Islam: God's gift

It is a unique distinction of Islam that, unlike Christianity or Buddhism, it is not named after the founder of the religion. Nor the word Muslim restricts the followers of the Islamic faith to a particular race or nationality.

The reason of this uniqueness is not far to seek as 'Islam' and 'Muslim' are God-given words, not coined by humans.

Islam, now a proper noun in Arabic language, was used by the Almighty to specify the religion revealed to His last Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him). The word means, in reference to this particular religion, 'surrender unto God'. From this word are derived the proper nouns Muslim (plural Muslimoon or Muslimeen), again used in the Quran to specify the followers of the Prophet. So, prior to their use in the Quran, neither Islam nor its derivatives were commonly spoken or written in Arabic to denote a religion and its followers.

Islam and Muslim (and its plurals) are used in the Quran not only to specify the religion revealed to His last Prophet but also the religion of pre-historic Prophet Noah, and then Prophet Abraham, the patriarch of Syriac Hebrew people, the first Divinely-inspired person who, in the words of historian Arnold Toynbee, "arrived at a particular concept of God which is common to Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam" ('Study of History'). It will not be out of place to mention here that Montgomery Watt says, alluding to Prophet Abraham's "belief in a living God", that "it is Islam alone that has preserved this reality" ('Muhammad at Madina').

The Almighty Allah, while introducing to mankind the words 'Islam' and its derivatives through His revelations preserved in the Quran, narrates their origin in Al-Baqra, the second Sura (or chapter of the Book) following the seven 'opening' verses (Al-Fatiha). This narrative appearing in Ayaat (or verses) 128-32 of the second Sura is summed up here:

While Abraham and Ismael were raising the foundation of the Kaaba, Abraham prayed: 'Our Lord! make us 'Muslims' (meaning literally: 'submissive to God') and make from our seed a nation of Muslims and raise up in their midst a Prophet from among them who shall recite unto them your revelations and shall instruct them in the Scripture, and in wisdom and shall chasten them and make them grow.' Responding to the prayer, Allah asked him to become a 'Muslim' which he did and the same thing he enjoined upon his sons, acting upon which Jacob told his sons that God had chosen for them the (true) religion and, therefore, they should die not save as Muslims.

Further, in the fourth Sura (Al-Nisa) there is a clarification that it was not for the first time that the form and substance of Islam as a religion was conveyed to Prophet Muhammad through Divine inspiration. The relevant verses (163-65) of the said Sura can be rendered in English thus: "We inspire thee (Muhammad) as We inspired Noah and the Prophets after him, as We inspired Abraham and Ismael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes and Jesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomon and as We imparted unto David the Psalms. And Messengers (or Prophets) We have mentioned to you before and Prophets We have not mentioned to you. And God spoke directly to Moses."

According to Islamic authorities, the third Ayat of the fifth Sura (Al Maidah) announcing the completion of the religion for Muslims and the choice of Al-Islam as their religion was, chronologically, the latest revelation conveyed to the Prophet during his Farewell Pilgrimage while he was addressing the assemblage of thousands at Arafat (Suburb of Makkah) where the whole of Arabia had embraced Islam, shortly before his demise after a brief illness at Madinah. The relevant verse can be translated in English thus: "This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed my favour unto you and have chosen for you as religion Al Islam."

According to verses 161-63 of the sixth Sura (Al-Anaam), believed to have been revealed in the year before the Prophet's migration to Madinah after thirteen years of his effort at Makkah, he was asked by Allah to declare: "My Lord has guided me to a straight path, a right religion, the community (millat) of Abraham, the upright, who is not an idolator."

Prophet Abraham was, like Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon both) born in a family of idolators and like him struggled and suffered hardships in preaching monotheism among his people. Prophet Muhammad was further asked by Allah to declare to the Makkans: "God has no partners. This I am commanded, and I am the first of those (in Makkah) who has become a Muslim."

The theosophical approach of Islam, the respect and veneration of all the Prophets and specially gifted and Divinely-inspired men, based on Quranic pronouncements, like the one quoted hereunder, is generally overlooked by the critics of Islam and, regrettably, not duly emphasised by the Muslim clerics.

The Quran says that "the Prophet (Muhammad) believes in that which has been revealed to him from his Lord, and so do the believers, in that which has been revealed to him from his Lord. Each one believes in Allah, his angels and His Scriptures and his Prophets (messengers) - We make no distinction between any one of His messengers." (Al-Baqra: 285).

The distinction between Messengers is, however, interpreted by Muslim theologians as referring to the chronological sequence of the various Messengers' appearance on the worldly scene. The basis of this view is provided by another Ayat (253 of Al-Baqra) to the effect that God has caused some of His Messengers to excel others - 'some to whom Allah spoke while some of them He exalted in degree'.

The above is the synopsis of the Quranic account of the origin of Islam, and the recognition of the greatness and important roles of other Messengers of God, as named in the Bible with whom the first listeners of the Quran were fairly familiar, with an unequivocal assertion that God sent His Messengers to other parts of the world as well whose names have not been clearly spelt out for the obvious reason that the Arabs had absolutely no knowledge of them during the period of revelation.

The following excerpt from the Quran inculcates tolerance of other faiths and their true followers who have been promised their due reward for good deeds performed in this world with belief in their Creator and in the final accountability in the next world. The literal translation of the verses, as given in Marmaduke Pickthal's work, is this:

"Those who are Momins (i.e. Muslims who believe in Prophet Muhammad and that which has been revealed unto him) and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabaeens - whoever believe in God and the Last day and do good deeds - surely their reward is with their Lord and no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve" (Al-Baqra: Ayat 62). The same message is repeated in Ayat 69 of Al-Maida to reinforce this particular idea or theme.

But this does not detract from the universally-accepted view of the Muslim theologians that Islam - the teachings and practices of Prophet Muhammad and the Scripture revealed to him - supersede all previous Scriptures and teachings of the earlier Prophets. This is supported by numerous verses in the Quran.

The view from Islamabad

Even a casual visitor to Islamabad cannot escape the mood of anticipation which pervades the federal capital these days. It is not just the composite India-Pakistan dialogue scheduled to commence later this month.

It is also so much else that has been happening lately - the visit to Lahore of the former ruler of the defunct princely state of Patiala, Sardar Arminder Singh, now the chief minister of East Punjab, to attend the World Punjabi Congress, the impending visit to India of a Pakistani parliamentary delegation led by the PML-Q president, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, to strengthen contacts between Pakistan and India, the mysterious kidnapping of a provincial minister somewhere in the tribal area (now ended), the invitation to visit the US to Information Minister Shaikh Rashid.

And, on a grim note, Pakistan's alleged involvement in nuclear proliferation, the debriefing and protective custody of some of the country's top nuclear scientists and only on Wednesday, Dr A.Q. Khan's statement.

Amidst all this has been the passing away of Lt-Gen (retired) A.K. 'Tiger' Niazi, commander of the Pakistani forces which surrendered to the Indians after just a few weeks of fighting in Dhaka on December 16, 1971.

The news of Gen Naizi's death was inexplicably played down by the news media; the role played by him and many of those serving under him during the political crisis in former East Pakistan in 1971 irreversibly changed the course of Pakistan's history.

What seems to excite the imagination of the people in Islamabad is the prospect of the forthcoming India-Pakistan talks and more specifically its possible impact on travel between the two countries. The same clamour for the easing of travel facilities between Pakistan and India was also in evidence at the Indian high commissioner's talk in Karachi the other day to the extent that the chairperson had to apply the guillotine on questions about visas as that seemed to be taking up all the question-and-answer time.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, in an interview to Delhi's Hindustan Times the other day, responding to a question about travel between Azad Kashmir and the Indian occupied Kashmir, used the term 'separatist groups' of Kashmiris instead of the hitherto commonly used expression of 'freedom fighters' while talking about their meeting with compatriots on our side of the LoC.

He gave importance to the role that the Kashmiris on the two sides of the divide could play in bringing about a closer contact between Pakistan and India.

Considering that from the outset Kashmir has been regarded as a divisive factor, this was perhaps for the first time that the Kashmiris were mentioned as a catalyst for peace between the two countries. Incidentally, in the same interview, Mr Kasuri also gave a somewhat evasive response to a question about the lifting of the ban on the news media and TV channels which is a major obstacle in the way of creating a proper understanding by the people of Pakistan and India of the reality on the other side of the divide. That currently they have access only to highly one-sided propaganda which not only obscures the reality but also creates biased mindsets, a potential hurdle in the way of building peace between the two countries.

The fact is that it was the interaction between large groups of people belonging to the two countries who attended the peace convention sponsored by the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy in Karachi in November and a session of the South Asia Free Media Association in Rawalpindi in early January that contributed to creating the congenial atmosphere for the meeting of the top leaders of the two countries and the possibility of the resumption of bilateral talks for dealing with mutual disputes.

With the removal of the restrictions on media and cultural exchanges, the contacts between India and Pakistan can only be more purposeful.

What the chief minister of East Punjab, Sardar Arminder Singh, at his press conference in Lahore said about the overall objective of his visit to Lahore was that he wished to promote friendship with the Punjabis living in Pakistan. Perhaps he did not mean it too literally. Hopefully, he had the same feelings about visits by leaders from other parts of India to places with ethnic and cultural affinity in various other parts of Pakistan.

Surely, he knows that the common heritage and cultural tradition of which he spoke so movingly were not confined to Punjab and were shared by peoples in other parts of India and Pakistan as well. Sardar Arminder Singh did not allow himself to be carried away by his sentiments when some journalists speculated on the possible "elimination" of borders between India and Pakistan.

In a realistic vein, he said: "Those who talked of elimination of borders ... were overwhelmed by emotion. We should not move backward, and only keep the future in mind..." However, he seemed to recognize the incongruity of the fencing of the border by India on its side and said that he wished the border to be opened but he wanted "to move ahead step by step."

However, overall it is not Sardar Arminder Singh's sentimental journey to Lahore (which is clearly how he looked upon it) nor the speculation about the likely outcome of the forthcoming India-Pakistan talks which preoccupies the people's minds in Islamabad at present. It is really the alleged act of nuclear proliferation committed by some of the topmost nuclear scientists of Pakistan that agitates the people's minds.

The fact that information about the matter has come to light in dribbles has added to the people's agitation. The feeling is also inevitable that perhaps not everything has yet been disclosed, and that there may still be some gaps in the information which has come to light. This is extremely disturbing.

Even the detailed account of the whole matter attributed to "authoritative sources" in a report published in this paper does not seem to be the complete story. Our nuclear programme is normally regarded as top secret and the disclosures are undeniably most disturbing.

The implications of nuclear proliferation for Pakistan are not easy to calculate. The powers which have never looked upon Pakistan's nuclear programme kindly may want to impose their own will upon Pakistan. They may also have their doubts and suspicions about the statement made by Dr A.Q. Khan accepting his responsibility and might wish to institute an enquiry by some independent agency which could create further complications for Pakistan and even compromise its security.

The 'confession' attributed to Dr A.Q. Khan that he did not commit any act of commission or omission for personal gain may not be accepted at its face value by those who may feel unduly concerned. That he could have been motivated by his wish to make other Islamic countries nuclear powers could also be regarded with a sense of scepticism as among the countries stated to have been the beneficiaries of Dr Khan's indiscretion is said to be North Korea.

The US is reported to have agreed to sanction some additional financial aid for Pakistan regardless of what has happened. But there are other states with influence on aid-giving agencies which may not be equally well disposed towards Pakistan and this may place the country's future economic planning in jeopardy.