Apropos the editorial ‘Seven questions’ (June 15). Many people, including Daesh and some Taliban, say ‘Islam is our Constitution’. ‘God is our Ruler’. ‘Islam and democracy cannot co-exist’. We have seen how politicians, with not so-clean-hands, exploited courts and parliament on questions about Finality of Prophethood and sadiq and ameen clauses.

In his book The Accidental Guerilla, David Kilcullen says that Islam and democracy can co-exist. He advocates strengthening of democratic institutions, and building a country’s own capacity to deal with insurgents. His eight best-practice counter-insurgency methodology include: (a) a political strategy that builds government effectiveness and legitimacy while marginalising insurgents and (b) ‘Puts the host nation government in the lead and builds self-reliant, independently functioning institutions over time’.

In his ‘Note on terminology’, he quotes from the Holy Quran to prove the falsehood of Taliban ideology (pp. xviii to xix ibid.). He uses the term ‘takfiri terrorist’ to describe those who disobey the Quranic injunction against compulsion in religion (Surah al-Baqarah: 256).

He stresses that takfirism is a heresy within Islam. He prefers to use this term for the words jihad, jihadist or mujahideen which cede to the enemy the sacred status they crave.

Kilcullen does not regard even religious extremism of the salafi or salafist as equivalent to terrorism. He says these terms refer to the belief that true Muslims should live like the first four generations of Muslims, the pious “ancestors” (as-salaf as salih). And that most extremists are salafi, but few salafi believers are takfiri, and even fewer are terrorists; most although fundamentalist conservatives have no direct association with terrorism.

Our courts or some other institution should address the additional question whether takfiri version of Islam is compatible with our Constitution? Whether Pakistan is a theocracy? Whether piecemeal application of Constitutional clauses is helpful to Shariah?

M.S. Malik

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2018