The Objectives Resolution of 1949compiled by Danios

The founding father of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was a modernist Muslim. He was a fervent believer in constitutionalism and democracy, and his speeches stress the importance of protecting the rights of religious minorities. Jinnah declared:

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...Every one of you, no matter to what [religious] community he belongs...no matter what is his color, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations...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...

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...There is [to be] 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 [i.e. discrimination between Catholic vs. Protestant]...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. [1]

Ignorance of his explicit speeches to the contrary, some have erroneously concluded from Jinnah's dedication to religious equality that he was an irreligious secularist along the lines of Kemal Ataturk; however, this is not so. Rather, Jinnah based his views of religious equality on Islamic texts and precedent, declaring that "the tolerance and goodwill...showed to all the non-Muslims...dates back thirteen centuries ago when our Prophet [Muhammad] not only by words but by deeds treated the Jews and Christians...with the utmost tolerance and regard and respect for their faith and beliefs." [2] And he said further: "No injunction is considered by our Holy Prophet [Muhammad] more imperative, or more divinely binding than the devout but supreme realization of our duty of love and toleration towards all human beings." [3] S.M. Burke, who authored Oxford Press' anthology of Jinnah's speeches, concludes that "it becomes quite clear that [Jinnah] was recommending generous treatment to non-Muslims not as

a commendable secular principle but as a mandatory Islamic injunction." [4]

Jinnah believed constitutionalism and democracy--which he learned while in England studying to become a barrister--was actually inherent in the Islamic ethos. He declared that:

Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught us equality of man, justice and fair play to everybody. [5]

And Jinnah warned his coreligionists:

You have to stand guard over the development and maintenance of Islamic democracy...and the equality of manhood in your own native soil. [6]

Unfortunately, Muhammad Ali Jinnah died soon after the birth of Pakistan, and the country floundered after that, and failed to live up to the ideals of its liberal founder. For the first half of its life, it struggled between the forces of modernist Islam, secularism, conservative Islam, and fundamentalism. However, the distinctly Islamic conservatism did not descend upon it until the reign of a military dictator, Zia ul-Haq, who seized power in a coup. As in Saudi Arabia, the autocrat sought to legitimate his undemocratic rule by courting the conservative mullahs. John Esposito writes:

Zia ul-Haq appealed to Islam to legitimate his coup and subsequent [undemocratic] rule...Zia skillfully legitimated his seizure of power by...co-opting the...Islamic banner...Throughout Zia's rule, Islam was used politically as the source of legitimation and a rationale for the continuation of martial law...Elections in Pakistan were postponed and political parties were disbanded. The primary reason or excuse cited was doubt about whether Pakistan's political system with its Western-inspired democracy and political party system was compatible with Islam. [7]

Zia undertook a process of "Islamization" of the country; this Islamization was of a distinctly conservative flavor, at complete odds with the modernist interpretation that founded the country. David W. Lowell writes: "The 'Islamization' programme of General Zia ul-Haq (1977-88)...'encouraged Islamic conservatism and orthodoxy...'" [8] Daniel Pipes in his otherwise flawed book In the Path of God: Islam and Political Power correctly placed the 1970s as the period during which Pakistan was transformed into a conservative Islamic country. [9] It was during this time that sectarian violence erupted, and when the repressive persecution of Ahmadis began, in direct contradiction to the Objectives Resolution (discussed below) drafted by the modernist founders of Pakistan.

The point here is that not only did a fervent modernist movement rise in the nineteenth century but it culminated in the creation of a state wherein religious equality was enshrined in its constitution. The Objectives Resolution of 1949, which was later included in the Pakistani constitution, declared (emphasis is mine):

Whereas sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Allah Almighty alone and the authority which He has delegated to the State of Pakistan, through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust;

This Constituent Assembly representing the people of Pakistan resolves to frame a Constitution for the sovereign independent State of Pakistan;

Wherein the State shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people;

Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam shall be fully observed;

Wherein the Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah;

Wherein adequate provision shall be made for the [religious] minorities to freely profess and practice their religions and develop their cultures;

Wherein the territories now included in or in accession with Pakistan and such other territories as may hereafter be included in or accede to Pakistan shall form a Federation wherein the units will be autonomous with such boundaries and limitations on their powers and authority as may be prescribed;

Wherein shall be guaranteed fundamental rights including equality of status, of opportunity and before law, social, economic and political justice, and freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship and association, subject to law and public morality;

Wherein adequate provisions shall be made to safeguard the legitimate interests of minorities and backward and depressed classes;

Wherein the independence of the Judiciary shall be fully secured;

Wherein the integrity of the territories of the Federation, its independence and all its rights including its sovereign rights on land, sea and air shall be safeguarded;

So that the people of Pakistan may prosper and attain their rightful and honored place amongst the nations of the World and make their full contribution towards international peace and progress and happiness of humanity.

In the tradition of modernist Islam, the Objectives Resolution is a synthesis of Western liberalism and Islam. The first prime minister of Pakistan referred to it as "the most important occasion in the life of this country." I argue that its importance transcends the country of Pakistan, and represents the culmination of over a century's worth of modernistic ijtihad. It is then the completion of the work started by Muhammad Abduh and the Young Ottomans before him.

Unfortunately, however, virtually every sentence in the Objectives Resolution fails to be implemented in current day Pakistan, due to the competing forces that overwhelmed it. The word "freely" was surreptitiously expunged from its text: "Wherein adequate provision shall be made for the [religious] minorities to freely profess and practice their religions and develop their cultures."

Footnotes[1] Ainslie Thomas Embree, Sources of Indian Tradition: Modern India and Pakistan, pp.386-387. ISBN: 0231064152, 9780231064156

[2] Akbar S. Ahmed, Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: The Search for Saladin, p.194. ISBN: 0203990994, 9780203990995

[3] Mahomed Ali Jinnah, Jinnah: Speeches and Statements 1947-1948, p.xi. ISBN: 0195790219, 9780195790214

[4] Liaquat H. Merchant, The Jinnah Anthology, p. 17. ISBN: 0195792726, 9780195792720

[5] Sheila McDonough, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Maker of Modern Pakistan, p.89

[6] Riyaz Ahmad Sayyid, Pakistan on Road to Islamic Democracy, p.9

[7] John L. Esposito, Islam and Politics, pp.175-177. ISBN: 0815627742, 9780815627746

[8] David W. Lowell, Asia-Pacific Security, p.146. ISBN: 9812302131, 9789812302137

[9] Daniel Pipes, In the Path of God: Islam and Political Power, p.230. ISBN: 0765809818, 9780765809810