Seniors, please throw some light on the question whether Jinnah considered religion as a personal matter and wanted to remain secular in politics ?

Mr. Jinnah’s presidential address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan
August 11, 1947

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen!
I cordially thank you, with the utmost sincerity, for the honour you have conferred upon me – the greatest honour that is possible to confer – by electing me as your first President. I also thank those leaders who have spoken in appreciation of my services and their personal references to me. I sincerely hope that with your support and your co-operation we shall make this Constituent Assembly an example to the world. The Constituent Assembly has got two main functions to perform. The first is the very onerous and responsible task of framing the future constitution of Pakistan and the second of functioning as a full and complete sovereign body as the Federal Legislature of Pakistan. We have to do the best we can in adopting a provisional constitution for the Federal Legislature of Pakistan. You know really that not only we ourselves are wondering but, I think, the whole world is wondering at this unprecedented cyclonic revolution which has brought about the clan of creating and establishing two independent sovereign Dominions in this sub-continent. As it is, it has been unprecedented; there is no parallel in the history of the world. This mighty sub-continent with all kinds of inhabitants has been brought under a plan which is titanic, unknown, unparalleled. And what is very important with regards to it is that we have achieved it peacefully and by means of an evolution of the greatest possible character.
Dealing with our first function in this Assembly, I cannot make any well-considered pronouncement at this moment, but I shall say a few things as they occur to me. The first and the foremost thing that I would like to emphasize is this: remember that you are now a sovereign legislative body and you have got all the powers. It, therefore, places on you the gravest responsibility as to how you should take your decisions. The first observation that I would like to make is this: You will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the State.
The second thing that occurs to me is this: One of the biggest curses from which India is suffering – I do not say that other countries are free from it, but, I think our condition is much worse – is bribery and corruption. That really is a poison. We must put that down with an iron hand and I hope that you will take adequate measures as soon as it is possible for this Assembly to do so.
Black-marketing is another curse. Well, I know that blackmarketeers are frequently caught and punished. Judicial sentences are passed or sometimes fines only are imposed. Now you have to tackle this monster, which today is a colossal crime against society, in our distressed conditions, when we constantly face shortage of food and other essential commodities of life. A citizen who does black-marketing commits, I think, a greater crime than the biggest and most grievous of crimes. These blackmarketeers are really knowing, intelligent and ordinarily responsible people, and when they indulge in black-marketing, I think they ought to be very severely punished, because the entire system of control and regulation of foodstuffs and essential commodities, and cause wholesale starvation and want and even death.
The next thing that strikes me is this: Here again it is a legacy which has been passed on to us. Along with many other things, good and bad, has arrived this great evil, the evil of nepotism and jobbery. I want to make it quite clear that I shall never tolerate any kind of jobbery, nepotism or any influence directly or indirectly brought to bear upon me. Whenever I will find that such a practice is in vogue or is continuing anywhere, low or high, I shall certainly not countenance it.
I know there are people who do not quite agree with the division of India and the partition of the Punjab and Bengal. Much has been said against it, but now that it has been accepted, it is the duty of everyone of us to loyally abide by it and honourably act according to the agreement which is now final and binding on all. But you must remember, as I have said, that this mighty revolution that has taken place is unprecedented. One can quite understand the feeling that exists between the two communities wherever one community is in majority and the other is in minority. But the question is, whether it was possible or practicable to act otherwise than what has been done, A division had to take place. On both sides, in Hindustan and Pakistan, there are sections of people who may not agree with it, who may not like it, but in my judgement there was no other solution and I am sure future history will record is verdict in favour of it. And what is more, it will be proved by actual experience as we go on that was the only solution of India’s constitutional problem. Any idea of a united India could never have worked and in my judgement it would have led us to terrific disaster. Maybe that view is correct; maybe it is not; that remains to be seen. All the same, in this division it was impossible to avoid the question of minorities being in one Dominion or the other. Now that was unavoidable. There is no other solution. Now what shall we do? Now, if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor. If you will work in co-operation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be on end to the progress you will make.
I cannot emphasize it too much. We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community, because even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on, and among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vashnavas, Khatris, also Bengalis, Madrasis and so on, will vanish. Indeed if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain the freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free people long long ago. No power can hold another nation, and specially a nation of 400 million souls in subjection; nobody could have conquered you, and even if it had happened, nobody could have continued its hold on you for any length of time, but for this. Therefore, we must learn a lesson from this. You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or 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. As you know, history shows that in England, conditions, some time ago, were much worse than those prevailing in India today. The Roman Catholics and the Protestants persecuted each other. Even now there are some States in existence where there are discriminations made and bars imposed against a particular class. Thank God, we are not starting in those days. We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction 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. The people of England in course of time had to face the realities of the situation and had to discharge the responsibilities and burdens placed upon them by the government of their country and they went through that fire step by step. Today, you might say with justice that Roman Catholics and Protestants do not exist; what exists now is that every man is a citizen, an equal citizen of Great Britain and they are all members of the Nation.
Now 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.
Well, gentlemen, I do not wish to take up any more of your time and thank you again for the honour you have done to me. I shall always be guided by the principles of justice and fairplay without any, as is put in the political language, prejudice or ill-will, in other words, partiality or favouritism. My guiding principle will be justice and complete impartiality, and I am sure that with your support and co-operation, I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest nations of the world.
I have received a message from the United States of America addressed to me. It reads:
I have the honour to communicate to you, in Your Excellency’s capacity as President of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, the following message which I have just received from the Secretary of State of the United States:
On the occasion of the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly for Pakistan, I extend to you and to the members of the Assembly, the best wishes of the Government and the people of the United States for the successful conclusion of the great work you are about to undertake.

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Forget safety.Live where you fear to live.Destroy your reputation.Be notorious

After reading the above post there should be no doubt in any neutral person's mind that Jinnah considered religion as a personal matter and wanted to remain secular in politics.

cheers,
floydian

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Police Service of Pakistan (PSP)
39th Common Training Program

yes agreed that the thinking of our QUAID is quite evident from this post but then another question comes into my mind.....according to two nation theory islam would be the religion of PAKISTAN(at least it implies if dont points out directly)...another question is regarding the atmosphere at the time of partition e.g there r slogans like PAKISTAN ka matlub kia LA ILLA HA ILL LALLAH nd muslim league winning all the elections from muslim concentrated areas nd frankly speaking all other religions especially hindus in these muslim areas at that time wud nt hve wanted that subcontinent shud be divided..so in the light of this hw can we say that PAKISTAN should nt be an islamic state rather religion shud be treated as a personal subject....although QUAID wants it to be a personal subject...its is seeming a bit complicated to me..nd yes i hve heard that initially PAKISTAN was nt called islaimic republic of PAKISTAN rather it was republic of PAKISTAN...can anyone confirm

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Puppet,Slave,Lover

I'd not say that Quaid was religous type of person or fundamental by any mean. He was no doubt secular kind of person. But the strange thing about his personality was that he never imposed anything on others as far as personal matters are concerned.
Personaly he was secular, but he took the Muslim ideology as an Ideology of his pupil, and he was the only one to guranatee the success of this ideology. He took it as his job requirement.
I'd like you to study the most authentic and unbiased book on JINNAH's topic JINNAH OF PAKISTAN,(Stanley Wolpert) which shows that even if he would had been a Hindu by belief, still when he owned the responsibility of protecting Muslims' rights in subcontinent, then it means he would sincerly do that, better than any Muslim could have done. He was realy man of his words n Principles. Only Iqbal was his other replica in mental capabilities and sincerity.

The Constitution of 1973 named Pakistan as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Here is what the constitution says:

"Pakistan shall be Federal Republic to be known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, hereinafter referred to as Pakistan."

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Marwatone.

what about his address to a gathering at Islamia College, Peshawar in 1946. He said, " We did not demand Pakistan simply to have a piece of land but we wanted a laboratory where we could experiment on Islamic Principles".

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If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.(Che Guevara)

@ mjkhan

Jinnah's broadcast to the people of the United States (February 1948)

"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."

Again Jinnah is very clear about the kind of political system he wished for Pakistan. Jinnah's Pakistan was going to be a democratic state having essential principles of Islam like equality(equal opportunity for everyone regardlss of caste, color, creed) , peace, honesty, tolerance, justice, fair play and so on.

Now when we say Islamic state, we visualize Taliban's Islamic system, Iranian theocratic political model, Saudi legal and judicial system, Sufi Muhammad's Islamic state of swat and so on. The kind of state which Lal Masjid hooligans were demanding. The kind of state which our so called religious parties advocate, the kind of state which Zia was trying to impose(with some success). What is common in all these so called Islamic states? Well, its the rule of priests with some divine mission. The same model that existed in the Europe of dark ages. Whereas, Jinnah was clearly against such kind of theocratic model for Pakistan.

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.

Another point is willful misinterpretation of the word "secularism". The principles of secularism are clearly visible in Islam. Mesaq-e-Madina is one golden example as it was a written constitutional document of federal democratic nature considering collectively the Muslim, Jewish, Christian and pagan citizens of the state of Madina as Ummat-ul-Wahida ( a single community). Yes, the Prophet (PBUH) used the term Ummat-ul-Wahida (a single community) for Muslim and non-Muslim people of Madina.

So when Jinnah refers to Islamic state he has the model of Mesaq-e-Madina in his mind. This is evident from 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."

N Jinnah never raised this slogan Pakistan ka Matlab kia. The slogan Pakistan ka Matlab Kia?" was coined and extensively used in the Punjab and at a limited scale, in NWFP only at the time of referendum in 1947.

I leave the conclusion to your understanding.

regards,
floydian

__________________
Police Service of Pakistan (PSP)
39th Common Training Program

Jinnah said that religion has nothing to do with the business of the state. Absolutely depicts that the Quide was secular and wanted a secular Pakistan where all communities could live together.

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Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.

@floydian
with the address of QUAID to ppl of U.S nd other evidences i dnt think there is any doubt about JINNAHz PAKISTAN..but still a number of question remains there
wt abt two nation theory bcz although it is silent abt whether the new land for muslims wud an islamic state or not but if try to extract hw this country wud be then there can nt be any doubt of it being an islamic state...hwever our guiding principle shud be our QUAID cz no one other cud hve a more clear thinking abt why PAKISTAN was demanded nd needed nd its ideology..

was the state esablished by our prophet HAZRAT MUSTAFA(SAAWW) at madina or makkah a theocratic state?if yes then why shud we be afraid of having one?if not then is there any concept of islamic state in muslim world?if there is then wt is that if nt theocratic?nd yes meesaq a madina was done under some special circumstances nd we can nt take it as a role model for an islamic state generally cz in that case muslims were weaker nd lesser in strength

r u against a islamic theocratic state?if yes then why..wts the harm in it cz islam gives more rights to the minorities then any other system

nd yes i hve taken theocracy here as a religious authority which can also be an islamic state
moreover the reign of KHULFA A RASHIDEEN was a reign of theocratic people cz all of them were religious authorities

@sabir basheer the saying quoted by you dont points out at a concept of islamic state..it points out at the freedom, which muslims wud hve after being independent from india,to practice islam freely nd without any fear which was nt possible otherwise....

@floydian..this has gone a bit away from the topic of the thread but this is correlated with each other nd i think ur comments on this wud be helpful

nd yes the concept of a secular state is sometimes misunderstood..it is not as bad a concept...for example in case of india it is best suited..as was at the time of meesaq a madina

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Puppet,Slave,Lover