Adil Najam
Mohamed Ali Jinnah, it seems, was not a “real freedom fighter” and he did “nothing for Islam.” (On Jinnah, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
So says the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). And by what logic does Maulana Fazlur Rehman and his party come to this conclusion? According to the party spokesman: “Jinnah was not imprisoned during the independence struggle. That is why he did nothing worth remembering.”
I am left rather speechless. So, here is the news item from Daily Times (February 9, 2007) that reports on the matter:
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) will celebrate 2007 by paying tribute to the heroes who played an important role in the independence of Pakistan ignoring Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his companions, JUI officials told Daily Times on Thursday. They said that the party would hold conventions in Peshawar and other cities of the NWFP in March to highlight the services of “real freedom fighters”
“The decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the JUI executive council in Lahore a couple of days ago. National Assembly Opposition Leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman presided over the meeting,” they added. JUI information secretary Maulana Amjad Khan said that Jinnah and his companions would not be commemorated because they had not done anything for Islam. “Jinnah was not imprisoned during the independence struggle. That is why he did nothing worth remembering,” Khan added.
He said the JUI would remember only those leaders who had sacrificed their lives for the creation of Pakistan or who had been imprisoned by the British Raj. JUI leader Qari Nazir Ahmed said the party would remember Hussain Maulana Ahmed Madni, Maulana Qasim Nanotri, Maulana Ubaid Ullah Sindhi, Maulana Mehmoodul Hassan, Syed Ahmed Shaheed, Shah Ismael Shaheed, Mauala Rasheed Ahmed and other leaders, who had rendered great sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan. “Maulana Qasim Nanotri established the Madrasa Darul Uloom Deoband. The institute produced a large number of freedom fighters,” Qari Nazir added. He said a schedule for conventions in the Punjab had not been decided yet. JUI Lahore chapter ameer Maulana Muhibun Nabi said the party would also arrange programmes in Lahore in this connection.
Interesting, by the way, that it seems that to be a “real freedom fighter” you have ‘Maulana’ prefixed before your name or a ‘Shaheed’ as a suffix.
Note: My thank to Watandost for alerting me to this rewriting of history.
Jinnah did not take Islam as shield to do his politic. He was a man of principles. In short, i find following characteristics in his personalities.
He did what he said. He always fulfiled his promises. He never depict that he is a true Muslim but he followed Islamic principles e.g. He did not meet his only daughter, Dina, when she married a non-Muslim. Though he loved Dina a lot but did not even see her after marriage (In other words it was a social boycot of Dina from Jinnah). While on the other hand, Abdul Ghafar Khan’s daughter married a Hindu but Ghafar Khan did not leave his daughter.
Once I read his statement,
“Do your duty honestly and trust in God . No power on earth can undo Pakistan. It has come to stay.”
Quran also teaches us of doing our duty and trusting in God.
However, I would like to say that it was my love for Jinnah that i reported this story. Neither it was a dishonesty with my profession nor hate for any political party because I reported what I found.
I do not praise Jinnah to that extent but the qualities he posses were great and i wish in the current time, i could see a leader of his caliber and vision.
Long Live Pakistan
Long Live Quaid-e-Azam
do unto them as kamal ataturk did to his mullahs !
JUI is a crowd of thugs and looting the poorest masses in the name of religion. These illiterate and intolerant mullahs are the lowest kind of breed of humanity and today responsible for bringing Islamic world to the brink of a clash of civilisations . They are the real enmies of this wonderful religion and the enimies of the great majority of all the peace loving Muslims and the humanity in general. They be gifted to Israel as they got no right to live a country that they opposed it’s very creation and deny the historical facts today after 60 years.
It is not good to treat all the religious leaders in same manner. Fazl-ur-Rehman has long tradition of changing ideologies when it favors him. Some people call him the secret weapon of Musharraf. But due to the actions of one mullah you can not treat all the religious leaders in the same way. We should not become part of campaign to side line Islamic teachings. The reason uneducated mullahs govern our decision is that we have abandoned learning Islamic principles ourselves and therefore rely on their rulings; so we need to educate ourself also in order to find who is right leader to follow.
nice buddy i like it