Has the Allama lost the plot?

Allama Tahirul Qadri is no ordinary person. He is a phenomenon. Look at his accomplishments.He is an outstanding scholar of international repute, far too intelligent than those who may like to compete with him; imaginative enough to spring surprises over hardened politicians and mediapersons.

A powerful orator, he can hold the attention of millions of people for hours. He is a competent organiser who can efficiently administer many organisations and their numerous branches spread all over Pakistan and more than 90 other countries; and is an inspiring leader who evokes blind faith in him in thousands of educated followers.

However, despite these specifics, there is much about him that remains ambiguous, though not for lack of effort by his detractors, and sceptics. Let’s begin with the four organisations he has founded: the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT); the Minhajul Quran International (MQI); the Idara-e-Minhajul Quran (IMQ); and the Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran (TMQ). What different roles do these organisations confer upon him?

Second, his sudden and intrusive arrival in Pakistan, when things were moving smoothly towards the first-ever free and fair elections, is itself a subject of much speculation.

Who sponsored and financed him? The Americans? The Canadians? The Establishment? The Pakistan People’s Party? Some unknown persons or organisation in Pakistan or elsewhere? Or is he a self-propelled political object with a self-inspired motivation?

Third, his objectives too remain a matter of speculation. Is he here, in a descending order of the seriousness of his intrusion, to: lead a revolution; create conditions for a military intervention; topple the government; have the elections postponed; prepare the ground for a long spell of caretaker setup; wean away voters from the PPP and the PML-N; participate in the elections?

Or is he not sure what he is here for? Or do his objectives change with his own evolving understanding of the situation on the ground?

Despite these ambiguities and suspicions, Dr Qadri made good progress. His grand entry on the political stage was preceded by a blitzkrieg of TV ads leading to the largest- ever public meeting at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore, followed by an impressive ‘long march’ to Islamabad, and an incredibly stoical sit-in by thousands of men, women and children in front of parliament for four days and nights, through rain, wind and the sub-zero temperatures of the wintry nights.

The detractors were humbled, the sceptics silenced, and the people thought they had a glimpse of the elusive dawn of a new age they often dream of.

But right at the moment when that grand orchestration reached a crescendo, things began to move to anti-climax. The sudden shifts of focus from one issue to another and from one claim to the other, and the careless and irresponsible handling of numbers, diminished Dr Qadri in stature and in credibility. No jalsa addressed by him had less than two million supporters, and no duration of more than five minutes figured in his calculations.

It should be obvious by now that Dr Qadri has gate-crashed into the company of distinguished misfits, who abound in our society. For some peculiar reason, there are too many people among us who, instead of doing what they can do best, insist on doing what they cannot or should not do.

For example: those who should be doing business are trying to undo politics; those who would have distinguished as progressive farmers have turned into retrogressive politicians; those who were trained to run the armed forces tried to run away with the whole country.

With a little more effort we can come up with a much longer list of misfits in high positions. It seems that the Allama too may soon join the rank of misfits.

Our genes, environment, training and experience prepare us for specific roles in life. If we can find out what that role is, and accept it, we could successfully respond to the challenge of existence. Unfortunately, Dr Qadri, having discovered his role as a voice of enlightenment in the midst of mindless medievalism, is now trying to assume a different role.

He has chosen to dip again into the murky waters of politics, which would only make him controversial for good reasons, and make his ongoing work on the reinterpretation of Islamic laws controversial for bad reasons.

The reinterpretation of the Islamic laws laid down in the traditional legal systems is long overdue. Its need and justification was given by Allama Iqbal as far back as 1929 in his sixth lecture on The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam.

This is what he said: “The claim of the present generation of Muslim liberals to reinterpret the foundational legal principles, in the light of their own experience and altered condition of modern life, is, in my opinion, perfectly justified. The teaching of the Quran that life is a process of progressive creation necessitates that each generation, guided but unhampered by the work of its predecessors, should be permitted to solve its own problems.”

Allama Iqbal made these observations at a time when the need for reinterpretation was not a matter with such high stakes as it is today. What is at stake today is the survival of the Muslim communities as part of the contemporary world.

Unless the forces of obscurantism are defeated in the ongoing violent doctrinal conflict, the Muslim world would plunge into a dark age worse than the one Europe came out of 900 years ago. Allama Tahirul Qadri has been a prominent figure in the jihad against ignorance, bigotry and violence, and a source of strength for the liberals. His place is there and nowhere else.

But he has now relinquished that role to focus his energies on such ill-advised and anti-democratic enterprises as removal of the members of the Election Commission elected unanimously by all the parties in and outside parliament.

He also wants the enforcement of the extended version of Article 62 of the constitution, designed by General Ziaul Haq to keep the members of parliament under constant threat of removal on account of any of the many human failings to which no human being can be totally immune. Is this how the Allama would like to respond to the call of destiny?

The writer is a former civil servant. Email: iqjafar@gmail.com