was ended on the arrival of another great dynasty “Kushans” who came from the North West border of China. The Khushan Period in regarded as the golden age in the history of Pakistan and Afghanistan & Sub Continent.

The important kings of this dynasty are

* Kujula kadphises

* Wima I Takto

* Wima II Kadphises

* Kanishka I

* Huvishka

* Later Kushan Kings.

Their coins received great inspirations from Roman & Persian civilizations. Persian titles & deities with their names in Greek introduced. In lasted period the Indian deities and the image of Buddha was also depicted on the reverse side of the coin.

The Sassanians annexed the Kushans territory in Gandahara & Afghanistan region where as the Eastern part beyond the Indus River was still in the hands of Kushan Kings & were known as later Kushans.

The struck coins in gold, Silver & copper in their own style with famous Fire-altar symbol on the reverse and than gold coins known as Scyphates (Cup Shaped) are the imitations of Vasudeva I issues.

The age of Later Kushans & Kushans – Sassiness was ended up when Kidrites came to Power in the 4th Century AD. Later on they were also overrun by White Huns 5th century AD.

The coins of Huns rulers (Hindu Shahi) are very crude and rough & did not receive great fascinations by scholars. In Pakistan the other series of Coins are known from the time of Hindu- Shahi rules. The most coumarone typer was bull and horseman, Loin and elephant also in noteworthy. They established their kingdom in 9th century AD and continued up to 11th century AD. Their famous kings are:

* Vakkadeva

* Samantadeva

* Jaipal

Muslim Dynasties:

Ghazanuids:

Islamic coins started from the time of Ghazanvids (of Afghanistan) who detoured the Hind Shahi dynasty. Thin coins are recorded in large number in Pakistan & recently from Gor Khutree site (Peshawar).

Ghaznavids coins are found in two different styles, one is typical central Asai Fabric with Arabic inscription and the other in the Indian style including the horseman with Nagri script.

Ghorids Dynasty:

The Ghorids Muslim dynasty came into power and established their rule in India and Pakistan with capital at Dehli.

Slave Dynasty:

The Ghorids were fallowed by Slave (Muslim) dynasty, struck his silver

“ Tankah” based on Tola weight (96 ratios) and billon of the slave dynasty the Kings 1290-1320 AD (Muslim) dynasty came to power. He introduced the square coins also beside “Tankah”.

Khiljis Dynasty:

The Khiljis dynasty fallowed by Muslim Tughlaq, who also followed Ghorids & Slave dynasty 1320-1413 dynasty & he received the total of the “ Prince of moneys” in the history of coins. He made several changes in great variety. His coins falls into deferent group.

Coin I: This category of coins are assigned to his father Known as
“Commemorative issues” stroking gold and silver.

a. Coin II: In this Class coins are known as “ Normal Issues” showing Great variety.

b. Coin III. Quranic inscriptions were appeared again on this issue.

c. Coin IV. Gold “Tankah” was increased with weight and called “Dinar” and also its denomination of half Dinar.

d. Coin V. Token Currency issued called “Dirham”.

Syyids:

The Tughlaq were succeeded by Muslim, Syyids (1414-1445) dynasty. They also issued special coins called “Bahluli” which become the principal coin of the period.

Suri Dynasty:

Sher Shah Suri expelled the Mughal King in (1538) and laid the foundation of the Suri dynasty. He issued large number of coins and called as Rupaya (Rupee) he also introduced a new copper coin called (Paisa) which retained by Mughal king Akbar under different name the “Dam” the later Mughal (Muslim) kings after Humayun 1555 AD introduced different coins with different inscription in very great verities. They also issued struck round and square coins in gold and silvers while thin copper coins are rare.

During Jehangir time even particular Mint and some were issued in the name of his beloved Queen Nur-Jehan born in Taj Mahal. After the disintegration of great Mughal dynasty. The Durrani Muslims family came to power they also included Persian couplets mint name, reginal dates, and with legal notices. This dynasty lost up to 1881 AD.

Earliest Islamic Monuments in Pakistan
The construction of their phase of
Translation, An Analytical Study

Since remote antiquity, the architect-masons of Iran, Central Asia and Indo-Pak sub-continent faced the problem of transforming a square chamber into a circular base for the reception of a hemispherical superstructure. Visualizing the scope of the problem, they devised and used various techniques and, gradually through years of experience gained through diverse building activities, achieved the solution of the problem—the arched squinch system.

Fischer has documented and explained numerous examples of these architectural contrivances used in the Buddhist, Sassanians, Hindu and Muslim monuments in his survey report on Afghanistan, and in his book on the religious and domestic .. secular architecture of the Indo-Pak sub-continent. He has described thirty different architectural devices for the construction of the zone of transition between the chamber and the dome. Among these, his types, #. 26-27 and 29-30 greatly help us in understanding the process of technical development from a simple corner stone-plate to the fully developed arched squinches.

Following is a description of some of the earliest domed mausoleums in Pakistan and the construction of their zone of transition. It is important to mention here that they are not dealt with in a chronological sequences, for all of them except the tomb of Khalid Walid are dated to the 12th – 13th centuries on the basis of their architectural style and decoration.

The tomb of Muhammad Harun, an Arab governor of Makran in the early years of the 8th century A.D, is regarded to be the earliest Muslim tomb in Pakistan. This brick structure is square in plan and the square chamber is directly covered by a low dome. Externally, each side of the square chamber is divided into two parts. The upper portion is profusely decorated with various friezes in cut-brick work up to the parapet level, and the lower portion is parceled out vertically into three rectangular panels, each having mud plaster of a later period. Internally the tomb chamber is converted into an octagon by means of simple pendentives beginning from the ground level, which support the dome.

The second specimen in the series is the so-called tomb of Khalid Walid at the village of Khattichaur near Kabirwala. According to the local information, Khalid Walid accompanied the armies of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni to Multan and settled here. The tomb building is flanked by an oblong vaulted chamber on the north and south sides and occupies the center of a large rectangular fortified complex. The square-domed mausoleum has four entrance, three of which are now closed and presently only the eastern entrance gives access to the tomb chamber. The square tomb chamber is converted into an octagon by means of corner-arched squinches. The arched squinches are executed by lying bricks in chevron pattern and their spandrels are filled with triangular stepped recess niches, an architectural device frequently used in the Muslims movements of Central Asia. The squinches and their spandrels at the tomb of Muhammad Abi Zahid Al Hanafi, Abu Hurira, Baba Rushnai and the mosque of Talkhatan Baba are provided with similar stepped recessed niches. These niches are not merely an architectural device of fill an otherwise obtrusive gap in the zone of transition, their primary function is to transform the octagonal zone of transition into a circular base for the reception of the dome.

The oblong chambers flanking the tomb of Khalid Walid were once valuated by means of Sassanians squinches. As far as this architectural device is concerned, it is the only monument in Pakistan where we come across Sassanians squinches. We have architectural evidence from Central Asia, and Afghanistan, where Sassanians squinches are used, both in Buddhist and Islamic monuments.

The historical inscription on the Mehrab informs us that Khalid Walid tomb complex was built on the order of Ali Bin Karmakh, a governor of Multan under the Ghourid dynasty.

A group of four tombs at Lal Mahra Sharif graveyard in Dera Ismail Khan district is in a class by itself. All of these tombs are square in shape with an arch opening on each side except the qibla, where a mehrab is accommodated in each case. In three tombs the dome is directly placed on square chamber with the help of arched squinches (p1. I a). The arched squinches, as well as their spandrels, are filled in with overlapping courses of corbelled bricks. The corbelled brick course in the spandrels of the squinches converts the zone of transition into a sixteen-sided area, which facilitates a round base for the dome. Only one tomb is build in three stages and seems to be the latest in the group. In this tomb, the squire chamber supports a high prominent octagonal zone of transition, surmounted by a dome. The construction of the zone of transition of the tomb deviates from the traditional style used in the other three tombs. Internally, the squire tomb chamber is converted into an octagon by arched squinches like the preceding tomb. Above the squinches runs a row of sixteen niches (p1 II b) replacing the corbelled bricks courses as seen in the spandrels of the squinches of the first three structures.

The two tombs in Aror and Sukkur district are also worth mentioning. One of them attributed to Sheikh Shakarganj and other to Khatalud Din Shah, along with this attribution has been recently challenged. Both these structures are squire in outline and have a rich cut-bricks decoration. In surface ornamentation they shows close similarity with the toms at Lal Mahra Sharif and certain tombs towers in Iran. In one tomb the enclosed squire chamber is converted into an octagon by means of corner squinches, and their splendors are filled in with a few courses of corbelled bricks transforming the octagonal zone of transition in to a sixteen-sided structure.

The second tomb resembles the preceding one in every respect. Internally the corner squinches have miniature niches created with in the brick masonry and similar niches have been documented in many other buildings.

The last example of the series is the tomb of Sheikh Sadan Shaheed, near village Jalaran, on the Muzaffar Garh – Jhang road. This brick tomb is square in plan and is erected on a high platform about two meters above the surrounding ground levels. The fine cut-brick decoration gives this tomb a unique place among the early funerary buildings in Pakistan and shows the impact and continuation of the Hindu-Buddhist architectural decoration, which is not found on early Muslim buildings in Pakistan. Internally the square chamber is converted into an octagon by means of corner squinches, which have a few courses of corbelled bricks.

The preceding analysis shows that arch squinches and corbelled brick courses have been used in the construction of the zone of transition. However, in the tombs of Lal Mahra Sharif both arched squinches and overlapping courses of corbelled brocks have been used in converting the square chamber into octagon. The co-existence of these two architectural devices, the arched squinches and the brick courses, in the formation of the zone of transition, suggests the antiquity of one of the methods and there can be little doubt that this is the corbelling system.

It is generally assumed that, prior to the advent of Islam in the sub-continent, buildings were usually constructed on the traditional terabit or corbelling method. The Muslims brought with them the idea of true arch construction. The local mason, trained for generations in the construction of pre-Muslim religious and secular buildings on traditional designs, was called upon to erect religious and domestic edifices for their Muslim patrons. Having no experience in arcuate system, the native architect mason was left with no choice but to use both the architectural contrivance of the arch introduced by the Muslims, and the indigenous technique of corbelling, in the early phase of Muslim architecture. After gaining experience in various building projects, they covered large and spacious square rooms with domes by means of corner-arched squinches. However, the older technique was not altogether discarded and we come across many later buildings where it co-existed with arched squinches.

In the construction of the squinches and the zone of transition, the fore mentioned mausolea in Pakistan closely resemble many monuments in Central Asia, dated to the 11th – 13th centuries. Stepped corbelled brick courses, employed in the squinches and the zones of transition of these monuments, have been described using various terms, such as “Stalactite” , “Corbelled” or “Projecting pedentives” , “Stufen pendentifs” or “ pendentif encorbellant”. Art-Historians describing Central-Asian buildings have usually called such devices “Parus” which means a honeycomb pattern.

In the mosque of Hakim –al-Termezi, the Daya Khatun Caravanserai, a tomb at Kassan and the tomb of Muhammad Basharo, the domes rests directly on corbelled brick courses executed in the shape of an inverted triangle. Similarly the dome of the mosque at Khara-Khoto was also erected on corbelled brick courses. This mosque lies in the south west portion of the outer city. It is reasonable to assume the Buddhist kingdom of Khara Khoto allowed Muslims to build a mosque, but not in the fortified city. Judging from the epigraphical evidence found in the excavation of the mosque, we can also conclude that Persians were living in Khara-Khoto city. Another variation of the construction of the zone of transition comes from the tomb of Alambardar and Astana Baba, where the dome is supported on arched squinches filled in by corbelled brick courses, and similar contrivances are also used in the phase of transition.

In the tomb of Ismail at Bokhara and Nasir bin Ali at Uzgand, the arched squinches are partitioned with a vertical rib while in the west mausoleum at Sayat, a vertical rib of herring bone patterns rests on a stepped niche framed by a rectangle. Another variation of squinch construction has been used in the tombs of Arab-Ata Tim, Duazdeh Imam at Yazd, Yarti Gumbad ar Sarakhs and Baba Hatim in Afghanistan. These squinches are trilobe in outline and have been designated muqarna squinches. Further examples of similar trilobe squinches, or their complicated derivatives can be found in Iran or Afghanistan.

The spanning of the corner of two walls meeting at right angles began in early centuries of the Christian era in Gandhara and Central Asia. The Buddhist architecture of these regions played a vital role in the construction of the zone of transition and the dome. In the Buddhist architecture of Gandhara, different techniques are documented to have been in vogue in converting a square cell into a circular base for the dome. In the Buddhist monasteries at Takht Bhai, Thareli and Kshmir Smast, pre formed schist slabs have been used to span the corner of two walls and subsequently facilitated a round base for the construction of the dome. In the Buddhist vihara at Sanghao, another technique has been used. In this case, instead of a single schist slab, overlapping projected stone blocks have been used to bridge the corners for the reception of the dome.

The Buddhist establishments of Central Asia speak of their own building techniques, but the main problem remains the same, the conversion of square rooms into a circular base for a dome. In the Buddhist ruins as Khotscho and Qunduz, Sassanians squinches have been used to transform a square room into a circular ring for the hemispherical superstructure. In the Ilikoel temple, a simple inverted triangular structure, the so-called “Turkish Triangle” have been employed to transform the square chamber into an octagon.

After the decline of Buddhism in Gandhara and the adjoining regions, Hinduism revived once again under the Hindu Shahi dynasty which held sway over Gandhara and the Punjab. (This dynasty was finally ousted from the political scene by Sultan Mahmud Ghazni in 1026 A.D). During the reign of the Hindu Shahis, numerous temples were erected in N.W.F.P and the salt range in Punjab. Scholars have different opinions on the style of architecture of these temples and their chronology. Lohuizen-de-Leeuw has grouped all these temples except the one at Malot, which exhibits strong Kashmirian affinities, under the name “The medieval Architecture of North West India”, while others see the development of separate school of architecture under the Shahi dynasty in Gandahara and the Punjab, and have termed it “The Shahi School of Architecture”.

The corbelling method of construction employed in the Buddhist monasteries of Gandahara was followed and used by the Hindus in their temple construction. In the Hundu temples at Kafir Kot (north) and (South) in Dira Ismail Khan District of NWFP and the temples at Kalar , Malto, Katas and Nandana in the salt Range in the Punjab and elsewhere, the domicile ceiling of the square cell is raised on several overlapping courses of corbelled bricks.

Dynastic changes have hardly influenced the art and crafts of the region. After the advent of Islam, the local workmen were employed to erect new buildings for worship and funerary rituals. They not only designed and erected new buildings for their Muslims patrons, they also modified and assimilated elements from Hindu Artistic traditions. Meister has fully explained this interaction between Muslims and Hindu traditions in his article on the “Two and Half Day Mosque” at Ajmer.

The above analysis fully explains the process of gradual development involved in the construction of the zone of transition between the polygonal chamber and the dome. A number of basic architectural devices were developed from indigenous building traditions, and other was borrowed from the neighboring cultural. These instructions between agricultural style and the decorative schemes of various ethnic and religious communities continued fro centuries and reached its culmination in the Muslim architectures of Central Asia, Iran and the Indo-Pak subcontinent.

Iranian Symbols in the Rock-Carvings of the Upper Indus Valley

Geographically speaking, the Upper Indus Valley and its affluent is a land of high mountains. This area, today known as the Northern Areas of Pakistan, is a region of impressive mountains like Karakorum, Himalaya and Hindu-Kush. Here is situated a big concentration of high peaks, extended glaciers and deep valleys. The Indus river, digging a number of deep gorges, running first between Himalaya and Karakorum and then, near Haramosh, changes its direction to the South keeping Himalaya on its left and Huindu-kush on its right. It is crossed by a number of routes, which, since at least the first century B.C., have served as trading links between China, Central Asia and the Indo-Pak sub-continent.

This mysterious world would have never been attracted the attention of the Orientalists until the discovery of thousands of rock carvings, engraved on the surface of rocks and huge boulders, found in various localities.

Although Sir A. Stein, the British surveyor, was the first to explore traces of ancient civilization in the upper reaches of the Indus valley in 1942, the real story of the discoveries only starts in 1979. K. Jettmar, German ethnologist, carrying out investigation since 1979 which resulted in recording of thousands of rock carvings and inscriptions in these valleys sandwiched by the Hindukush, Karakorum and Himalayan mountains.

The rock carvings are not only confined to the Upper Indus region, but are also attested long before elsewhere in other parts of the world. However the number of carvings registered and photographed by our German colleagues, so far, has never been found any where else. In fact, the importance of the upper Indus carvings is not their number but their multiplicity and different origins.

What exactly are these carvings? We may never be able to understand fully the origin and the specific role of all of them, it seems that however they played an important role in the religious, social and cultural life of their engravers. Some of the symbolic figures and other motifs carved on boulders may indicate decorative function rather than a cult.

The density and diversity of these carvings suggest the importance of this region on the one hand and a rich source of primary information for reconstructing history of the skill route from South Asia to China and Central Asia on the other. The building up of history o mankind would depend, however, largely on new research in these intermediary regions.

The commercial contact between Indian sub continent, Central Asia and China is confirmed by a number of evidences collected by our German, Pakistani and French colleagues in this respect. These materials are of various kinds and present different cultures such as Indian, Iranian, Chinese, etc. Among these carvings the most astonishing are Iranian symbols, altar, tamga or nisan and some Iranian motifs and characteristics in the animals and other carvings, etc. Besides them, we have a large number of inscriptions of Iranian origin. Almost all of them are already published by Sims-Williams and Humabch. The majority of the inscriptions are proper Iranian or sometimes Indian names. Really, they mention the locality name and the patronymic.

This record is augmented by the German and Pakistani explorers through their annual documentation. The materials we have recovered from Thor North, Shatial, Thalpan and other sites of this region and the exterior world….. attested by Indian, Iranian and Chinese inscriptions. Furthermore, the frequency of contact and commercial exchange between India and Iranian is reveled by the discovery of Iranian symbols.

K. Jettmar had discussed a small number of symbols such as a single altar, some tamgas or nisans and a few Iranian motifs. Following him, his German colleagues not only increased the quantity of these symbols through their explorations, but they also found variety of new symbols, I hope, shall provide more information about the contact of this region with the Iranian world.

Although Iranian symbols and motifs may seem relatively insignificant as compared to other such as those of animals, Stupas, etc. a detailed study of them has revealed an important aspect of trade in this valley. The Iranian influence is found in different objects, particularly in the animal carvings, but the most striking feature is the Sogdian inscriptions, altars and the tamgas or nisans. They are to be classified in four different groups: Sogdian inscriptions, rock art, altars and tamgas or nisans. I do not consider it necessary in this study to recall the first two groups, which are discussed at large by K. Jetmar, H. Humbach and N. Sims-Williams. Furthermore, there is nothing new to be presented in this regard. The aim of the present paper is, however, to focus on some of the Iranian symbols, tamgas or nisans and the identification of altars (by comparing them with those found on coins, ceramics and other objects) on typological basis. These symbols were found, so far, in five different sites of Chilas region (Shatial, Thor North, Helor Das West, Oshibat, and Thalpan) in Hunza and in Baltistan.

ALTARS:

The altars so far recorded in the Upper Indus region are those found at Thor North, Shatial, Thalpan iii, Oshibat and in Baltistan. The shapes of these altars are not similar but there is a remarkable uniformity in their upper part, called “horns”. These altars should be classified into two principal groups: (1) altars without ribbons and (2) altars with ribbons.



1. Altars without Ribbons:

This group presents more altars as compared to the second one. Except for two altars of Thor North, the rest were represented with an object in the center of the horns. The slight difference in shapes of these altars allows us to classify further them into two different types: (1) altars with object and

(ii) altars without object.

I: As compared to the altars of the second type we have more representations of this type. The object in the middle is generally marked with different forms…. Either wedge shaped. (Fig 1.1), square-shaped (Fig 1.2), cone shaped (Fig 1.3) or a bulbous thing (Fig 1.4).

Two of the Thalpan iii altars are represented with cone-shaped objects in the middle of the horns. These were already published by A.H. Dani. According to him the upper part may be a trident or building lotus. He says, “It shows two tridents on altars and comes from Thalpan iii. The lower one has banners to the right and left. But the tridents do not have just prongs. They appear more like the budding petals of a lotus. In that case they may also be taken to be budding lotus, which is another symbol of Vishnu.

We do not know exactly that dos these objects mean? Dos they represent a fire? The similarity between the altars of the Upper Indus region and those found on coins, particularly on those of Kushan, Kushano-Sassanid and Hephthalite, or altars carved on the pedestal of sculptures, may suggest to suppose that the object in the middle might be the representation of a fire. On coins, the flames are generally marked by wavy lines, a cone shaped object or a circle.



ii: The second type is represented only by two examples, found at Thor North (Fig 1.5,6). But the representation of this type is very common on coins, particularly on those of Kushan. The similar examples are also found on the seals of Bhita, India. One of these seals (n 99) should be dated, according to the triangular head of the Brahmi letters, to the 5th century A.D. The shape of our type ii is also similar to the pedestal of Tulsi tree, consecrated to Vishnu.

The second group is represented only by a single example from Thalpan iii, showing the upper part similar the other one engraved on the same boulder (see supra, i.i). A sigle piece of the ribbon is attached to its either side, right and left (Fig 1.3). The altars with ribbons or banners are also found on coins of the Kushano-Sassanids and Hepthalites. But the triangular shape of the ribbons that we have in this region have never come across so far.

Whether these are Iranian altars or Indian symbols? In the absence of full-scale data, the prelude conclusion will be uncertain. But by comparing with altars found on pedestals and coins, I suppose with great reserve that, these symbols may represent the Iranian fire altars. In this respect we can take the most beautiful example sculpted on the pedestal of the statue Surya (dated to 1st / 2nd A.D). Except for the object in the middle, the Surya image altar is very close to those of Shatial (un-published).

It is very interesting to note that Brahmi inscriptions accompany most of these altars. I am not sure that, in all these examples, both the carvings and inscriptions were the work of the same hand. But, as far as the two examples of Thro North are concerned (Fig 15, 6), they may be engraved by the same person. This conclusion is drawn from the degree of patination and similarity of technique of their carving. One of the two inscriptions mention purely an Indian proper name in nominative case (Isvaraguta) and the other one may be either an Indian onomatopoeic name Kala Crow, or the Indian word, meaning, “paternal uncle” It should be also noted that one of these examples is situated in hindou context – altar with a devotee, trisula and Brahmi inscription. The presence of these inscriptions also suggests that the above-mentioned symbols may present some things other than Iranian altars. This question remains open.

NISANS:

One of the most striking and original feature of the Upper Indus Valley carvings are the Iranian symbols, called tamgas or nisans. These two terms, particularly tamga, were frequently used for designating some Iranian and other symbols, normally found on the coins. Literally, these two terms give almost the same meanings, but as to be used as a technical term, it requires a clear definition. Actually, tamga is a Turkish term which means “a medal” while, the nisan is an Iranian word meaning “a mark” “ a signal” “a trace” or “a sign” etc. If we try to understand the circumstances under which these symbols have been drawn on the boulders by travelers, merchants etc. from different regions and thus leaving their signs or marks. It is due to these symbols and marks that they can be identified. It is for this reason, I think, that the tem nisan better explains the solution, and is why I prefer to use it in this paper.

Many symbols “nisans” were recovered from the rock-carvings in the Upper Indus Valley and the adjoining affluents. All of them are not of the same kind and may not be contemporary as well. They are classified in four main groups.

I. The first group, found at Thor North is marked with a single nisan. The symbol is engraved on a boulder which among other carvings, also contain a Sogdian inscription. This type of sign is generally attested on the Hephthalite coins but its origin may go to the Sassanid coins of Shahpur ii. The presence of the Sogdian inscription and similarity of the symbol to those found on the Sassanid and Hephthalite coins leave no doubt that it belongs to 4th or 5th century A.D. On the same boulder and on the left side of the above symbol, there is another one similar to the English letter “S”. As the patina and the technique show, both of them were engraved, probably, by the same hand. I cannot say whether this motif also presents a nisan or a trade mark, because I have not yet found similar symbols on coins. However, it is found on Chinese pottery. This is one of the most widely used element in the decoration of Pan shah (China) urns and is used either as a single motif or in a wide variety of composition. This sign also reminds me the ideogram, engraved on a rock at Ngri, Tibet.

II.The symbols of the second group were found in the Hunza carvings, at Helor Das West, Thor North and Shatial. The first one is already published but incorrectly identified by A.H. Dani. He says, “Nearby is a pedestalled pipal leaf with two upright horns. It is difficult to determine the purpose of these two symbols. The Hunza symbol is also called Gondopharean because it is mostly attested on the Parthian coins, particularly on those of Gondophares, Otane and Sanabares ii. But the earliest record of the use of this symbol may be that found on coins of Orodes ii struck in Parthia which can be dated to around 50 B.C. This symbol is generally considered to be a “sun and moon” similar symbol is also on Sogdian coins of 8th century A.D. Other types of symbols of the same group are presented in more evolved forms. But there is difference between the Thor North nisans and those of Shatial. Actually the difference is in the middle part of the symbols. At Thor North they are semi square or semi circle, while at Shatial all of them have a round middle part. The shatial symbols are probably carved by the same person.

III. The most remarkable symbol is that of a whirl of three hooks, turning in the same direction, almost identical to the Celtic triscele. There are six examples discovered so far: five from the site of Thor North and only one, an unfinished, from Helor Das West. But the three examples which should be quoted here were carved with full attention and interest. It is interesting to note that these three symbols, although quite similar, are presented in three different ways. The first one is a whirl hook with four dots in different parts and a small narrow hook, attached to the upper principal hook. The second one is like the first one, but it without a small extra hook and has single dot in the centre. The third symbol is identical to the second one but without a dot. This means that these symbols were either carved by three different hands or by a single person conveying different meanings.

The above symbol is already recorded on Sogdian coins (670 century A.D.) and according to K. Jettmar, it was also used as a heraldic sign in Sogdiana.

We do not know exactly where did the above symbol come from? But on the basis of comparison with other symbols or motif of the same type or nearly the same type, discovered from different areas might provide a clue for its basis significance and origin.

The first reference may be made, in this context, to a women skeleton ornamented with gold leaves. The principle of forming the leaf, particularly the middle one, is almost the same as the nisan of this region. The skeleton was found in Altai.

J. Reads published a catalogue of silver currency from Achaemenid Babylon. Almost the same symbol, as found on the Sogdian coins, is marked on one of the coins of the catalogue. A small circle with three hooks on outer circle and three dots in each angle of the hooks represent it. Similar symbols, without the circle, are also found on punch-marked coins.

Mention should also be made to another similar example found on a golden plate, recovered from a tomb at Kossika in the North of Caspian. The central part is formed by a triangle and the whirls by the representation of three griffins. The points or holes are here almond-shaped, decorated with the incision of gems or coloured pieces of glass. The central part is without dot. This plate could be dated to 7th / 6th century B.C.

Recently, in the article of B.B. Lal, my attention was attracted by one of the most interesting motif painted in black on pottery, commonly known as the painted grey ware. The motif is made with two concentric circles with a dot in the middle and three semi-concentric circles, equally added with dots, attached symmetrically to the outer surfaces of the concentric circles. The painted grey ware settlement, found at Hastinapura (India), was dated to 1100-800 B.C. The motif is almost similar to the symbol of this region. The only difference that could be made are the double parallel lines in the painted grey ware motif while the symbol under discussion is represented with more simplified form.

In central western Iran, some sherds of painted pottery (2400-2200 B.C.) were recovered, having motifs designed like that of Hastinapura pottery – multiple concentric circles with the addition of three other parts, attached to the outer surface of the concentric circles. The outer parts, unlikely, were not represented by a whirl hooks but some wavy lines.

Another particular type of decoration on the interiors of the bowls of Proto-Machia-Yao style (3900-3600 B.C.) (china) is based on the same principle. It has concentric circles that have a turned-back hook. There is a dot in the middle of circle and in each curve of the hook.

It may be emphasized that after studying physical features of the series of symbols and motifs, one can reach this conclusion that all these symbols were formed under two basic principles. The first type is made with two parts: the central ( a circle of triangle) and the outer (whirl hooks or wavy lines). In this type we can classify the Achaemenid and Sigdian coin symbols, the ceramic and and Kosikka plate motif. While the second type is marked by a three-whirled hooks rotating around an un précised point. The nisans of this region and the Altai motif closely fit in the second type.

The identification of symbol as a nisan is based on the similarity of the Achaemenid and Sogdian coin symbols but the relation between all these symbols and motifs is difficult to understand. In fact, the real difficulty is the long gap between the time when the motif was in use and that when the symbol was first attested on the Achaemenide coin and later on Sogdian coins. Unfortunately, there is no evidence so far to fill this gap.

The exact origin of our nisan cannot be determined with surety. But,it is possible to argue that the formal similarity between all these symbols and motifs was conscious rather than accidental. It can be supposed that, in the beginning, this symbol was used as a motif but later the Achaemenid and Sogdian adopted it as an identification mark for their coins. The Sogdian as a heraldic sign used it also.

There is enough evidence to show that the Parthaians, Sogadians, Sassanians, and Hephthalieties, who successively came to this region not only carved their names & religious symbols but they also engraved their clan or tribalsigns & monarchic symbols.these overwhelming Iranian evidence gives us a surprising insight not only in political and cultural contacts between Central Asia and Indian subcontinent but the appearance of nisans and altars contact is not only confirmed by the Iranian symbols and motifs but also by the Sogdian and other inscription.



Introduction of Swat:

The charming Swat, a peaceful and fascinating tract in the lap of vegetative sky-high mountains, with eternal snow on their lofty crests, is an everlasting source of attraction for the visitors. Its beauty attracts tourists from all over the world to enjoy the soothing and serene sceneries, and the friendly behavior of its inhabitants. A visitor entered in

Pakistan would never be contented without roaming about Swat.
The area of Swat is 4000 sq. miles with a population of about 1250000. Its height is not similar but varies from 2500 ft. to 7500 ft. above sea level.

Colonization:

Due to its fertile soil and favorable climatic conditions, Swat has been the abode of various nations and subjected to historical events from time to time. Though this valley has an ancient history, but in the light of historical documents, its recorded history begins with Alexander The Great, who conquered Swat in 326 BC.

Alexander defeated Persia, thenceforth, he entered Swat via Kunar in 326 BC. Buddhism was in full bloom here. The Buddhist ruler fought the Greek invader, but was defeated. Having conquered Swat Alexander proceeded on along the Right Bank of Swat River. Reached Bandai in Nekpikheil, he crossed the river and camped near Manglor. He continued journey through the mountainous passes of Onra, and crossed Indus.

The well-known general of Alexander, Salukis, gave Swat to Chandragupta back in 304 BC. Another Buddhist king, Kanishka, shifted his capital from Peshawar to Swat so that he may be peaceful enough to worship his deities with full satisfaction. Then Raja Ram Batti and many other great personalities ruled Swat, and worshipped their gods with full peace and meditation in cloisters. Raja Gira was the last Buddhist ruler of Swat, who was defeated by Mahmood of Ghazni.

The Arrival of Afghans:

In eleventh century, Khwaja Ayyaz went on the Right Bank of Swat River and conquered the areas of Adenzee, Shamozee, Nekpikheil and so on. Mahmood went on the Left Bank of the river, when he reached Hudigram, there was the fort of Raja Gira, strongly built on a high peak. Mahmood commanded the conquest of this fort to an adroit general, Peer Khushal. The conquest of the fort was much more risky, but the order of the supreme commanderwas complied with.

Taking charge, the creative minded general besieged the fort for three days and cut off the underground connection of water link. On the forth day, he attacked the fort. The attack was a serious one and many soldiers were martyred, including Peer Khushal himself, but the fort was captured and since then Mahmood proceeded on and captured the whole Swat.

After conquering Swat, Mahmood settled two tribes of Afghan here, i.e. Swati and Dalazak, and went back. Both these tribes were living a happy life till they were driven away by the Yousafzai tribe of Pathans.

The Entrance of Yousafzai Tribe:

King of Kabul, Raja Alagh Baig, who was dethroned by his own tribe, called the help of Yousafzai to gain the imperial power of Afghanistan once again. All the chiefs, and Sardars of the Yousafzai came and supported him strongly.

They fought a battle against Tajack, and Alagh Baig became the King of Kabul again. Since then, Yousafzai got an authoritative position in Kabul court and army. The Yousafzai tribe was settled there permanently. But as the king was a Tajack, his wife was Tajack, his friends, and his relatives, shortly all of the concerned people were Tajacks, so the men of his tribe confided him. They told the king that he would be afflicted by Yousafzai one day, because Yousafzai were not from his own race and all the key-posts were in their hands, therefore, they should be removed.

Since then Alagh Baig schemed that the Yousafzai should be attacked at night while they are in sound sleep. His army did so, but the force of the king was defeated badly. When the elders of Yousafzai protested, the king cunningly expressed deep sorrows and assured them that some robbers might have taken the action. Alagh Baig now made another plan. He invited all the chiefs of Yousafzai and attacked them while they set to eat. All of the heads were killed, but only two of them, Sardar Malak Ahmed and Sheikh Malee, escaped. Both of the leaders migrated to Peshawar valley along with their tribe-men.

Having been there for a period of time, they visited their Afghan Brothers, Swati and Dalazak, in Swat, to win their sympathy. But they, the Yousafzai, were soon attracted by the natural properties of this area. It should be mentioned here that the Yousafzai learned the art of betrayal from Tajack. So they compelled the originally settled Swati and Dalazak to quit Swat, who crossed Indus and took refuge in western Hazara district (Even now, some of the remnants of Swati and Dalazak tribes are found in the remote corners of Swat).

Sheikh Mali distributed all the land among the male members of families of his tribe. According to this scheme, these families would change their villages after each decade, and the land of the new village would be distributed among the male family members. (Finally, the land was allotted permanently under the auspices of Bacha Sahib within a period of five years i.e. from 1924 to 1929, and the nomadic life of the residence of this area came to an end.).

Sheikh Malee introduced the units of land also. The smallest unit of land was Damray, while the largest unit was Rupee. Having no ruling authority, Swat was subjected to lawlessness and disorder. Internecine feuds were the common feature of this tract. When they were tired of mutual bloodshed, they wanted to choose an impartial man to solve their problems and disputes. For this purpose they called Syed Akbar Shah, but after ruling for five years he died. The next personality convened was Syed Abdul Jabbar Shah. He was a good scholar, and statesman with majestic port. But a well reputed learned man, Sandakay Mullah soon blamed him as Qadyani (a person having belief in the prophet-hood of Mirza Ghulam Amad Qadyani), and so Abdul Jabbar left Swat.

In this connection, the other man was Miangul Abdul Wadood, the grandson of Mian Abdul Ghafoor (Sahib-e-Swat). The people entrusted Miangul Abdul Wadood with power in 1915 (But he was formally crowned in 1916 by the council (JARGA) of the chiefs of Swat in the grassy ground of Kabal). (He was the man of vigor and high determination. Formerly, he was the ruler of Swat valley only, but slowly and gradually, he expanded the border of Swat up to Gilgit. Later on he retired and his elder son, Miangul Abdul Haq Jehanzeb was crowned as the “Wali of Swat”. Ruling time of Jehanzeb is considered as the golden period in the history of Swat. All of his reforms i.e. schools, colleges, hospitals, roads, and other communication system were matchless. There was a complete peace and order in Swat. But having the foresight of the future politics and the reaction of the nation, he gave up the ruling power in 1969.

It is painful to recount the events of the recent past. The fascinating valley of swat, during the Ex-Wali regime, presented a picture of the worldly paradise. The Wali of Swat, with unique sense of possession left no stone unturned in beautifying and developing each and every sector of Swat. He did his best, and had very lofty plans for the future. It had no match, and the visitors from all over the world had emotional attachment with the state.

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Although his main interests were scholarly, Iqbal was not unconcerned with the political situation of the, country and the political fortunes of the Muslim community of India. Already in 1908, while in England, he had been chosen as a member of the executive council of the newly-established British branch of the Indian Muslim League. In 1931 and 1932 he represented the Muslims of India in the Round Table Conferences held in England to discuss the issue of the political future of India. And in a 1930 lecture Iqbal suggested the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. Iqbal died (1938) before the creation of Pakistan (1947), but it was his teaching that "spiritually ... has been the chief force behind the creation of Pakistan."

Iqbal joined the London branch of the All India Muslim League while he was studying Law and Philosophy in England. It was in London when he had a mystical experience. The ghazal containing those divinations is the only one whose year and month of composition is expressly mentioned. It is March 1907. No other ghazal, before or after it has been given such importance. Some verses of that ghazal are:

Your civilization will commit suicide with its own daggers.
A nest built on a frail bough cannot be durable.
The caravan of feeble ants will take the rose petal for a boat
And inspite of all blasts of waves, it shall cross the river.

I will take out may worn-out caravan in the pitch darkness of night.
My sighs will emit sparks and my breath will produce flames.

For Iqbal it was a divinely inspired insight. He disclosed this to his listeners in December 1931, when he was invited to Cambridge to address the students. Iqbal was in London, participating in the Second Round Table Conference in 1931. At Cambridge, he referred to what he had proclaimed in 1906:

I would like to offer a few pieces of advice to the youngmen who are at present studying at Cambridge ...... I advise you to guard against atheism and materialism. The biggest blunder made by Europe was the separation of Church and State. This deprived their culture of moral soul and diverted it to the atheistic materialism. I had twenty-five years ago seen through the drawbacks of this civilization and therefore had made some prophecies. They had been delivered by my tongue although I did not quite understand them. This happened in 1907..... After six or seven years, my prophecies came true, word by word. The European war of 1914 was an outcome of the aforesaid mistakes made by the European nations in the separation of the Church and the State.

Building upon Sir Sayyid Ahmed's two-nation theory, absorbing the teaching of Shibli, Ameer Ali, Hasrat Mohani and other great Indian Muslim thinkers and politicians, listening to Hindu and British voices, and watching the fermenting Indian scene closely for approximately 60 years, he knew and ultimately convinced his people and their leaders, particularly Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah that:

"We both are exiles in this land. Both longing for our dear home's sight!"

"That dear home is Pakistan, on which he harpened like a flute-player, but whose birth he did not witness."


These thoughts crystallised at Allahabad Session (December, 1930) of the All India Muslim League, when Iqbal in the Presidential Address, forwarded the idea of a Muslim State in India:

I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Provinces, Sind and Baluchistan into a single State. Self-Government within the British Empire or without the British Empire. The formation of the consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of the North-West India.

The seed sown, the idea began to evolve and take root. It soon assumed the shape of Muslim state or states in the western and eastern Muslim majority zones as is obvious from the following lines of Iqbal's letter, of June 21, 1937, to the Quaid-i Azam, only ten months before the former's death:

A separate federation of Muslim Provinces, reformed on the lines I have suggested above, is the only course by which we can secure a peaceful India and save Muslims from the domination of Non-Muslims. Why should not the Muslims of North-West India and Bengal be considered as nations entitled to self-determination just as other nations in India and outside India are.

There are some critics of Allama Iqbal who assume that after delivering the Allahbad Address he had slept over the idea of a Muslim State. Nothing is farther from the truth. The idea remained always alive in his mind. It had naturally to mature and hence, had to take time. He was sure that the Muslims of sub-continent were going to achieve an independent homeland for themselves. On 21st March, 1932, Allama Iqbal delivered the Presidential address at Lahore at the annual session of the All-India Muslim Conference.

In that address too he stressed his view regarding nationalism in India and commented on the plight of the Muslims under the circumstances prevailing in the sub-continent. Having attended the Second Round Table Conference in September, 1931 in London, he was keenly aware of the deep-seated Hindu and Sikh prejudice and unaccommodating attitude. He had observed the mind of the British Government. Hence he reiterated his apprehensions and
suggested safeguards in respect of the Indian Muslims:

In so far then as the fundamentals of our policy are concerned, I have got nothing fresh to offer. Regarding these I have already expressed my views in my address to the All India Muslim League. In the present address I propose, among other things, to help you, in the first place, in arriving at a correct view of the situation as it emerged from a rather hesitating behavior of our delegation the final stages of the Round-Table Conference. In the second place, I shall try, according to my lights to show how far it is desirable to construct a fresh policy now that the Premier's announcement at the last London Conference has again necessitated a careful survey of the whole situation.

It must be kept in mind that since Maulana Muhammad Ali had died in Jan. 1931 and Quaid-i Azam had stayed behind in London, the responsibility of providing a proper lead to the Indian Muslims had fallen on him alone. He had to assume the role of a jealous guardian of his nation till Quaid-i Azam returned to the sub-continent in 1935.

The League and the Muslim Conference had become the play-thing of petty leaders, who would not resign office, even after a vote of non-confidence! And, of course, they had no organization in the provinces and no influence with the masses.

During the Third Round-Table Conference, Iqbal was invited by the London National League where he addressed an audience which included among others, foreign diplomats, members of the House of Commons, Members of the House of Lords and Muslim members of the R.T.C. delegation. In that gathering he dilated upon the situation of the Indian Muslims. He explained why he wanted the communal settlement first and then the constitutional reforms. He stressed the need for provincial autonomy because autonomy gave the Muslim majority provinces some power to safeguard their rights, cultural traditions and religion. Under the central Government the Muslims were bound to lose their cultural and religious entity at the hands of the overwhelming Hindu majority. He referred to what he had said at Allahabad in 1930 and reiterated his belief that before long people were bound to come round to his viewpoint based on cogent reason.

In his dialogue with Dr. Ambedkar Allama Iqbal expressed his desire to see Indian provinces as autonomous units under the direct control of the British Government and with no central Indian Government. He envisaged autonomous Muslim Provinces in India. Under one Indian union he feared for Muslims, who would suffer in many respects especially with regard to their existentially separate entity as Muslims.

Allama Iqbal's statement explaining the attitude of Muslim delegates to the Round-Table Conference issued in December, 1933 was a rejoinder to Jawahar Lal Nehru's statement. Nehru had said that the attitude of the Muslim delegation was based on "reactionarism." Iqbal concluded his rejoinder with:

In conclusion I must put a straight question to punadi Jawhar Lal, how is India's problem to be solved if the majority community will neither concede the minimum safeguards necessary for the protection of a minority of 80 million people, nor accept the award of a third party; but continue to talk of a kind of nationalism which works out only to its own benefit? This position can admit of only two alternatives. Either the Indian majority community will have to accept for itself the permanent position of an agent of British imperialism in the East, or the country will have to be redistributed on a basis of religious, historical and cultural affinities so as to do away with the question of electorates and the communal problem in its present form.

Allama Iqbal's apprehensions were borne out by the Hindu Congress ministries established in Hindu majority province under the Act of 1935. Muslims in those provinces were given dastardly treatment. This deplorable phenomenon added to Allama Iqbal's misgivings regarding the future of Indian Muslims in case India remained united. In his letters to the Quaid-i Azam written in 1936 and in 1937 he referred to an independent Muslim State comprising North-Western and Eastern Muslim majority zones. Now it was not only the North-Western zones alluded to in the Allahabad Address.

There are some within Pakistan and without, who insist that Allama Iqbal never meant a sovereign Muslim country outside India. Rather he desired a Muslim State within the Indian Union. A State within a State. This is absolutely wrong. What he meant was understood very vividly by his Muslim compatriots as well as the non-Muslims. Why Nehru and others had then tried to show that the idea of Muslim nationalism had no basis at all. Nehru stated:

This idea of a Muslim nation is the figment of a few imaginations only, and, but for the publicity given to it by the Press few people would have heard of it. And even if many people believed in it, it would still vanish at the touch of reality.

Iqbal and the Quaid-i Azam

Who could understand Allama Iqbal better than the Quaid-i Azam himself, who was his awaited "Guide of the Era"? The Quaid-i Azam in the Introduction to Allama Iqbal's letters addressed to him, admitted that he had agreed with Allama Iqbal regarding a State for Indian Muslims before the latters death in April, 1938. The Quaid stated:

His views were substantially in consonance with my own and had finally led me to the same conclusions as a result of careful examination and study of the constitutional problems facing India and found expression in due course in the united will of Muslim India as adumbrated in the Lahore Resolution of the All-India Muslim League popularly known as the "Pakistan Resolution" passed on 23rd March, 1940.

Furthermore, it was Allama Iqbal who called upon Quaid-i Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to lead the Muslims of India to their cherished goal. He preferred the Quaid to other more experienced Muslim leaders such as Sir Aga Khan, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Nawab Muhammad Isma il Khan, Maulana Shaukat Ali, Nawab Hamid Ullah Khan of Bhopal, Sir Ali Imam, Maulvi Tameez ud-Din Khan, Maulana Abul Kalam, Allama al-Mashriqi and others. But Allama Iqbal had his own reasons. He had found his "Khizr-i Rah", the veiled guide in Quaid-i Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah who was destined to lead the Indian branch of the Muslim Ummah to their goal of freedom. Allama Iqbal stated:

I know you are a busy man but I do hope you won't mind my writing to you often, as you are the only Muslim in India today to whom the community has right to look up for safe guidance through the storm which is coming to North-West India, and perhaps to the whole of India.

Similar sentiments were expressed by him about three months before his death. Sayyid Nazir Niazi in his book Iqbal Ke Huzur, has stated that the future of the Indian Muslims was being discussed and a tenor of pessimism was visible from what his friends said. At this Allama Iqbal observed:

There is only one way out. Muslim should strengthen Jinnah's hands. They should join the Muslim League. Indian question, as is now being solved, can be countered by our united front against both the Hindus and the English. Without it our demands are not going to be accepted. People say our demands smack of communalism. This is sheer propaganda. These demands relate to the defence of our national existence.

He continued:

The united front can be formed under the leadership of the Muslim League. And the Muslim League can succeed only on account of Jinnah. Now none but Jinnah is capable of leading the Muslims.

Matlub ul-Hasan Sayyid stated that after the Lahore Resolution was passed on March 23, 1940, the Quaid-i Azam said to him:

Iqbal is no more amongst us, but had he been alive he would have been happy to know that we did exactly what he wanted us to do.

But the matter does not end here. Allama Iqbal in his letter of March 29, 1937to the Quaid-i Azam had said:

While we are ready to cooperate with other progressive parties in the country, we must not ignore the fact that the whole future of Islam as a moral and political force in Asia rests very largely on a complete organization of Indian Muslims.

According to Allama Iqbal the future of Islam as a moral and political force not only in India but in the whole of Asia rested on the organization of the Muslims of India led by the Quaid-i Azam.

The "Guide of the Era" Iqbal had envisaged in 1926, was found in the person of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The "Guide" organized the Muslims of India under the banner of the Muslim League and offered determined resistance to both the Hindu and the English designs for a united Hindu-dominated India. Through their united efforts under the able guidance of Quaid-I Azam Muslims succeeded in dividing India into Pakistan and Bharat and achieving their independent homeland. As observed above, in Allama Iqbal's view, the organization of Indian Muslims which achieved Pakistan would also have to defend other Muslim societies in Asia. The carvan of the resurgence of Islam has to start and come out of this Valley, far off from the centre of the ummah. Let us see how and when, Pakistan prepares itself to shoulder this august responsibility. It is Allama Iqbal's prevision.

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While there are many reasons for Pakistanis to complain and express their despair, maybe one thing we could all celebrate about on this year's Pakistan Day is the rise in Pakistan's literacy rate. Yes, despite the tightening of educational resources in Pakistan, the extraordinary voluntary efforts of concerned Pakistanis, as well as the human development programs have resulted in the highest growth in Pakistan's literacy rate in a decade!

Nations celebrate national days to rejoice and celebrate the fruits of freedom and progress. On March 23rd, also known as the Pakistan Day, every year, Pakistanis commemorate the Pakistan Resolution, which was passed in 1940 in Lahore. However, at this critical juncture of our checkered history, we must pause to assess our achievements and reflect on the missed opportunities dispassionately.

Pakistan Day is certainly a time for every Pakistani to review the rich and dynamic history of Pakistan.

Muslims in South Asia

Muslims in India were not an occupying force as the current Hindu fundamentalist government of India is trying to depict in its revision of history which is being protested by all historians in India. Waves of people came to India along with the Aryans who brought features of Hinduism with them. Among these waves were some Central Asians, who, like the Aryans before them, settled down, married, declared the place their country, contributed and died in India. The name India itself is an English version of the Arabic word Hind for India. With hundreds of years worth of heritage when Muslims failed to defend India from Europeans, it was the beginning of problems for South Asia's Muslim population.

British Treatment of Indian Muslims

For 500 years, India witnessed a tolerant Muslim rule, under which economic prosperity, educational reforms and relative racial equality were a norm. However, as the British East India Company took over India by the mid-nineteenth century, masses of Muslim-owned agricultural and commercial lands were annexed and multitudes of Muslim professionals, elites, and officers were dismissed from government positions. While the Hindus were promoted, the Muslims of India were ignored and reduced to second-class citizens. A comprehensive analysis of the state of Muslims under British rule is documented by a British author, William Hunter, in his monumental work, Indian Musalman, published in 1871, in which he explains, "Now all sorts of employment, high or low, great or small are being gradually snatched away from the Mohammedans [Muslims], and given to other races particularly Hindus. They are reduced to Bahistee, wood cutters, peons or pen menders in offices."

Origins of Pakistan Movement

This biased treatment of the British against Muslims, along with Hindu chauvinism, gave rise to Muslims' demand for proportionate representation in government jobs and electoral seats. The constant opposition of Hindus for minority rights and the worsening prejudiced treatment of Muslims germinated the Pakistan Movement and the Two-Nations Theory. One response surfaced in the form of the All-India Muslim League, founded in 1906, in Dhaka, which served to protect and advance the political rights of the Muslims of India. Hindu nationalists, however, heavily promoted the name of Pakistan, before even Muslims adopted it as their goal.

By the 1930s and 1940s, the Muslims of India and the leaders of Muslim League realized that while politically their very existence and survival in Hindu-led independent India would be perilous from a cultural and social standpoint, it foreshadowed their gradual extinction. This was a real fear which, running through their rank, fuelled and intensified the Pakistan Movement.

The Need and Legitimacy for a Muslim State

As the poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal states in his presidential address of the Muslim League at Allahabad in 1930: "The formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North West India…The life of Islam as a cultural force in this country very largely depends on its centralization in a specified territory."

The approach of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal towards Indian Muslim freedom was deeply rooted in pragmatism - it was embedded, on the one hand, in universally accepted democratic and constitutional norms and, on the other, it represented the inalienable right of Muslims to statehood in areas where they excelled in numerical strength. The claim of Muslims to nationhood was an expression of both truth and reality of the situation.

Pakistan Resolution: Peak of Muslims' Freedom Struggle

The Pakistan Resolution of March 23rd, 1940, signified the peak of a long trailing freedom struggle of 100 million Muslims of South Asia, as well as a focal point of their destiny - Pakistan. This resolution, which was presented by Maulvi Abul Kasim Fazlul Haq, Premier of Bengal, demanded that the Muslim-majority areas in the Northwestern and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states, using a confederatory model, in which the constituent units should be autonomous and sovereign.

In a moment of enthusiasm, the resolution was later amended to ask for one country instead of a federation. However, Bangladesh movement succeeded in achieving what the Muslim leadership in South Asia originally wanted. One only wishes that was all accomplished through peaceful dialog instead of warfare.

The Original Idea Lives

Despite its meager resources, Pakistan and the idea of Pakistan have survived more than half a century despite the prediction by the Indian leadership at the time of independence that in a few years, Pakistan would be begging to join India. Hundreds and thousands of Muslims throughout India, Bangladesh, Burma and Afghanistan voted with their feet by migrating to Pakistan. On the ideological front, it symbolized Muslims' aspiration to develop a sanctuary where they could shape their lives in conformity with the principles postulated by Islam. As Quaid-e-Azam once emphasized, "Islam is not only a set of rituals, traditions and spiritual doctrine, it is a code for every Muslim, which regulated his life and his conduct - all aspects; social, political, economic etc. It is based on the highest principles of honor, integrity, fair play and justice for all."

Although the constitution of Pakistan has undergone a number of amendments, the ideology of Pakistan has survived in the preamble to the country's constitution. Pakistan was a milestone in the Pakistan movement, but the struggle continues until its ideals are achieved for all Pakistanis.

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In the beginnning of 17th century, Europeans, particularly British, started trading in the subcontinent. Merchants of the East India Company never imagined that British presence in the subcontinent could mean anything more than peaceful trading. French arrived in the middle of the 17th century, signalling the beginning of militarization. Within 100 years the French were a spent force and the British possessed the most efficient military machine in the subcontinent.

British Influence:

As Mughal power declined, British influence increased. Indian rulers proved very undisciplined when it came to facing British army and therefore, there was no problem in defeating Indian cavalry.

In 1775, the Company was found to be corrupt and a regulatory act gave the government control over Company officials. In 1784 the Indian Act left the Company solely incharge of commerce. Motivated by Imperialism, the British began to annex states, offering troop protection against aggressive neighbors in return of loyalty and sizeable subsidies. By 1818, Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and a tract of land north of the Ganges running up to Delhi were firmly in British hands.

Sikh vs. British:

British could not take over Punjab because Sikhs held a dominant force under the ruler Ranjit Singh. Punjab had been the home of the Sikhs since the late 15th century. In 1799, Lahore was taken over by Sikh emperor Ranjit Singh and under his rule, Punjab was virtually harmless from British invasion. After Rangit Singh's death in 1839, British finally moved in and Sikh empire began to collapse.

Kashmir Conspiracy:

The consequences of the first Sikh war (1846) had major repercussions for another state, Kashmir. Before being taken by Ranjit Singh, it had been ruled alternatively by Mughals and Afghans. Kashmir was then 90% Muslim, but after the siege of Multan in 1819 Ranjit Singh wanted to reward one of his leaders, Gulab Singh, a Hindu. He was duly granted the estate of Jammu.

In 1841 Gulab Singh allowed British troops to march through his territory on their way to do battle in Afghanistan. During the Sikh wars, he had refused to help the Sikhs, and was once again rewarded, this time by the British. The prize was worth his treachery: in 1846, he received Kashmir by the treaty of Amritsar. The granting of the control of Kashmir to a Hindu began a struggle which has not finished to this day.

Sindh and the Indus:

British first stepped on Sindhi soil in 1809 when a diplomatic mission visited the Talpur Mirs. The British saw the importance of the Indus River, believing it could be an important commercial highway. In 1839, they seized Karachi, Sukkur and Bukkur. By 1843, Sir Charles Napier had secured the province of Sindh for the British.

North West Frontier Province:

At the far northwest of the Punjab, this was the tribal highland area belonging to the Pathans. Since the Punjab annexation, there had been a bitter and bloody struggle between The Pathans and the British. Beyond settled areas, the British initially tolerated a degree of tribal independance, but used hostage taking, blockades, subsidies and punitive expeditions to ensure the area's security. With North West Frontier under control, British went on to capture northern Pakistan such as Gilgit, Hunza and Chitral. From the fear of Russian intrusion, the British fenced a border between Afghanistan and NWFP, the famous Durand Line, in 1893.

Baluchistan:

To the west, Baluchistan with its borders to Persia and Afghanistan, was of great strategic importance. The routes through Bolan Pass to Quetta and beyond were vital. Again the British faced the tribal problem, solved by the same kinds of measures used to subdue the Pathans. By the 1890s Baluchistan was largely pacified and stabilised.

The British Raj:

The Indian Mutiny erupted in isolated areas in 1857. There were bloody uprisings in Meerut, Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow. British reprisals were exceptionally brutal. The soldiers petitioned the last Mughal Bahadur Shah Zafar, who was officially up to this time the sovereign ruler of the Mughal Empire, to be their figurehead. The British exiled him to Burma where he died in 1862.

Control now passed from the East India Company to the Crown and the company was dissolved. The Crown's representative in India was now the Viceroy, who had almost absolute authority.

India prospered during the British rule. Agricultural output was increased manifold. The railway network was setup, which provided a major contribution to the boom. Trade was expanded and industrial development was on the rise.

On the political front, after the mutiny, most factions of Indian society expressed absolute loyalty to the Raj. And despite the fact that the British tried to blame the Muslims for the mutiny, support from the Muslim westernized elite did not diminish. Some Muslims saw that they had difficult times ahead, wondering how they should assimilate to developments under the British while still holding on to their traditions.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan:

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1818-1898) emerged as the main advocate of reforming Muslim society towards progress, representing a feeling that a rejection of the British would only result in the Muslims of India disappearing into oblivion. He wanted advantages for Muslims and was keen for the reform of Muslim education. He stressed that science was not anti-Islamic. In 1875, the British gave him a grant to found the Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental college which later became Aligarh University. From here, a stream of educated Muslims went into government services.

Indian National Congress:

In 1885, the Indian National Congress was formed. The party began to fight for a devolution of power into Indian hands. Although some leading Muslims were members, it was viewed with suspicion by most, including Sir Syed, as being a Hindu body which would only ever represent Hindu interests.

All India Muslim League:

In 1906, All India Muslim League was formed to promote feelings of loyalty to the British and advance Muslim political interests. They petitioned the Viceroy that in any political move, Muslim interests be taken into account. The 1909 India Councils Act rewarded Muslim loyalty. The act gave Muslims separate electorates, where they could elect their own representatives to the Legislative Council. Some people claim that this move foreshadowed the birth of Pakistan.

Turnaround:

Muslims began to feel isolated and their fears were boosted by European attacks on Muslim countries such as the fight against Turkey in the First World War. They saw Britian leading a Christian crusade against Islam. More and more Muslims decided to transfer to the Congress party. In 1916, the Muslim League and the Congress signed the Lukhnow Pact: Congress accepted separate Muslim electorates in return for League support in its cause to drive out the British.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah:

Mohammad Ali Jinnah (1875-1948) was initially a Congress member and endeavored to bring about the political union of Muslims and Hindus. He left Congress in 1920. but the turning point came when Congress leaders ignored Muslim demands for one third of the seats in any future parliaments. Jinnah never trusted Congress after several exclusions of Muslim interest in Congress decisions. He worked furiously to amass Muslim support for teh League to show the world that the League and the League only was the true representation of India's Muslims.

Pakistan Resolution:

In March 1940, Jinnah submitted the Lahore Resolution, also known as Pakistan Resolution. In it was the essence of Pakistan:

"The Muslims and the Hindus belong to two different religious philosophies: they neither intermarry nor interdine.... Muslims are a nation and according to any definition of a nation they must have their homelands, their territory, their state."

The idea of separate Muslim state was gaining favor, despite opposition from the Congress. It led to terrible violence as Muslims and Hindus turned on each other in an atmosphere of unease about the future.

Independence:

Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten announced that Pakistan would receive its independence on 14th August 1947. Indians had to vote: were they to stay in India or Pakistan? Baluchistan, NWFP and Sindh voted to join Pakistan directly. Various kingdoms in the north, including Gilgit and Hunza, also acceeded to Pakistan, though they were originally designated as part of Hindu ruled Kashmir. When the deadline passed, Kashmir still hadn't decided. New boundaries were drawn up dividing Bengal and the Punjab. The announcement of the new border resulted in the greatest migration in the human history, as some seven to eight million Muslims left India and the same number of Hindus made the journey in opposite direction. In Karachi on 14th August 1947, the flag of Pakistan flew for the first time. Governor General of the new Islamic state was Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

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Jinnah's Vision of Pakistan

For some years now, Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah's vision of Pakistan has been a source of controversy and conflict. Much of this has however tried to cut Jinnah to fit a predetermined image. A close look at Jinnah's long and chequered public life, encompassing some forty-four years (1904-48), helps determine the core values he was committed to throughout his political career.

This paper examines how Jinnah’s politics evolved through main phases, which, though distinct, yet merged into the next, without sudden shifts. It analyses how his liberalism underwent an apparent paradigmatic shift from 1937 onwards, and led to him advocating the charismatic goal of Pakistan, and to elucidate it primarily in Islamic terms. Finally, the Islamic strain in his post independence pronouncements and his 11 August 1947 address is discussed, and an attempt made to reconcile it with his other pronouncements.

Jinnah as Liberal

In the first phase of his public life (1904-20) three main influences shaped Jinnah's personality and politics:

nineteenth century British liberalism, first absorbed during his four-years' (1892-96) stay in England as a student of law,the cosmopolitan atmosphere and mercantile background of metropolitan Bombay where he had established himself as an extremely successful barrister since the turn of the century, and his close professional and personal contact with the Parsis, who, though only a tiny community provided an example of how initiative, enterprise and hard work could overcome numerical inferiority, racial prejudice and communal barriers.

These formative influences seem to have prompted Jinnah to join the Indian National Congress. Fashioned after liberal principles and cast in their mould, the Congress was at that time pledged to take India on the road to self-government through constitutional means. Soon enough, he rose high in its echelons, high enough to be its 'spokesman' for its representation to the Secretary of State on the reform of the India Council in May 1914. Jinnah believed in moderation, gradualism, ordered progress, evolutionary politics, democratic norms, and above all, in constitutionalism. When the Congress sought to abandon these liberal principles in 1920 and opted for revolution and extra constitutional methods, he walked out of the Congress for good.

The constitutionalist in Jinnah led to him having a similar experience with the Home Rule League (HRL). He had collaborated with it since it was founded by Annie Besant, and joined it in a show of solidarity when Besant was interned in 1917. In October 1920 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, upon being elected HRL President on Jinnah's proposals, went about changing its constitution and its aims and objects and renaming it Swarajya Sabha rather unilaterally.

Gandhi ruled out Jinnah's objections that the constitution could not be changed unless supported by a three-fourths majority, and without proper notice. Jinnah, along with nineteen other members resigned, charging that the "changes in the constitution were made by adopting a procedure contrary to the rules and regulations of the (HR) League."



Throughout this period, in fact since 1897, Jinnah was active in Anjuman-I-Islam, Muslim Bombay's foremost religio-political body. In 1906 Jinnah opposed the demand for separate electorates, but before long his opposition thawed when he realized that the demand had "the mandate of the community". In 1910 he was elected to the Imperial Council on a reserved Muslim seat. From then on, he came in close contact with Nadwah, Aligarh and the All India Muslim League (AIML), and he was chosen by the AIML to sponsor a bill on Waqf alal Aulad, a problem of deep concern to Muslims since the time of Syed Ahmad Khan. Though not yet a formal member of the League, Jinnah was yet able to get the League committed to the twin ideals of self-government and Hindu-Muslim unity during the next three years, thus bringing the AIML on par with the Congress in terms of its objectives.



He joined the AIML formally in October 1913 and became its President in 1916. He utilized his pivotal position to get the Congress and the League act in concert, and work out common solutions to problems confronting the country. One result of his efforts was the Congress-League, Lucknow Pact of 1916, which settled the controversial electorate issue, at least for the time being, and paved the way towards a entente cordiale between Hindus and Muslims. Another result was the holding of Congress and League annual sessions at the same time and at the same place for seven years (1915-21).

It can be seen that there were three dominant strands in the first phase (1904-1920) of Jinnah's political career. These were a firm belief in a united Indian nationhood, with Hindus and Muslim sharing in the future Indian dispensation; a sense that Indian freedom could come through Hindu-Muslim unity, and a need for unity in Muslim ranks through strengthening the Muslim League. These strands continued in the second phase (1920-37) as well; but with the years their position came to be reversed in his scale of priorities, as the Congress's ultimate objectives underwent a radical change under the influence of Hindu extremists. Jinnah's efforts for Muslim unity became increasingly pronounced with the years, becoming a passion with him towards the closing of the second phase.

For Jinnah, while national freedom for both Hindus and Muslims continued to be the supreme goal, the means adopted to achieve it underwent a dramatic change. If it could not be achieved through Hindu Muslim unity, it must be done through Hindu-Muslim separation; if it could not be secured through a composite Hindu-Muslim nationalism, it must be done through separate Hindu and Muslim nationalisms; if not through a united India, it must be through partition. In either case, the ultimate objective was to ensure political power for Muslims.

Jinnah’s Transformation

The period after 1937 marked a paradigmatic shift. Jinnah became identified in the Muslim mind with the concept of the charismatic community, the concept which answered their psychic need for endowing and sanctifying their sense of community with a sense of power. Increasingly he became the embodiment of a Muslim national consensus, which explains why and how he had become their Quaid-i-Azam, even before the launching of the Pakistan demand in March 1940.

This shift was squarely reflected in his thinking, his posture, his platform, and in his political discourse. And of course his appearance -- for his public rallies Jinnah replaced his finely creased English Saville Row suits with achkan, tight pyjamas and, to boot, a karakuli cap. He still believed in democracy, but now felt parliamentary democracy of the Westminster type was unsuitable for India because of the existence of a permanent majority and a permanent minority, which he defined in specific terms:

Minorities means a combination of things. It may be that a minority has a different religion from the other citizens of a country. Their language may be different, their race may be different, their culture may be different, and the combination of all these various elements - religion, culture, race, language, arts, music and so forth makes the minority a separate entity in the State, and that separate entity as an entity wants safeguards.

Extending this elucidation, he occasionally called Muslims 'a nation', stressing their distinct religion, culture, language and civilization, and calling on them to "live or die as a nation". He even called the League flag 'the flag of Islam', arguing that "you cannot separate the Muslim League from Islam.

Jinnah also traveled across the other end of the political and ideological spectrum in other ways. Previously he had disdained mass politics, now he opted for mass politics. Previously he had objected to Gandhi's injection of religion into politics, now he was not averse to couch his appeals in Islamic terms and galvanising the Muslim masses by appealing to them in a cultural matrix they were familiar with. Previously he had called himself an Indian first and last, now he opted for an Islamic identity. Previously he had strived long and hard for a national consensus; now all his efforts were directed towards a Muslim consensus. Jinnah, the erstwhile "ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity" became the fiercest advocate of Hindu-Muslim separation.

Jinnah had a political basis for this paradigmatic shift, through which Muslims and Islam came to occupy the centre of his discourse. For one thing, how else could Muslims, scattered as they were unevenly throughout the subcontinent, sharing with their non-Muslim neighbours local customs, ethos, languages, and problems and subjected to local conditions (whether political, social or economic) become a 'nation' except through their affiliation with Islam? For another, since Pakistan was to be established in the Muslim majority provinces, why else should the Muslims in the minority provinces struggle for Pakistan, except for their deep concern for the fate and future of Islam in India? Above all, what linked them irretrievably with their fellow Muslims in the majority areas except this concern?

In an address to Gaya Muslim League Conference in January 1938, Jinnah begun mapping out his new world view. He said:

When we say ‘This flag is the flag of Islam’ they think we are introducing religion into politics - a fact of which we are proud. Islam gives us a complete code. It is not only religion but it contains laws, philosophy and politics, In fact, it contains everything that matters to a man from morning to night. When we talk of Islam we take it as an all embracing word. We do not mean any ill. The foundation of our Islamic code is that we stand for liberty, equality and fraternity.

Jinnah then used this to argue the case for Pakistan at two levels. First, he invoked the universally recognized principle of self-determination. But it was invoked not on the familiar territorial basis, but for the Muslim nation alone. As he stipulated in his marathon talks with Gandhi in September 1944, the constituency for the plebiscite to decide upon the Pakistan demand would comprise only the Muslims, and not the entire population of the areas concerned. Second, he spelled out his reasons for reaching out towards the 'Pakistan' goal in his Lahore (1940) address in more or less ideological terms, arguing that "Islam and Hinduism... are not religions in the strict sense of the word, but are... different and distinct social orders", that "the Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, literature", "to two different civilizations", that they "derive their inspiration from different sources of history"... (with) different epics, different heroes and different episodes." "We wish our people", he declared, "to develop to the fullest our spiritual, cultural, economic, social and political life in a way that we think best and in consonance with our own ideals and according to the genius of our people."

Jinnah developed this into a definition of Muslim nationhood that was most cogent, the most closely argued, and the most firmly based in international law since the time of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. "We are a nation," he wrote to Gandhi on 17 September 1944, "with our distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of values and proportion, legal laws and moral code, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitude and ambitions; in short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life."

He returned to this more extensively in his Id message in September 1945, saying:

"Everyone, except those who are ignorant, knows that the Quran is the general code of the Muslims. A religious, social, civil, commercial, military, judicial, criminal, penal code, it regulates everything from the ceremonies of religion to those of daily life; from the salvation of the soul to the health of the body; from the rights of all to those of each individual; from morality to crime, from punishment here to that in the life to come, and our Prophet has enjoined on us that every Musalman should possess a copy of the Quran and be his own priest. Therefore Islam is not merely confined to the spiritual tenets and doctrines or rituals and ceremonies. It is a complete code regulating the whole Muslim society, every department of life, collective[ly] and individually."

Jinnah’s Realisation

After independence, as head of the state he had founded, Jinnah talked in the same strain. He talked of securing "liberty, fraternity and equality as enjoined upon us by Islam" (25 August 1947); of "Islamic democracy, Islamic social justice and the equality of manhood" (21 February 1948); of raising Pakistan on "sure foundations of social justice and Islamic socialism which emphasized equality and brotherhood of man" (26 March 1948); of laying "the foundations of our democracy on the basis of true Islamic ideals and principles" (14 August 1948); and "the onward march of renaissance of Islamic culture and ideals" (18 August 1947). He called upon the mammoth Lahore audience to build up "Pakistan as a bulwark of Islam", to "live up to your traditions and add to it another chapter of glory", adding, "If we take our inspiration and guidance from the Holy Quran, the final victory, I once again say, will be ours" (30 October 1947).

As for the specific institutions of the new state, he exhorted the armed forces to uphold "the high traditions of Islam and our National Banner" (8 November 1947); and commended the State Bank research organization to evolve "banking practices compatible with Islamic ideals of social and economic life" and to "work our destiny in our own way and present to the world an economic system based on true Islamic concept of equality of manhood and social justice" (1 July 1948).

For Jinnah, "the creation of a State of our own was a means to an end and not the end in itself. The idea was that we should have a State in which we could live and breathe as free men and which we could develop according to our own lights and culture and where principles of Islamic social justice could find free play" (11 October 1947). He told Edwards College students that "this mighty land has now been brought under a rule, which is Islamic, Muslim rule, as a sovereign independent State" (18 April 1948). He even described Pakistan as "the premier Islamic State" (February 1948).

Jinnah's broadcast to the people of the United States (February 1948) is in a similar vein:

I do not know what the ultimate shape of this constitution is going to be, but I am sure that it will be of a democratic type, embodying the essential principles of Islam. Today, they are as applicable in actual life as they were 1300 years ago. Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught equality of men, justice and fairly play to everybody. We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan. In any case Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic State -- to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non- Muslims -- Hindus, Christians, and Parsis -- but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan.

In this broadcast, Jinnah, the constitutionalist that he was, refused to forestall the shape of the constitution, in order not to fetter the Pakistan Constituent Assembly from taking decisions it deemed fit. While he laid a good deal of stress on Islamic ideals and principles, he ruled out theocracy, saying "Pakistan is not a theocracy or anything like it. Islam demands from us the tolerance of other creeds."

Technically speaking, theocracy means a government "by ordained priests, who wield authority as being specially appointed by those who claim to derive their rights from their sacerdotal position." Unlike Catholicism, there is no established church in Islam; (in fact, it decries such a church). Moreover, since Islam admits of no priestcraft, since it discountenances a sacerdotal class as the bearer of an infallible authority, and since it concedes the right of ijtihad to "men of common sense", the concept of theocracy is absolutely foreign to Islam. Hence, during the debate on the Objectives Resolution (March 1947), Mian Iftikharuddin refuted the Congress members fears about the sovereignty clause, saying that "the wording of the Preamble does not in any way make the Objectives Resolution any the more theocratic, any the more religious than the Resolution or statement of fundamental principles of some of the modern countries of the world" (10 March 1949). Thus neither Iqbal, nor Jinnah, nor any of the independence leaders (including Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani) stood for a theocratic state.

Of all Jinnah's pronouncements it is his 11 August address that has received the greatest attention since the birth of Pakistan, and spawned a good deal of controversy. Although made somewhat off-the-cuff -- he said that "I cannot make any well-considered pronouncement, but I shall say a few things as they occur to me" -- it is considered a policy statement. He said:

... If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, ... 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. ...we must learn a lesson from this [our past experience]. You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the state ... we are starting in the days when there is no discrimination between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste, or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.... I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in 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.

Not surprisingly, it has elicited varied comments from scholars and contemporary journalists. One scholar has put it down to "loose thinking and imprecise wording" and a departure from Jinnah's erstwhile position. Another calls it "a remarkable reversal" and asks "was he [Jinnah] pleading for a united India - on the eve of Pakistan?"

In dissecting this statement, there is, however, little that could lend itself to disputation. There is no problems with the dictum that every one, no matter what community he belongs to, would be entitled to full fledged citizenship, with equal rights, privileges and obligations, that there would no discrimination between one community and another, and that all of them would be citizens and equal citizens of one state. These principles Jinnah had reiterated time and again during the struggle period, though not in the same words.

It is, however, not usually recognized that political equality in general terms (because absolutism was the rule at the time of the advent of Islam) and equality before law in more specific terms are attributes Islam had recognized long before the world discovered them as secular values. They were exemplified in the Misaq-i-Madinah, the pact between the Prophet (PBUH) and Aus and Khazraj, and in his letter to Abul Hairs, Christian priest and the accredited representative of the Christians of Najran, and in the conduct of the Khulfa-i-Rashidun. This covenant, comprising 47 clauses, lays down, inter alia, that the Quraishite Muslim, the Medinites and the Jews of Banu Auf from one community apart from other people, that the Jews shall have their religion and the Muslims their own, that they shall help each other against one who fights with the people of the covenant. Now, how could these disparate tribes characterised by differing religious affiliations from one political community unless their entitlement to equal rights, privileges and obligations are conceded in the first place. A community postulates such entitlement, and it may be conjectured that Jinnah believed that Islam concedes equal citizenship to one and all, without reference to creed, colour or race.

Finally one crucial question. If it is still contended that Jinnah had envisaged a 'secular' state, does one pronouncement prevail over a plethora of pronouncements made before and after the establishment of Pakistan. Does one morsel make a dinner? Does one swallow make a summer? A close study all of Jinnah's pronouncements during 1934-48, and most of his pronouncement during the pre-1934 period, shows that the word, 'secular' (signifying an ideology) does not find a mention in any of them. Even when confronted with the question, he evaded it -- as the following extracts from his 17 July 1947 press conference indicates:

Question: "Will Pakistan be a secular or theocratic state?"


Mr. M.A. Jinnah: "You are asking me a question that is absurd. I do not know what a theocratic state means."

A correspondent suggested that a theocratic State meant a State where only people of a particular religion, for example, Muslims, could be full citizens and Non-Muslims would not be full citizens.

Mr. M.A. Jinnah: "Then it seems to me that what I have already said is like throwing water on duck's back (laughter). When you talk of democracy, I am afraid you have not studied Islam. We learned democracy thirteen centuries ago."

It is well to recall the ideological environment of the period in which the pronouncements we are trying to dissect, analyse and interpret today were made. It was already a bipolar world, smitten by the gathering cold war. The great ideological divide had warped simple and long familiar words such as freedom, liberty, equality, democracy, state, sovereignty, justice, and tyranny with ideological overtones. Hence these concepts had to be qualified to mean what they actually stand for. Hence when Jinnah talks of the concept of a democratic type embodying the essential principles of Islam, he was giving notice that he did not mean the standard Western type or the Soviet brand of people's democracy, but a sort of 'Islamic democracy' which, while retaining the institutional appurtenances of a democratic structure, is congruent with Muslims' ethos, aspirations and code of morality. And, as Mian Iftikharuddin argued, "no one need object to the word 'Islamic.' If we can use the words, 'Roman Law' or the 'British Parliamentary system' and so many other terms without shame or stint, then why not 'Islamic'?"

Conclusion

Jinnah was the most Westernised political leader in all the annals of Indian Islam; no other Muslim political leader could match him in terms of modernity and a modern outlook. He was completely at home with the milieu in cosmopolitan Bombay and metropolitan London. He also married a Parsi girl, so unconventional for a Muslim leader at that time, though after getting her converted to Islam. During his chequered career, Jinnah came in contact with an exceedingly large number of non-Muslim leading personalities and a host of British officials, more than any other Muslim leader and had interacted with them for some four decades -- before he underwent a paradigmatic shift.

Jinnah was also a man who minced no words, stood no humbug, and called a spade a spade. He held political rhetoric in high disdain; he preferred political wilderness to playing to the gallery. Such a man could not possibly have gone in for an Islamic orientated discourse unless he felt that the Islamic values he was commending were at home with the values underlying modernity, that Islam was in consonance with progress and modernity. During the debate on Islam and secularism, this is a point that has lain ignored.

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Women's Role in Pakistan Movement

WOMEN played a major role in the Pakistan Movement. This was of great historical significance, for the Muslim women of the subcontinent had never participated in such great numbers in a political movement. It was a befitting culmination of the reformist movements of the late nineteenth century for the emancipation and education of Muslim women. The Quaid can be seen as source of inspiration for their emergence as players on the political scene.

The Khilafat Movement of the 1920s had been the first instance when Muslim women had made their presence felt. With Maulanas Shaukat Ali and Mohammed Ali in jail, their mother, Bi Amman, had taken up the cudgels against British imperialism. Her daughter-in-law assisted her. It took an old lady to strike the first blow at seclusion. She addressed meetings from behind the purdah of a sheet, and travelled to various parts of India to whip up support. Women came to hear her, and they were motivated to meet in various mohallas to raise funds. It was an old custom in the subcontinent that women sold their jewellery when the family was faced with a financial crisis.

When the Khilafat Movement demanded contributions from its supporters, the women came forward and gave up their jewellery, that being their only worldly possession. This would have been the first time that they made such a gesture for a political cause. However all this was short-lived and so with the demise of the Khilafat Movement women reverted to the strict seclusion of their homes and their domestic world.

The Quaid had seen the increasing participation of women in the Congress, his parent party. He realized the need to have Muslim women's participation in the Muslim League, which he had begun to re-organize and bring to life. It was at Lucknow in 1937 that he called for the creation of a Women's Wing of the Muslim League, but it remained dormant till the Patna Session of the Muslim League in 1938. His instructions were that there should be a recruitment drive through each and every district of India, and women should be made two-anna members of the Muslim League. Within two years of the Patna session political consciousness had begun to spread to all groups and classes of Muslim women, and on March 23, 1940, the women's section of All-India Muslim League held its annual session at the Islamia College for Girls, Lahore.

By now this college had begun to be at the centre of the women's movement for Pakistan. Its Principal, Fatima Begum, played an instrumental role in bringing this about. Begum Hafeezuddin gave the keynote address in which she called upon the Muslims of the subcontinent to unite under the flag of the Muslim League. Two resolutions were passed at this session. The first pertaining to the Muslim League called for the women to work amongst their friends and acquaintances and rally them to the Muslim League, and help the Party organize sub-committees in towns and rural areas. The second resolution called on Muslim men to help Muslim women get the legal rights which were rightfully theirs under the Shariat, but which they had been denied. Baji Rashida Latif, who was also a member of the Legislative Assembly, declared in her speech that "capitalists" had deprived Muslim women of their rights. She must have been referring to the inheritance of property which continued to be denied to Muslim women in Punjab, for the big landlords did not want their property divided and consequently had opposed inheritance by Muslim women.

The mobilization of girls and women was continued with full force. In November, 1942, the Quaid was invited by the Punjab Girl Students Federation to come to the Jinnah Islamia Girls College and address the girls. In his speech he said: "I am glad to see that not only Muslim men but Muslim women and children also have understood the Pakistan scheme. No nation can make any progress without the co-operation of its women. If Muslim women support their men, as they did in the day of the Prophet of Islam, we should soon realize our goal... no nation is capable of remaining a strong nation, unless and until its men and women struggle together for the achievement of its goals".

The Quaid exhorted the young students to join the Muslim League and recounted how at Patna he had formed a women's section of the Party, in order to increase the involvement of the Muslim women.

The women's section of the Muslim League organized mushairas and get-togethers. The movement for Pakistan had spread to girls' schools and colleges and got increasingly tied up with Muslim women's demands for the implementation of Shariat, as that would increase their rights under the law. By 1945 the Muslim League movement had become so widespread amongst women that they were touring the major towns and cities and trying to organize primary branches of the Muslim League.

The main purpose of these tours was to get them to attend the coming session of the All-India Muslims League in Lahore on March 23, 1945. As the Muslim League geared up for the elections of 1946, women's' divisional and district committees were organized and conveners appointed. A contingent of women arrived in Lahore from Aligarh to assist in touring the districts. In the last week before polling, women became so active that they held meetings in Simla, Amritsar, Gujranwala and Lahore. Meetings were held in Lahore to assign women to various polling stations. The first women's branch of the Muslim League in the Frontier was opened in 1939. In October 1945 Lady Abdullah Haroon, the President of the All-India Women's Muslim League, led a delegation of Muslim women to the Frontier province.

When a meeting was organized under the auspices of the Zenana Muslim League, as many as thousand women attended it. The audience contributed Rs 80,000 to the Muslim League fund. In the elections of 1945-46 it was very active and women Leaguers from other parts of the region, and especially from Lahore, toured the province to mobilize support amongst the women of the Frontier province.

During the Civil Disobedience Movement, women's demonstrations in Peshawar became frequent. Other towns affected in a similar manner were Mardan, Kohat and Abbotabad. Women Leaguers' militancy in the Frontier increased after the fall of the Unionist ministry in the Punjab. They agitated outside the government offices, hoisted the flag on the Secretariat and took out processions. The presence of a large number of women workers from Punjab and other areas of the country helped.

The Muslim League won all the Muslim seats to the Central Assembly. They celebrated Victory Day on January 11, 1946. Students from Aligarh to Lahore had shown great zeal, and the girls had played a major role. On January 18 the Quaid addressed the Muslim Students Federation in Lahore, and when he went to address the women's wing of the Muslim League he was escorted by two girls on either side of him with swords drawn. When, despite the Muslim League victory, the British Governor of Punjab asked the Congress and the Unionist Party to form a coalition government, it caused a furore amongst the members and supporters of the Muslim League. Meetings were held, and there was a demonstration of five hundred men and women on Queen's Road.

The Quaid was in the tradition of a whole host of Muslim intellectuals and thinkers before him who had been calling for the education and emancipation of Muslim women. However, he was the first to actively promote their participation in politics and the Muslim League. It is no accident of history that he took his sister everywhere with him. He set the trend and his followers emulated. It is not surprising that Liaquat Ali Khan had Rana Liaquat by his side. The message was loud and clear: women should come out of their seclusion and be equal partners in the social and political life of the country. He is quoted as having declared that the Muslim nation could not progress or free itself unless women were its equal partners.

The Pakistan Movement is an important watershed in the social history of Muslim women. While there is a long line of writers who in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were advocating that Muslim women be educated, there was none who had the audacity to suggest that they emerge from the physical seclusion of their homes. When the Pakistan fever caught the hearts and minds of the Muslims, it seemed but natural that the women should be drawn into it too.

While the Quaid encouraged this through every policy decision of his, the conservative and the orthodox sections of society do not seem to have provided any major opposition to this new phenomenon. Hence there was no suffragette movement as such. Women acquired voting rights in the process of waging a political struggle for Pakistan. There is no evidence of a war between the genders because both were caught in a common struggle, and were supportive of each other. There is a whole galaxy of confident, intelligent, articulate and committed women who emerged from this Movement. They were poised at this advantageous situation when Pakistan was born.

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ALEXANDER'S INVASION

Western historians have tried to extol the cultural aspects of Alexander's invasion and to exaggerate the extent of its impact on the East. The truth of the matter is that he was a destroyer of civilizations and in this respect was no better than Changez or Hulagu. He annihilated the greatest civilization of the time flourishing in Persia under the Achaemenians, effaced the finest cultural monuments erected by the great monarchs of that dynasty and by setting fire to the capital city of Persepolis and several other towns and cities, left Iran desolate and deserted.

It took Iran more than six centuries to revive and resuscitate itself from the devastation wrought by Alexander's armies. Iran rose again and regained its lost power and prestige under the Sassanians in the 3rd century A.D. In Pakistan also Alexander and his forces carried out large-scale massacres. In lower Sind alone 80,000 people are said to have been put to the sword and innumerable men and women sold as slaves. (Early History of India, By V.A. Smith)

Since Alexander was determined to reach the eastern-most limits of the Persian Empire he could not resist the temptation to conquer Pakistan, which at this time was parcelled out into small chieftain- ships, who were feudatories of the Persian Empire. Alexander entered Pakistan from the northern route at Swat but was given a tough fight by the local forces in which he himself is said to have been injured. Next, he reached Indus which was crossed at a place called Ohind, fifteen miles above Attock. The first local ruler he encountered was that of Taxila, Raja Ambhi, with his territories lying between Indus and Jhelum.

This raja, because of the geographical position ofhis kingdom, kept himself well informed of developments across Indus and beyond, and was shrewd and pragmatic in his approach. Having received the information that the Achaemenian Emperor Darius III was ignominously defeated by Alexander and that entire Iran had been over-run and devastated by his armies, Ambhi considered it prudent to conclude peace with the Greek dictator. Alexander was extended a glorious welcome at Taxila where he stayed for some time and held discussions with the learned people of the city. He was so pleased with the raja that he confirmed the latter as ruler of the area and gave him costly presents.

Further east, however, Alexander's advance was halted by the famous Raja Porus who inflicted considerable losses on the Greek forces. Porus was the ruler of territories east of Jhelum. The local armies fought valiantly and but for some tactical mistakes might have won the war. In spite of the defeat, Porus was confirmed as ruler in his principality in recognition of his prowess and patriotism. Moreover, Alexander did not want to antagonise the local people and rulers in view of their potentialities and also in view of his own limited resources. "It is clear from classical accounts of Alexander's campaign that the Greeks were not unimpressed by what they saw in India (i.e. Sindhu or Indus Valley or Pakistan -- ancient India was in Pakistan region, not present day India). They much admired the courage of the Indian (Pakistani) troops, the austerity of the ascetics whom they met at Taxila and the purity and simplicity of the tribes of the Punjab and Sind The Greeks were impressed by the ferocity with which the women of some of the Punjab tribes aided their menfolk in resisting Alexander." (The Wonder that was India, By A.L. Bhasham)

"The Greeks who were much impressed by the high stature of the men in the Punjab acknowledged that in the art of war they were far superior to the other nations by which Asia was at that time inhabited. The resolute opposition of Porus consequently was not to be despise." (The Oxford History of India, By V.A. Smith)

Alexander went up to the bank of the Beas somewhere near Gurdaspur where his army, according to historians, refused to move further. What- ever the immediate cause, by reaching Beas Alexander had almost touched the eastern-most frontier of the traditional boundaries of Pakistan and accomplished his mission. It was but logical that he should return. He came down through the entire length of Pakistan, crossed the Hub River near Karachi and departed for home dying on the way. It should not be overlooked that during his 10-month stay in Pakistan and during his movements from one end to the other he did not have smooth sailing. He had to fight small rulers almost everywhere in the N.W.F.P., Punjab and Sind. The Mallois of Mullistan (Multan) inflicted considerable losses on his forces.

Alexander's invasion of this area and the extent of his journey again boldly highlight the fact that Pakistan's present boundaries were almost the same in those days. From Hindu Kush, Dir and Swat to the banks of the Beas and down to Karachi - this entire area was one single geographical, political and cultural bloc under the suzerainty of the Persians. It will also be recalled that this was the same area as covered by the Indus Valley Civilization which continued to remain separate from India through the ages.

Alexander's halt and return from the bank of the Beas is not without significance in this context. "The sphere of Persian influence in these early times can hardly have reached beyond the realm of the Indus and its affluents. We may assume, accordingly, that when Alexander reached the river Hyphasis, the ancient vipac, and modern Beas, and was then forced by his generals and soldiers to start upon his retreat, he had touched the extreme limits of the Persian dominion over which he had triumphed throughout." (The Cambridge History of India, Vol.1, Edited by E.J. Rapson)

The redeeming feature of this period that stands out distinctly is that Pakistan, again, was NOT a part of India and was affiliated to a western power. We have seen that whether during (a) the Indus Valley Civilization 3000 B.C. - 1500 B.C. or (b) during the period of Aryan settlement 1500 B.C. -1000 B.C. or (c) during the half a millennium period after further Aryan migrations eastward 1000 B.C. - 500 B.C. or (d) during its affiliation with the Achaemenian Empire 500 - 325 B.C., Pakistan was all along a separate entity having nothing to do with India. The period covered by these four chapters of its history is from 3000 B.C. to 325 B.C., i.e., about two thousand seven hundred years.

The immediate impact of Alexander's invasion on Pakistan was faint and inconsequential. The long-term and indirect effects, however, were of considerable importance which shall be discussed at a later stage. Here we shall pick up the thread of political history and follow the destiny of this area immediately after Alexander's departure.

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ARAB RULE OF SINDH/PAKISTAN

In A.D. 711, a youthful Arab general Muhammed Bin Qasim rode eastwards along the desolate Makran coast (Baluchistan) with six thousand Syrian Arab cavaliers to become the conqueror of Sind. It was an event of great historic significance about which the Italian scholar F. Gabrieli comments: "Present day Pakistan, holding the values of Islam in such high esteem, should look upon the young Arab conqueror, Muhammed bin Qasim, almost as a distant Kistes (founding father), a hero of South Asian Islam".

Muhammed Bin Qasim's conquest were part of the proselytization and expansion of the Damascus based Ommayid Empire. He was the military commander of Caliph Walid bin Abdul malik whose domains extended from Central Asia to Spain. In A.D. 712, Muhammed Bin Qasim conquered Sind's major sea port Daibul. Its ruins are situated 40 miles east of Karachi at the mouth of a dried up channel of the Indus Delta. The city had a great Buddhist stupa, a dewal, the root of its Arab name Daibul.

At that time Sind was ruled by Brahmin King Dahir son of Chach, related the 13th century Persian chronicle Chachnama, translated from a lost near-contemporary account in Arabic referred to by later Arab historians.

Dahir's kingdom extended from the Indus Delta on the Arabian Sea to Rur, contemporary Rohri, on the eastern banks of the Indus opposite the modern city of Sukkur. The kingdom had brought about a reassertion of Brahmanism over Buddhism, but because majority of people were then followers of the Buddhist faith, it had an extremely fragile base. The Arabs came accross so many Buddhist idols in Sind that they adopted the word budd (Buddha) for the idol in the temple, a word still used in Pakistan.

After taking control of Daibul, Muhammed Bin Qasim continued his advance northwards and conquered Niran near Hyderabad. There the Arabs were reiforced by a contingent of four thousand native Jat soldiers. They crossed the Indus by a bridge of boats and challenged dahir's army near Rawar. The battle of destiny ensued. Dahir's forces were scattered and he died fighting.

The Arabs continued pressing northwards along the Indus. They captured Dahir's capital city Brahmanabad (Brahmin city), where they built their own city Mansura. Next they occupied Rur and continued their advance until they conquered Multan, the most ancient living city of South Asia. Multan, with its renowned ancient golden temple dedicated to the sun god Aditya, contained so much gold that the conquerors evidently felt that they need go no further. For three centuries it remained the northernmost outpost of the Sind province of the Arab Empire.

The amazing Arab Islamic expansion was not only the result of cavalry forays. They had combined military operations with political means as well. Their offer to proselytize the natives to their own faith and become part of the new Islamic community had a far reaching impact. It was an offer which was open to everybody, and one which was perhaps most readily accepted by the lower orders of Hindus who now had a marvellous opportunity for collective manumission from caste slavery. As a result many Sind tribes accepted Islam, among them the Somra Rajputs. An additional attraction was that religious levies were abolished for those who converted.

But the new ruling power in Sind did not impose Islam on anybody. The Chachnama has reproduced extracts from the historic Brahmanabad Charter which for the eighth century represents a paricularly high level of humanistic social order and values.

Those who did not choose to convert to Islam were treated magnanimously. The charter allowed complete religious freedom to those living in the countryside around Brahmanabad, putting them on par with the status of Jews, Magians and fire worshippers in Syria and Iraq. They were allowed to continue making idols of their gods; Brahmins and Buddhists alike could continue celebrating religious festivals according to the customs of their forefathers. They were encouraged to do business freely with the Muslims.

Muhammed Bin Qasim incorporated the traditional administrative and revenue structures into the new order, appointing officials to positions according to their rank and experience, leaving the internal affairs to look after themselves. He showeredhis new appointees with gifts and gave them seats of honour in the court. On a local level he appointed elders to collect revenue from villages and towns, allowing them complete administrative authority.

The members of the highest caste, Sind's ruling class Brahmins, who obviously saw less reason than anybody to convert, were also incorporated into Brahmanabad Charter. They were restored to their top posts and much of the administration of the country was left in their hands.

Ommayids were succeeded by the Abbasids who became the new rulers of Sind. From A.D. 750 the Abbasid Caliphs with their capital in Baghdad sent their governors to rule. Ibn Haukal, who had travelled extensively through the Arab domains around the middle of the 8th century, particularly mentioned the affluence of the people and cheapness of food in Sind. Being a prosperous land, Sind paid substantial revenue to Baghdad. In A.D. 820, Caliph Al- Mamoon had received one million dirams as revenue from Sind.

Culturally, deep interactions had started between the Middle East and the South Asian subcontinent. The Arabic language had made deep inroads into Sind which has the longest tradition of Arabic scholarship in the whole region. Modern Sindi vocabulary abounds in Arabic words. There is mention of Sindi scholars and poets in the annals of Abbasid Arabic literature. There was also a synthesis of Islamic and Sindi living pattern. Local dress was adopted by the common folk from among the new settlers, though the merchants continued to wear flowing Arab cloaks.

Academically there was not only one way cultural traffic. During the rule of Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur, scholars from the Indus valley were welcomed at the court of Baghdad. Their works on medicine, mathematics, astronomy and philosophy were translated into the Arabic language.

In the north Islam was also making inroads from Afghanistan into the north western regions of Pakistan. Islamic missionaries were actively spreading their faith among the tribes. Peshawar Museum has a stone tablet inscribed with both Arabic and Sanskrit characters from Tochi valley of Waziristan, whic establishes the presence of Islam in the area as early as A.D. 857. With the gradual decline of the Abbasid Arab Empire the Turks now entered the imperial arena.

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THE SUFI MOVEMENT AND PAKISTAN

Progress in human life whether political, social or economic has depended upon and deeply indebted to the activities of a group of dedicated persons guided by leaders of exceptional qualities. The ushering in of the greatest monotheistic movement in history under the nomenclature of 'Islam' was possible and its success assured because of the sterling character, the imperishable faith and unfailing resolve of its leader, Prophet Mohammed, and his companions.

Muslim society has the distinction of initiating another unique movement in history which remains unparalleled by its wide-spread character covering the two continents of Asia and Africa; by the remarkable success it achieved in having its objectives fulfilled; by the enormous number of selfless workers it produced for the propagation of its ideals; by the depth of influence it exercised; by the revolutionary fervour it aroused, and by the indelible marks it left not only on Muslim society but on the Christian, Hindu and Buddhist societies as well. It provided succour and nourishment to such an extent that Muslims were able to withstand the Mongol catastrophy, fight it back with renewed vigour on religious plane and then to expand its horizons beyond the Sahara in Africa, across the Indus in India and over the oceans into Indonesia. This movement is known as"Sufism".

The beginning of sufi movement, its philosophy and the biographies of its leaders (saints) are too well-known, and dwelt upon at great length by a large number of scholars to be recapitulated here. I shall take up only those aspects which are relevant to our subject concerning the emergence of Pakistan. An important point to bear in mind is that there would have been no Pakistan without the sufi movement.

Pakistan and sufism are inter-related, inter-woven and inseparable from each other. If Pakistan's beginning is traced back to the conquest of this sub-continent by Muslims armies, as is erroneously done, then the whole sub-continent should have become Pakistan since Muslim arms were successful throughout the area. But Pakistan emerged only in those territories where sufism met with success. Pakistan, therefore, can be described as the fruit of sufi movement. "Pre-eminent among these problems relating to the life of the Muslim community in all regions since the twelfth century", writes Professor Gibb, "is the activity and influence of the sufi shaikhs and orders.

It was into the sufi movement that the life blood of the community flowed ever more strongly. No adequate history of Islam can be written until it, with all its causes and effects, has been studied patiently and with scholarly integrity, In no region, moreover, is this study more fundamental or more urgently required than in that of Islam in Indian subcontinent". He further says: "From the 13th century A.D. sufism increasingly attracted the creative social and intellectual energies within the community, to become the bearer or instrument of a social or cultural revolution."

In its early stages sufism was an individual affair confined to intellectuals and spiritualists with hardly any appeal to the masses. But with the passage of time it acquired new dimensions and began to deal with the mundane aspects of life as well. Its beginning, popularity and propagation have been attributed to many causes among which may be mentioned:

1. to free religious thought from the rigidity imposed by the ulema;

2. to emphasise in the Islamic teachings the element of God's love and mercy for His creation rather than His wrath and retribution;

3. to practise what one professes and not merely indulge in slogans and soliloques;

4. to stress the essence of faith rather than mere observance of formalities;

5. to move away towards rural areas from the evil and debilitation effects of wealth, monarchy and bureaucracy concentrated in big cities;

6. to demolish the edifice of false values based on pelf and power and restore morality to its proper place in the niche of Muslim society;

7. to combat the fissiparous tendencies and centrifugal forces which were spreading their tentacles in the Muslim world;

8. to discourage parochial feelings and eliminate racial pride which had assumed primary importance in Muslim thinking relegating the ideal of brotherhood to a secondary place etc.

These factors which gave birth to organised sufism were indeed serious ailments which had afflicted Muslim society for some time and had assumed menacing proportions by the 12th century A.D. It was easily discernible that Muslim political structure was crumbling and its entire moral and social fabric facing extinction. The most redeeming feature of this dark and dismal period was that this challenge was successfully met by the Muslim society from its own resources and from its own inherent strength by employing its own moral and intellectual weapons. The answer to this grave challenge was the sufi movement. Sufism gave a new lease of life to the Muslims, provided them with a bright vision, opened up fresh vistas for them, and guided them towards unexplored horizons. It was a glorious and splendid performance, unparalleled and unsurpassed in human history.

Hundreds of devoted workers left their hearths and homes, spread out over unknown regions hazarding strange climes and conditions with hardly any material resources to aid and assist them. Poverty and privation stalked their efforts while distance and inaccessibility stood in their way. But undaunted and undeterred they marched forward demolishing the distances, breaking the barriers, conquering the climes. And lo! they succeeded. What was the secret of their success? They had both strength of character and courage of conviction, were selfless and devoted to a cause.

SUFISM IN ORGANISED FORM

Sufism became organised, and adopted a form and institution in the 12th and 13th centuries A.D. The two great pioneers in this field were Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani and Hazrat Shahabuddin Suhrawardy. By introducing the system of 'silsila' which was a sort of association/order, and takia/khankha, a lodge or hospice, they invested the movement with a sense of brotherhood and provided it with a meeting place. The 'silsila' and the takia/khankha were the king-pins of the organization. With a stream of selfless workers available and with no dearth of devoted and assiduous leadership, the movement made swift progress and spread far and wide.

It is incorrect to state that the sufis followed the Muslim conquerors in the sub-continent. They were here, though in small numbers, and had started their work even before the arrival and triumph of Muslim armies. "We now know that a sufi, Sh. Abdur Rahman, had settled in Ajmer even before Khwaja Moinuddin, and was the author of the first work in Hindi."( Indian Muslims, By Prof. M.Mujeeb.). At this time Ajmer was ruled by Rajput Rajas.

Similarly, Shaikh Ismail Bukhari came to Pakistan before Mahmud Ghaznavi. Mohammed Alfi who came as early as Mohd. Bin Qasim's time began missionary work in Hindu-ruled Kashmir. "The Ismaili missionary Abdullah landed near Cambay in 1067A.D. and worked in Gujrat when the country was governed by Sidhraj Jai Singh. He and his Jain teacher Huma Charya are said to have been converted to Islam when there was no recorded Muslim invasion." (The Shias of India, By John Norman Hollister). Such instances can be multiplied without end.

The character of sufi movement was such that if did not require official patronage or military protection. It succeeded without both in a number of countries such as Malaya, Indonesia and East and West Africa. The same is true of their work in Pakistan. In fact, power was a hindrance rather than a help to the progress of Sufi mission. This is amply borne out by the fact that sufis achieved least success near the seats of power in the sub-contintent and had greater appeal where they had to fall upon their own moral and spiritual resources in which they were not wanting.

"Shaikh Daud of Lahore declined to meet Akbar although the Emperor was anxious to benefit from his guidance and blessings. Eminent Khalifas of Shaikh Nizamuddin refused to consider a proposal made by Mohammad Tughlaq to coordinate missionary activity with political expansion." (Indian Muslims, By Prof.M. Mujeeb.)

"Neither the succession of victories by Muslim armies nor the massacre of Hindu and the destruction of their temples brought many Hindus to the fold of Islam. On the contrary, as would be natural in the circumstances, conquest only built up Hindu resistance. The battles of Islam were won not by Muslim iconoclasts but by peaceful missionaries." (A History of the Sikhs, By Kushwant Singh.) What actually transpired was that the vigorous period of organised sufi movement merely coincided with the conquest of northern India by the Ilbari Turks early in the 13th century A.D.

Here we shall briefly narrate the work of sufis in Pakistan. Early in the 8th century A.D. when Mohammad Bin Qasim conquered Sind (which included most of Punjab) sufi movement had not taken any organised form, as already stated. In those days Islam was propagated mostly by merchants and individual preachers belonging to various trades. They were successful only to a limited extent; they did not spear-head a mass movement.

The first organised work in this region was started by Ismaili missionaries who achieved considerable success in Sind and southern Punjab where they gained political power as well by installing Ismaili rulers at Multan and Mansura. But the success of Ismaili missionaries was short-lived. Both Mahmud Ghaznavi (997-1030 A.D.) and, 150 years later, Mohammad Ghori (1175-1206 A.D.) defeated and smashed the power of the Ismaili rulers which resulted in the slow withering away of Ismaili Shiaism in Pakistan. Among the early Ismaili missionaries to gain ground in Pakistan were Pir Sadruddin, Pir Kabiruddin and Syed Yusufuddin.

The success of Ismailism in Pakistan coincided with its similar success in other parts of the Muslim world from the middle of the 10th to the middle of the 12th century A.D. During this period the Ismaili Caliphate of the Fatimids at Cairo had emerged the most powerful and Hasan Bin Sabbah's followers in the mountain fastnesses of northern Iran and Syria had become a factor to be reckoned with. But the Ghaznazvids, the Ghorids, The Seljuqs, the Ayubids and lastly the Mongols each in turn took steps to break their political power, while the sufis completely triumphed over them in the religious sphere. Southern Pakistan having become an integral part of the Muslim world from quite an early period, witnessed this rise and fall of the Ismailis in its own territories as well.

The Ghaznavid period was marked by the arrival in Lahore of the important spiritual figures of Hazrat Shaikh Ismail and Hazrat Ali Bin Osman Hujweri, popularly known as Data Ganj Baksh (died between 1072-79 A.D.) The latter was among the leading sufi philosophers of the day and since no organised 'silsilas' had started in his time, he did immense missionary work in an individual capacity and set an outstanding example for future generations.

"Shaikh Ismail was the first missionary who began preaching Islam in Lahore in 1005 A.D. He used to deliver 'khutbas' every Friday at which thousands of Hindus embraced Islam. Next came Hazrat Shaikh Ali Bin Osman Hujweri during the time of Masud Ghaznavi and was highly successful in converting large number of Hindus to Islam." (Tareekh-e-Sind By Ijazul Haq Quddusi.) He is reported to have converted Rai Raju, a Hindu General of the Ghaznavids, to Islam.

However, according to scholars, the general conversion to Islam in Pakistan started on a sizeable scale two hundred years later, from the 13th century, after the Ghorid rule. This period begins with the arrival of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in this sub-continent followed by a large number of Chishti and Suhrawardy sufis. This period also saw the expansion of Muslim power across the Sutlej into northern India. "Muslim mysticism reached India when it had entered the last and the most important phase of its history- the organisation of silsilas in the 12th-13th centuries A.D. In the early period, only Suhrawardy and Chisti silsilas started their work." (Religion and Politics in India in the 13th Century A.D. By Khaliq Ahmad Nizami.)

"Sind claims the distinction of being the home of Indian sufism. According to Hasan Nizami, Suhrawardy sufis were the first to arrive in India and made their Headquarters in Sind. Suhrawardy order attained great influence in Pakistan under the leadership of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria of Multan. The famous Qadirya order entered India through Sind in 1482 A.D. Syed Bandagi Mohammad Ghouse, one of the descendants of the founder (Shaikh Abdul Qader Jilani 1078-1116) took up residence in Sind at Uch (now in Bahawalpur) and died in 1517 A.D." (An Introduction to History of Sufism By A.J.Arbery.)

THE PIONEERS

The great pioneers of this 13th century sufi movement in Pakistan were the four friends known as 'Chahar Yar': Hazrat Fariduddin Masud Ganj Shakar of Pak Pattan (1174-1266); Hazrat Syed Jalaluddin Bukhari of Uch-Bahawalpur (1196-1294); Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria of Multan (1170-1267) and Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar of Sehwan (1177-1274). It is said that 17 leading tribes of the Punjab accepted Islam at the hands of Hazrat Fariduddin Masud Ganj Shakar. Among them were the Kharals, Dhudhyan, Tobiyan, etc. According to some , Wattu, a Rajput tribe was also converted by Baba Farid. Hazrat Jalaluddin Bukhari converted Sumras and Sammas of Sindh while Hazrat Zakaria and Shahbaz Qalandar attained great success in Multan and the northern areas of Sindh. Saqi Sarwar Sultan converted a large number of Jats and a group among them is still known as Sultani Jats.

But the Sufis did not do their work in a hurry. They first set an example of highest probity by their personal acts and explained the message of Islam in a simple, forceful manner without exerting any political or economic pressure so that the work of conversion continued for centuries throughout the Delhi Sultanate, through the Khilji, Tughlaq, Lodhi and Mughal periods down to the days of the British Raj. We learn that during the time of the Mughals a noted sufi, Shaikh Dawood of Chati (in Pakistan) was carrying on the work of conversion quite vigorously. The historian Badauni says: "Hindus to the number of 50 or more came each day with their families and relatives to pay their respects to the Saint (Shaikh Dawood) and under his spiritual influence embraced Islam."

Other notable sufis of Pakistan were:

Hazrat Shah Mohammad Ghouse who migrated from Sindh and settled down in the Punjab; Hazrat Mian Mir, who was born in Sindh and migrated to Lahore where he is buried. (A personal friend of the 5th Sikh Guru Arjun, he laid the foundation of Hari Mandir in Amritsar). Hazrat Shah Jamal of Ichra, Lahore; Hazrat Shah Khairuddin Abul Maali of Lahore, Shaikh Ismail of Lahore; Hazrat Syed Yakub Zanjani (d. 604 H) Lahore, Hazrat Abdul Nabi Sham of Sham Chourasi who was originally a Hindu; Ruknuddin Rukne Alam of Multan who was grandson of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakaria whose family had also migrated from Sindh; Hazrat Jalaluddin Bukhari Makhdoom-e-Jahanian Jahan Gusht of Uch who was the grandson of Hazrat Jalaluddin Bukhari; Syed Ahmad Saqi Sarwer Sultan of D.G. Khan; Shaikh Yusuf Gardezi of Multan (1026-1152); Shaikh Safiuddin Haqqani of Uch; Pir Jalaluddin Qutub-al-Aqtab who died at Uch in 1293 AD converted the Mazaris and several other Baluch tribes to Islam; Channan Pir of Cholistan, Bahawalpur; Sharfuddin Bulbul Shah, Syed Ali Hamdani and Mir SyedHasan Samnani of Kashmir; Shaikh Badruddin Suleman and Shaikh Budruddin Ishaque of Pak Pattan; Shaikh Sadruddin Arif, Shaikh Ruknuddin Abul Fatah and Shams Subzwari of Multan; Alaul Aque; Hazrat Khardari Baba Mulla Taher of Ziarat; Pir Hunglaj on the coast of Makran; Pir Shori in Bugti territory; Shah Bilawal in Lasbela; Pir Omar in Khuzdar; Zinda Pir in Lund area, Chatan Shah near Kalat, Sultan Shah in Zehri territory. Pir Baba of Swat, Kaka Sahib of Nowshera; Khwaja Makhdum Chisti, Sakhi Sultan (Mangho Pir) and Hazrat Abdullah Shah of Karachi; Syed Shah Ali Makhi, Ghazi Baba, Makhdoom Mohammad Nooh, Hazrat Mohiuddin Gilani, Shah Khairuddin Gilani and Hazrat Shah Inayat of Sindh.

These sufis were great intellectuals, well-read and widely travelled. Most of them were speakers of high calibre, men of letters and poets of eminence. Because of their merits and morals coupled with their spiritual attainments they succeeded in making a powerful impact on the life of the people among whom they settled. It was no mean achievement to change the religion and transform the entire social life of millions of people in this subcontinent.

THE BLESSINGS OF THE SUFIS

The sufis performed a multitudinous role. Being proficient in learning, adept in medicine and steeped in spiritualism, they dispensed these possessions for the greatest good of the greatest number. Highest nobles of the state as well as lowest strata of society gathered in the Khankhas and the sufis showered their blessings upon them irrrespctive of rank and religion. They provided succour to the harassed and solace to the harrowed, made available food and shelter to the needy, preached against corruption, and admonished the harsh and oppressive rulers. There is hardly any social or moral crime against which the sufis did not raise their voice----slavery, hoarding, black-marketing, profiteering, wine, etc. Barni remarks that as a result of their teachings "vices among men had been reduced".

Hazrat Shah Baz Qalander's success in his campaign against the oppression of the local raja and against the vices prevailing in Sehwan is well-known.

When Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti was asked about the highest form of devotion, he replied that it was nothing but helping the poor, the distracted and the downtrodden. Infact Muslim mystics looked upon 'social service' as the supreme object of all their spiritual exercises. they did not believe in isolated, solitary life of contemplation. 'Live in society and bear the blows and buffets of the people' was the advice of most of them to their disciples.

Shaikh Ruknuddin Rukn-e-Alam of Multan is reported to have remarked that since all sorts of people visited a saint it was necessary for him to possess three things: 1. money; 2. learning; and 3. spiritual ability. With the first he could help those who needed monetary aid; with the second he could solve the problems of scholars and with the third he could provide spiritual guidance. It may be mentioned here that some of the sufis accepted gifts and donations from their rich disciples and distributed them among the poor visitors, thus serving as a media for fair distribution of wealth.

The sufis always advocated the path of peace and askd people to avoid rift and bloodshed. Shaikh Fariduddin Ganj Shakar of Pakpattan advised his disciples to placate one's enemies. He once told a vistor: "Do not give me a knife; give me a needle. The knife is an instrument for cutting asunder and the needle for sewing together."

Another aspect of sufi teachings was that they stressed God's love rather than His wrath; treated their enemies softly, sympathetically and never abused other systems or creeds. Though greatly instrumental in bringing back Ismailis of Sindh and Punjab into the fold of Sunni Islam, they always praised the services of Ismaili missionaries who preceded them. Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia had commended the work of the well-known Ismaili missionary Nur Turk although he was responsible for the rising against early Turkish Sultans in Delhi.

The sufis were so kind and considerate towards people of all cultures and creeds that they exercised profound influence on Hindu society. It was because of the sympathy and understanding shown by them to the Hindus, particularly of the lower strata, that in the 14th and 15th centuries AD the religious leadership of Bhakti movement rose from the lower sections. Never before in the long history of Hinduism, religious leaders had sprung from that strata of society to which Chaitanya, Kabir, Nanak, Dhannu, Dadu and others belonged. And what is more significant, there was hardly any leader of Bhakti school who had not passed some of his time in khankha.

Thus, khanqhas (hospices) not only brought non-Muslims and Muslims together but they also narrowed the gulf that divided the Muslims of foreign origin and local converts. If the sufis had not played this vital role of far reaching importance there would have hardly been a common meeting ground between some of the ruling classes obsessed with a superiority complex, and the ruled who comprised both non-Muslims and newly converts. Without sufis, most Muslim rulers of the early period would have remained isolated, lacking a broad base, always in danger of extinction.

As against the stiff, nonchalanat and contemptuous attitude of some Sultans towards converted Muslims, the sufis gave them a sense of pride and enhanced their social prestige by various means. They usually conferred on them such titles of nobility as Khwaja (also pronounced Khoja), Momin (Memon), Malik, Shaikh, Akhund, Khalifa, etc.

By adopting an attitude of river-like generosity, sun-like affection and earth-like hospitality, the sufis struck at the very roots of casteism and religious exclusiveness and paved the way for large-scale conversions to Islam.

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