بدعہدی اور اس کے نتائج

Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: “For every treacherous person (on the Day of Resurrection) there will be a banner by which his breach of covenant and treachery will be known.” (Bukhari)

It was the custom of the Arabs to plant a banner in the marketplace for one who broke a covenant, so that he would be disgraced and humiliated. With this custom in view, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) mentioned the punishment such a person will face in the Hereafter, so that people might understand the gravity of this crime and its penalty.

Allah says: “O you who believe, fulfil your covenants” (al-Ma'idah 1). Elsewhere He likewise says: “And fulfil the covenant, for the covenant will be asked about” (al-Isra 34).

One kind of covenant is that which people make among themselves, and another is the covenant between Allah and His servant; both kinds must be honoured, and a person will be questioned on the Day of Resurrection about any failing in them.

The founding of Pakistan too was a covenant with Allah — the covenant to establish Islam in the state of Pakistan. During the Pakistan Movement everyone's slogan was one and the same: “What does Pakistan mean? There is no god but Allah.”

All Muslims struggled together for Pakistan so that a state might come into being where the Qur'anic order of life would prevail; a just, Islamic welfare society; where the civilisation and culture born of the belief in the Oneness of Allah would flourish, and Islam and its way of life would be introduced to the world with all its qualities; where Islamic law would hold sway everywhere; where life would be secure; where there would be no lying, deception, hypocrisy or treachery; where the rightful would receive their dues on time; where judges would decide between truth and falsehood without fear; where society would be free of the curse of usury; where there would be not a trace of liquor, unlawful gain and vice; and where there would be no sectarianism, ethnic or linguistic prejudice.

Now we should reflect on how we have treated this Islamic state of Pakistan. Even today, fifty-five years on, the covenant to establish Islam has not been fulfilled; rather we split even this Pakistan into two, setting an example of division upon division. We made a new Pakistan, and now we are bent on carving that new Pakistan into still more parts and pieces.

To deny the severity of Pakistan's present social decay, its wretched political and economic condition, and its moral darkness among the nations of the world would be to deny reality itself. Consider what the root cause of this corruption is: the root cause of the ruin is disloyalty to Allah and breaking the promise of the covenant made with Allah and His creation during the Pakistan Movement. Our constitution acknowledged only the supremacy of Islam in name, but in practice the supremacy of the Shariah was established in no field, nor was any party or leader allowed to work who was loyal to Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ) and possessed the sincerity, zeal and ability to reshape every sphere of life according to their commands. It is Allah's law that He helps those forces that carry sincerity and faith, or, by His will, He also grants opportunity to those who disbelieve and rebel — but through hypocrisy and double-dealing no contest can ever be won. Our real problem is precisely this: we took the name of Islam but in practice adopted every path of deviation from it. We could deceive no one but ourselves, and so plunged the nation from one calamity into another. Fifty-five years after independence, the Muslim of Pakistan still lives under English-made laws; formerly the white Englishman inflicted the oppression, and now the brown Englishman has taken his place.

There is only one road to progress for us: as a nation we must repent to Allah of this course, and strive to bring to power a leadership that is sincere about Islam and also has the ability to reshape every sphere of life, without any flaw and with wisdom, according to the principles and aims of Islam. For Allah has said:

“Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves; and when Allah wills a calamity for a people, there is no averting it, nor have they any protector or helper besides Him.” (ar-Ra'd 11)