An argument of Hamza Alavi re-examined

Hamza Alavi is attributed with the following argument by Prof. Ishtiaq Ahmed:

In the Prof. Karrar Husain Memorial Lecture entitled ‘Social Forces and Ideology in the Making of Pakistan’ delivered in Karachi on 2 November 2002 the veteran Pakistani sociologist and political historian Hamza Alavi has argued that Pakistan was not meant to be a fundamentalist Islamic state. He shows through a review of important stages in the evolution of the Muslim League that the main leadership, particularly Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was opposed to Islamic ideology. Thus, for example, when at the All-India Muslim League’s Session in Delhi in 1943 one Abdul Hameed Kazi tried to canvass support for a resolution that would commit the Muslim League to Islamic ideology and the creation of an Islamic state he was immediately pressured to withdraw the resolution. Alavi’s concluding remarks are the following: Whatever may be said about limitations of the ideology of the Western educated Muslim Professionals and the salariat (and of the feudals in the final round) who mobilised support for the creation of Pakistan, religious ideology was never a part of it ... Fundamentalist Islamic ideology has played no part in the origins of Pakistan.

 Jinnah said the following in camera at that very session of the All-India Muslim League in Delhi, April 1943:

Meanwhile discourage anything that will create dissensions in the Muslim Camp.   For instance, discussion or determination of fundamental rights for citizens of Pakistan, or production of a cut and dried scheme for Pakistan must create controversies and differences of opinion and should, therefore, be avoided for the present.

It is therefore a reasonable question to ask whether the withdrawal of Abdul Hameed Kazi's resolution had less to do with Jinnah's supposed opposition to Islamic ideology, and more to do with his commandment to discourage anything that would create dissensions in the Muslim Camp.  After all, even the "discussion or determination of fundamental rights for citizens of Pakistan" was to be discouraged.

Pakistan ka Matlab Kya Hai - 2

Tahir Wasti, in "The Application of Islamic Criminal Law in Pakistan : Sharia in Practice",  (ISBN 978-90-04-17225-8), Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009, writes the following:

This statement is often quoted as proof that the ideology that created Pakistan—'Pakistan ka matlab kya, La Ilahlah Illallah' ('what does Pakistan mean? Pakistan means that there is no God other than Allah')— had in fact never been raised on the platform of the Muslim League. Used as an election slogan coined by a Sialkot poet during the 1945 elections to decide the partition of India, it was vehemently opposed by Jinnah himself at the first and last meeting of the All Pakistan Muslim League[21], held under his chairmanship in 1947. The incident is quoted in the memoirs of a member of the Council of the Muslim League:

During the meeting, a man who called himself Bihari put to the Quaid that "we have been telling the people Pakistan ka matlab kya, La Illaha Illallah." "Sit down, sit down," the Quaid shouted back. "Neither I nor my working committee, nor the Council of the All Muslim League has ever passed such a resolution wherein I was committed to the people of Pakistan. Pakistan ka matlab, you might have done so to catch a few votes".[22]

[21] The Muslim League, a political party founded in 1906, led the movement for the creation of Pakistan. Jinnah was its most prominent member.

[22] Malik Ghulam Nabi, Daghon ki Barat, cited in Ahmad Bashir, "Islam, Shariat and the Holy Ghost", Frontier Post, Peshawar, 9 May 1991.


Notes:
As per here (Abdus Sattar Ghazali's Islamic Pakistan: Illusions and Reality), the meeting was held in the Khaliqdina Hall in Karachi.

Per this web-essay by Wajahat Masood, the story is as follows:

Now let's have a look on the testimony presented by Malik Ghulam Nabi (the former minister for education, Punjab). He was a close associate of Qaid-e-Azam and a member of Muslim League Council. On page no. 106 of his book "Kissa ek sadi ka"(The chronicle of a century) he writes: "The first conference of All Pakistan Muslim League Council in Pakistan was held under the presidentship of Qaid-e-Azam in the Dena Hall, Karachi on December 14, 1947. In the conference, a bearded man came up and said to Qaid-e-Azam, "We had told people, Pakistan ka matlab kya, La ilaha illallah," Qaid-e-Azam said, "Please sit down, neither I nor the working council of All India Muslim League has passed a resolution adopting 'Pakistan ka matlab kya, la ilaha illallah. Albeit you must have raised this slogan to garner votes."

 This incident is not mentioned in the proceedings of the Council of the All India Muslim League, December 14-15, 1947, Khaliqdina Hall, Karachi, printed by Z.H. Zaidi in the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah Papers, Volume VI, #273, nor in the newspaper reports, printed as annexures to #273.  However, the following is notable, quoted from The Daily Gazette, 16 December, 1947:

A member interrupted and asked the Quaid-i-Azam if he would once again, be prepared to take over the leadership of the Muslims of India in the present hour of trial.   The Quaid-i-Azam replied that he was quite willing to do so if the Council gave its verdict in favour of such a proposal.  He recalled his statement at the time of the achievement of Pakistan, the cherished goal of the Muslim nation, that he wanted to lead a retired life. But if called upon, he was quite ready to leave Pakistan and share the difficulties of the Muslims in the Indian Union and to lead them....{ellipsis in Z.H. Zaidi}

Mr. Jinnah addressed the Council again and said: "Let it be clear that Pakistan is going to be a Muslim State based on Islamic ideals.  It was not going to be an ecclesiastical State.  In Islam there is no discrimination as far as citizenship is concerned.  The whole world, even UNO, has characterized Pakistan as a Muslim State.

There must be a Muslim League in Hindustan.   If you are thinking of anything else, you are finished.   If you want to wind up the League you can do so; but I think it would be a great mistake.  I know there is an attempt.  Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and others are trying to break the identity of Muslims in India.  Do not allow it.  Do not do it."

Pakistan Ka Matlab Kya Hai

Wikipedia tells us:

Professor Asghar Sodai (1926-09-26 – 2008-05-17) was a famous educationist and Urdu poet born at Sialkot. Pakistan ka matlab kiya?, la ilaha Ilallah was coined by him in 1944, in his immortal Tarana-e-Pakistan, which spread like wildfire amongst the Pakistan Movement rallies. He was a great worker of Pakistan Movement. Muhammad Ali Jinnah once said that Asghar Sodai has 25% contribution in Pakistan Movement. He was former principal of Government Jinnah Islamia College and Government Allama Iqbal College. He also worked as Director Colleges Punjab. Prof Asghar Sodai died in 2008 after receiving a severe heart attack at his residence in Sialkot.

The Fourth Estate: People and Politics in Pakistan, by Hasan Khalid, 1994, in the snippet available at books.google.com confirms Professor Asghar Sodai as the one "who wrote the poem that became the rallying cry for Pakistan (Pakistan ka matlab kya hai, La Ilah-a-Ill-Lil'lah)".''

 Notes: Alternate spelling for Sodai is Saudai.