Confronting one's demons means being honest. Let’s be honest, we are drifting further way from inclusivity. Take newly-elected Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi’s instruction to issue new nikkah forms containing the affidavit of the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (Finality of Prophethood PBUH) to the marriage registrars on July 30. It is pretty straightforward that such decisions relegate diversity and equality to the extreme edge.
A handout issued says strict action will be taken against the nikkah registrars if he does not use Form II. The Punjab local government and community development issued updated forms of nikkanama, and instructed the union councils’s secretaries to ensure provision of the marriage certificate. Reportedly, the chief minister said the marriage registrar who does not use the new marriage form would be punished with one-month imprisonment and fine.
The decision to amend the West Pakistan Rules under Muslim Family Laws Ordinances 1961 to include a clause where couples intending to marry will pledge the finality of Prophethood (PBUH) at the time of nikkah was taken by the Usman Buzdar cabinet. The CM approved it in December 2021, followed by a nod from the cabinet on March 1, 2022.
It is not a coincidence that the PML-Q MPAs Khadija Umar, Bisma Chaudhry and PML-N’s Maulana Ilyas Chenyoti presented the resolution in the Punjab Assembly on the subject. The resolution was unanimously approved under the speakership of Parvez Elahi, a leader of the PML-Q.
It is not a coincidence that the PML-Q MPAs Khadija Umar, Bisma Chaudhry and PML-N’s Maulana Ilyas Chenyoti presented the resolution in the Punjab Assembly on the subject. The resolution was unanimously approved under the speakership of Parvez Elahi, a leader of the PML-Q.
It is indeed not a coincidence that just three days after Elahi’s oath as the Punjab chief minister the issue arises again to haunt the status of minorities in Pakistan.
Presenting a dummies guide to Pakistan’s demographics, Muslims form the biggest religious group in the country – 96.5 percent as per the 2022 statistics released by the World Population Review. That’s a staggering figure. Why, then, are our leaders in the largest province of Punjab taking unusual steps towards Islamisation?
The declaration of the finality of Prophethood (PBUH) at the time of nikkah is not the sole attempt by the Punjab government to shift further to the religion. In September 2021, the provincial assembly under the speakership of Parvez Elahi unanimously approved a resolution seeking display of Quranic verses and hadith about the finality of Prophethood (PBUH) in provincial government offices. The resolution demanded that the verses and hadith and their translations declaring Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) be put up at prominent places in government offices.
A month later, in November 2021, the assembly adopted a resolution about the mandatory recitation of the Holy Quran in private and public schools during the assembly hour.
This is not to deny that it is essential to possess a clear moral code, familiar rituals, continuity with a tradition, and a community that shares their values. But the past year has witnessed exceptional urgency among the leaders in Punjab to turn to religion.
It would be a failing to not learn from Turkey. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) has governed Turkey since 2014. His policies incorporate political Islam. Yet, a study by Sakarya University and the ministry of education found in 2021 that students are “resisting compulsory religion lessons, the government’s ‘religious generation’ project and the concept of religion altogether”.
Almost half of the teachers interviewed said their students were increasingly likely to describe themselves as atheists, deists or feminists, and challenge the interpretation of Islam being taught at school, reports the Guardian.
Likewise, another survey conducted by the polling agency Konda in 2019 found that compared to a decade back the levels of piety were flat or even declining in Turkey. “Turkish analysts say the shift could be a backlash, especially among the young, against a religious president and his push to form what he calls a ‘pious generation’,” reports the NPR.
This is not to deny that it is essential to possess a clear moral code, familiar rituals, continuity with a tradition, and a community that shares their values. But the past year has witnessed exceptional urgency among the leaders in Punjab to turn to religion. It is obvious the in-and-out PTI and its coalition partners in the Punjab Assembly are trying to garner support of the religious vote bank in Punjab for the next general elections. It is also obvious they are trying to mould a generation of pious Pakistanis that will work for the construction of a new state based on the Imran Khan’s vision. But remember if you hold a bar of soap too tightly, it slips away…