Pakistan and US: the flight of the eagles

What separates Pakistan from the United States? Is it wealth, military might, geography or all of the above and more? Why is it that there is one nation of about 330 million, light years ahead of another nation of about 220 million? It is almost as if we inhabit different planets as depicted in the famous sci-fi movie, Dune. How long will it take for us to catch up or have we even started our journey towards that goal? These questions are either dismissed as God’s will by the ‘religious’ puritans or prodded in jest by the ‘secular’ elite. In contrast, a believer is always curious and strives to gain knowledge to overcome the darkness of ignorance. What is the secret sauce which led to the meteoric rise of the United States and what can we learn from its ascent?

The founding principles of the United States are not only unique from the Old World European empire states but also from the New World regional power states. For example, Australia, Brazil and Canada are comparable to America in geographical size and yet did not match it to become a global world power. It was the idea of America which was revolutionary for its times. The founding fathers of the United States were visionaries as exemplified by the declaration of independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Thus, the rights of the citizens come from God Almighty alone not from government or any other political, social or religious institutions. This is a profoundly religious idea which mimics the foundational ideology of the State of Medina. Our Prophet (peace be upon him) came to empower mankind from the literal and metaphorical idols which enslaved humanity in the darkness of ignorance. Tribal and racial means of oppression were eliminated which enabled luminaries like Bilal ibn Rabah (RA) and Salman Al-Farsi (RA) to rise high in the desert sky. Religious means of discrimination were ended that an Egyptian Coptic Christian was empowered to complain directly to Caliph Umar (RA) about his governor. The famous rebuke of Caliph Umar (RA) to his governor exemplifies this idea of liberty when he remarked: “Since when do you enslave the people when their mothers bore them as free men?”

The rise of the United States owes much to this idea of empowering the common citizens. The dynamism in the society, its innovative capabilities, its relative unity with such diverse people all attest to the power of this founding idea. This is why it has been extremely difficult for past economic and political rivals like Japan and USSR to catch up to the United States. It will be the same fate for future potential global powers such as China and India if they continue to oppress their ethnic and religious citizens in the name of national security.

Unfortunately, in Pakistan we have lost this very Islamic idea of empowering our common citizens. What are its manifestations? We still see feudal oppression of our citizens, colonial education system for the elite and hereditary political repression which has led to rising social and economic inequalities in our nation. The founding fathers of Pakistan had a vision of self-empowered citizens exemplified by the concept of ‘Shaheen’ by Iqbal. Will the Pakistani ‘Shaheen’ rise in the future like the American Eagle in the past? It will be the youth of our country which will determine its path, as Iqbal remarked in his inspiring poetry:

When an eagle’s spirit awakens in youthful hearts,

It sees its radiant goal beyond the starry heavens

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2021.

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