



7) The position of non-Muslims

a.) The ground on which the removal of Chaudhri Zafrullah Khan and other Ahmadis occupying key positions in the State is demanded is that the Ahmadis are non-Muslims; and that therefore, like zimmies in an Islamic State, they are not eligible for appointment to higher offices in the State. This aspect of the demand has directly raised a question about the position of non-Muslims in Pakistan if we are to have an Islamic Constitution.

According to the leading ulama, the position of non-Muslims in the Islamic State of Pakistan will be that of zimmies, and they will not be full citizens of Pakistan, because they will not have the same rights as Muslims. They will have no voice in the making of the law, no right to administer the law, and no right to hold public offices. A full statement of this position will be found in the evidence of Maulana. Abul Hasanat ,Sayyad Muhammad Ahmad Qadri, Maulana Ahmad Ali, Mian Tufail Muhammad, and Maulana Abdul Haamid Badayuni.

Maulana Abul Hasanat, on being questioned on the subject, stated as fonows: --

"Q.-- If we were to have an Islamic State in Pakistan, what will be the position of the kuffar (non-Muslims)? Will they have a voice in the making of laws, the right of administering the law, and the right to hold public offices?

A.-- Their position will be that of zimmies. They will have no voice in the making of laws, no right to administer the law, and no right to hold public offices.

Q.-- In an Islamic State can the head of the State delegate any part of his powers to kuffar?

A.-- No."



Maulana Ahmad All, when questioned, said: -­

"Q.-- If we were to have an Islamic State in Pakistan, what will be the position of the kuffar? Will they have a hand in the making of the law, the right to administer the law, and the right to hold public offices?

A.-- Their position will be that of zimmies. They will have no say in the making of law, and no right to administer the law. Government may, however, permit them to hold any public office."



Mian Tufail Muhammad stated as fonows: ­-

"Q.-- Read the article on minorities' rights in the "Civil and Military Gazette" of 13th October, 1953, and say whether it correctly represents your view of an Islamic State. (It was stated in the articles that minorities would have the same rights as Muslims.)

A.-- I have read this article and do not acknowledge these rights for the Christians or other non-Muslims in Pakistan, if the State is founded on the ideology of the Jama'at."



The confusion on this point in the mind of Maulana Abdul Haamid Badayuni, President, Jami'at-ul-Ulama-i-Pakistan, is apparent from the following: --

"Q.-- Have you ever read the aforesaid speech (the speech of the Quaid-i-Azam to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 11th August, 1947)?

A.-- Yes, I have read that speech.

Q.-- Do you still agree with the conception of Pakistan that the Quaid­i-Azam presented to the Constituent Assembly in this speech, in which he said that thereafter there would be only one Pakistan nation, consisting of Muslims and non-Muslims, having equal civic rights, without any distinction of race, religion, or creed, and that religion would be merely a private affair of the individual?

A.-- I accept the principle that all communities, whether Muslims or non-Muslims, should have, according to their population, proper representation in the administration of the State and legislation, except that non-Muslims cannot be taken in the army or the judiciary, or be appointed as Ministers or to other posts involving the reposing of confidence.

Q.-- Are you suggesting that the position of non-Muslims would be that of zimmies, or any better?

A.-- No. By zimmies are meant non-Muslim people of lands which have been conquered by an Islamic State, and the word is not applicable to non-Muslim minorities already living in an Islamic State. Such minorities are called mu'ahids,

i.e. those people with whom some agreement has been made.

Q.-- What will be their status if there is no agreement with them?

A.-- In that case such communities cannot have any rights of citizenship.

Q.-- Will the non-Muslim communities inhabiting Pakistan be called by you as mu'ahids?

A.-- No, not in the absence of an agreement with them. To my knowledge there is no such agreement with such communities in Pakistan."



So, according to the evidence of this learned divine, the non-Muslims of Pakistan will neither be citizens nor will they have the status of zimmies or of mu'ahids.

b.) During the Islamic Republic, the head of the State, the khalifa, was chosen by a system of election, which was wholly different from the present system of election based on adult or any other form of popular suffrage. The oath of allegiance (ba'it) rendered to him possessed a sacramental virtue, and on his being chosen by the consensus of the people (ijma'-ul-ummat) he became the source of all channels of legitimate Government. He and he alone then was competent to rule, though he could delegate his powers to deputies, and collect around him a body of men of outstanding piety and learning called Majlis-i-Shura or Ahl-u1-Hall-i-wal-Aqd.

The principal feature of this system was that the kuffar, for reasons which are too obvious and need not be stated, could not be admitted to this majlis, and the power which had vested in the khalifa could not be delegated to the kuffar. The khalifa was the real head of the State, all power vesting in him; and not a powerless individual like the President of a modern democratic State, who is merely to sign the record of decisions taken by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet. He could not appoint non-Muslims to important posts, and could give them no place either in the interpretation or the administration of the law; the making of the law by them, as already pointed out, being a legal impossibility.

c.) This being the position, the State will have to devise some machinery by which the distinction between a Muslim and a non-Muslim may be determined and its consequences enforced. The question, therefore, whether a. person is or is not a Muslim will be of fundamental importance, and it was for this reason that we asked most of the leading ulama to give their definition of a Muslim, the point being that if the ulama of the various sects believed the Ahmadis to be kafirs, they must have been quite clear in their minds not only about the grounds of such belief but also about the definition of a Muslim, because the claim that a certain person or community is not within the pale of Islam implies on the part of the claimant an exact conception of what a Muslim is.

The result of this part of the inquiry, however, has been anything but satisfaotory, and if considerable confusion exists in the minds of our ulama on such a simple matter, one can easily imagine what the differences on more complicated matters will be. Below we reprodure the definition of a Muslim given by each alim in his own words. This definition was asked after it had been clearly explained to each witness that he was required to give the irreducible minimum conditions which a person must satisfy to be entitled to be called a Muslim, and that the definition was to be on the principle on which a term in grammar is defined. Here is the result: --

Maulana Abul Hasanat Muhammad Ahmad Qadri, President, Jami'at-ul-Ulama-i-Pakistan --

"Q.--What is the definition of a Muslim?

A.-- (1) He must believe in the Unity of God.

(2) He must believe in the prophet of Islam to be a true prophet, as well as in all other prophets who have preceded him.

(3) He must believe in the Holy Prophet of Islam as the last of the prophets (khatam-un-nabiyin).

(4) He must believe in the Qur'an as it was revealed by God to the Holy Prophet of Islam.

(5) He must believe as binding on him the injunctions of the Prophet of Islam.

(6) He must believe in the qiyamat.

Q.-- Is a tarik-us-salat [=one who doesn't perform the prayers] a Muslim?

A.-- Yes, but not a munkir-us-salat [=one who denies that prayers are a duty]."



Maulana Ahmad Ali, President, Jami'at-ul-Ulama-i-Islam, Maghribi Pakistan --

"Q.-- Please define a Muslim.

A.-- A person is a Muslim if he believes (1) in the Qur'an and (2) what has been said by the prophet. Any person who possesses these two qualifications is entitled to be called a Muslim, without his being required to believe in anything more or to do anything more."



Maulana Abul Ala Maudoodi, Amir, Jama'at-i-Islami --

"Q.-Please define a Muslim.

A.-- A person is a Muslim if he believes (1) in tauheed, (2) in all the prophets (ambiya), (3) all the books revealed by God, (4) in mala'ika (angels), and (5) yaum-ul-akhira (the Day of Judgment).

Q.-- Is a mere profession of belief in these articles sufficient to entitle a man to call himself a Musalman and to be treated as a Musalman in an Islamic State?

A.-- Yes.

Q.-- If a person says that he believes in all these things, does anyone have a right to question the existence of his belief?

A.-- The five requisites that I have mentioned above are fundamental, and any alteration in any one of these articles will take him out of the pale of Islam."



Ghazi Siraj-ud-Din Munir --

"Q.-- Please define a Muslim.

A.-- I consider a man to be a Muslim if he professes his belief in the kalima, namely, La Ilaha Illallah-o-Muhammad-ur-Rasulullah, and leads a life in the footsteps of the Holy Prophet."



Mufti Muhammad Idris, Jamia Ashrafia, Nila Gumhad, Lahore --

"Q.-- Please give the definition of a Musalman.

A.-- The word 'Musalman' is a Persian one. There is a distinction between the word 'Musalman' which is a Persian word for Muslim, and the word 'momin'. It is impossible for me to give a complete definition of the word 'momin'. I would require pages and pages to describe what a momin is. A person is a Muslim who professes to be obedient to Allah. He should believe in the Unity of God, prophethood of the ambiya, and in the Day of Judgment. A person who does not believe in the azan or in the qurbani goes outside the pale of Islam. Similarly, there are a large number of other things which have been received by tavatir from our prophet. In order to be a Muslim, he must believe in all these things. It is almost impossible for me to give a complete list of such things."



Hafiz Kifayat Hussain, Idara-i-Haquq-i-Tahaffuz-i-Shia --

"Q.-Who is a Musalman?

A.-- A person is entitled to be called a Musalman if he believes in (1) tauheed, (2) nubuwwat, and (3) qiyamat. These are the the fundamental beliefs which a person must profess to be called a Musalman. In regard to these three basic doctrines there is no difference between the Shias and the Sunnies. Besides the belief in these three doctrines, there are other things called 'zarooriyat-i-din' which a person must comply with in order to be entitled to be called a Musalman. These will take me two days to define and enumerate. But as an illustration I might state that the respect for the Holy Book, wajoob-i-nimaz, wajoob-i-roza, wajoob-i-hajj-ma'a-shariat, and other things too numerous to mention, are among the 'zarooriyat-i-din'."



Maulana Abdul Hamid Badayuni, President, Jami'at-ul-Ulama-i-Pakistan: --

"Q.-- Who is a Musalman, according to you?

A.-- A person who believes in the zarooriyat-i-din is called a momin, and every momin is entitled to be called a Musalman.

Q.-- What are these zarooriyat-i.din?

A.-- A person who believes in the five pillars of Islam and who believes in the rasalat of our Holy Prophet fulfils the zarooriyat-i-din.

Q.-- Have other actions, apart from the five arakan, anything to do with a man being a Muslim or being outside the pale of Islam?

(Note-- Witness has been explained [to] that by actions are meant those rules of moral conduct which in modern society are accepted as correct.)

A.-- Certainly.

Q.-- Then you will not call a person a Muslim who believes in arakan-i-khamsa and the rasalat of the prophet but who steals other peoples' things, embezzles property entrusted to him, has an evil eye on his neighbour's wife, and is guilty of the grossest ingratitude to his benefector?

A.-- Such a person, if he has the belief already indicated, will be a Muslim despite all this."



Maulana Muhammad Ali Kandhalvi, Darush-Shahabia, Sialkot --

"Q.--Please define a Musalman.

A.-- A person who in obedience to the commands of the prophet performs all the zarooriyat-i-din is a Musalman.

Q.-- Can you define zarooriyat-i-din?

A.-- Zarooriyat-i-din are those requirements which are known to every Muslim irrespective of his religious knowledge.

Q.-- Can you enumerate zarooriyat-i-din?

A.-- These are too numerous to be mentioned. I myself cannot enumerate these zarooriyat. Some of the zarooriyat-i-din may be mentioned, as salat, saum, etc."



Maulana Amin Ahsab Islahi -­

"Q.-- Who is a Musalman?

A.-- There are two kinds of Musalmans, a political (siyasi) Musalman and a real (haqiqi) Musalman. In order to be called a political Musalman, a person must:

(1) believe in the Unity of God,

(2) believe in our Holy Prophet being khatam-un-nabiyin, i.e., 'final authority' in all matters relating to the life of that person,

(3) believe that all good and evil comes from Allah,

(4) believe in the Day of Judgment,

(5) believe in the Qur'an to be the last book revealed by Allah,

(6) perform the annual pilgrimage to Mecca,

(7) pay the zaka'at,

(8) say his prayers like the Musalmans,

(9) observe all apparent rules of Islami mu'ashira, and

(10) observe the fast (saum). If a person satisfies all these conditions he is entitled to the rights of a full citizen of an Islamic State. If any one of these conditions is not satisfied, the person concerned will not be a political Musalman. (Again said:) It would be enough for a person to be a Musalman if he merely professes his belief in these ten matters irrespective of whether he puts them into practice or not. In order to be a real Musalman, a person must believe in and act on all the injunctions by Allah and his prophet in the manner in which they have been enjoined upon him. Q.-- Will you say that only the real MusaIman is 'mard-i-saleh'?

A.--Yes.

Q.-- Do we understand you aright that in the case of what you have called a political (siyasi) Musalman, belief alone is necessary, while in the case of a haqiqi Musalman there must not only be belief but also action?

A.-- No, you have not understood me aright. Even in the case of a political (siyasi) Musalman action is necessary; but what I mean to say is that if a person does not act upon the belief that is necessary in the case of such a MusaIman, he will not be outside the pale of a political (siyasi) M:usalman.

Q.-- If a political (siyasi) Musalman does not believe in things which you have stated to be necessary, will you call such a person be-din?

A.-- No, I will call him merely be-amal."



The definition by the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiya, Rabwah, in its written statement, is that a Muslim is a person who belongs to the ummat of the Holy Prophet and professes belief in kalima-i-tayyaba.

d.) Keeping in view the several definitions given by the ulama, need we make any comment except that no two learned divines are agreed on this fundamental? If we attempt our own definition, as each learned divine has done, and that definition differs from that given by all others, we unanimously go out of the fold of Islam. And if we adopt the definition given by any one of the ulama, we remain Muslims according to the view of that alim, but kafirs according to the definition of everyone else.

On to: *8) Apostasy*



