Adil Najam
Thank you to those who have so actively responded to our current ATP Quiz where we gave you some quotes and asked you to guess who they are from (here). Many of you have gotten to the bottom of this, but others are still further away. For those who have not seen the first set of hints, do so here; also, a number of comments already posted on that may be helpful.
Largely becasue I wanted to post the following quotes anyhow, and partly by way of giving more clues to teh identity of the person we are thinking of, here is a little more from him.
Let me first finish the story where we left it – his going to Gen. Zia ul Haq’s Majlis i Shura. Here is what he did there:
On the 12th of July 1984, I finally stood up to speak and the venerated members of the assembly, along with General Zia ul Haq straightened up to listen…. “You formed this Shura according to Islamic concepts… [but] when there are no human rights, domestic laws, facilities for health and education, protection for domestic servants and kisaans, there is also no Shura. Does anyone still want to call this assembly an Islamic Shura? …Have you converted mosques into courts of genuine Islamic justice or into schools for the illiterate? Are you using Zakaat funds for development programs? Are you rehabilitating destitutes on a provincial and district level from the Bait ul Maal? Are you reducing unemployment by giving small loans and setting up small industry? … As a rule based on victimisation, self-preservation and greed is visionless, it is also destructive. This country needs help, help to recover from its past and now its present. The people have been neglected long enough, one day they shall rise like mad men and pull down these walls that keep their future captive. Mark my words and heed them before you find yourself the prey instead of the predator…. If you talk of an Islamic system, let me guide you towards the West which has adopted it…. When you push people against the wall, they reject you. As Martial Laws and restrictive methods are tantamount to terrorism, they are the mother of terrorist activities.” … Somebody shouted, “Ghaddar, Ghaddar,” but another urgently silenced him.
So much for his direct involvement in politics. But his passions went outside of parliament and created furors.
Extremist groups … rose against me without understanding what I propounded. Some said I was from the Aga Khani sect, others declared me a Shia, a Qadiani, even an atheist… I noticed a huge banner declaring me a non believer outside [a] mosque… A letter from the Imam of a mosque in Islamabad arrived saying, “I believe you are a good man. Your ideas and interpretations are, however, adopted from the Aga Khan faith. If you come to me I will convert you into a true Muslim.” …I issued a press release, “Nobody in the world is in a position to declare my faith except I, myself.”
[Speaking to a group of Pakistanis in USA] I objected, “You have spent four and a half million dollars towards a mosque when another stands just one and a half kilometers away. Reevaluate your priorities and your responsibilities.” Pakistan’s Muslims are split into hundreds of sects. All they do is try and establish what is haram and what is halal…People had conveniently forgotten that I propagated a concept that Sufi saints had already preached…. The humanitarian traditions of sufism spread Islam in the Subcontinent, and Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims were equal before God. The inspiration derived from Sufi character was an advantage to our faith, and the tolerant and refined image of Islam was the ideal…
So, does this help us in getting to an agreement on who this person is?
I am 100 percent sure that its Maulana Abdus Sattar Edhi, here are some clues that led me to believe that its Edhi Sahib:
1. clue#1:Mithadar , an old karachi neighborhood is the place where he first started his welfare work for the memon community and from where he stood up for elections.
2.He was branded as Aga Khani which means that he belonged to a community which does resembles the Aga Khani community as they speak the same gujarati language. In karachi in which there are Sunnis which majority of memons are and then there are ismailis or Aga Khanis.
Now I am quite cconfused and unsure who it coudl be. Its probably going to be a surprise.
But whoever it is, he is spot on about this Masjid building binge by Pakistanis in teh USA and other places outside Pakistan. Wher I live in teh US has far more mosque than are needed for that community and all they do is keep fighting amongst each other, all are differnet sects, and the result is that we end up having 3 Eids and unending masjid politics. I heard of this village near Mirpur whicch sent lots of peopel abroadd to work, they did well and now supposedly they have 6 mosques in the little village. But still no school!
As the guy says, get your priorities right.
Definitely Not Edhi…this is either Zafarullah Khan or Khan Wali Khan…So when do we ge tthe answer to this???
I guess people who know better have figured out that it is Edhi. Would not have guessed that. But if it is so, I am really surprised. I know he was harrassed by the MQM folks, but did not know that the religious types and maulvis also gave him a hard time.
Seems like most of the people are leanning toward Abdus Sattar Edhi. I never thought of Edhi Sahab as a political figure or even a controversial one as suggested in the earlier post. Well, if it indeed is Edhi Sahab, I will be honest, I would have never guessed him in a million years! Good one :)