"Sin of making Pakistan" and Maulana Mufti Mahmood. 

 

Daily Usaf, Islamabad

23 May 1999

In a previous column, I had promised the readers that I would explain the actual situation regarding this sentence attributed to Hazrat Maulana Mufti Mahmood:

 

"We were not involved in the sin of making Pakistan."

( "Sin of making Pakistan")

This happened in front of me, so I consider it my responsibility to bring the original story to the record of history. But first, it is necessary to mention the background that Maulana Mufti Mahmood originally belonged to Jamiat Ulema Hind, which opposed the establishment of Pakistan. The Majlis Ahrar Islam, along with the Jamiat Ulema Hind, also opposed the Pakistan Movement and opposed the partition of India and did so with traditional fervor. While a large number of Deoband scholars had separated from the Jamiat Ulema Hind and played an active role in the Pakistan Movement under the name of Jamiat Ulema Islam. 

 

This fact cannot be denied, nor does it need to be denied that both Jamiat Ulema Hind and Majlis Ahrar Islam were against the establishment of Pakistan, and they did not slow down in their opposition to it. The position of these parties was that:

 

The Muslim League leadership is neither serious nor capable of implementing Islam. 

With the establishment of Pakistan, the Muslims of the subcontinent will be divided and will not be of any use to each other. 

A large number of Muslims will be left at the mercy of Hindus in India. 

As far as the results are concerned, half a century later we are facing the same results that the leaders of these parties used to express in the form of concerns in opposition to the Pakistan Movement. Therefore, despite getting power several times, the Muslim League leadership could not make any progress towards the implementation of Islam in half a century. And after the division of the great power of the Muslims of the subcontinent, there is no need to say anything more after the confession of late Muslim League leader Chaudhry Khaliq-ul-Zaman, in which he gave an interview to "Akhbar Jahan" immediately after the fall of Dhaka. He said while giving. He said that

 

( "Sin of making Pakistan")

"Because of our behavior, the Muslims of the subcontinent have been divided into three sections, which cannot help each other in any problem."

 

However, despite all this, opposition to the creation of Pakistan was a political opinion, and the leaders of Jamiat Ulema Hind and Majlis Ahrar Islam did not make it a problem of their egos. Rather, when he saw that the Muslims of India did not support his opinion and supported the Muslim League, he happily accepted this decision. Therefore, in this regard, I think it is necessary to bring some facts before the readers. There are three most prominent names among the scholars in opposition to Tehreek-e-Pakistan:

 

Maulana Syed Hussain Ahmad Madani

Ameer Sharia Syed Attaullah Shah Bukhari

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Undoubtedly, these three gentlemen presented their opinion against the creation of Pakistan with full force, but what was their behavior after the creation of Pakistan should also be put forward. 

 

Hazrat Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani was asked by his devotees living in Pakistan for guidance about the future, and he clearly instructed them to work for the integrity and stability of Pakistan and to forget the past. Maulana Madani gave a very beautiful example in this regard, which has been published in the form of his letter. He said that before the construction of the mosque, the people of the neighborhood may disagree that the mosque should be built here or not there, should be built in such a place, and should not be built in such a place. But when the opinion of one party prevailed and they built a mosque against the opinion of the other party, now this mosque is a mosque for all. And respecting it and protecting its sanctity is everyone's responsibility. 

 

Similarly, Ameer Shariat Syed Attaullah Shah Bukhari held a public meeting in Lahore and announced that the nation did not accept his opinion, so he was accepting the nation's decision and abdicating in favor of it, and now he is Pakistan, which will play a strong role in the integrity and stability of Kashmir. Thus, in the first war between Pakistan and India over Kashmir, the party that did the most to awaken public opinion in support of Jihad Kashmir was Majlis Ahrar Islam, along with the Muslim League. 

 

And about Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, it has also been recorded in history that on the occasion of the partition of India, when the states got the power to join either Pakistan or India at their will, Balochistan Nawab Mir Ahmed Yar Khan of Kalat state decided to accede to India. What did But before the announcement, he sent his late Minister Darbar Mir Ghos Bakhsh Bizenjo to contact the Congress leaders so that after negotiating with the Indian government, Kalat's accession to India would be formally announced. When the late Mir Ghos Bakhsh Bizenjo arrived in Delhi, he first met Maulana Abul Kalam Azad with the idea that in this way it would be easier to settle matters with the Congress high command. Maulana Azad expressed his displeasure at the decision of Nawab Kalat. He stopped Mir Ghosz Bizenjo from meeting with other Congress leaders and sent him back with an exhortation that Pakistan has been created, so you should join Pakistan and make it strong. 

 

Maulana Mufti Mahmood belonged to this caravan, and according to the same behavior of his contemporaries, he dedicated himself to the struggle for the implementation of the Islamic system in the integrity and stability of Pakistan. In this regard, it seems appropriate to mention a historical event: after the general elections of 1970, when President Yahya Khan postponed the session called for by Parliament, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman responded by announcing a strike in East Pakistan. If the whole system is jammed, then the risk of partitioning Pakistan is very real. Appeared in front. On this occasion, in order to resolve the issues, the small parliamentary parties of the National Assembly decided to hold a meeting in Lahore and negotiate with the parties. In his delegation, Maulana Mufti Mahmood also went to Dhaka to participate in the talks and met Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. 

 

Maulana Mufti Mahmood, while describing the details of these talks in the central Majlis Shura of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said that both he and Khan Abdul Wali Khan met Sheikh Mujib and said to him, among many other things:

 

Sheikh! Remember that you are the Muslim League and we are Congress. Yesterday, when you were building Pakistan, we told you not to build it; it would harm the Muslims. And today you are breaking Pakistan, so we have come to tell you not to break it; Muslims will be harmed. 

 

In this background, while responding to a statement of the then prime minister Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto late in some gatherings, the late Bhutto accused the opposition of being responsible for the division of Pakistan, and Mufti Sahib was the leader of the opposition at that time. Maulana Mufti Mahmood said:

 

"We are not responsible for the division of Pakistan; it is on you." We were not even in favor of the partition of India; how can we be in favor of the partition of Pakistan? It is your job to divide it; yesterday you divided the country, and today you have divided the country. If this division is a sin, then we were not involved in this sin yesterday, and we are not involved in this sin today. 

 

The order of words and sentences may be lacking, but I have tried my best to convey the full meaning of what Maulana Mufti Mahmood said. He did this in detail while addressing the nationwide convention of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Jamia Masjid Noor Madrasah Nusratul Uloom Gujranwala during October 1975, and I was the stage secretary of this convention. While in some other gatherings, he said this, which was changed by friends into the sentence that "we were not involved in the sin of making Pakistan." And since then, this has been repeated continuously. 

 

( "Sin of making Pakistan")

However, the circle of scholars who opposed the creation of Pakistan as a political opinion and position and did not consider it useful in the overall interest of the Muslims of South Asia after the creation of Pakistan not only welcomed it. Acknowledged together, but today the same scholars of Pakistan's stability and integrity and make it one Islamic ideology are most active in creating a state, and this is probably the main goal of the Pakistan Movement.