Was Jinnah Secular, Nationalist or Islamist? An Assessment

Abstract

Ever since the creation of Pakistan, its founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah has been debated regarding proclivities of his ideology of a nation state. His personality has been interpreted very differently by different scholars, politicians and literati. Likewise, the issue, that whether a state can have ideology on the pattern of ‘ideology of Pakistan’ or not, has been deliberated upon. Intellectuals with liberal leanings argue that Jinnah was a liberal and progressive constitutionalist in his demeanor and he wanted a liberal democratic and progressive country in which all citizens could live life in accordance with their faith without highhandedness from an individual, organizations or state it-self. On the other hand, the Islamists argue that Jinnah was a staunch Muslim and he established Pakistan to be a laboratory of Islam in the world so that international community could witness principles of Islam in practice. They stress that Pakistan was created as an Islamic country, meant for Muslims only and livable with implementation of Sharia alone. The former group holds that Jinnah was a nationalist and he did not want partition of India on communal lines. This is corroborated by Jinnah’s acceptance of Cabinet Mission Plan in which Jinnah acceded to an undivided India and that Jinnah only wanted maximum constitutional securities for the Muslims of India. It was circumstances and Congress doggedness that caused creation of Pakistan eventually. The latter group, however, claims that Jinnah wanted a country to be a ‘citadel of Islam’ and he wanted religion to be strictly implemented and practiced in it. This is an interesting debate but unfortunately it has produced serious consequences for the country too. The present militant struggle for Sharia is derived and exploited on the basis of the aforementioned debate about the demeanor of Jinnah and the nature of Pakistan he wanted to establish.