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Islamic Opposition to the Islamic State: The Jamaʿat-i Islami, 1977–88

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2009

Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr
Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr
Affiliation:
Teaches political science at the University of San Diego, Alcala Park, San Diego, Calif. 92110, U.S.A.
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Extract

Islamic revivalism is often believed to be solely committed to the Islamization of society, viewing politics as merely an instrument in the struggle to realize its aim. The record of Islamic revivalist movements—as exemplified by one of the oldest and most influential of them, the Jamaʿat-i Islami, or Islamic party of Pakistan—however, brings this presumption into question. The nature of the linkage between Islamic revivalism as a particular interpretive reading of Islam and politics is more complicated than is generally believed. Political interests, albeit still within an Islamic framework, play a more important and central role in the unfolding of revivalism—even overriding the commitment to Islamization—than is often ac knowledged. Participation in the political process eschews a blind commitment to Islamization and encourages adherence to organizational interests, and as is evi dent in the case of Pakistan, to the democratic process, characteristics that are not usually associated with Islamic movements. The dynamics and pace of this pro cess are controlled by the struggles for power within an Islamic movement as well as vis-à-vis the state. It is through grappling with these struggles that the commit ment to Islamization is weighed against the need to adhere to organizational and political interests; this is the process that governs the development of Islamic re vivalism. Beyond this general assertion, the manner in which the struggle for power unfolds, the variables that influence it, and the nature of its impact on the development of revivalism need to be explored further.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , May 1993 , pp. 261 - 283
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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References

NOTES

Authorʾs note: This paper is in large measure based on extensive personal interviews with the leaders and members of Jamaсat-i Islami, Islami Jamiсat-i Tulaba, the Muslim League, Pakistan National Alli ance, and the officials of the Zia regime all conducted in Pakistan in 1989–90, during a stay funded by the American Institute for Pakistan Studies. Shaul Bakhash, John L. Esposito, Shahla Haeri, and the anonymous reviewers of IJMES made useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper, and their con tribution is gratefully acknowledged.

1 For a discussion of this theme in the case of Iran, see Said Amir Arjomand, “A Victory for the Pragmatists: The Islamic Fundamentalist Reaction in Iran,” in Islamic Fundamentalisms and the Gulf Crisis, ed. Piscatori, James (Chicago, 1991), 52–69Google Scholar.

2 On the approach of Islamic movements to democracy, see Esposito, John L. and P.Piscatori, James, “Democratization and Islam,” The Middle East Journal 45,3 (Summer 1991): 427–40Google Scholar.

3 For more on the Bhutto period and Pakistan's National Alliance's campaign, see Burki, Shahid Javed, Pakistan Under Bhutto, 1971–1977 (London, 1980), 171–239Google Scholar.

4 Chaṭān (Lahore), 15 November 1989, 19.

5 See сAbd al-Ghafur Ahmad, Phir martial law ā gāyā (Then Came Martial Law) (Lahore, 1988).

6 Lt.-Chishti, General Faiz Ali, Betrayals of Another Kind: Democracy and the Army in Pakistan (Cincinnati, Ohio, 1990), 66–69Google Scholar.

7 In the 1977 elections, which were believed to have been rigged, the Pakistan National Alliance won 36 seats, 9 (25%) of which were Jamaсat candidates. Results of this election are cited in Burki, Pa kistan Under Bhutto, 196.

8 Chishti, Betrayals, 16.

9 Cited in Sarwat Saulat, Maulana Maududi (Karachi, 1979), 101.

10 See Mian Tufayl Muhammad, “Zia, General ul-Haq Shaheed,” in Shaheed ul-Islam: Muhammad Zia ul-Haq (London, 1990), 46“47Google Scholar.

11 Saulat, Maulana Maududi, 101.

12 Takbir (Karachi), 16 November 1989, 55–56.

13 Āsia (Lahore), 4 September 1977, 4–5.

14 Cited in Nawā'-i Waqt, 25 October 1978, p. 1.

15 Ijtimāс: sē ijtimāс tak (1974–1983); rūdād-i Jamaсat-i lslami Pakistan (From Convention to Con vention [1974–1983] Proceedings of Jamaсat-i lslami of Pakistan) (Lahore, 1989), 41.

16 Cited by Khurshid Ahmad in interview with this author in Islamabad in November 1989.

17 Ijtimāс sē ijtimāс tak, 43–47, 53–54, 76–77.

18 Badr, Khurram, Qazi Husain Ahmad (Karachi, 1988), 70–71Google Scholar.

19 For more on the Jamiсat see Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza, “Islam, Students and Politics: lslami Jamiсat-i Tulaba in Pakistan,” The Middle East Journal 46,1 (Winter 1992): 59–76Google Scholar.

20 Akhlāqi Jang (Karachi), 29 March 1990, p. 18.

21 See Hussain, Zahid, “The Campus Mafias,” Herald (Karachi), October 1988, 56Google Scholar.

22 See Saсid Salimi, “Furugh-i Subh” (Morning Light), in Ṭalaba taḥrīkēn (Student Movements), ed. Khalid, Salim Mansur (Lahore, 1989), 2:316–18Google Scholar.

23 Amir al-сAzim, “Ṭalaba ḥuqūq biḥślī kī jadd-o jahd” (Struggle for the Rights of Students), in ibid., 2:357–63.

24 Report on General Elections, 1985, vol. 3 (Islamabad, n.d.)Google Scholar.

25 See AskariRizvi, Hassan, “The Civilianization of Military Rule in Pakistan,” Asian Survey 26,10 (Summer 1986): 1068–69Google Scholar.

26 Muhammad, “neral Zia,” 45–53.

27 Interview with Khurram Murad in Awāz-i Jahān (Lahore), November 1989, 10.

28 Jasarāt (Karachi), 10 March 1990, 6.

29 Mujib al-Rahman Shami, “Jamaсat-i lslami awr Peoples Party; fāsila awr rābiṭa; ek musalsal kahānī” (Jamaсat-i lslami and the Peoples Party; Distance and Relations, a Continuous Story), Qaumi Digest (Lahore), 11,2 (July 1988): 22.

30 Takbīr, 14 July 1988, 5.

31 Zindagī (Lahore), 10 November 1989, 60.

32 Takbīr, 7 July 1988, 12–13.

33 Badr, Qazi, 85–86; Shami, “Jamaсat-i lslami,” 21.

34 0n Zia's policy towards Sind, see Kennedy, Charles H., “The Politics of Ethnicity in Sind,” Asian Survey 31,2 (October 1991): 945–54Google Scholar.

35 Takbīr, May 1989, pp. 44–45.

36 Farida Shaheed, “The Pathan–Mujahir Conflict, 1985–6: A National Perspective,” in Mirrors of Violence: Communities, Riots and Survivors in South Asia, ed. Das, Veera (Delhi, 1990), 194–214Google Scholar.

37 Chaṭān, 19.

38 Badr, Qazi, 81–84; Takbīr, 7 July 1988, 15–19.

39 The Jamaсat had originally been very much in favor of the shariсat bill, and only came to oppose it out of political expedience. See for instance, Qazi Husain Ahmad, Shariс at bill: us-kī ẓarūrat aur us par iсtirāzāt jāʾiza (Shariсat Bill: Its Necessity and an Examination of the Objections to It) (Lahore, 1986). Also see, Siraj Munir, “Azādi kā ek nyā moṛ” (Freedom's New Turn), Urdu Digest (Lahore) (August 1988): 211–17.

40 Badr, Qazi, 82.

41 On 16 June 1988, a statement was issued by the Jamaсat secretariat in Lahore, signed by nine of the party's senior leaders, criticizing the shariсat bill for paying lip service to Islam, and deplored Zia's use of Islam for political ends; cited in Takbīr, 30 June 1988, 12.

42 Badr, Qazi, 83.

43 Ibid., 84–96.

44 Takbīr, 14 July 1988,5–11.

45 See Shami, “Jamaсat-i Islami,” 24.

46 Jang (Karachi), 7 July 1988, 1.

47 Takbīr, 23 June 1988, 25.

48 Mian Tufayl has hinted that Salah al-Din's criticism were instigated by Zia; see Takbīr, 23 June 1988, 24.

49 Ibid., 23 June, 14 July, and 21 July 1988.

50 Ibid., 21 July 1988, 7.

51 Akhlāqi Jang, 20–23.

52 GeneraI Zia used the excuse that Junejo had been reluctant to promulgate a shariсat bill to dismiss the government, and then proceeded to promulgate a shariсat bill of his own to distract attention from his dismissal of the prime minister; Kennedy, Charles H., “Islamization and Legal Reform in Pakistan, 1979–89,” Pacific Affairs 63,1 (Spring 1990): 66–67Google Scholar.

53 Jasarāt, 3 June 1988, 2, 4; ibid., 18 and 19 June 1988.

54 Ibid., 3 June 1988, 20–22.