By Dr maqsood jaffri
You are not only the grand son of Hazrat Allama Iqbal, but are a specialist on his poetry and philosophy. It is my proud privilege to be the friend of your esteemed father Dr. Javed Iqbal. My love for you is also tremendous. On your Facebook, while referring to the two speeches of Quaid- I- Azam, one delivered on August 11, 1947 and the other on August 14, 1947 in the presence of Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of British India, in Legislative Assembly, Quaid-I- Azam talked about the fraternal and inclusive spirit of Islam and said that Islam gave religious freedom to all people irrespective of their differing faiths.
By this statement, some people deduce the inference that he believed in Secularism and he did not announce Pakistan to be an Islamic state. It is absolutely a wrong conception based on ill attention. Quaid- I- Azam time and again said that Pakistan would be an Islamic democratic welfare state. The problem arises of misconception of the term Secularism. A Secular state in Western sense is a non- religious state. Islam is a pluralistic and inclusive religion. Pakistan is not a secular state in the Western political term. Islam is a secular religion in modern political sense , which means that an Islamic state protects the religious rights of all religions and permits them to act according to their faith.
When the Holy Quran in Surah The Unbelievers says:” لُکم دینکم و لی دین” ( For you your religion and for me my religion “. Then the Holy Quran says:” لا اکرہ فی الدین( There is no compulsion in religion). So, we can deduce the inference that Islamic state is an ideological religious state with accommodating and inclusive spirit. The Holy Quran emphasizes on the need of protecting the sanctuaries of non- Muslims and provides them the protection of life, property, honor and faith. The Holy Prophet made a Peace Accord with the Jews of Medina. That document is an exemplary truce and parchment which became the basis of human rights charter of UNO.
Some dogmatic and retrogressive Muslim clerics are allergic of modern political terminology. They take the term secularism as a non- religious phrase and oppose it. There is no need of getting embraced. When, we use the economic term Islamic Socialism which is different from Marxian Socialism, then what is the harm in accepting and adopting the modern political term “ Islamic Secularism.” Dr. Allama Iqbal and Quaid-I- Azam also used the term Islamic Socialism. It was no innovation but a modern economic term. Similarly, Islamic Secularism is a modern political term to distinguish and differentiate Western Secularism from Islamic Secularism and I endorse it.
Dr. Maqsood Jafri
