The lost papers of Allama Mohammad Asad - The First Citizen of Pakistan

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Quaid e Azam created a department of Islamic Reconstruction in 1947 to create an Islamic state in Pakistan. He appointed the German convert Muslims Muhemmed Asad as its director general. After the death of Quaid e Azam, the whole department was burnt down by the traitors and its research lost to the nation. Now for the first time in 65 years, these rare, historical and visionary works are brought back to life, Alhamdolillah. These are the lost papers of Muhemmed Asad.
These papers have an incredible historical value and set the record straight on the vision, mission, ambitions and aspirations of our founding fathers – Quaid, Allama Iqbal, Liaqat Ali Khan and Allama Asad – on the newly created Islamic state of Pakistan. These papers destroy the myth comprehensively that our founding fathers wanted to create secular state and did not wish an Islamic state. These papers are most decisive rebuttal to the liberal fascists who have been resisting the Islamic state in Pakistan and now would form the basis upon which to rebuild a glorious Islamic civilization, InshAllah!

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http://www.scribd.com/doc/103174754/The-lost-papers-of-Allama-Mohammad-Asad

 

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Muhammad Asad– The First Citizen of Pakistan

M. Ikram Chaghatai

abstract

As deputy secretary in charge of the middle east division of foreign ministry, asad prepared a memorandum for creation of something like a league of muslim nations, and having discussed it with prime minister liaquat ali khan, he officially toured saudi arabia, egypt and syria. Liaquat’s assassination, however, put an end to his plans for uniting the muslim nations. On his return, he submitted a report on his middle east tour to foreign minister sir zafarullah khan, who read it through and put it aside.


Leopold Weiss alias Muhammad Asad’s (1900-1992) reputed autobiographical travelogue, entitled The Road to Mecca, covers only a third of his long life and ends as he enters his home after his conversion (1926), first in Berlin and then in Cairo, with his German wife. Afterwards, he spent about fifteen years in India where he met Iqbal (1934) who advised him to abandon his plans of further traveling and “to remain in India to help elucidate the intellectual premises of the future Islamic State.” As a humble young follower, his whole Weltanschauung (world outlook) was changed by Iqbal, who set him out on a path that ultimately led him “to a revival of all the dormant hopes of Islam, the creation of a political entity of the people bound together not by common descent but by their common adherence to an ideology.” In view of Asad’s intellectual capabilities, scholarly accomplishments, marvelous exposition of Islamic concepts and personal experiences of the contemporary Muslim world, Iqbal tried to appoint him as the chairman of the department of Islamic Studies in one of the local colleges, but for certain reasons Asad could not accept it. Whenever Asad came to Lahore he visited Iqbal, and they spent many an hour talking about the prospect of Pakistan. They discussed in detail the forms in which the future Islamic State of Pakistan should be organized and the ways and means to persuade the Muslim political leaders to stand up boldly for their common ideal. Following Iqbal’s advice, Asad wrote a series of articles about why Pakistan had to be established and had them published in various European newspapers and periodicals; some of those articles appeared also in an Urdu translation in a leading newspaper of Lahore. In addition, Asad delivered some lectures on the same subject in Lahore and Delhi. As stated by Asad himself, it had been Iqbal who was the first to formulate, in clear-cut political terms, the idea of an Islamic State in North India and who thus gave it body and life. In fact, Asad devoted all his efforts to bring into reality Iqbal’s dream of an ideological Islamic state.

During the Second World War, Asad’s Austrian citizenship put him in imprisonment by the Indian government and the six years he spent in an internment camp made him more conscious about the significance of freedom for all human beings. No doubt, this incident intensified his aspirations for a separate homeland for the Indian Muslims.

Soon he started a monthly periodical named Arafat that was primarily a vehicle for Asad’s ideas, aiming at a fundamental reconstruction of our approach to the problem of Shariah. This journalistic monologue of Asad was to be a clarion-call at the critical time of Pakistan Movement. Three months before Pakistan came into being, he wrote an article under the title “What do we mean by Pakistan?” in which he emphasized the real purpose underlying the future establishment of Pakistan: that purpose did not consist in merely providing more economic opportunities or posts to Muslims but, rather, in enabling them to live effectively as Muslims and to realize the spirit of Islam in their political forms, in their laws and social institutions. In another issue, published less than a month before the Independence Day, Asad penned a lengthy essay entitled “Towards an Islamic Constitution” and it was the first attempt ever made to outline the principles which must be incorporated in the constitution of any state that claims to be ‘Islamic’. Asad’s thoughtful studies were destined to become the first step in the development of our modern political thought and for this reason he can be rightly called as one of the intellectual founders of Pakistan.

After going through the harrowing experiences of Partition (1947), Asad reached Lahore and settled here. Two months after Pakistan appeared on the map of the world, Nawab of Mamdot, the first Chief Minister of West Punjab, contacted Asad for establishing a special department to work out the ideological premises on which Pakistan should rest. Asad accepted this proposal and within a few days the scheme was set forth in a formal Memorandum, the budget estimate discussed and approved in conjunction with the Head of the Finance Department, and an official notification issued. The Department of Islamic Reconstruction– the first government institution with which the word `Islamic’ appeared– came into existence. Explaining the aims and objectives of this newly created Department in a radio talk on 18th October 1947, Asad proposed to make it a sort of “clearing-house” of ideas and endeavours aiming at religious and social uplift of the Muslim Ummah. Though it was his ‘baby’, he had to leave it under the pressure of Liaquat Ali Khan, the Prime Minister, and join the Foreign Service as Deputy Secretary in charge of the Middle East Division.

This Division comprised the whole Arab world, including North Africa, as well as Iran. Asad had very definite ideas as to the policies which Pakistan ought to pursue in that part of the world. Soon he prepared a long, explicit memorandum for the Foreign Minister, Sir Zafrullah Khan, outlining his policy proposals in some detail. On completion, this memorandum contained some outspoken criticism of the policies pursued by the Government until then. In this confidential document, Asad emphatically recommended immediate cooperation with the Arab States for creation of something like a League of Muslim Nations and having discussed it with the Prime Minister, he officially toured Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria with the very first passport marked “citizen of Pakistan”. At the end of this diplomatic mission, he received the news of Liaquat Ali Khan’s assassination (1951), which proved a full stop to his plans for uniting Muslim nations. On his return, he submitted a report on his Middle East tour to the Foreign Minister, Sir Zafrullah Khan, who read it through carefully and then put it aside. Thus, Asad’s enthusiasm for Muslim unity became a file in the archives of the Foreign Ministry.

In 1951, Asad’s work at the Middle East Division came to an end and he was appointed as the second-in-command to the Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Patras Bukhari, with the rank of Minister Plenipotentiary. Asad and his boss did not know one another personally and they never tried to be friendly. In consequence, their mutual relations were always strained and they never had the feeling that they were members of one and the same ‘team’ working towards common ends.

By chance, at a reception Asad met Pola, an American of Polish origin who was destined to become his third wife (d. 2007). She was a young, beautiful and intelligent woman. He fell in love with her and when he came to know that she had already embraced Islam he decided to marry her, despite the difference of age and temperament. But under the rules of the Foreign Office, he was bound to get prior permission to marry a non-Pakistani national. He applied through proper channel but the Governor-General rejected his application. So, he submitted his resignation from the Foreign Service, divorced his Arabian wife (Munira, d. 1978) and in the inspiring company of his new wife, he sat down and wrote his extraordinary book entitled The Road to Mecca.

After a lapse of few years, Asad, while living in Beirut, received an invitation from the Vice-Chancellor of the Punjab University, Mian Afzal Husain (1869-1970), to organize an International Islamic Colloquium in Lahore. As he had for some time been considering return to Pakistan, he decided to accept the invitation. Apparently, this Colloquium seems to have been the continuation of an International Islamic Conference which was held in Princeton in 1954 under the aegis of the Princeton University and the American Congress. Several eminent Western and Eastern scholars participated in it and emphasized the need for rapid growth of social, commercial and political relationship between Muslims and those others of the Graeco-Roman heritage. They also felt that in the context of an insidious threat of Communism and the hideous distress it caused all around, there could indeed be some enduring value in genuine co-operation with the moral-intellectual force of Islam. Sayyid Amjad Ali, Ambassador of Pakistan in America, was deeply impressed by its scholarly presentations and started thinking about holding such an awe-inspiring assemblage of savants in Pakistan. Afterwards, as a Finance Minister, he allocated an amount of seven lakh rupees for this purpose and a Colloquium Committee, comprising representatives of the six Pakistan universities, relevant Departments of the Government, and distinguished independent scholars, was organized to select subjects for discussion in this Colloquium and decide matters of policy concerning its organization and management.

In March 1957, this Colloquium Committee, with the approval of the Government, appointed Asad at a salary of fifteen hundred rupees per month to make suitable arrangements for holding the Conference and edit/publish the papers submitted on this occasion. In his first meeting with the Vice-Chancellor of the Punjab University, basically an agriculturist, Asad had the impression that Mr. Husain disliked him and was perhaps unhappy at his choice as organizer of the Colloquium. But Asad, with his profound knowledge of Islam, his complete command of the Arabic language and his acquaintance with many of the personalities who were to participate in the Conference, was the logical choice for organizing it.

Gradually, the differences between Asad and the Vice-Chancellor became more intense. Although Asad was supposed to have a free hand in the choice of scholars to be invited to the Colloquium, Afzal Husain kept interfering and questioning the right of this or that person to be invited, and suggesting some definitely inappropriate ones. It had been decided upon the outset that there would have to be more or less ‘official’ delegations from all the Muslim countries, which was a somewhat delicate issue because of the obtrusive presence of Jamal Abdul Nasir in and outside Egypt, but Asad believed that it would be possible to accommodate both pro-Nasir and anti-Nasir elements, since this was presumably to be a scholarly conference. Another conflicting issue of translating the presentations from English to Arabic and vice versa worsened the situation. Finally, Asad decided to hand over the work to the Vice-Chancellor himself and to step aside. From the beginning, his wife, Pola, was assisting him as his private secretary without having any `position’ or salary, so in the first week of December 1957, about three weeks before the inauguration of the Colloquium, she personally met the Vice-Chancellor and gave him all the typed English and Arabic letters and other relevant documents. At that time, everything had already been accomplished and even the air tickets had been issued, and it did not much matter to Asad that he would not even be a participant in the Colloquium. After two years (1960), when its proceedings came out, one could not even find his name there. What revenge a Vice-Chancellor had taken on a scholar like Asad who had a high standing both in Pakistan and in the entire Muslim world!

Full of disgust, Asad returned to Europe via Karachi where his old friend Mumtaz Masan, Finance Secretary, came up with a proposal which would perhaps change his mind. Asad was offered the co-directorship of a soon-to-be established Institute of Islamic Research. But it was too late, and in any case he had rightly tried resigning from– or being pushed out of Government posts– and he realized all too well that a co-directorship could never work, even with the best of will on both sides.

Again, during his stay in Switzerland, Asad received a letter from the President of Pakistan, General Ayub Khan, who was a great admirer of his book named The Principles of State and Government in Islam (1961). In a subsequent exchange of letters, he proposed to Asad to come to Pakistan and have the membership of a seven-man group of Muslim scholars– who both supposedly knew the world and were experts on Islam– to advise him with regard to everyday matters as well as the drawing up of a new Islamic constitution for the country. At that time, Asad was immersed in his cherished work on the Qur’an, and so he regretfully declined.

After many years, Asad was again invited by another President of Pakistan, General Zia ul-Haq, in 1983 and that was his last visit to this country. When he arrived at Islamabad, which he had not yet seen, he was received at the plane with great honour and escorted to the Presidency. During his sojourn in Islamabad, there was a series of meetings with members of the Ansari Commission in order to prepare a kind of programme for the President for the future. Asad agreed with some, and as usual disagreed with others, which he found retrograde. On one point he was firm and insistent that Muslim women should have exactly the same rights in the political sphere as had men, to the extent of becoming Prime Minister.

Asad also spared some time to meet with his surviving friends in Lahore and Islamabad and at the request of the President made several radio and television appearances, as always spontaneous. On his return to Portugal, he was besieged by letters from literally hundreds of admirers in Pakistan, offering him land, a house, everything but he refused politely, as his concept of Pakistan was beyond all these worldly trivialities.

Asad loved Pakistan, his conception of Pakistan, even when it turned its back on him, and he never felt resentment at the treatment he had received from it. He remained a citizen– the first citizen of Pakistan– until the end, although he had been strongly tempted to accept the generous, spontaneous gestures of many heads of Islamic States to have their citizenship and passport, which would have made his life so much easier.

Asad contributed so much to Pakistan’s early political and cultural life but was unfortunately shunted from the corridors of power. He served this country as the head of the Directorate of Islamic Reconstruction, Joint Secretary of the Middle East Division in Foreign Office, Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Nations and organizer of the International Islamic Colloquium. If we delve into the archival material of these government departments, the role played by Asad for his beloved Pakistan can be dealt with in detail. But here an important question arises: where are the relevant official documents housed? Nobody knows.

In his youth Asad heard a voice of an old man in Kurdistan: “If water stands motionless in pools, it becomes stale, muddy and foul; only when it moves and flows does it remain clear.” Absolutely true. Physically, Asad is no more, but he is and will always be a part of our memory. According to a mystical dictum, “he who lives in your memory never dies.”

http://www.allamaiqbal.com/publications/journals/review/aproct09/9.htm

 

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Painful Pages from our History – Part 1 – by Orya Maqbool Jan

This is the chapter in our history whose golden words are being attempted to be erased and wiped, so that the influential class of Pakistan’s society who were gifted lands, fortune, high official posts and medals by the British and were imposed on the poor of the country. Amongst them the politicians, bureaucrats, army officers, all of them want to prove that this country was created on the basis of financial reasons and its founder Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a secular minded individual and wanted to make this country a secular state. The golden page of the history of this god given country will not be found in course books, not in the writings of scholars, neither any sound of it will be heard in television talk shows or in the words of a thinker. Everyone tried to scratch this off from this country’s history. The youth of today can only find fabricated and distorted history to read, and is seen roaming around asking the question, Was Pakistan really made in the name of Islam? Did Quaid e Azam really wanted to implement Islamic rule of law? What is in this page of history, this declaration and this proof which is being attempted to be removed.

On the 14th of August, 27th of Ramazan right after the creation of Pakistan, the Pakistani government invited the famous thinker, scholar and writer Allama Muhammad Asad to Pakistan. He was granted Pakistani citizenship and first Pakistani passport was issued to him. After this Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah initiated a request for a department which would set up the constitution, law and education syllabus as per the soul of this country that is the Islamic way. This institution was named as the Department of Islamic Reconstruction; its leadership was entrusted to Allama Muhammad Asad. This was the first institution of Pakistan which had with its name the word ‘Islamic’. To clarify the objectives and boundaries of the department on 18thOctober 1948 Allama Muhammad Asad, delivered a speech from Radio Pakistan. He said that the aim of this department is to mold the rules and constitution of Pakistan according to the Islamic teachings, for which this country was created.

Who was Allama Muhamamd Asad? Before finding out his credentials it is necessary to know about his struggle. People know him by his bestseller, ‘Road to Makkah’. But for the Muslim nation his other feats have been kept hidden. On 2nd July 1900 a child was born in a Jewish household in Lehmberg, a city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he was names Leopold Weiss. His father was a lawyer and his grandfather was a Rabbi. After early Jewish teaching in his home, he started normal education and ended up in Vienna University. During this he learned German, French, English, Persian and Urdu. After his education he became a journalist and spent time script writing and travelling. On his journalistic endeavors he came to Jerusalem and stayed with his uncle who was a student of the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. He also published a paper on the solubility of soul from New York. The fervor of learning new languages took him to Arabic language and the Arabic language introduced him to Quran. During this time he came to know of the plight of the Muslims and the conspiracies of the Jews against them. To unveil these conspiracies he started writing about them. In 1926 in the city of Berlin, Germany impressed by the truth of Islam, he reverted to Islam and named himself Muhammad Asad. The story of his journey from Muhammad Asad to Allama Muhammad Asad is an amazing one. He travelled to every Muslim country and instigated its inhabitants to rid themselves from the enslavement of western powers. In 1932 he reached another enslaved country Hindustan and in 1934 he met Allama Iqbal, who convinced him to end his journeys and stay to work on the condition of the Muslims of the Sub-Continent. According to Allama Muhammad Asad, Allama Iqbal changed his stream of thinking. And he started working on the thinking and educational basis of an Islamic state. Allama Iqbal had him made head of Islamic department of a University in Lahore, but he wanted to work freely and independently. This person spent hours with Allama Iqbal and started writing articles in newspapers all over the globe on ideological and Islamic personality of the country of Pakistan, the Urdu translation of it used to appear in a newspaper in Lahore. Allama Asad delivered lectures on the nature of an Islamic country and the Two-Nation theory in Lahore and Delhi. But the Second World War started. His parents were murdered by Hitler because of them being Jews. And he was arrested by the British government of Hindustan on the suspicion of being a German spy. After six years when he was freed he started publishing a newspaper called ‘Arafaat’ in which he published articles by the name of “What is the meaning of Pakistan”. In these articles the famous slogan vibrated the Sub-Continent. ‘What is the meaning of Pakistan. La Illaha IllAllah’. One month prior to the independence of Pakistan he wrote a detailed article and explained the objective of Pakistan as to set up its constitution, rule, economic system and education syllabus on basis of the teachings of Islam, and stressed on this being the actual objective of the creation of Pakistan. The subject of it was “Towards an Islamic Constitution”. After this last edition he came to Lahore and Pakistan honored him with being the first Pakistani citizen. This was the practical and thinking treasure on the basis of which the founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah instituted him the task to lead the new department called the Islamic Reconstruction. And due to his essays and articles, he was entrusted the responsibility of formulating the constitution and law of Pakistan on the basis of Islamic principles. Allama Asad started publishing his paper Arafaat from this institution. He made immediate recommendations; two amongst them were such that they would incur the displeasure of the influential of today’s society. The first one was that whoever has been gifted a fortune by the British and they are now sitting with the titles of ‘Nawab’, ‘Khan’, ‘Chaudhry’ or ‘wadera’, their belongings should be confiscated. And the second suggestion was that a complete Islamic system of education and syllabus should be formulated. And even if it takes three years to formulate, till that time all educational institutions should be closed. Because it is better for children to sit at home rather than studying in an educational system where there is falsehood taught about their religion, values and even personalities, and they move ahead in their life with this fiction. Now this section of people is in movement. All the big bureaucrats, Nawabs, Khans and Chaudries have gathered. Quaid e Azam had passed away. Prime Minister Liaquit Ali Khan transferred him to the post of Deputy Secretary in the department of foreign affairs, and made him an in charge of the desk of Far East. Allama Asad left for a trip to the entire Arab world and met all of the head of states of the Muslim countries, so that the dreams of the Muslim nation can be materialized. After extreme efforts he formulated practical suggestions for the unity of the Muslim nation, and presented them to the then foreign minister Zafarullah Khan, who due to his personal bias chose to trash the recommendations. Fire erupted in the department of Islamic Reconstruction and Allama Asad’s work was burnt to ashes. (To be continued)

 

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Painful Pages from our History – Part 2 – by Orya Maqbool Jan

The department of Islamic Reconstruction created by Quaid e Azam was the first institution in the name of which the word ‘islam’ appeared. And this was the first institution which caught fire and all the recommendations of Allama Asad which promulgated the constitution of Pakistan on the basis of Islamic ideals and looked to set up the education system on Islamic grounds were burnt to ashes. This was the first mark made by the Pakistani bureaucracy and their first victory over the wishes and desires of the people. People used to kiss this land because it was gained in the name of Allah, after sacrificing a million individuals. Why would the civil bureaucracy of Pakistan not do this? It had in it ears the music of English culture, Anglo Saxon law and superiority of the West since 1773 from the time of Lord Licarnevels. In their civil services academy they were trained in a secular form of government and a kingship way of life. The black British people, who were taunted as a coconut by the English themselves, as they were white complexioned from the inside and wheatish complexioned from the outside. They could not tolerate an education system which propagated both religion and worldly education side by side.

The dichotomy and separation of the worldly education from the religious education is also a painful chapter of our history. Before the advent of British in the sub-continent the Madaris which were established taught both the systems in parallel. If you go through the syllabus the worldly subjects exceeded those of religious ones. Concerning religion there were some specific topics of Quran and some chapter on Ahadith. The other education included Arabic, Persian, Philosophy, Logic, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, algebra and poetry along with the science of Nouns and Verbs. Before the Muslims came to the sub-continent there is no proof of existence of any Madrissa which taught all these subjects, except the Budhist schools of Taxilla, there also the Buddhist education overwhelmed other subjects. This network of Madaris spread across the sub-continent produced people who ran the affairs of the government, and were positioned at high governmental posts. They became historians and scholars, attained the level of a Hakeem or a teacher. The painful part is that a purely religious Madrissa was first set up in Calcutta by the British and for worldly education they set up colleges. Those who qualified from the worldly Madrissa started receiving high government posts and those coming out from the religious Madrissa were confined to the walls of a mosque. The four walls of the mosque were an authority and a government that the religious scholars accustomed themselves to an extent that it became their sultanate. Their role was reduced like that of a father of the church of the European country, who baptizes at birth, carries out a marriage ceremony for the young , performs the last rituals at death and delivers a speech on every Sunday. On this Allama Iqbal said a verse

Mulla ko jo Masjid mein hai sajdae ki ijaazat
Nadaan yeh samajhta hai kai Islam hai azaad

The mullah who is allowed to bow in the mosque
It is his imprudence that he thinks that Islam is free

With the purely religious Madrissa’s set up by the British the Mosque Madrissa’s started losing out and on the other hand for worldly education Sir Syed set up his institute in Aligarh. At this point another person with foresight assessed the situation; he was Sheikh Mahmood ul Hassan from Dar ul Uloom Deoband. He wrote extensively to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the result of which was that an agreement came into place between Aligarh and Deoband. An individual from Aligarh could complete his education from Deoband and a graduate of Deoband would not get a degree until he would study at Aligarh. In 1904 Sheikh Mahmood ul Hassan fixed a scholarship of Rs. 15 per month for English learning students at Deoband. This was the first exchange program for Muslim students of India. This went on for some time but the owners of worldly education and caretakers of religious education did not let it continue. And in this way both of them closed themselves in their cocoons. And an unfortunate seal was stamped on the education system of the sub-continent. The recommendations of Allama Asad were on the same lines, he believed a person should attain religious education along with worldly education to an extent that he would not need to consult maulvi. His recommendations today are present today in the form of his digest Arafaat in the bookshelves of Punjab Public Library in a condition that even photocopy is not possible. He is the same Allama Asad in remembrance of whom there is a square in his name called the Muhammad Asad square in front of the main door of the office of United Nations in Vienna, Austria, the place where he was born. Due to this person in 2008 when the world was calling Muslims as terrorists, in the heart of Europe in their cultural capital of Vienna the name of Muhammad (May peace be upon him) was written. But it was scratched from our history and from our course books because this name carries proof of Quaid e Azam wanting to make this country an Islamic state. The other recommendations of Allama Asad went against the people who were gifted lands and fortunes by the British and then were imposed upon us. All of them even today are deeply rooted in our assemblies. There were more such gifted lands in Bengal but one member of East Pakistan assembly acted on these recommendations by the institute of Islamic Reconstruction set up by Quaid e Azam and during Quaid’s life time in April 1948 presented a bill in the National Assembly calling for the extermination of feudal system. The feudal class resisted for two years, but at last in March 1950, feudalism was eradicated from East Pakistan. Today the height of political prosperity the people of Bangladesh have achieved, the part played by the eradication of this system is the greatest. On the other hand another painful chapter of our history is that the flag bearers of democracy and Ulema of the country have struggled together for the preservation of this feudal system. Under the leadership of the father of democracy Nawabzadah Nasarullah Khan a committee was set up, the name of which was ‘Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Feudals According to Shariah’. And these leaders were imposed on the nation who had in their veins the poisonous blood of traitors who received fortunes from the British for selling their nation.

The history after this is painful and astounding. Death of Quaid e Azam, the British gifted feudals seated in assemblies, the loyal civil servants of the British government roaming about. Now who will believe that 1 million people laid their lives not for bread, clothing or roof, but for the fact that a country will be made in the name of Allah. Their martyrdom was made fun of by saying that they laid their lives for economic betterment. Journalists, scholars, writers and historians, all of them got together. But this thing was alive in the hearts of the people as to why this country was conceived. They had respect for the sacrifices of their forefathers. A movement was launched; a voice was raised, in the lengths and breadth of the country. Exactly one year and eight months after the creation of Pakistan the members of the national assembly who were issued tickets by Quaid e Azam, admitted that the owner of this Universe is Allah Ta’la and he is the supreme authority. This was the objectives resolution, which is now a thorn in everyone’s heart, a cancer of the throat for everyone who thinks that real power rests with the people. But my Allah says that the real power and authority rests with Him.

 

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Painful Pages from our History – Part 3(Last) – by Orya Maqbool Jan

The first legislative assembly of this god gifted country passed the Objectives Resolution and accepted the sovereignty of Allah. But the three classes created by the British gripping this country, the feudals, the army and the bureaucracy, their rule prevailed. Our condition was like the rule of the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. In which the announcer broadcasted the words “The country of God, governance of the King, but the rule of Company Bahadur”. The question arises if these three classes were present before the advent of the British. How they were turn coated that they believed Allah as the owner and supreme authority of this Universe but implementing a form of governance according to His law, shariat and order was declared as outdated, and limited religion to one’s personal life and individuality. And create such ways that differences are created between worldly life and religious teachings to an extent that a normal person would consider someone who understands Quran as Mullah, and considers scientist, sociologists and philosophers as successful worldly beings. This dichotomy was not present in any Muslim society before the advent of the British. For a common person an educated man and an Aalim was the same. There was no difference between a worldly scholar and a religious Aalim. In all the schools, colleges and universities of the country there was a single curriculum. Everyone studied religious and worldly education in parallel. Some excelled in medicine and became Bu Ali Sina, some in Chemistry and became Ibne Al Shaim, some in Algebra and became Omar Khayam and if outclassed in Fiqh then Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Shafi, Imam Malik or Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal. The Indo Pak sub-continent was not different from this. The British were fully aware of the fact that if this educational system is not eradicated, the classes within the Muslim Ummah of their choice cannot be created. Therefore no other sector was dealt with such a blow as the educational system. It was this system of education that gave birth to this parasitical, subjugated and inferiority complexed army, bureaucracy and feudals.

From 1757 till 1769 when Bengal, Bihaar and Orissa came under the British all the schools where Muslim children studied were closed down. These schools were run by government funding or charity. It was disallowed to charge fees for education, therefore for about thirty years in all areas where there was British government there were no educational institutions operational. Warren Hastings developed the first religious Madrisa in Sub-Continent in Calcutta in 1781, which taught Hidaya and Sirajya along with Quran and Hadith. You will be amazed to see the educational curriculum before this. The Madaris developed by the Ulema of British palaces inculcated the Dars e Nizami of Mulla Nizaam ul Din Muhammad which was implemented in 1748. It taught the subjects of Philosophy, Mathematics, Algebra, Geometry, Astronomy, Medicine, Fiqh, Morality, Arabic, Quran and Hadith. Not only this, two important institutions of Khairabad and Chiriakot were assigned for teaching Rational Sciences which included Philosophy and Logic. On the other side the author of Fatawi e Alamgeeri Shah Abdul Raheem established the Madrissah of Rah Mia which taught Revealed and Transmitted Sciences. This was the Madrissah whose head was Shah Wali Ullah in 1740. In these and all such educational institution there was no dichotomy between religion and worldly education. Warren Hastings developed the religious Madrissa in Calcutta and on the other hand the British Parliament passed the resolution that Christian Missionary schools will be established in Indo-Pak Subcontinent and all Christian Missionaries present in India were allowed to open these schools. In this way in 1793 Baptist, in 1813 Scottish and in 1830 Presbyterian missionaries started their schools. The strange thing is that in their schools there was no differentiation between worldly and religious education. The religious and worldly education was imparted in parallel just as it was done before the advent of British in Muslim schools.

In between 1830 and 1850 when the students started converting their faith to Christianity it started off an argument. They started debates in their college against the Muslim scholars. In 1854 the famous debate between Priest Pfandel and Rahmatullah Keranawai took the bitterness to the extreme. The Muslims took their sons off the missionary schools. Then came 1857 which is known as the War of Independence. But William Darymple in his book The Last Moughal has finished this debate and has proved with research that this was a Jihad. The announcement of which was made from Jamia Masjid Delhi. After the war of independence thousands of Muslim Ulema were hanged, sent to jails or sentenced to black water for life imprisonment. In this way the Muslims established Dar ul Uloom deoband so that the remaining spirit of religion can be kept intact. But they forgot that their fathers taught the modern subjects in parallel. In 1840 for governmental jobs English language was declared compulsory. The Muslims did not get admitted to the missionary schools. For this reason educational institution for worldly studies only like schools, colleges and universities were set up. This is how the Muslims of the sub-continent were divided between religion and the world, that the Madrissa products confined themselves to their forefathers, fiqh and rules of religion. And the worldly products to Physics, Chemistry and Economics. The worldly people declared the religious people as illiterate and the religious people considered the worldly ones as lacking in knowledge. After the creation of Pakistan and passing of the Objectives Resolution it should have been the case that this distinction created by the British should have been abolished and Muslims should have gone back to the system of education which had elevated the Muslims to the zenith of knowledge and they had the keys to knowledge of the world. The department of Islamic Reconstruction set up by Quaid e Azam under the leadership of Allama Muhammad Asad said exactly this, but after the dreadful fate met by this department, for ages this country was governed by what we call black British or coconuts. Not ordained with one’s religion or loyal to one’s language, hatred towards their culture and declaring their forefather ignorant and backwards.

The second effort was made in the era of Zia ul Haq, when under the supervision of Dr. Ghulam Murtaza, Pakistan Model Education Institute was set up. This time again Allama Muhammad Asad was invited but he refused to work with this Pakistani bureaucracy. Dr. Ghulam Murtaza devised a complete educational syllabus for the country. But Zia ul Haq implemented this as an experiment only in two schools of the country, one a male only and the other a female only institute. When Benazir came into power, from the remnants of Zia ul Haq, she kept Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Sahibzada Yaqub but closed down the schools as they were a sign of dictatorship. The third attempt was in the time of Parvez Musharraf under the Madrissa board of Dr. Mahmud Ahmad Ghazi, and a Madrissa was set up in Sukkar which combined the worldly and religious knowledge. It was successful to an extent that people from bureaucracy, army and other important people started admitting their children to this institute. Here another painful page from our history is turned to, this time it was not the secular people who stood up against this educational system, it was the Ulema of Wafaq ul Madaris who opposed it. Everyone held beloved their thousands of supporters and devotees. Everyone wanted to keep them under their wings like the mother hen. It was a habitual trait gained from the past 150 years, which Mullah stays within the confines of the masjid and madrissa, and sahib stays in governmental offices. The signs of it are told by the reports of all the people from secret and organized offices they say that they struck a mutually beneficial deal with Parvez Musharraf. You do not disturb us and we will not disturb you. After this the most dreadful event in the history of Pakistan took place, Laal Masjid. But the ulema of Wafaqul Madaris stayed mute after giving a small statement. Everyone stayed happy and put in their empires, palaces and states. Someone says we created this much Phd’s, this much Deoband’s, this much Barelvi’s, Shia’s or Ahle Hadith. But is there anyone here who can claim that he has produced this much engineers, doctors, administrators and economists who have the same knowledge of religion as a maulvi.

 

[youboy]

Allama Muhammad Asad

 

[Nadeemp]

Any of you read Mohammed Asads work?

I read his road to Mecca in my 20s. Just got Islam at the crossroads. And waiting on the message of Quran to arrive. Anyone familiar with his work.

 

[Nostalgic]

I’ve read of him, but nothing by him. If memory serves right, he was Jewish, born Leopold Weiss, in Eastern Europe, converted to Islam, served in the first Pakistani mission to the UN, but then went full on Wahhabi and died in Saudi Arabia?

 

[PetroDollars]

started reading road to mecca a few years back after high praise, but i found it boring and gave up half way.

 

[Bigboii]

Jinnah appointed him to modernize Islam was a failure as we can tell

That's all I know of him

 

[KB]

Informative piece on Asad here:

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/jew-helped-invent-islamic-state

 

[Nadeemp]

I’ve read of him, but nothing by him. If memory serves right, he was Jewish, born Leopold Weiss, in Eastern Europe, converted to Islam, served in the first Pakistani mission to the UN, but then went full on Wahhabi and died in Saudi Arabia?

Died in spain, buried in granada

 

[Nostalgic]

Died in spain, buried in granada

I did say if memory serves me right. Apparently it doesn’t.

 

[Nadeemp]

I did say if memory serves me right. Apparently it doesn’t.

It’s all good

 

[Nostalgic]

It’s all good

Not really. My impending senility is serious business.