ISLAM is intertwined with the political history of Pakistan. Whether one is discussing the origins of the state, constitutional developments, Islamisation efforts or the current extremist militant insurgency that confronts the nation, much of Pakistan’s history has been defined by religion and the role it has or should have in the public and political spheres.

If this hypothesis is assumed to be true, then those Pakistani political parties that publically identify with Islam as a political ideology as well as a religion deserve closer examination. This is what scholar Haroon K. Ullah attempts to do in Vying for Allah’s Vote. Dr Ullah works at the US State Department and was part of the late Richard Holbrooke’s AfPak team. Along with his professional credentials he brings a firm scholarly outlook to the work in question, holding a joint doctorate in political science and public policy from the University of Michigan.

The book seeks to study how “religion, politics, and policy are inextricably linked in Pakistan.” For anyone seeking to understand the tumultuous history of this country and possibilities for what may follow, this is a very valid line of inquiry. The author carries out a balanced analysis of the political ground realities, avoiding the trap of calling for the complete separation of mosque and state in Pakistan while also highlighting the extremist tendencies of some of the country’s confessional parties.

The author could not be more right when he observes, referring to religious parties, that “parties may prefer radical policies, but first and foremost they seek to remain in power.” Dr Ullah classifies faith-based parties in Pakistan in two broad categories — Islamist and Muslim democrat. Using this classification, he focuses the study on three parties: the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI). While the PML-N represents the Muslim democrats, JI and JUI are used as examples of Islamist parties with two further subdivisions, the ‘hierarchical’ Islamists (JI) and the ‘network’ Islamists (JUI).

The writer argues that there is considerable ideological variety within the Islamist and right-wing camp, that Islamist politics is not a monolithic structure. For example he says that Muslim democratic parties consist of a core formed by economic and social elites, whereas hierarchical Islamists are basically supported by intellectual and religious elites, while network Islamists appeal to the “underclass” and religious leaders.

If we examine the leadership, style and tone of the PML-N, JI and JUI (Fazlur Rehman’s faction particularly), these definitions largely hold true. The N-League, for instance, is widely seen to reflect the political, economic and social thinking of the Pakistani establishment (though relations with the military have, of recent, been less than cordial). The JI, on the other hand, has failed to taste mass success and despite its impressive ability to display street power, at heart remains a party of urban religious conservatives. Meanwhile the JUI draws its strength from the army of students and alumni that have passed through its madressahs and mainly hail from rural, less well-to-do backgrounds.

The chapter on Muslim democratic parties traces the development of Muslim political thought in the subcontinent from the decline of the Mughal Empire to the present day. Referring to the All-India Muslim League (and this largely applies to all post-independence avatars of the Muslim League, give or take a few minor details), Dr Ullah says that “the Muslim League viewed itself and conducted itself as a representative of urban socioeconomic elites, predominantly the landowners and captains of industry.” Perhaps this explains why nearly every manifestation of the Muslim League has strived to maintain the status quo, despite at times employing slogans of ‘change’.

With reference to their commitment to religion, the author is spot on when he says Muslim democrats peddle “Islam lite” and that while these parties will use religious imagery, they have no real appetite for applying religious law.

Discussing the anti-Western rhetoric often employed by Islamist political outfits, the author links this to the ulema’s opposition to British colonial rule in the subcontinent. Commenting on the JI’s influence on Pakistan, Dr Ullah says that rather than populist politics, JI helped shape the national narrative by running the public education system during the Ziaul Haq era. Yet its relatively lacklustre performance at the ballot box is attributed to the fact that JI is a “hyper-intellectual” organisation disconnected from the rural and working poor.

The rise of the JUI is documented well, especially how the party built up political power through the network of madressahs it controls. Of course this web of madressahs was spread far and wide during the anti-Soviet Afghan ‘jihad’. In fact, JUI was instrumental in the creation of the “donor-funded maulvi”, a character who has wrought much havoc in Pakistan. The writer also observes that the JUI is more in touch with the “suffering proletariat” than the JI.

Apart from Islamist and rightist parties in Pakistan, the writer also briefly examines the role of confessional political forces in countries such as Egypt, Bangladesh and Morocco. While his analysis of the Egyptian situation is well-informed, events have overtaken it as the Muslim Brotherhood-led government of Mohammed Morsi — Egypt’s first freely elected leader — was overthrown by the generals last year.

The work in question provides valuable insights for both foreigners and Pakistanis into what makes religious parties tick in this country. The tone and content can at times be too academic for those of us who are used to following comparatively more colourful accounts of the Pakistani political tamasha. For example the theoretical framework the author extensively explains will appeal primarily to students and scholars of political science and governance and may be too dry for the lay reader. Some minor spelling mistakes and factual errors also need to be rectified in future editions.

While the genesis and development of the JI has been chronicled before, most notably by Vali Reza Nasr in The Vanguard of the Islamic Revolution: The Jama’at-i Islami of Pakistan (Dr Nasr’s work is cited in Dr Ullah’s book), one believes that the writer has opened a significant window into the workings of both the PML-N and JUI. Perhaps Dr Ullah himself or other scholars may want to carry out more detailed studies of how these key parties function based on material in Vying for Allah’s Vote.

While it is up to the reader to decide whether Islamist parties are Trojan horses for far more extremist forces or merely political players vying for a slice of the pie by fusing religion and politics, Haroon K. Ullah best sums up the reality of confessional politics in Pakistan thus: “Islamic parties are fundamentally vote-getting operations rather than vehicles for absolutist ideologies”. So perhaps at the end of the day for these groups it’s more about Islamabad — and less about Islam — after all.

The reviewer is a Dawn staffer

Vying for Allah’s Vote: Understanding Islamic Parties, Political Violence, and Extremism in Pakistan

(POLITICS)

By Haroon K. Ullah

Cambridge University Press, India

ISBN 978-93-82993-84-1

251pp.