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UNITY FAITH & DISCIPLINE - Revisited
by
Col. Riaz Jafri (Ret’d)
It was October 19th, 1941 that the Quaid in his Eid message gave
the motto Unity Faith & Discipline to the nation yet to be born. Its Urdu
rendition was Ittehad, Yaqeen, Nazm. Immediately after the creation of
Pakistan this Unity Faith & Discipline adorned the most prominent places
like govt. buildings, offices, official stationery, postage stamps, ramparts of
the forts, hill side slopes – set in white painted pebbles and stones -
bridges, bill boards and banners et al – you name it. Pakistanis
looked all set not only to accept it wholeheartedly but also act upon it
devotedly. It helped us rise on many an occasion against the adversities
that normally beset a newly born nation during its infancy. However,
unfortunate for Pakistan, the giver of the motto left for his heavenly abode
sooner than have lived to see the young motto blossom into a strong tree.
More than seven decades later it is still around ! but only to be remembered
ceremonially on certain occasions and that too not in its original form or
format. Let’s examine the changes it has undergone:
Firstly, the Urdu translation of Faith has been changed from its original Yaqeen
(also Yaqeen e Muhkam) into Eeman. While
talking to a student delegation in May 1946 the Quaid had explained
‘faith’ to them by saying, “Have faith in yourself. Have faith in your destiny
– Pakistan and have faith in Allah”. This explanation was a crystal clear
manifestation of faith being confidence, trust, conviction, assurance and not
necessarily that of a religious belief only. The motto was and is for the
entire nation which comprises of Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Kailash
Kafirs of Chitral and believe it or not even a few Jews, Jains and Bodhs
also. By changing faith into Eeman which has distinct Islamic overtones instead
of Yaqeen which all human beings irrespective of their religious beliefs can
hold, aren’t we depriving the Pakistani minorities of the motto given to
them by t! he Father of the Nation? Or, should they not follow it in true
letter and spirit? Are they not the equal citizens of Pakistan
constitutionally ensured to enjoy their equal rights without any
discrimination? If they are, then they have to have Yaqeen in the motto
than Eeman which only the Muslims can profess.
Next, the format of the motto. I think in order to Islamise Pakistan,
it has been rearranged to put Faith before Unity and the official version of
the Quaid’s motto as seen on our National Emblem is now Eeman - Ittehad –
Nazm (at places Tanzeem – which is not an accurate translation of
Discipline). Why has it been done so? I think, because the
very name of the country given to it by its founding fathers in 1947 was
changed from pure and simple Pakistan to “The Islamic Republic of Pakistan”
in1956. The question arises, if the founding fathers wanted it to be an Islamic
State in that sense why did they not name the country on its inception “The
Islamic Dominion of Pakistan” instead of officially naming it as Pakistan
only? Why was a low caste Hindu Mr. Jogindar Nath Mandal made the Law Minister
of the newly born state whose Constitution and Law had yet to be formulated?
There was no F! ederal Shariat Court then to interpret the Islamic
jurisprudence and Fiqah related issues. It was the purview of the Law
ministry to do so and that ministry was headed by a schedule caste Hindu!! Why
was Sir Zafarullah Khan - an Ahmadi - appointed as the first ever foreign
minister of Pakistan? Can anyone in his wildest imagination think that a person
of Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s caliber, intellect and wisdom could not have
visualized as to what would it be like dealing with the Arabs and other Muslim
countries on matters of foreign policy of the largest Muslin state in the world
through an Ahmadi foreign minister?! Why was Mr. C E Gibbon – a Christian –
made the Deputy Speaker of the Constituent Assembly entrusted with the task of
making the Constitution of Pakistan? Did the Quaid and his colleagues not
know that the Deputy Speaker of an assembly presides over its proceedings for
an average of 34 per cent of the session time, during wh! ich time he has to
give rulings on disputed issues which becom! e law and are quoted as
precedence? What, assembly proceedings, foreign affairs and the law of
the land being governed by the non Muslims and the founding fathers were oblivious
to it all ?! No Sir, they were very much in know of what they were doing.
They were in fact more knowledgeable, highly patriotic and Muslims of deeper
convictions than you and me and they had after having taken cognizance of all
such eventualities appointed them to these positions. They knew that they had
created Pakistan not for the sake of Islam but for the sake of the down trodden
Musalmans of the sub continent. To ameliorate their social and economic lot who
would have been further subjugated in a united free India dominated by the
Hindus in all spheres of life.
So much for the form and the format. Let’s now see what the motto was
about and how have we made use of it.
Addressing students of Islamia College, Peshawar on 12th April 1948, Quaid-e-Azam
said, "The success of our achievements will depend upon our Unity, Faith
and Discipline". In this simple sentence, Quaid-e-Azam had enunciated the
fundamentals of success of Pakistan. Alas, we have not only not made use of
these golden fundamentals but have wittingly or unwittingly tried to destroy
them also.
Let’s take them one by one:
Unity:Scores and scores of sayings, maxims, adages and
proverbs are there to define Unity. Unity is Strength. United we stand -
divided we fall. Unity is in diversity. We must all hang together,
or assuredly we shall all
hang separately.Unity
is to share our similarities and celebrate our differences. Unity makes you
swim together in the ocean of your problems. etc. etc.
Quaid emphasized upon it in his August 11, 1947 address to the Constituent
Assembly of Pakistan and let me recount his exact words.
QUOTE. “Now, if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and
prosperous we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well being of the
people ---- I cannot emphasize it too much. We should begin to work in that
spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and
minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community – because
even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on and
among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vashnavas, Khatris, also Bengalees,
Madrasis, and so on – will vanish. ---- Now, I think we should keep that in
front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would
cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious
sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the
political sense as citizens of the State. UNQUOTE
He wanted us all to be a one Nation – one Ummah – like the Ummah tul Wahida
of Medina comprising of Muslims, Jews, Christians and Sarbians etc. less
Mushriks under the Meesaq e Medina. But what have we done in this regard?
We have not only given rise to religiosity and religious extremism, ethnicity,
parochialism, linguistic divide but also to the most dangerous sectarianism in
our efforts to become more and more Muslim to the extent of calling each other
Kafir. The universal Muslim brotherhood gave us two white unstitched
sheets – Ahram – to cover ourselves to preclude the difference between the rich
and the poor – the white and the black or the brown and preached equality
amongst the entire Muslim Ummah. But here in the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan we apart from many other divisive practices have also invented
different coloured turbans and Topis – black, green, white, Qaraqulis,
knitted skull and Sindhi ca! ps etc. with their individual typical style of
tying and wearing them each to align the wearer to a particular group, sect or
school of thought. Even the mosques are named differently showing them to be
associated with some sect or sub sect of Islam! If everyone can pray
together behind one Imam in the Masjid ul Haram, which other mosque on this
planet earth can take precedence over it to introduce and invent its own
practices and rituals for offering a prayer? Does it promote unity
or does it bring in the disunity and the divisiveness amongst the
Muslims?
Fard qaim rabt-e millat say hai, tanha kuchh nahi
Moj hai darya main, aur berun-e darya kuchh nahi
We cannot be a ONE nation until we become Pakistanis first and Muslim,
Hindu, Punjabi, Baloch etc. later.
Ek hon Muslim haram ki pasbani kay liey
Neel kay sahil say ley kr ta ba khak e Kashghar.
Faith: Faith is knowledge within the hearts, beyond
the reach of proof. As it is said "Faith is the bird that sings, when the
dawn is still dark”. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain to
achieve it, even if we do not see it! We must have infinite faith in each other
if we want to succeed. We should be faithful in small things because it
is in them that our strength lies. Qatra qatra baham shawad darya.
Doubt sees the obstacles. Faith sees the way. Doubt sees the darkest night.
Faith sees the day. Doubt dreads to take a step. Faith soars on high.
Yaqeen muhkam; amal paiham, mohabbat fateh-e-alam
Jihad-e-zindagani main hain ye mardon ki shamshirain ..
By translating Faith into Eeman, we have confined it strictly to a religious
metaphor and given its custody to the clergy. Now, there is one heck of a
difference in the thinking and thought process of a cleric and a Mujahid.
Alfaaz o muani mein tfawat nhi lekin
Mulla ki azaan aur mujahad ki azaan aur.
As already said above, Quaid had defined faith to the student delegation by
saying, “Have faith in yourself. Have faith in your destiny - Pakistan.
Have faith in Allah”. It is the faith in you and your country that would
enable you ride over any impediment and obstacle in your efforts to achieve
greater heights and glories.
Yaqeen afrad ka sarmaya-e tameer-e-millat hai
Yahi qu'wat hai jo surat gar-e taqdeer-e-millat hai
Of course Allah’s blessings and help are always to be sought in every
endeavour that we wish to undertake. However, at the same time we must
also remember that God helps those who help themselves - illa ma saei.
Discipline: “Discipline” comes from the Latin word
“disciplina” which means instruction. It means to follow certain principles or
rules of behaviour. Discipline also means mental or moral training. By this
principle Quaid-e-Azam meant training to obedience and order. Through this
principle Quaid turned the scattered Muslims of India into a well knit disciplined
organization. No civilized society can exist and progress without discipline.
Citizens of a disciplined nation work with a spirit of co-operation and unity.
Aristotle has rightly said, "Discipline is obedience to rules formed by
the society for the good of all". But somehow most Pakistanis co-relate
the word discipline to the military discipline and gesticulate it by springing
to attention and saluting. Very few think of it to be an orderly way of life
for everyone. Not making the queue at public places, not allowing the
passengers to alight first before strugg! ling to climb into the bus, jumping
traffic lights at day time and more so at night on the plea that no cross
traffic was coming, driving on the wrong side to short cuts, parking at No
Parking places, being not punctual or not keeping time and appointments and
many other such like our daily practices are taken to be a matter of just daily
routine and nothing to bother about. But surprisingly, the same
Pakistanis including our cab drivers become highly civilized and disciplined
when they are abroad, say even in Dubai, not far away from Pakistan! Why
is it so, one wonders?! Allow me to narrate only two instances directly
related to the Quaid demonstrating his percepts of discipline. One. When his
plane arrived at Karachi’s Mauripur (now Masroor) airfield at 3:30 pm on
August 7,1947 bringing him in to take up his mantle as the Governor General of
independent Pakistan, people from all walks of life had thronged to catch a
glimpse of their &ld! quo;Messiah of the promised land”. As the Quaid
started ! alighting from the aircraft, the crowd overwhelmed by adoration
and enthusiasm shouting deafeningly Pakistan Zindabad, Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad
broke the safety cordons and rushed towards the aircraft. The Quaid
stopped on the steps of the gangway and with a wave of his hand, beckoned them,
to go back behind the barriers. They retreated instantly as if pushed by
a magic wand. This was the very first lesson of discipline that the Quaid
had administered to the people of Pakistan.
Two. On April 11, 1948 and I am a proud witness to it, Quaid addressed
us the students of Edwardes College Peshawar. He was accompanied by Miss
Fatimah Jinnah, the NWFP Governor Mr. Dundas and the Chief Minister Khan Abdul
Qayyum Khan. What I must say and you should know, Quaid’s visit was totally
bereft of any pomp and show. No cavalcades, no sirens, no pilots to escort the
car. Not even ADCs and Prof. Imdad Hussain served as the Aide in Waiting for
him. We were all dressed in college green blazers, grey trousers and neck ties,
seated in chairs while a small stage accommodating a dozen of the college staff
and a very few dignitaries was set up. Our principal Rev. A.M. Dalaya, MBE
presented the welcome address and Quaid rose to reply and address the students.
He looked visibly pleased and relaxed. He thanked the Principal for his address
and said that it was the first academic institution that he had visited which
had not asked for a grant. Then referring to the! remarks of the principal that
the Chief Minister Khan Qayyum Khan took care of the colleges needs, the Quaid
turned towards the Khan and expanding his arms around his waist to impersonate
Khan’s huge buxom body said smilingly, “but I am sure it would be quite rare in
his case”. The audience – students as well as the dignitaries – all broke into
laughter albeit a subdued one. All those who had heard Quaid before
were surprised that the great Quaid had never cut a joke in public that
way! He asked us to gird up our loins for the great task of nation
building lying ahead. All through his speech there was a pin drop silence and
an epic demonstration of discipline and demeanor from the students.At the close
of his speech he said that Churchill had made a V with his fingers to signify
victory. And then making a U with his thumb and index finger and then
waving this U to the students from one end to the other, he said, “I m! ust say
U stand for Unity”. I think it was the Unity wit! h Discipline that the
students of the Edwardes College presented that day to their Quaid and that
certainly pleased him. May his soul rest ever pleased in the heavens,
ameen.
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