Islamization in Pakistan

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Islamization (Urdu: اسلامی حکمرانی) or Shariazation, has a long history in Pakistan since the 1950s, but it became the primary policy,[1] or "centerpiece"[2] of the government of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the ruler of Pakistan from 1977 until his death in 1988.

Zia is often identified as "the person most responsible for turning Pakistan into a global center for political Islam."[3] Zia-ul-Haq committed himself to enforcing his interpretation of Nizam-e-Mustafa ("Rule of the prophet" Muhammad),[4] establishing separate Shariat judicial courts[5] and court benches[6][7] to judge legal cases using Islamic doctrine.[8] New criminal offenses (of adultery, fornication, and types of blasphemy), and new punishments (of whipping, amputation, and stoning to death), were added to Pakistani law. Interest payments for bank accounts were replaced by "profit and loss" payments. Zakat charitable donations became a 2.5% annual tax. School textbooks and libraries were overhauled to remove un-Islamic material.[9] Offices, schools, and factories were required to provide praying space.[10] Zia bolstered the influence of the ulama (Islamic clergy) and the Islamic parties,[8] and conservative scholars were often on television.[10] Tens of thousands of activists from the Jamaat-e-Islami party were appointed to government posts to ensure the continuation of his agenda after his death.[4][8][11][12] Conservative ulama were added to the Council of Islamic Ideology.[6]

The effect on Pakistan's national cohesion of state-sponsored Islamization were mixed. In 1984 a referendum gave Zia and the Islamization program 97.7% approval in official results. However, there have been protests against the laws and their enforcement during and after Zia's reign. Shia-Sunni religious riots broke out over differences in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) – in particular, over how Zakat donations would be distributed.[13][14] There were also differences among Sunni Muslims.[15] Women's and human rights groups opposed incarceration of rape victims under hadd punishments, new laws that valued women's testimony (Law of Evidence) and blood money compensation (diyat) at half that of a man. Religious minorities and human rights groups opposed the "vaguely worded" Blasphemy Law and the "malicious abuse and arbitrary enforcement" of it.[16]

Possible motivations for the Islamisation programme included Zia's personal piety (most accounts agree that he came from a religious family),[17] desire to gain political allies, to "fulfill Pakistan's raison d'etre" as a Muslim state, and/or the political need to legitimise what was seen by some Pakistanis as his "repressive, un-representative martial law regime".[18] Under the rule of Pervez Musharraf, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), a coalition of Islamist political parties in Pakistan, called for the increased Islamization of the government and society, specifically taking an anti-Hindu stance. The MMA led the opposition in the national assembly, held a majority in the NWFP Provincial Assembly, and was part of the ruling coalition in Balochistan. However, some members of the MMA made efforts to eliminate their rhetoric against Hindus.[19]

  1. ^ Haqqani, Husain (2005). Pakistan:Between Mosque and Military; §From Islamic Republic to Islamic State. United States: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (July 2005). p. 148. ISBN 978-0-87003-214-1.
  2. ^ Jones, Owen Bennett (2002). Pakistan : eye of the storm. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. pp. 16–7. ISBN 978-0300101478. ... Zia made Islam the centrepiece of his administration.
  3. ^ Ḥaqqānī, Husain (2005). Pakistan: between mosque and military. Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-87003-214-1. Retrieved 23 May 2010. Zia ul-Haq is often identified as the person most responsible for turning Pakistan into a global center for political Islam. Undoubtedly, Zia went farthest in defining Pakistan as an Islamic state, and he nurtured the jihadist ideology ...
  4. ^ a b Kepel, Gilles (2002). Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (2006 ed.). I.B.Tauris. pp. 100–101. ISBN 9781845112578. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  5. ^ Diamantides, Marinos; Gearey, Adam (2011). Islam, Law and Identity. Routledge. p. 198. ISBN 9781136675652.
  6. ^ a b Double Jeopardy: Police Abuse of Women in Pakistan. Human Rights Watch. 1992. p. 19. ISBN 9781564320636. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference United Book Press was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b c Wynbrandt, James (2009). A Brief History of Pakistan. Facts on File. pp. 216–7. ISBN 9780816061846.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference jones-16-7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Paracha-2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Jones, Owen Bennett (2002). Pakistan : eye of the storm. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. pp. 16–7. ISBN 978-0300101478. ... Zia rewarded the only political party to offer him consistent support, Jamaat-e-Islami. Tens of thousands of Jamaat activists and sympathisers were given jobs in the judiciary, the civil service and other state institutions. These appointments meant Zia's Islamic agenda lived on long after he died.
  12. ^ Nasr, Vali (2004). "Islamization, the State and Development" (PDF). In Hathaway, Robert; Lee, Wilson (eds.). ISLAMIZATION AND THE PAKISTANI ECONOMY. Woodrow Wilson International Center or Scholars. p. 95. Retrieved 30 January 2015. General Zia became the patron of Islamization in Pakistan and for the first time in the country's history, opened the bureaucracy, the military, and various state institutions to Islamic parties
  13. ^ Talbot, Ian (1998). Pakistan, a Modern History. NY: St.Martin's Press. p. 271. ISBN 9780312216061.
  14. ^ Talbot, Ian (24 January 2007). "7 Religion and Violence". In Hinnells, Richard King, John (ed.). Religion and Violence in South Asia: Theory and Practice. Routledge. ISBN 9781134192182. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  15. ^ Talbot, Ian (1998). Pakistan, a Modern History. NY: St.Martin's Press. p. 251. ISBN 9780312216061. The state sponsored process of Islamisation dramatically increased sectarian divisions not only between Sunnis and Shia over the issue of the 1979 Zakat Ordinance, but also between Deobandis and Barelvis.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference talbot-281-halfwomen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Haqqani, Husain (2010). Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military. Carnegie Endowment. p. 132. ISBN 9780870032851.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference talbot-286 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ International Religious Freedom Report 2006 Published by the US Department of State