VIEW: A beginning of sorts —Ishtiaq Ahmed

The totalitarian nature of the dogmatic shariah has thus far served as the most efficacious means to obstruct the development of modern values among Muslims

On June 30, 2010 I completed my three-year stint as a visiting research professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. Earlier I had applied for early retirement as professor of political science at Stockholm University. It was granted from February 2010 when I attained the age of 63. The idea was to return to Stockholm where I have lived most of my life after I left Lahore in 1973. The boys are now grown up but we still have the younger one, Selim, living with us. So, now I will have to learn to live on a small pension, but use the freedom at my disposal to do those things I always wanted to do.
However, to pursue some of them it is too late. I wanted to become a cricketer and had some talent as an opening right-hand batsman and a left-arm spinner — just like the legendary Abdul Hafeez Kardar. However, others were much better than me so I readily accepted to follow cricket from a distance — always keeping track of how Pakistan was doing. My patriotism about supporting Pakistan never wavered and never will. Cosmopolitans also need some spot to anchor and I happily do so in a Lahore of my imagination — one that was full of fun and gaiety till we decided that all expressions of joy should be subjected to shariah regulations.
My second great passion was and is music. I could sing quite well and to this day whenever I am in Lahore I have three separate gatherings to attend where my friends make me sing old songs of Mukesh, Jag Mohan and K L Saigal, one constituted by class fellows from Saint Anthony’s High School and political science class of 1968-70 at the Punjab University, New Campus.
I sang mostly Mukesh, Jagmohan and K L Saigal because my voice is more in harmony with lower notes. However, I always believed that Mohammad Rafi was the greatest singer produced by this subcontinent and that opinion of mine also remains steadfast. I could sing some Rafi songs as well but most of the time it was Mukesh whom nature had gifted pathos that touched the deepest chords in my person. However, I never got a chance to learn music because my late father did not approve of music and singing. While in Singapore I finally got a chance to train on the harmonium at a music school. I think I will try composing some songs if I learn to master the harmonium.
The third thing I believe I am good at is writing. Thus far I have tried my skills at academic writing. It has been well-received as I still find my earlier works cited and quoted on the Google Scholar website. I would like to write short stories and perhaps novels but doubt if I have the talent for that. My future endeavours would most probably be of the academic type or popular debate books.
As a weekly column writer I have gained a fairly large readership and the feedback that I receive encourages me to continue. The main problem for a weekly columnist is to ward off all the invective that also flows in if one chooses to speak the truth. Since I write on subjects that are often times controversial, I also have a following of detractors whose shallow scholarship is exposed with the presentation of hard facts.
I am going to take some time to complete my book on the role of the military in Pakistan but my major undertaking — perhaps my magnum opus — on the partition of Punjab is now completed and has been submitted to prospective publishers. It was something I wanted to do since my early childhood when I grew up in Lahore hearing stories from 1947. I have spent some eight years at least in convincing myself that now it is time to publish it. The title I have chosen is, The Punjab Bloodied, Partitioned and Cleansed: Unravelling the 1947 Tragedy through Secret British Reports and First-Person Accounts. While writing it I had to visit both sides of Punjab and as a result collected some stories that are stranger than fiction.
And now, about things I want to do in the future. I have some plans of continuing to write on the current situation in Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban. Apart from that I want to try my hand at solving the following puzzle: why is the so-called Islamic civilisation particularly resistant to some of the major gains of our times — democracy, equality of men and women and equal rights for religious and sectarian minorities? One can argue that the other comparable universal civilisation — founded on the principles and values of Christianity — also had its religious wars and persecution of minorities and therefore we too will eventually transcend our current bigotry and intolerance. One is also tempted to blame the west for encouraging Muslims to embrace jihad to defeat the Soviet Union because it was felt that Muslims are easily swayed by religious slogans and appeals. Both such theories contain a grain of truth but only a grain.
I am increasingly convinced that the problem is much more complicated. The totalitarian nature of the dogmatic shariah has thus far served as the most efficacious means to obstruct the development of modern values among Muslims. An example will illustrate that. In the second week of July, I and my wife were on holiday in Australia. One day the media reported that representatives of the Hizbul Tahrir had paid a visit to Australia and addressed Muslim congregations. In those meetings the Hizbul Tahrir told the Muslim audiences not to obey the Australian constitution and law and instead follow strict Islamic laws.
Now, these fellows had arrived in Australia in the same manner as all others — by clearing the immigration with valid passports in order to enter the country. However, to the Muslims who went to hear them they were preaching non-compliance of the law. Such unabashedly shameless behaviour can only be possible if one belongs to a rogue civilisation that condones negative behaviour. For the Hizbul Tahrir the main mission seems to be to impede integration of Muslims into the pluralist world order that is here to stay.

The writer is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm University. He is also Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He lives in Stockholm and can be reached at billumian@gmail.com