Iqbal, Jinnah, and Pakistan: The Vision and the Reality

224 Pages·1979·3.559 MB·English

by  Manvooruddin Ahmed, Choudhri Mohammed Naim

/ IQBAL, JINNAH, AND PAKISTAN: /
THE VISION AND THE REALITY
Edited by
C.M. Naim
Contributors
Manvooruddin Ahmed Saleem M.M. Qureshi
Barbara Metcalf Fazlur Rahman
Sheila McDonough Anwar H. Syed
Lawrence Ziring
Foreign and Comparative Studies / South Asian Series, No.
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
Syracuse University
Copyright
1979
by
MAXWELL SCHOOL OF CITIZENSHIP AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, U.S.A.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Iqbal, Jinnah, and Pakistan.
(Foreign and comparative studies: South Asian
Series; no. 5)
Papers presented at a conference organized by
the Muslim Studies Subcommittee of the Committee
on Southern Asian Studies, University of Chicago,
in April 1977.
1. Iqbal, Muhammad, Sir, 1877-1938— Political
and social views— Congresses. 2. Jinnah,
Mahomed All, 1876-1948— Political and social views
— Congresses. 3. Pakistan— Politics and govern­
ment— Congresses. I. Naim, C. M. II. Ahmed,
Manvooruddln. III. Chicago. University. Committee
on Southern Aslan Studies. Muslim Studies Sub­
committee. IV. Series-
DS481.I65I69 954.9*042*0922 79-25477
ISBN 0-915984-81-4
a>t.
M2.1
'TCc'Z
PREFACE
When Pakistan came into existence in August 1947,
the man who is said to have envisioned it had been dead
nine years. Barely a year later death also took the man
credited with giving the vision its concrete shape* But
Pakistan continues to exist, though not with the geo-
graphical boundaries it originally claimed. In the en­
suing years since 1947, controversies and speculations
have continued to rage concerning the exact nature of
the visionary ideal of Iqbal, the geo-political nation
that Jinnah sought and obtained, and the inter-relation-
ships between the two. The discussion is not merely ac­
ademic, for its conclusions directly effect the hopes
and prospects of tne people who now constitute the na­
tion of Pakistan— and even of those who now call them­
selves Bangladeshi— and who must continuously strive to
give their polity a just and stable form*
In April 1977, the Muslim Studies Subcommittee of
the Committee on Southern Asian Studies, University of
Chicago, organized a small conference to observe the
birth centenaries of Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), the
poet-philosopner, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948) ,
the Quaid-i-Azam of Pakistan. The theme of the meeting
was "Iqbal, Jinnah and Pakistan: The Vision & the Real­
ity." Five papers were presented on that occasion which
have now been edited for publication. Professor Ahmad's
paper deals with the definitions of 'nationalism1 and
• communalism' in the public statements of Iqbal and Jin­
nah, implying a harmony of thought which is popularly
believed to have existed between the two. Professor
Uureshi's paper, on the other hand, suggests a more sym­
biotic relationship, as he brings out their differences
in 'personalities, perceptions, and politics.1 Profes­
sor McDonough has sought to introduce a necessary cor­
rective in the debate over Iqbal's concept of
iv
'nationalism,' by delineating the importance of the con­
cept of 'change' in Iqbal's thought and the rarely-recog-
nized self-critical attitude that underlay his thinking.
Professor Metcalf, in her brief paper, sketches for us
the importance of placing any discussion of 'ideology'
within its specific time and place, that changes in the
nature of the political arena are as important as the
changes in the vocabulary and rhetoric of the political
debate. Professor Ziring's paper deals with the post-
1947 developments in Pakistan and provides a useful sum­
mary description of the 'Reality' to highlight the prob­
lems with the 'Vision.'
To these five papers we have added a prefatory note
by Professor Fazlur Rahman, who was a discussant at the
conference, and an abridged version of an article by
Professor Anwar H. Syed. Professor Syed is also con­
cerned with tne questions of 'nationalism* and 'commun-
aiism* in the thought of Iqbal and Jinnah, and comes to
some interesting— 'revisionist'?— conclusions concerning
the issue that has confounded Pakistani policy for a
long time: must Pakistan be an Islamic state? An
Afterword by the editor concludes the substantive part
of the book. To supplement the discussion in various
papers and make it easy for the reader to consult the
original documents, we nave included appendices of the
complete texts of (1) tne 193i> Presidential Address by
Iqbal, (2) the 1940 'Pakistan' Resolution passed in an
open session by the All India Muslim League, envision­
ing "Independent States," (3) the 1946 resolution pas­
sed by a convention of Muslim League legislators, envi­
sioning "Pakistan Zones" and a single "Independent
State," (4) the 1947 speech by Jinnah in the Constituent
Assembly of Pakistan.
The editor is grateful to the Foreign and Compara­
tive Studies Program of the Maxwell Scnool of Citizen-
snip and Public Affairs, Syracuse university, and its
V
Director, Professor Susan S. Wadley, for accepting this
collection for publication in their South Asian Series*
Thanks are also due the Committee on Southern Asian
Studies of the University of Chicago for their help in
organizing the original conference and getting the
papers ready for publication* Finally, grateful appre­
ciation should be expressed to the authors who instint-
ingly cooperated with the editor and made this book
possible*
C* M. Naim
Chicago
August 28, 1979

CONTENTS
PREFACE
IQBAL, THE VISIONARY; JINNAH, THE TECHNICIAN
AND PAKISTAN, THE REALITY
Fazlur Rahman
1* IQBAL AND JINNAH: PERSONALITIES,
PERCEPTIONS AND POLITICS
Saleem M.M. Qureshi
2. IQBAL AND JINNAH ON THE "TWO-NATIONS*
THEORY
Manvooruddin Ahmed
3. IQBAL AND JINNAH ON ISSUES OF NATIONHOOD
AND NATIONALISM
Anwar H* Syed
4. METAPHORS OF CHANGE IN THE EARLY IQBAL
Sheila McDonough
5. IQBAL: IDEOLOGY IN SEARCH OF AN
AUDIENCE
Barbara Metcalf
6. THE PHASES OF PAKISTAN'S POLITICAL
HISTORY
Lawrence Ziring
AFTERWORD
C. M. Naim
APPENDICES
I IQBAL'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS OF 1930
II THE RESOLUTION PASSED BY THE ALL INDIA
MUSLIM LEAGUE, 1940
III THE RESOLUTION PASSED BY THE MUSLIM
LEAGUE LEGISLATORS, 1946
IV JINNAH*S SPEECH IN THE CONSTITUENT
ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN, 1947
NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS
I
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IQBAL, THE VISIONARY; JINNAH, THE TECHNICIAN;
AND PAKISTAN, THE REALITY
Fazlur Rahman
Ever since the conversion of Muhammad Iqbal, some­
time durinq his study stay in Europe, from territorial
nationalism to Islam, he considered certain values of
ethical orientation as crucial both to the survival and
development of mankind, values which, in his view, con­
stituted the essence of Islam. We have deliberately
used the word "orientation" to dispel any notion that
one can find ready-made specific moral imperatives in
Iqbal; these are rather to be formulated for specific
conditions, by those who would accept his orientation,
under the impact of that orientation. It is the "grand
design" of this orientation which will determine the
ethical value of particular injunctions that are action-
specific, for without this orientation no injunction
has any real life, let alone ethical meaninq (and, of
course, he knew the Ten Commandments very wellJ).
Iqbal came to formulate this orientation after a
thorough acquaintance with not only the thought-classics
of the Muslim East and the West but also with the actual
state of affairs in the Muslim East and the West. So
far as the realm of thought is concerned, he remained
until the end of his life an admirer of the West and of
the Muslim East, except for such currents of thought as
he considered to be negative towards this spatio-tempo­
ral world in tne interest of some "higher" spirituality.
But it was at the level of actualities that he passed
harsh judgments on both the Muslim East and the West.
The criterion for these judgments was his principle of
1 ishq. This term, which literally means "absorbing
love" and which he took over from Sufism, appears to
mean, in his usage, a creative forward movement, where
2
forward movement rules out backward or stationary mo­
tion, while the term creative ensures that the movement
is meaningful and purposeful and reaches higher planes
of spiritual and moral being for men. Now, while Iqbal
found the Muslim world as somnolent and stationary and
hence devoid of *lshq, he found the west alive and mov­
ing, but this movement of the West was not only not mean­
ingful and purposeful for man, it was positively harmful
and, indeed, destructive. The West was inventive, but
not creative in the sense of Iqbal's 1ishq.
If one compares Iqbal's critique of the contempor­
ary Muslim community and that of the contemporary West,
the result is interesting. The rigidity and immobility
of the former ought to draw a much more severe criticism
from him than the latter which has at least some motion.
And this is, indeed, the case in one sense. For, while
addressing the Muslim, Iqbal invites him to perform
something new, even if it be a sin! But Iqbal patently
knows and recurrently acknowledges that the West is do­
ing something new, in fact, it is always up to something
new. Sheila McDonough has pointed out in her paper in­
cluded elsewhere in this book, that in 1910, Iqbal wrote
of the Muslims that the meaning of their contemporary
existence was no more than something evidentiary (cf.
the Qur'an, 2, 143), for they had become irrelevant to
the current of history. A Muslim is one who directs
history in a certain ethical direction, he cannot be a
plaything of historical forces. But Iqbal was convinced
that, in their role as "witnesses on mankind" at least,
the existence of Muslims was necessary for the world.
Later, he said:
Although we [Muslims] are coiled up on
ourselves like a bud.
Should we perish, this whole garden [of
the world] must perish
In this verse, a certain inevitability of the Muslims'