The writer is a graduate of the University of Management and Technology Lahore and grandson of the late Qazi Hussain Ahmad, who was the JI amir from 1987-2009. He Tweets @miqazi
The world has a superficial perspective of the Jamaat, the very party that inspired political forces in other Muslim countries to unite and compete within the paradigm of democracy to achieve power and defy the narrative of armed struggle that has caused severe damage to the message of Islam. However, stereotyping has tarnished the image of these men and women who contributed towards the social well-being of their fellow countrymen.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ruling Turkey under a secular constitution, who considered the late Qazi Hussain Ahmad as a mentor, expressed his concerns noting the fact that political movements were inspired in the early ’90s from the democratic activism of the Jamaat and blossomed into power after gaining popularity among the masses. Yet, the Jamaat could not bag much independently. The now imprisoned 80-year-old Mahdi Akef, former head of the Muslim Brotherhood, in his speech during a condolence reference for the late Qazi Hussain Ahmad said that it was the Jamaat that gave us the hope towards inception of a democratic dawn after years of repression that once again has been reigning over them since June 2013.
The face of the Jamaat is absolutely opposite to what it is perceived to be. The leadership of the Jamaat often receives criticism for having a soft corner for the ideology of the Taliban; however, this spontaneous reaction lacks research and is generally influenced by a distorted perception of statements.
In contrast to the allegations of being extremist, the fundamental values of morality, adherence to the democratic, legal and constitutional framework of Pakistan and service to humanity are ignored by the Jamaat’s critics. For them, the main factors of criticism on the radar is the role of Islami Jamiat Talaba, based at the University of Punjab, in supporting the Afghan struggle against the Soviets and the struggle in Kashmir against the Indian Occupation, duly chartered by the government of Pakistan. The Jamaat is fortunate that even its critics acknowledge the honesty of its leadership and workers and are thus not able to bring even a single case of moral and financial corruption to the fore. It is also pertinent to mention that majority of the Jamaat workers including its leadership, stem from the universities, which provides a diverse exposure to individuals.
A PPP government supported the Taliban against the proxies of Russia. In contrast to that, it is worth noting that the leadership of the Jamaat never travelled to Afghanistan and didn’t enjoy good terms with the Afghan Taliban at all. The relationship of the Jamaat with the Hizb-e-Islami in Afghanistan suffered an end after differences were stirred in a vested race to gain power.
Unfortunately, the Jamaat eventually faced the wrath of people several times in elections from those who feared a Taliban-brand of governance from its pavilion.
Most particularly, I have observed that women in Pakistan have a grave view of the Jamaat and see its leaders as hardliners who will snatch away their rights if elected to office. I always wonder how one could be judgmental without looking into the role of the women in the Jamaat. The women’s wing of the JI is the strongest vehicle towards its progression. It has exceeded in achieving milestones and making constructive contributions to the livelihood of women deprived of basic social amenities across Pakistan. Recently, the Jamaat, under the new the leadership of Sirajul Haq, took a firm decision in Dir to let women vote in the last elections.
With regard to minorities, the Jamaat has always said that they are part of our society and have all the liberties to practice their faith under the provisions of the constitution. The minority wing of the Jamaat is very active and includes Christians, Sikhs and Hindus who have always supported the righteous causes of the Jamaat without any reluctance.
Of late, there has been a positive shift in the mindset of youth towards the Jamaat. The social media has demolished the conventional barricades and now increased interaction between the party and the masses is cultivating a better understanding on common issues.
The Jamaat aspires to maintain good relations with both the West and the Muslim countries by playing a role in eliminating differences that is causing damage to the fabric of humanity. Rest assured, the Jamaat does not promote violence against any state in any form and determinedly believes in a peaceful struggle inside Pakistan.
The Jamaat is not a cult or personal property. It is a national asset and every Pakistani is invited to understand and support it under the guidance of Sirajul Haq for a better Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 17th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (66)
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right words at the right time ............the issue of the world is that fascist declare themselves liberal and secular ...they want to impose their own agenda..Ibrahim Qazi your grandfather was one of the greatest men in the history of Pakistan ....Keep it up .......May ALLAH bless you
@Hameedullah: secularism consists of two postulates, firstly religious freedom as u rightly mentioned. Secondly secularism aspires to separate religion from all collective affairs like social, political and economic affairs. Here secularism is in stark contrast with Islam. According to Islam man is vicegerent of man on Earth and he is found to follow the commandments of Almighty Allah and teachings of the prophets in his individual and collective life and in every sphere of life. One who believes consciously in secularism is actually denying the right of Amighty Allah to give commandments about collective affairs and considers human intellect as superior to the teachings of Divine Guidance, which is opposite to eemaan and a very dangerous position for a Muslim.
saddened to read the above comments all are baseless,without any evidence and only based on hatred. and for qazi. sir keep writing about ur movement . people need to know about JI..
@MJ:
You are correct in all your observations about JI except for one point. JI objected to the creation of Pakistan not because they were ideologically against an Islamic state, but only because they "really" believed and were committed to their ideology. That ideology called for converting the whole of India into and Islamic state and they figured the partition would split the Muslim population of India and weaken their goal of a greater Indian Islamic state.
Excellent article. Keep it up.
Either you are good or bad but you cant take middle of it, what JI is doing....
@Muhammad Younas, Country like ours never had election but selection so no matter how honest are u changing will not gonna come period.
@Muhammad Usama Khan: Interesting how you blamed all the looting and raping in Bangladesh on JI but refuse to hear a word about the armed forces. If you read history with an open mind, you'll learn that thousands of JI's young men were left to die at the hands of mukti bahini after the army cowardly surrendered. Pakistan is indebted to the sacrifices of JI.
@Abid P khan, No I am that smart or my coruscation is limited but there are peoples like IK or if u come to politics I will vote for u.
@Muhammad Younus: And son studying in Boston university!
@Ali Tanoli: "MQM, JI, PPP, should be banned from politics and decleared illegal." . And what shall we do with someone with your coruscation?
@Muhammad Farooq: "Those who have secular views beside being Muslims, should first explain their position logically that how can these opposites coexist in one personality." Sir you would do well to learn a little about secularism. You seem to equate secularism with faithlessness which is gross misunderstanding specially in Pakistan. They are certainly not opposites, in fact secularism allows people to follow their religion whatever that may be freely.
"Most particularly, I have observed that women in Pakistan have a grave view of the Jamaat and see its leaders as hardliners who will snatch away their rights if elected to office." Rightly so, women of Pakistan must be wary of party whose former head rejected the Women Protection Bill and considered the 4 witnesses to the rape conviction acceptable. So tell me why should not women hold "grave" opinion towards the party?
Whenever JI is in the news, its always on the wrong side of history, be it women's rights (underage marriage, rape, discrimination, etc), minorities (blasphemy, discrimination) or violence (willing to withhold judgment when it suits them). It might have been better to include some examples of their good work instead of writing a propaganda piece. Nothing of substance other than the voting issue, while I am not surprised but it is still not beyond JI to oppose that, is said only vague hints of JI being good.
Those who have secular views beside being Muslims, should first explain their position logically that how can these opposites coexist in one personality. As far the stereotype allegations against Jamaat are concerned, without going into the question of their validity or invalidity, these are partly a strategy adopted by the ideological opponents to malign Jamaat to hinder it from gaining popularity and partly due to their preconceived ideas about religion and religious people. This article is a decent effort to clarify the secondly described misconception and address the common neutral people but unfortunately it cannot affect those who are prejudicial in their outlook.
If, JI is not the right choice then who is? is there any other party who have a leader lived in rental house If, JI is not the right choice then who is? Is there any other party in Pakistan who have a party head with no own house, and living in a rental house, despite the fact that he enjoyed the post of Senior and finance Minster of a province. In Pakistan, every party says that they are working for Democracy but so sad to mention that they don’t even know the meaning of the word democracy. Some of our major parties ruled Pakistan for several time, but unfortunately they even haven’t provided the basic facilities. Still, they claim that they live for Pakistani people, how they would justify their own investment in foreign countries. It is not the first time when people criticised the Islamic teachings and its followers.
@Libra:
So no rights for them too?
Not sure about the rest of Pakistan or the world however anybody who has lived & studied in Lahore's schools, collages & University in last 30 or so years know that the article is so much full of nonsense
@Ajamal:
Personal character, as in opposing everything that was good for Pakistan including Pakistan movement; and supporting everything that is bad for Pakistan including violence in educational institutions, laws violation human rights and religious extremists? Well we already have made up our minds based on the personal character.
Very well written article, there is a need for more of such articles as it is a symbol of diversity and brings different point of views to the audience.
It's heartening to read the extreme views in many of the comments shared above. Some are such extreme as they wish to eliminate the 'other' voice by force. Kudos to them for taking over Taliban.
@Saif:
Ahmedis are treated like other minorities of Pakistan.
Jamaat opposed Muhammad Ali Jinnah. That is all there is to know about its origins and ideology.
JI is an extremist party ,and a regressive force that wants to take Pakistan back a thousand years
Very nice & to the point article
I think Bangla desh understood Jamat-e-Islami very well and treated them deservingly. we too should follow.
Mr. Qazi: I will give you marks for fighting a lost cause, it does take guts to spin the truth, hide facts, and outright lie as you have done.
I do invite you to take a rational position as to where your ideology, beliefs, and political convictions have come from. Being the grandson of the leader of a religious party implies that you were not given a choice in these matters. As an adult you should be able to adopt a logical and critical thought process - the very essence of human progress - and then see if what your party stands for is nothing but (extreme) misogyny and xenophobia with a total aversion to human rights and reasoned thinking. I personally expect the chances of you taking this journey are slim to non-existent, because like most adults you are presumably set in your ways of thinking and are even afraid of challenging the status quo, but I will nonetheless hold hope since you might have the intellectual guts required to search for the truth, rather than believing regurgitated lies told by our fathers and teachers since the day we are born.
An attempted cover up job..........but Sir, you fail to realise that you are not talking to brain washed JI madrassa students. You need first to come out of your state of denial and then possibly people will listen to you.
Good job ET giving airtime to JI representative. It provides an opportunity to this gentleman to realise how much we Pakistanis hate them. It would remove any misconception JI may have about their popularity among masses.
You are kidding, right??
Recently, the Jamaat, under the new the leadership of Sirajul Haq, took a firm decision in Dir to let women vote in the last elections.
The Constitution of Pakistan guarantees women the right to exercise franchise, i.e., the right to vote. On what basis did the Jamaat abrogate this right under the constitution previously in Dir?
To top it all, the author is showing how magnanimous the Jamaat is in giving women a right they had all along.
I like the guy and his views. In-spite of all the comments condemning him, the message I see is that the author is a lot more liberal than many in Jamat and that should be a welcome change. He even has good words for Erdogon of Turkey "ruling Turkey under a secular constitution, " Is it an admission of success of secular values? But then he should know Erdegon does not have a two third majority to change the secular constitution and that is the only reason of Turkey remaining secular. The guy has, however, tried to make it more and more like an Islamic state, wherever he could. Freedom means to express all views without fear and if you see guns in Jamaat's functions, we can conclude that its either its views or trouble for those disagreeing. That is out of date and betrays 21st century values. I would like him to tell us which Islamic country is functioning well for us to look up to? I see many Maulvis sending their children to secular countries. Does not fit very well with logic
What is the name of "Minority" wing of Jamaat-e-Islami called ?........
Student politics were reasonably clean free of 'gun' violence. The Student wing/union of Jamaat were the first student body to publicly 'arm' themselves with weapons. Prior to this no student union had any firearms.
This resulted in banning of student unions and student's grooming for politics took a back seat, and all because Jamaat introduced firearms to student unions. This alone speaks volumes for Jamaat and its so called visionaries!
Nice piece of text!!!! @miqazi, you should come with more articles to overcome the misconceptions about JI.
Old wine in new bottle.
its regressive party whose ideology resolves around banning progressive thoought and no word on social development
"With regard to minorities, the Jamaat has always said that they are part of our society and have all the liberties to practice their faith under the provisions of the constitution."
And where do Ahmadis fit in your scheme of things?
Let's rewrite the history; wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow's Pakistani Sun rises from West!
"The face of the Jamaat is absolutely opposite to what it is perceived to be."
Because there is severe shortage of rose tinted glasses in Pakistan.
No it is exactly what it is perceived to be; supporter of anti-Pakistan elements such as religious extremists. However you are trying to provide this old wine in a new bottle hoping to fool a few. Not going to happen.
Asset! we Pakistan actually should refrain itself from having these sort of assets.
Sound Good :)
What's next? Misconceptions about Al Qaeda?
to let women vote in the last elections....ha ha. How generous and forward thinking.
Dear author, just how "misunderstood" was JI in Bangladesh (oops, I meant East Pakistan)????
We really have no misconceptions regarding what harm and damage Jamaat - i - Islami has done to Pakistan and what dangers it poses to our nation's future. Pakistan is better off without JI
Your Jamaat opposed Jinnah and Pakistan's creation and then fostered violence against Ahmadis in 1953. Then Zia tried to implement Maudaudi sahib's vision in his 11-year era. We know what that led to. We understand you quite well and what kind of asset JI is.
Lies... All of them. Jamaat didn't support Afghan Jihad. Oh please. Qazi sahab went to the training camps himself alot of times. This is clear as day. Since the inception of Pakistan, JI and its leaders have used rhetoric and force, where they could, to enforce their band of Islam. Their Islam, that isn't very different from Taliban's Islam. What happened in Bangladesh? Didn't JI become a band of rapists and looters in the name of patriotism. And now the audacity to call into question the Shahadat of our Shaheed Soldiers. Which country is Jamaat trying to do politics in? Does a shaheed army jawan not justify a protest. Only drones.... JI is a pathetic band of ruthless, toothless and cowards that don't have the conviction to say what's in their hearts. You want democracy but you can't win seats because of democracy? Pakistan does not want ot respect JI. Get that in your heads and sod off to wherever you can.
"The Jamaat is not a cult or personal property. It is a national asset and every Pakistani is invited to understand and support it under the guidance of Sirajul Haq for a better Pakistan."
If the Jamaat is a national asset, Pakistan is surely doomed.
Not one word which says what they stand for in contrast to current national parties - why should one vote for them. Do they want to be seen as a religious party and if they do, then why complain when negative baggage is bound to accompany such an admission - not because Pakistan is not religiously inclined (far from it), but because Islamic parties in a country created for muslims that is already almost 100 per cent muslim seems like a bit of an overkill (pun intended).