Mr Jinnah’s Muslim opponents

Jamaat-e-Islami

Chief amongst Jinnah’s critics amongst Muslims was Jamaat-e-Islami’s founder Maulana Maududi. His statements taken from “Muslims and the Present Political Turmoil” (Vol.III) First Edition published from Delhi. are as under: “Pity! From League’s Quaid-e-Azam down to the lower cadres, there is not a single person who has an Islamic outlook and thinking and whose perspective on matters is Islamic.” (Ibid. P.37)

“To pronounce these people fit for leading Muslims for the simple reason that they are experts of Western type politics and masters of Western organizational arts, and are deeply in love with their people, is a manifestation of an unIslamic viewpoint and reflects ignorance of Islam”. (Ibid. P.70)

“Even with a microscopic study of their practical life, and their thinking, ideology, political behaviour and style of leadership, one can find not a trace of Islamic character.”

Jamaat-e-Islami now claims claims that the Muslim League won the elections because it promised Pakistan as an Islamic state. Here is what Maulana Maududi said then:

“In no Muslim League resolution, or in a speech by a responsible leader of the League it been made clear that their final goal is of establishing an Islamic system of government. Those who believe that by freeing Muslim majority areas rule of Hindu majority, an Islamic government will be established here in a democratic set up, are wrong. In fact what will be achieved will be a heretical government by Muslims, indeed worse than that.” (Ibid. P.130-32)

Majlis-e-Ahrar

Majlis-e-Ahrar of Ataullah Shah Bukhari and Mazhar Ali Azhar opposed Jinnah because they felt that the Muslim League had too many Ahmadis and Shias in it.

Maulana Mazhar Ali Azhar wrote the famous couplet: “Ik Kafira kay peechay Islam ko chora, Yeh Quaid-e-Azam hai kay Kafir-e-Azam”.

In Majlis-e-Ahrar Pakistan was described as “Palidistan”, “Kafiristan” and “Khakistan” by the Majlis-e-Ahrar. In 1946… its candidates were soundly defeated by the Muslim League’s candidates. This is when Maulana Azhar said: “Madhe Sahaba can be a weapon against the League” – an obvious reference to Jinnah’s background as a Khoja Shia Mahomedan.

Jamiat-e-Ulema-Hind

Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind under Maulana Azad and Maulana Madni opposed Jinnah because they believed that the solution in India was a Medina style compact between Hindus and Muslims. Maulana Azad, though also a Congressman, however had favoured the Cabinet Mission Plan that Jinnah also accepted. According to Azad the Cabinet Mission Plan preserved the positives of the Pakistan scheme while avoiding the negatives. In his prescient book “India Wins Freedom”, Azad had predicted the breakup of Pakistan.

The Khan Brothers and the Khudai Khidmatgars

Dr. Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan and his brother Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan were also opponents of Mr. Jinnah and the Muslim League. The Khan Brothers were close to the Congress and thought that in an independent United India their interests were more secure. When the partition plan was announced in June 1947, the Khan Brothers began agitating for Pakhtunistan option. However both the Congress central leadership and Muslim League refused to countenance the idea. Despite the fact that Dr. Khan sb’s ministry had lost the majority after partition, when several members of their coalition defected to the Muslim League, the Khan Brothers refused to resign from government prompting a removal of government upon Jinnah’s advice on 22 August 1947.

Ghaffar Khan took the oath of allegiance to Pakistan in late 1947 and was received by Jinnah himself who remarked “today Pakistan is complete”. However the Khan Brothers were suspected by NWFP Chief Minister Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan, who himself had been a member of the Khan Brothers coalition a few years earlier, of being in cahoots with Faqir of Ipi, a militant from Waziristan who had declared Jehad on the Pakistani state. The Khan Brothers were arrested in early summer of 1948. The Awami National Party, an heir to the Khan Brothers, continues to play an important role in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Khaksars

Another group that consistently opposed Jinnah and even tried to assassinate him were the Khaksars. This group was founded by Allama Inayetullah Mashriqi and was said to be modeled after Adolf Hitler’s National Socialists. Allama Inayetullah Mashriqi accused Jinnah of being in cahoots with the British and opposed the partition of India. He believed that the partition of India would divide not just the Indian subcontinent but would also divide the Muslims.

Ch. Rahmat Ali

An unlikely opponent and critic of Jinnah was Ch. Rahmat Ali, the man credited with giving Pakistan its name. Rahmat Ali believed that by agreeing to the terms of June 3 Plan, Jinnah had sold out the Muslim “millet” and therefore had played the role of an agent of the Hindus and the British. Rahmat Ali believed that Pakistan homeland would comprise not just of West Pakistan and East Pakistan including the whole of Punjab and Bengal but would also have enclaves of Pakistani territory within the Indian republic. He had proposed names such as Usmanistan, Faruqistan and Siddiqistan for these enclaves within India.

Khizer Hayat Tiwana

The Unionist leader Khizer Hayat Tiwana was another opponent of Jinnah and Pakistan who felt that Jinnah was interfering too much in Punjab. After the repudiation of the Sikandar Jinnah Pact, Khizer Hayat proceeded to form a coalition government of pro-British elements and the Congress Party in Punjab despite the fact that Muslim League was the largest party in the province. Muslim League, aided by the Communist Party of India, started a civil disobedience movement which led to the fall of the Khizer government in early 1947.

Momin Conference

While a great majority of Shias had joined the Muslim League and Jinnah himself was known to be a Shia, a Shia group called the Momin Conference also lined up against Jinnah, raising the apprehension that despite Jinnah, the Sunni majority in Pakistan would ultimately restrict Shias in Pakistan.

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A change of heart

Opponents then, supporters now

Historians have always blamed JI for opposing the idea of an independent Pakistan though the religious party has always contested these allegations. Similarly, the ANP claims that it was not the only party against the two-nation theory. 65 years down the lane, let’s have a look at what these parties have to say now:

Liaquat Baloch, JI

Claiming it a conspiracy of the left and liberal forces, the JI leader had this to say: “It is an intellectual dishonesty on the part of the left and liberal forces to bracket JI with those that opposed the creation of Pakistan. In fact, it was Jamiat-i-Ulema Hind and Majlis-i-Ahrar that were on the forefront, not JI. They coined the term Kafir-e-Azam for the Quaid. JI never attributed or hurled such allegations against the founder of Pakistan. When a referendum was taking place in the then NWFP, somebody asked Maulana Maududi about his position. He said, ‘if I have the right to vote I will vote for Pakistan’.”

Zahid Ali Khan

The ANP leader concedes that they opposed an independent Pakistan back then, but right from when Pakistan came into being, they have supported it. Excerpts:

“We were not alone in opposing the idea of Pakistan. There were others, including JI, Jamiat-i-Ulema Hind, Majlis-i-Ahrar. We believed then that a new state would divide the Muslims of the subcontinent. But once Pakistan came into being, we supported it from the very onset. Bacha Khan in his speeches conceded that we opposed Pakistan initially but now that it was a reality, we would work for its betterment.”

–Nadeem Syed