What is Jamaat-e-Islami?

Election season makes all political parties “alike”. All parties suddenly start appearing “constitutional” and “charter-oriented”. The flag of serving the nation comes in the hands of all parties. All parties start talking about principles and rules. But as soon as the election phase ends, every party returns to its real colors. Currently, it is the election season in the country and in this season it is not easy to identify the individual identity of any party, but despite the election season, it is not very difficult to determine the identity of Jamaat-e-Islami. The reason for this is that in its long journey of history, Jamaat-e-Islami has never been a “political chameleon”. For it, elections and pre or post-election seasons make no difference. For Jamaat-e-Islami, every season is the season of spring. But the question is what is Jamaat-e-Islami?

The most basic and easiest thing that can be said about Jamaat-e-Islami is that it is Pakistan’s only “ideological party”. But the question is what does this mean? At one level, it means that all of Jamaat-e-Islami’s struggle is to establish Allah’s religion as dominant. But the issue is that this is also claimed by many other religious parties in Pakistan, but their history testifies that for them politics means the acquisition of power and they consider coming into power as a service to religion. But when Jamaat-e-Islami says that it is struggling for the dominance of religion, it means that for it, politics and power are only means to an end or the means to achieve a greater goal, rather than ends in themselves. The second meaning of Jamaat-e-Islami being ideological is that Jamaat-e-Islami has such a concept of the comprehensiveness of religion which no other party has.

Other religious parties see the Islamic system from a legal and jurisprudential lens, and believe that if Islamic laws are implemented in society, religion will become dominant and society will also fit into the Islamic mold. But Jamaat-e-Islami believes in the “Islamization” of the whole life and its perspective is not just legal but also ethical and creative. Maulana Maududi clearly wrote that until we organize all sciences and technologies on Islamic foundations, the requirements of dominance of religion cannot be fulfilled. And obviously, this work cannot be done just by enforcing Islamic laws. Many parties working in Pakistan call themselves Islamic, but in reality, their issue is not Islam but their sect, creed, or school of thought. Those outside these circles according to these groups are either misguided or not “standard Muslims” like them. One aspect of Jamaat-e-Islami’s ideological identity is that it is above sectarianism. Undoubtedly, it has its own point of view, and it also insists on that point of view. But it does not make its point of view its prison. It is willing to learn from any school of thought, intellectual movement, or religious scholar regarding Islam and never tells its followers that you should not read the literature of a certain group or religious scholar.

Ostensibly, most political parties in Pakistan are “national parties”, but the reality is that the only political merit of the leader of any party is that he be a Punjabi. The sole political ability of any party’s leader is his being a Sindhi. The only “merit” of the leadership of any party is that he is a Muhajir, Pashtun, or Baloch. This situation has made Pakistan’s political culture ethnocentric and linguistically biased. One aspect of Jamaat-e-Islami being ideological is that just as it rises above the psychology of sectarianism, it is also free of biases regarding lineage, language, and geography. From this perspective, Jamaat-e-Islami is truly the country’s only “national party”, and its evidence is reflected at all levels within the party, including in its leadership. The founder and first leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Syed Abul A’la Maududi was a Muhajir by definition. The second leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Mian Tufail Muhammad was a Punjabi by definition. The third leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmad was a Pashtun by definition. The fourth leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Syed Munawar Hasan was a Muhajir by definition. The fifth leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Siraj ul Haq, is Pashtun. Can any other religious or political party in the country present an example of such ethnic and linguistic diversity at the leadership level?

A perspective on the ideological identity of Jamaat-e-Islami is that it has remained “morothi” (non-hereditary) from the first day until now. While there are numerous parties in Pakistan that identify themselves as religious, the leadership transition often involves a familial shift, with a son taking over the party’s leadership after the father. In contrast, Jamaat-e-Islami has maintained its non-hereditary character. The ideological and educational legacy of Maulana Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, is integral to the party.

One aspect of Jamaat-e-Islami’s ideological identity is that from day one till today, it has remained non-hereditary. While countless religious parties in Pakistan call themselves religious, their pseudo-religiosity is evident from the fact that the leadership transition often involves a familial shift, with a son taking over the party’s leadership after the father.

Countless political parties in Pakistan call themselves ‘political’ but are under the control of families, and there is no element of piety, competence, capability, or services at the core of this control. Maulana Maududi has the greatest favor upon Jamaat-e-Islami. The Jamaat-e-Islami exists, it is because of him. The party’s literature has been provided by Maulana. No one else has a share like Maulana’s in the intellectual and moral prestige of the party. In this sense, if Maulana himself remained the leader of the party his whole life, there was intellectual, scholarly, ethical, and political justification for it. But Maulana consciously separated himself from Jammat-e-Islami’s leadership. After that, in the series of events, there was no discussion of making any of his sons the leader of the party. On the contrary, in Pakistan’s other political parties, the son takes the place of the father, the brother takes the place of the other brother, and even after the wife the husband can be seen becoming the party head. Political parties in Pakistan talk about democracy as if nothing’s more dear to them than democracy. When in reality their so-called love for democracy can be estimated from the fact that it has been 55 years since the establishment of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) but till today no intra-party elections have taken place in it. Although if there were elections in the People’s Party, then in Bhutto’s era, Bhutto would have been elected, in Benazir’s era, Benazir would have been elected, and in Asif Ali Zardari’s era, Zardari would have been elected.

Similarly, Mian Nawaz Sharif has been involved in the politics of the PML-N for more than 35 years, but the party has never undergone an intra-party election process. While there have been elections in the PML-N, it was nothing more than a sham in the eyes of the public. However if elections had taken place in PMLN, probably no one other than Nawaz Sharif would have been elected party head. A few years ago the process of elections did take place in PML-N but it was nothing more than a tactic to deceive the public.

MQM used to call itself a political, liberal, and democratic party,  but no one in MQM could have even dreamed of intra-party elections, though if MQM held elections perhaps no one other than Altaf Hussain could become head of the party.

In contrast, Jamaat-e-Islami has continuously gone through the process of internal elections for 83 years. Importantly, the only criteria for internal elections in Jamaat-e-Islami are piety, education, experience, and services. In this regard, the stature of Jamaat-e-Islami is such that even if someone is even slightly honest, and disagrees with Jamaat, he still feels compelled to say that Jamaat-e-Islami is the country’s only democratic party. One example of this is that of former Information Minister Javed Jabbar who while addressing a seminar at the University of Karachi said that Jamaat-e-Islami is the country’s only democratic party and the matter of its intra-party elections is such that there is no permission to campaign for a candidate, which is the highest form of democracy where you choose a leader with complete freedom of conscience.

The excellence of Jamaat-e-Islami is that it is simultaneously the representative of the nation, community, and the entire Muslim Ummah. It is a “national party” within the boundaries of Pakistan, a “community organization” within regions, and on a global scale, it stands as the “party of the Ummah.” Whether there is a crisis in Eastern Pakistan or Balochistan, Karachi or Malakand…, Jamaat-e-Islami becomes the voice of the nation. Whether the oppression of Muslims is in Kashmir or India, Myanmar or Bangladesh… Jamaat-e-Islami feels its pain and not only protests against the oppression but also tries to mobilize the entire Muslim community. Within the realm of the Ummah, Jamaat-e-Islami extends its reach from Palestine to Chechnya and from Chechnya to Bosnia-Herzegovina. This aligns with the noble saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): “The Ummah is like a single body; if one part is in pain, the whole body feels it.”. In contrast to Jamaat-e-Islami, the state of other parties in Pakistan is such that they cannot rise above ethnicity, language, and province. Even if they do, their scope is limited to the national level. They have neither a patriotic vision nor a concept of the Muslim Umamah. From this point of view, it can be said that spiritually, intellectually, mentally, and emotionally, Jamaat-e-Islami is the country’s most resourceful political party.

Jamaat-e-Islami’s record in the spheres of honesty and service is unparalleled. Jamaat’s people have been partners in ministries at the federal and provincial levels, and their record has remained clean. Jamaat’s people have been senators, and no stigma of corruption has been seen on them. Jamaat’s people have been members of the national and provincial assemblies, and no one has ever dared to point a finger at their honesty. Jamaat’s people have been caretakers of Pakistan’s biggest city Karachi three times, and they have never misappropriated a single penny. Thousands of Jamaat’s people have been elected councilors across the length and breadth of the country, and it has never been heard that they acted dishonestly. This means that Jamaat-e-Islami has set an example of honesty at every level of power, and this is not Jamaat-e-Islami’s perfection. This ‘achievement’ would not have been possible without Allah’s special grace and mercy.

From an Islamic perspective, politics is nothing but service to people. In this regard, the history of Pakistan’s political parties is that they consider serving the people conditional to being in power. In fact, despite coming to power repeatedly, they have not served the people. Against this backdrop, Jamaat-e-Islami’s honor is that it has a history of serving the people without being in power, and that too while transcending political interests.

When there was an earthquake in Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami mobilized like a small state and served the affected people in areas that were not traditionally Jamaat’s “vote banks”. When floods came in Sindh for two consecutive years, rural Sindh never elected Jamaat to representative bodies, yet Jamaat provided food, clothes, temporary shelters, and even constructed hundreds of one-room homes for the affected people. Jamaat has dug hundreds of wells in Tharparkar and other parts of Sindh where it had no vote bank. Under Jamaat, between five to six thousand educational institutions are working across the country. Among them are hundreds that provide free education to children, and hundreds more that provide quality education at lower costs compared to other school systems despite high standards. Under Al-Khidmat, health facilities are provided to eight hundred thousand to one million people every year. Ration is distributed among the destitute. Three million orphans are sponsored. In summary, despite being just a political party, Jamaat-e-Islami is thinking and acting like a state. Undoubtedly, the scope of serving the people is vast, but Jamaat’s resources are limited. Today, the nation is giving Jamaat 100 rupees, and Jamaat is serving the nation with 100 rupees. Tomorrow, if the nation provides Jamaat one crore rupees, Jamaat will serve the nation with one crore rupees. Looking at these facts, a question arises that who is more deserving of leadership and votes in the country other than Jamaat-e-Islami?