The Qadri enigma, stunt & aftermath
Was it the establishment who used Tahirul Qadri but failed, or was it Qadri who used the establishment and succeeded?
_____________________
Pakistan Spring?
During a talk that I was invited to deliver early last year at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, and then at the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology (SZABIST) in Karachi in November 2012, the question that kept coming my way the most from Pakistani students was that whether Pakistan can or will ever experience something akin to the Arab Spring?
The truth is Pakistan is perhaps one of few Muslim countries that has experienced these kinds of Springs on numerous occasions.
Most of the times these have led to the ouster of military dictators and, ironically, on one occasion a protest movement actually ended up preparing the ground and an opening for a military coup and subsequent dictatorship.
It is important to keep all this in mind before one attempts to launch into understanding phenomenons where men like cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan, and more recently, Dr. Tahirul Qadri, were both seen (and imagined) as being the forces who would lead a Pakistan Spring of sorts.
I am always surprised to notice the negligible amounts of knowledge most young Pakistanis have about the previous generations’ notable role in making Pakistan perhaps the only Muslim country (apart from maybe Turkey), where a number of democratic movements constantly challenged military dictatorships, making sure that unlike a majority of Arab countries, Pakistan never had a one-party dictatorship that ruled for decades.
In the late 1960s, a movement led by leftist students forced Pakistan’s first military dictator to resign, paving the way for multiparty democracy.
A student is grabbed by security personnel for trying to assassinate the first Pakistani military dictator, Ayub Khan in Peshawar in 1968.
In 1977 a right-wing movement rose against an elected but authoritarian ‘socialist’ regime that, however, ended up ushering in a reactionary military dictatorship.
This dictatorship then faced at least three major democratic movements in the 1980s, making way for democracy’s return in 1988.
Then between 2006 and 2007, a widespread movement forced another military dictator to hold multiparty election and eventually resign in 2008.
All those Springs that took place in the Arab world were against one-party rules and dictatorships that had been dominating the politics of the impacted countries for decades.
In Pakistan, young followers of men like Imran Khan and Dr. Tahirul Qadri have often talked about emulating the uprisings in Arab countries. But ever since 2008 Pakistan has been under an elected ruling coalition of centre-left parties and an active parliament.
Imran Khan, the charismatic former captain of the Pakistan cricket team and (ever since 1996), the head of his centre-right party, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (Pakistan Justice Party), has been threatening to wipe out Pakistan’s ‘corrupt politics and system’ with the help of a ‘revolutionary tsunami.’
Though ever since 2010 he has been able to get a pretty decent number of urban middle-class youth on his side, he has struggled to blunt accusations that claim him to be an ‘artificial construct of the military-establishment’ and being soft on Islamist extremists that have been haunting Pakistan for years now.
Khan has categorically refuted these allegations, but he has certainly reoriented his revolutionary rhetoric and now overtly states himself to be a democrat who believes that real change in Pakistan can only come through the ballot.
Imran Khan is still an enigma for many Pakistanis. Accused by his detractors of being soft on Islamic extremists, Khan has always vehemently denied the allegations.
But just when everyone was waiting for the current coalition government led by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to complete its 5-year-term in March this year and announce fresh election, Dr. Tahirul Qadri appeared on the scene, waving his fist to lead a ‘long march’ to occupy Pakistan’s manicured capital, Islamabad, and turn that city into a Tahrir Square (the place where the Arab Spring was launched in Egypt).
His sudden appearance and move took everyone by surprise. Most of his critics in the government, the opposition and the media were quick to denounce him as being yet another ploy and puppet of those sections of the country’s military-establishment and intelligence agencies who have been blamed time and time again for derailing democracy in Pakistan.
Ever since 1958, the military has thrice toppled civilian set-ups, accusing them of being corrupt and compromising Pakistan’s internal and external security.
However, each one of these military regimes fell and were replaced with democratic governments.
But this hasn’t meant the ouster of the military and its agencies as political players. They have continued to be eyed with great suspicion by democratic parties and often accused of propping up individuals to challenge, discredit, and disrupt popular political parties.
Thus, it was natural for the critics of the military-establishment to once again look at it with suspicion when Dr. Qadri arrived to ‘bring a revolution’ and ‘true democracy’ just months before one of the first smooth and democratic transitions of power was set to take place in Pakistan.
_____________________
Qadri, who?
So who is Dr. Qadri, and how did he manage to gather thousands of devoted men, women and children to stay for almost four days in Islamabad’s freezing winter, rain and amidst the ever-present threat of suicide bombings by the rabid extremist lot always lurking in the shadows in Pakistan?
Dr. Qadri is a former failed politician but who, in the last 15 years or so, worked relentlessly to build a loyal network of pious Pakistani and Indian Muslims around the world who belong to the Sunni Barelvi strain of Islam.
Barelvi Islam is the evolutionary outcome of a 19th century Islamic reformist movement that emerged in undivided India.
Three such movements emerged among the Muslims of the region, especially after the fall of the Muslim empire in India.
One advocated a return to the original Islam of the ‘rightly guided Caliphs’, and the exorcising of ‘innovations’ introduced in the Islam practiced by Indian Muslims.
The second movement pleaded a more rational and practical understanding of the Qu’ran and Shariah and for the adoption of ‘western education and sciences’.
The third was a reaction to the first movement that found Islamic strains like Sufism repulsive and the practice of visiting Sufi shrines heretical.
Barelvi Islam is a continuation of the third movement that fuses Sufism with the centuries-old sub-continental traditions of Muslims visiting and worshipping at shrines of Sufi saints and incorporating many practices that emerged due to the interaction of Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism in undivided India.
Ahmed Raza Khan (right), the 19th century Islamic reformer, scholar, polemic and founder of what became to be known as ‘Barelvi Islam.’
This strain of Islam that has always been seen as being more tolerant, flexible and inclusive compared to some other strains of the faith present in region, became the dominant faith among Pakistan’s Sunni Muslims.
Even today, a majority of Pakistanis follow this strain, in spite of the fact that ever since the 1980s Saudi Arabia has been funneling in huge amounts of money and resources to prop up Islamic seminaries, mosques, clerics and leaders associated with the more puritanical, aggressive and anti-Barelvi schools of thought.
Though Barelvi Islamic leaders and outfits have often been accommodated and flirted with by secular parties, and are squarely against puritanical Sunni Islamic outfits such as the Taliban, al Qaeda and various anti-Shia sectarian organisations, they have been staunchly and at times, violently inclined to blunt any moves attempting to relax the controversial Blasphemy Laws first introduced in the 1980s during the reactionary Ziaul Haq dictatorship.
Dr. Qadri is a former student activist who in the 1970s belonged to the moderate Barelvi youth organisation, the Anjuman Taleba Islam, at the Punjab University.
His group usually allied itself with various progressive and leftist student groups during student union elections against the student wing of the fundamentalist Jamat-e-Islami.
Flag of the Anjuman Taleba Islam, the moderate/Barelvi Islamic student organisation that Qadri was a member of at college and university.
After graduating in 1974, he enrolled as a lecturer at the same university and then went on to get his PhD in Islamic sciences.
Details of Dr. Qadri’s political career between 1978 and 1989 are rather muggy.
Some of his critics describe Qadri as a political charlatan who in the 1980s was close to PML-N chief, Nawaz Sharif, the man whose family in those days were staunch supporters of military dictator, General Ziaul Haq.
During a 2008 lecture on the Barelvi Islamic TV channel, QTV, Qadri claimed that it was he who forced General Ziaul Haq to formulate the Blasphemy Laws, whereas he then denied doing this (on a British TV channel), and in fact claimed that he doesn’t agree with the law.
There are three views about what Qadri was up to during the Zia dictatorship.
One view is that Qadri opposed the dictatorship’s pro-Deobandi orientation and was dismissed from the faculty of the Punjab University for his opposition to the Zia regime.
The second view is that Qadri became close to the Zia regime and helped it formulate a number of controversial ‘Islamic laws.’
The third view is propagated by Qadri himself in which he claims that in spite of the fact that Zia offered him many political posts, he refused to accept them and instead spent his time on becoming an Islamic scholar.
What is certain though is that Qadri formed his Barelvi organisation, the Minhajul Quran (MQ), in 1981.
In 1988 Qadri formed his own party, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT). He described it as a party that would strive to bring a ‘spiritual revolution’ (Roohani Inquilaab) in Pakistan.
Qadri addressing a press conference in 1990.
He allied his party with the left-leaning PPP during the 1990 election, but after facing defeats, he almost vanished from the political scene.
This is when he seriously worked to turn MQ into a large Islamic evangelical outfit, preaching Sufism and trying to regenerate Barelvi Islam that had experienced a tough challenge from the more conservative schools of faith in the 1980s.
Qadri reappeared on the political scene as a supporter of Pakistan’s last military dictator, General Parvez Musharraf, who toppled the second PML-N government in 1999.
Calling himself an ‘enlightened moderate’, Musharraf wanted to bank on Qadri’s MQ to find a middle ground for his dictatorship between Zia’s radical Islam and secularism.
Qadri had a falling out with Musharraf in 2004 when the later chose a motley crew of anti-PPP and anti-PML-N politicians over Qadri’s PAT to become his regime’s civilian expression.
Qadri (third from right in the third row) was one of first civilian politicians to pledge his support to General Musharraf. Other leaders seen in the picture include, Maulana Fazalur Rehman, Imran Khan and Farooq Laghari.
During this period Qadri became a Canadian citizen. In 2010, when suicide bombings against the military, police and common civilians grew alarmingly in Pakistan, Qadri, who by now had gathered a huge following among the more religious minded Barelvi Muslims, wrote a 600-page fatwa against suicide bombings.
Copy of the English translation of Qadri’s fatwa against suicide bombings.
To him and his followers, he had become the moderate face of Islam and the defender of the peaceful injunctions and spirit of the faith in a world reeling from Islamist violence.
_____________________
Reemergence and aftermath
In Pakistan, he was mostly forgotten as a politician, but among pious Barelvis he became popular as an Islamic scholar, and a televangelist on QTV.
Neutral viewers found his style to be rather eccentric, especially when he shared with his followers the many divine visions he’s had and the colorful way he interpreted his followers’ dreams.
Barelvi Islam is rich in symbolism, extroverted in its liking for devotional dances and music, and of behavior that the modernists describe as being superstitious.
To its more conservative sub-sectarian Sunni opponents such as the Deobandis and the ‘Wahabis’, it is downright heretical.
It is Barelvi Islam’s colorful, emotive, inclusive and largely non-jihadist nature that has kept it thriving as Pakistan’s ‘folk religion’, especially among the rural and semi-rural peasantry and sections of the urban petty-bourgeoisie.
The hypnotic eastern music genre, Qawali, is an extremely popular ritual and art-form among the Barelvis.
Though Qadri, seeming egoistical and at times somewhat maniacal in his attitude during his ‘long march,’ and most probably pushed to the fore by the usual anti-politician ‘establishment,’ did manage to demonstrate a rather refreshing angle in the already multi-angular politics of Pakistan.
Over the last decade, Pakistanis seem to be fatigued by not only the toothlessness of their elected representatives, especially in the face of a collapsing economy, deteriorating law and order situation and extremist violence; they now seem equally weary of the animated alarmists in politics, media and the establishment who always seem to be threatening bloody revolutions, and warnings about conspiracies of ‘anti-Pakistan/Islam’ forces and ‘nefarious designs of India and the US.’
In spite of the fact that Qadri launched his rhetoric against the country’s two main democratic parties, he was equally open in his condemnation of those Islamist terrorist outfits that have succeeded in scaring even the most animated and ‘revolutionary’ media personnel and leaders.
When cornered in this respect, these personalities at once launch into anti-US tirades that have now become a kind of self-parody of sorts.
Though Qadri ended his march by accepting negotiations with the same ruling coalition he had vowed to topple, his was perhaps one of the most spectacularly peaceful ‘revolts’ ever seen in a violent country like Pakistan.
Qadri shares a joke with the government’s negotiation team that met him on the fourth day of his ‘long march.’
Now the question is, was he really a stooge of the establishment? Someone propped up but failed to deliver?
I personally believe that he was. But his backers underestimated two vital facts:
1. The democratic parties are now willing to come together like never before in the face of a threat posed to the democratic system by the establishment.
2. The Sunni denomination that Qadri belongs to is neither jihadist nor revolutionary.
Or who knows, there might even be another possibility: With the way he in the end softened up with the members of the coalition, maybe it was Qadri who manipulated the establishment so he could return to the political arena with a bang … ?
Nadeem F. Paracha is a cultural critic and senior columnist for Dawn Newspaper and Dawn.com
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
Its totally wrong to say that Barelvis like Qawwali. Imam Ahmad Raza Khan RA, written a complete book on ‘Ahkaam uSamaa’, in which he laid down the rules of Samaa:
1: Kalam recited is only Hamd or Naat
2: Listeners are all pious people, not in a worldly gathering
3: No woman or young boys allowed to sing the Ashaar of Samaa
4: No music or clapping is allowed
As far I know Barelvi maslak is very strict on these things at least what is mentioned by Imam Ahmad Raza Khan
I don’t think the author really knows what ‘Barelvi’ Maslak really is, at least from what he has described here. Also one needs to know that what is termed as ‘Barelvi’ Islam is what the traditional Islam was until two centuries ago when a movement from Saudi Arabia tried to distort the real face of Islam which was practised for centuries in not only sub-continent but throughout the world.
Author also failed to mention that traditional Barelvi scholars do not recognise Dr. Qadri as one of their own rather they distance themselves.
I cannot understand how people are coming to the conclusion that Dr. Qadri achieved anything in this drama; none of his demands were met and we should be grateful for that. Why should the assemblies be dissolved when a democratic system is finally reaching it’s culminating point of peaceful transfer of power through the ballot. That should be our utmost desire and that is the only process that will make Pakistan a stronger nation over time. His demand that the military and the SC should be consulted in the caretaker set up is undemocratic as well and would again hurt us. It benefits only the undemocratic forces, again. As for him not taking part in politics; big deal; he failed whenever he tried. One can amass 10,000 or 100,000 people from twenty constituencies but getting that many people to vote for you in a single constituency is a different story. We, Pakistanis, should stop believing in quick fixes, for God’s sake. What a day may bring a day may take. We must invest our energies in a process that holds the key to eventually deliver us the fruits and their is no better system known to mankind than democracy. We should also avoid dragging religion into politics. Religion should guide us to be a better person; honest and responsible, non-judgmental, impartial and empathetic to all rather than something we wear on our sleeve. Corruption is a big problem in Pakistan, but it is not confined to Pakistan alone. There is hardly a country on the face of earth where corruption is not rife; in some, like ours, it’s open and vulgar, while in some, like the US, it’s institutionalized. But, if we want to tackle it, we must build institutions, not expect personalities to deliver us. Having said that, our biggest problem at the moment is not corruption, but militancy in the name of religion and if we do not unite against it, it will surely devour us. It has destroyed the very fiber of our nation and now Pakistanis are at each other’s throats and it appears that the forces to be are diverting our attention to the political setup rather than the core problem. We are hanging by our fingernails and may not have very long to mend our ways. Rudyard Kipling has aptly said, “Nations have passed away and left no traces, And history gives the naked cause of it – One single simple reason in all cases; They fell because their peoples were not fit.”
The word “democracy” is not known to any major party as they do not practice it within.
PPP family control, ANP family control. so on so on…………..We all need to change within to change without. Most of the well known hold dual nationalities which makes them Hippocrates as they have sworn an oath before receiving nationality from the west.
A balanced Article…much better than your other satirical pieces on Dr.Qadri. He deserves to be taken seriously in Pakistan. He is now a serious candidate for the Presidency. I think all Pakistanis can identify with him. He is just the kind of non- partisan Monitor that we need.
I think Mr. Paracha you missed the point entirely re. Qadri ‘s march achievements.
1, Qadri demonstrated without any doubt that majority of Pakistanis are dissatisfied with the status quo and want a peaceful change as demonstrated by the discipline of all the participants in extreme cold weather.
2, He had made his point so he felt he didn’t want to be cause for any accidents or harm to his country and his people by keeping this many people gathered in one place because of terrorist threat and mischievous elements in and out of the government.
3. He decided to get off the sean when he saw the India was becoming belligerent again and he didn’t want to become a tool of the establishment by prolonging the march or divert nation ‘s attention to Indian actions.
I salute him (and he is not going to disappear) and PPP government for doing the only decent deed it has done in five years by being tolerant and thick skinned. I wish Indian and Pakistani learn from this, media governments and people….
Seems like Mr. Qadri got stumped on one. 99 short of a century!
NFP lets start writing about MQM now please,because you love to bash others, WE love to read about beloved MQM……cheers.
It was like an action movie without any action, I am so disappointed .
Can pakistan be secular? Can it ensure equality to its Hindu citizens? Can Hindus practice and propogate? No. Pakistan is genetically brutal and retro.
Yes, India is very peaceful especially with Muslims. Give me a break.
Very useful article written with a lot of clarity especially for people trying to get some insights into the context – thank you Naddem very much
Qadri flooded the nation with a massive book on Fatwa, which was completely ignored by everyone other than the printers. Khan threatened to flood the nation with a tsunami but no-one really left shores despite misery. Be it paper or an imaginary tsunami, both of these characters are opportunists. Just look back and see who these guys have supported in the past – you will find too many consistent similarities. What a shame that Pakistan is once again being fooled by two fake leaders.
What a shame indeed it’s a toss up between PPP or PML-N for the Pakistani nation for another term, both of these parties have a shining record of having brought country in the 21st century !!!!
Totally agree with these comments. Let us not get carried away by two hypocrites…….and the contradictions in their words and deeds.
it just does not matter who Qadri was. what matters is that those in power need to take this long march fiasco as lesson learned and realize that the only way they can guard themseleves against non-democratic forces trying to oust them; is by delivering full on the promises they make before coming into power. Once they do it, they earn the nation’s support and no power is greater then the power of the people.
Qadri had visited India. He came to Gujarat also to inaugurate a Muslim Educational Institute. Delivering inaugural speech he said that he is against all terrorist activities (particularly in the name of Islam) and also that his University in Pakistan teached Ramayan, Mahabharat, Vedas and Geeta. If what he said is correct, Pakistanis may think of trying him as he seems to be secular.
He also gets divine guidance in his dreams, talks to the dead,has sudden visions while walking and has failed in politics earlier. He drafted the blasphemy laws in Urdu and trashed the same laws in English. Very secular that. His religious discourses junk the politicians to hell while his political side hugs and praises the same politicians; all in the same container. I say mate Narinder Modi needs him more than we do; he might deliver him the Muslim vote he so desperately needs.
Please improve your knowledge before you say something at any platform. You are talking about just a clip showing variation in blasphemy law by Dr. TUQ. If you can spare some time, see all those four different videos completely and then if you have some doubt, only speak then. Secondly, never thing what media is trying to make you think. Use your own brain. What were the motives of long march and what benefit that person is getting who clearly mentioned that he is not going to take part in elections. It was for us, for making us realize what our constitution says and how these corrupt politicians are looting us.
@ Nasir, Brother why should u feel offended? I called TUQ a visionary, secular ,international statesman.Visionary becoz he has these divine visions in his dreams, secular becoz he drafted the blasphemy laws which are fair to all religions, international for impressing the west and the Indians and finally a statesman for the way he planned his exit from the container.
Frankly after his marathon speeches from the container I won’t waste brain cells on his other lectures. I think the Norwegian minister who called his bluff in the Peace Conference did the job for us in exposing his double talk on blasphemy laws. To take part in elections he has to give up his Canadian nationality and that he won’t do. And please, when did he become a constitutional expert , that’s news to me.
What does ‘becoz’ mean?
Dr. tahir ul Qadri has provided enough explanation, but for those who are open minded and patiently take the time to digest what he says.
We Must Get Rid Of Layers Like Him. He can say any thing for his personal gains. need to have right and educated person on the top post.
There is no doubt that the discipline and peace demonstrated by such a large number of long march processionists, for so many days and nights, in freezing cold has shown to the entire world the none-violent, tolerant and peace loving face of over-whelming majority of Pakistani Nation. Also it gave a chance to the world to see the beauty of democratic leadership of PPP who unlike the outgoing dictator instead using lethal force to crush the voice of opponents tackled their so fierce opponent with admirably farsightedness, honor and dignity.
Allama Qadri is an Islamic scholar, on ground firm enough to give a 600 page fatwa. But the other media darling Imran Khan is on a very sandy footing, Islamically,
The word Insaf is pre-Islamic, pre-Christian, a patently Musa-ic concept. It is nowhere in the Quran. “Munsif” is neither one of the 99 names of Allah, nor of the 99 names of our Prophet.
The root is “nisf”, meaning half, or generally, “Equity”. A tooth for tooth, an eye for an eye kind. Equity was the central pillar of Bani Israel long before prophet Jesus brought out a more humane sharia based on Love.
In Indo/Pak parlance it is wrongly confused with “justice” for which the correct word is “Adl”, a name for Allah, and “Adil” is also both one of the 99 names for Allah and our Prophet AS.
When two women appeared before nabi Solomon claiming the same child but without the proof, applied the law of “Insaf- nisf”. A child was legally a property, and so would be divided half each. But the true mother protested, so using his reason Solomon applied “Adl”, giving each his due.
The principle of Equity is pre Islamic. Sura 8, Anfal, begins:
[8:1] They ask thee concerning (things taken as) spoils of war. Say: “(such) spoils are at the disposal of Allah and the Messenger …
New Muslims were used to the older principle of Equity of Jahiliya, and insisted on equal division. But the Prophet gave each his due, less to some, more to others. Here are the ayat that forbid the application of the principle of “Insaf”.
[4-95], [5-100], [6-50], [19-9], [24-11], [16-71], [16-75], [16-76], [32-18], [39-9], [39-29], [40-58], [41-34], [45-21], [57-10], [59-20]
The Bani Israel were Tribal, and Insaf is Tribal Justice. Our Khan Sahib needs to come out of the Tribal Area Laws to modernity. TPI will take us back to era even before Christianity.
Equity was also used by the Soviet Socialists as their Principle of operation, and we all know what that ended up with.
Bro, Ever heard the Urdu phrase” Baal ki khaal utarna”. Take a deep breath and analyse the word ” Tehreek” in Allama TUQ’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek.
Rafi Sahib: AOA
The T of TUQ or TPI is not a controversial word as Insaf and Adl are.
Rather than sarcastically and emotionally respond to my post (which I presume you have not pondered upon yet), I would suggest you take a deep breath and investigate how come “justice” has come to mean non-Quranic “Insaf” in Pakistan rather than the Quranic “Adl” as it is supposed to be.
Therein lies the source of friction between the two main sects of Islam: Adl is a principal pillar of one of them but not of the other. I will let you find out which is which.
As they say here in the West, the devil is in the detail.
Wassalam
Dear brother , my point is very clear. Imran khan is running a political party and TUQ a religious organisation. The comparison u made is therefore unjustified.
I prefer the term ” Adl o Insaaf” rather than ” Adl ya Insaaf”. The devil my dear friend lies in our hearts.
You’re still splitting hair. ‘Adl and Insaaf are used interchangeably.
It’s what is intended by the speaker that matters, not your technical splitting hair.
“prophet Jesus brought out a more humane sharia based on Love.”
.
Not so. In the Bible Jesus clearly states that he had come to “Uphold the Law” of Moses, The Torah. To change the meaning and words of scripture is called blasphemy. You do that same with the Koran.
You have a habit of coming here and ponificating at length without knowledge or undestanding of te subject.. You make up stuff and preach it as you go along and then you put your slant on it.
Fatcheck: Greetings
The Sharia of Moses is based on Insaf (Equity) and Tribe.
The Sharia of Jesus is based on Love and the Family.
The Sharia of Mohammed AS is based on Adl (Justice) and the Individual.
The three Sharias are for the three stages of economy – pastoral, agrarian, and trade. Each following sharia upholds the past one, while updating it to modern times. Insaf and Love are no longer optimal for the Exchange Economy where justice, giving each his due, is most efficient.
Best wishes
Quite disappointed by such scholarly trickery. This chap seems to have not heard of a language used in Pakistan named “Urdu”. The word “Insaaf” is very well understood and used in daily language. Why is he being so dim?
Ask anybody in Pakistan and you will get a description of the concept of “Insaaf” without your so-called scholarship.
People like him, so far have not been able to tell the meaning of,”Zowja” in Arabic to the Pakistanis., Or the meaning of the word “Umet” / “Umma” as it was in the days of the Prophet. I can give at least half a dozen more which have been the cause of fractures in the Muslim people.
The Muslim Education for centuries has brought Muslims to the colonial period because the Education was left to half wit Mullahs and the sciences were ignored. The great education institutions in Egypt failed the famails of Islam The Education of girls was ignored based on so-called Islamic imagined principles.The Muslim world was subjected to colonial period because of Mullahs view of Education.
Sort that out before you indulge in languages you do not understand.
Shafiq Sahib: AOA
Your diatribe against education in Pakistan is uncalled for. And it certainly does not apply to me. I did not go to a Mission school, and was spared the Catholic catechism.
While I am no scholar of Arabic I did take Arabic in my middle school as elective, and a diploma in it from McGIll University. Then I lived in Libya, Saudi Arabia, and the Emirates, and can sustain a conversation in Arabic if pushed into a corner. These days I live in Dearborn MI, the centre of Arab America with Arabic all around me. I am not used to reading the Quran in Urdu or English.
Do you deny that Insaf comes from nisf, and that means half, and that the word nowhere exists in the Quran? Rather than force me to defend my person I suggest that you follow the trajectory of the notion of justice as it morphed from “adl” into “Insaf”. It will be a revealing journey. You will learn about Islam more than you wanted to.
Wassalam
LOL Please define Insaaf for this dim one like me whose mother tongue is U.P. Urdu.
Jesus did not bring any laws: only Jews and muslims were given law by God
Qadri has not established the viability of an Islam based on individual interpretation of the scriptures and tradition. He still speaks for an Umma. He does only change the political language within the egg of the Umma-based theocracy. He does not provide an exit to a more compassionate, tolerant, Islam open to the winds blowing from all quarters. Qadri’s Barelvi proposal is a variation on the theme of the traditional closedness of Islam, of the islamic mind, of the Umma. What did he say of the thousands of madrassas which nurture this closedness and of the prescribed public school text-books which channel this closedness inro the secular environment? The opportunistic ambiguities of the past politics of Qadri tell it all. He has till now been acting like the acrobat who runs his Barelvi motorcycle within the close sphere of Islamic Orthodoxy. The motorcyclist kept churning around and all over, but within, the sphere without going anywhere.
Very confused.
NFP’s cursory mention of Turkey alongside Pakistan is apt, since Pakistan is waaaaaay ahead of Turkey in modernism (and I do not mean Westernization).
Modernism came to India with East India company, and was reinforced by the Raj. Under the English, renaissance of Islam began in India, a renewal of modernism that was hallmark of Islam in its heyday (universal global vision, urban life, scientific schooling/university – both Islamic inventions, restaurant – public eating and takeout – all Islamic inventions, trading – an Islamic profession, travel – a Quranic exhortation).
But while Pakistani thought is modern, even today Modernism has yet to come to Turkey where Westernization was introduced by Mustafa bin Ali Reza Effendi (aka Ataturk). After toying with Westernization for a few generations and being rejected by Europe, Turkey seems to have rejected the attempt of the late and turned its face towards the Muslims that it rejected in the past. Turks, as compared to Pakistanis, are pan-Turkic rather than pan-Islamic, do not travel as much, and public attitude towards business is not positive where Pakistan comes only second to the USA in global surveys.
While Post-Ataturk Turkey closed mosques and banned Muslim dress, Indian Muslims never turned their face away from Islam. Turks may be more materially developed, they forfeited their right to lead Islam when they dumped Arabic, both study and script. A Turk standing beside me in prayer in an Istanbul mosque has no idea what beautiful calligraphy says around the dome above him.
While Turkey outlawed Sufism closing its Tekkes, Indian Muslims continued it with gusto, giving rise to the more acceptable Barelvi Islam, a fine mix of Islamic and Indian traditions more acceptable to humanity at large.
But one thing that ties Turkey and Pakistan is Mustafa bin Ali (Ataturk) and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, both anti-Kaliphate, both founders of Secular Republics following the sunnah of our Prophet AS who founded the Secular Republic of Medina with the constitution as the Covenant of Medina (a negotiated document between the Aws, the Khazraj, and the yehud) with rights for all.
But Turkey never had an Iqbal.
Lovely! But Turkey never had an Iqbal.
The only difference is one was a leader while other was planted by imperialist.
“…both founders of Secular Republics following the sunnah of our Prophet AS who founded the Secular Republic of Medin…”
================
You are extremely ill-informed!
Secularism means absence of the Sacred, that is, Divine.
A Prophet or a Messenger of God can never bring secularistic ideas, as he is immersed in the Oneness of the Divine Being.
The Constitution of Medina was pluralistic, not secular.
Whenever we talk of a revolution in Pakistan, we should always keep the revolution of Iran in mind: started by the left leaning moderates and hijacked by the ultra-conservative mullahs!. Whatever be the intentions of Dr. Qadri, I am happy that in the end everybody in Pakistan realized that democracy (popular adult franchise) should win. And that is where I find the hope.
LOL
The Mullahs in Iran has been fighting the Monarchy for over centuries. It was the socialists who wanted to hijack the Revolution, but those with deeper involvement prevailed.
Soon after the Revolution, the Soviet Union bit dust. Today, the godless system is discredited worldwide – East, West, North, South.
Sajjad Sahib: AOA
Both Iqbal and Jinnah were against Democracy, but for the Republic, as Democracy is winner take all, while Republic is proportional representation. Iqbal is on record in stating that Republic was the form of government closest to Islam.
“Democracy” is a most misunderstood notion. It is the rule of the Demos, the 5% moneyed males, for stratified societies like India, UK, Canada, while Republic is the rule of the Public, an egalitarian government of the people, by the people, for the people (said Lincoln the Republican) led by the learned, It is favoured by France, US, PRC, and Muslim countries. To make confusing water even more muddied in popular eyes, the US Republicans and Democrats switched roles during 1920-1930. Today, the US Republicans push for Democracy abroad (since Pakistani Demos is easier to control than then Pakistani Public at large) while the Democrats want an egalitarian society (as pushed by Socrates of the Republic).
Elections or adult franchise has nothing to do with either Democracy or Republic. Good governance is when public opinion is reflected at the top, whether by inheritance, appointment, selection, acclamation, request, election, or one-man one-vote franchise. It happens often even under the military where suffrage may fail as so eloquently described herein by NFP. In every overthrow of the elected government in Pakistan the public was relieved and supported the military. Pak Military is Republic minded.
Wassalam
O Now you come to your point, so military has the solution for all problems in Pakistan in your mind. hmmm
its the indians fault
Hindus actually.
Why do you have to drag Imran into everything ? Stop stalking him dude
Just look at that beautiful color photo of Imran proudly standing next to Maulana and Musharraf, and then you ask why Imran’s name comes up.
Actually NFP didnt bother to mentioned MQM, I guess you remember that MQM enjoyed the participation in Musharaff’s government, Imran Khan is very soft target for every one now days just to get bit of extra attention……….get a life man and please stop dragging Imran in every wrong doing.
Truth is stranger than fiction. There is more to this. Dr. Qadri could be a puppet who became alive, and had a soul/spirit of his own. Our problem is our establishment (Army) is running out of ideas. Power is slipping through their hands, establishment is no longer the lone player now. Other powers will hold the key now.
Qadri (or the planter’s) story imho is not over , infact it has just started. “someone is gonna get hurt… real bad!!! (quote from Russel Peters for those who are not familiar) literally.
it is amazing how human change own views due to money or fear. Our peoples biggest problem is education. we need to provide education to every human in our country so they understand what is right and what is wrong then and only then right people will come in power and people who play with mind will have no room in the society. May Allah give us time and understanding so we all try our bet to educate people in our area’s instead pushing them away etc.
I am afraid Qadri sb do not become something which take him out of the his religious boundary. I hope Allah give him wisdom so he understand not education only
NFP scholarly article of factual analysis is enlightened the readers.I request him to see the documentary India untouchable and comment on findings that Harijans(Dalit) converted to Islam are treated differently as evidence presented in the documentary by Mr Stalin after 4 yrs of research and realistic filming of course Hindus are main culprits and all major religions practice this evil sustem and discrimination.I wonder whether this exists in Pakistan if any body can shed light on this.