Declarations of faith and the national identity

Declarations of faith and National Identity

I belong to the generation, which voted Pakistan into existence, as Muslims, without submitting any declaration or ‘Halafnama’ about our faith. We were not required to do so in Quide Azam’s Pakistan either for about three decades. But in Bhutto’s ‘New Pakistan’ suddenly our faith became a subject to be questioned and authenticated by the state. How this came about is a history now. Bhutto paraded as a liberal, leftist and even a socialist, but in order only to save his regime from a religious-cum-political movement, he succumbed to the demands of the anti-government protesters to make certain earth-shaking amendments in the Constitution of Pakistan which laid down an all pervasive criterion (Fatwa) for only those Pakistani citizens who declared themselves as a Muslim. Though inspite of his opportunistic acceptance of the demands of his antagonists he could not save either his regime or his life, he did, however, provide a handle to the pervert theocracy who used this Constitutional Fatwa ruthlessly to further its vested interest . Zia, the pseudo-Islamist, made the best use of this Fatwa and issued certain extremely discriminatory and insulting martial law orders regarding the faith of he citizens of Pakistan. Among these was the spate of Halafnamas (declarations) which the Pakies had to submit if they wanted to deal with any institution of the Islamic State as a Muslim or to serve it as such. As a public servant I came across these Halafnamas a number of times and always felt insulted as according to my faith it was none else than God Himself who could look into the faith of any human being. As it is, I always resisted submission of these insulting ‘Halafnamas’ but my colleagues always prevailed upon me for signing them. Once when I delayed signing of a Halafnama one of my seniors in administration called me and said, “ Mr. Shah, why are you so serious about this nonsense and creating fuss for us by delaying submission of the Halafnama. Look I have signed it though I don’t believe in God even and all this theocratic nonsense.” Strange as it may seem a belief even in God or the day of judgement was not necessary to be a Muslim according to the Halafnama. In fact you have to believe in nothing except ‘Khatme Nabuwwat’ to be a Muslim in Pakistan

The latest of these Halafnamas about faith is the one issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan through their Notification Extraordinary of 31.1.04. The extraordinary thing about it is that it empowers an individual citizen to question the faith of another citizen (claiming whatever faith perhaps) who is a voter or applies for enrolment as such. I am not a legal expert but I don’t think the Constitution requires the Election Commissioner to inquire at all into the faith of a voter or a would-be voter.


These Halafnamas though do not make a mention of the Holy Quran, faith in which is the basic requirement for a Muslim, the Constitution does mention it as the Supreme Law for Pakistan. In verse 14 of Sura Hujraat (49) of the Quran, Allah Almighty, while addressing the Arabs in general says, “The Arabs say: We believe”. Say (unto them, O Mohammed): Ye believe not , but rather say, “ We submit,” (i.e., We are Muslims ) for the faith hath not yet entered into your hearts”. The recent statement of General Musharraf made in the News Night address to the effect that ( I quote) “ All those who are in Pakistan are Muslims” ( Pakistan mein sub Musalman hein ) is quite in line with this injunction of the Quran.

What is quite obvious import of the quote above from the Quran is that the faith is a subjective perception known only to Allah, the All Knower, and that any person making a ‘declaration’ about his faith or inquiring into it is an imposter, committing ‘Shirk’, a sin which Allah says He will never forgive. So as a matter of course one can declare himself as a Muslim, irrespective of the fact whether he is a ‘Momin’, i.e., a believer in Islam or a ‘Munafiq’, i.e., a non-believer political Muslim, as only Allah knows about his faith in the heart of his heart.

How tragic! In India they are trying to absorb all in Hindu identity whereas in Pakistan they are doing the reverse. They have made even the Muslim identity questionable, a matter of faith to be inquired into by the theocracy, which is by its very nature anti- national and anti-Pakistan. As it is, in the absence of an authentic nationhood which binds the country together sectarian or ethnic identity has become more important and has put a question mark even on the very viability of the Federation named Pakistan. May God save Islam and the Muslim nation from the nefarious designs of the theocratic professionals called the mulla whose Deen as Allama Iqbal said is Deen-e-Fassad.

At the end, I would quote a couplet from Hakim-ul-Ummat Allama Iqbal. He says:-
Choon mi goeum Musalmanam balarzam
Kih daanam mushkilaate Laa Ila ra
( When I say I am a Muslim, I shudder, as I know the troubles which the denial of false gods brings upon one)

What the Ullema say in this respect?