Nationalism, Culture and Religion in Pakistan; A Weird Contradiction
A visit to Pakistan on its independence day has shown me recently that nationalism has really and truly taken hold of the country; a contrarian but common sight for an islamic nation. Nationalism is not harmful to Islam in controlled amounts; the same way foods are healthy in controlled amounts. But when a country’s values and a single flag consume a man’s values and the things he believes in, it strikes me as odd, particularly because religion serves to provide man and woman values and beliefs. So I sought to find an explanation why exactly the first and only country formed on the foundation of religion has now developed an unhealthy love of the territory and the flag over the values they claim to be founded upon.
Officially, the law established in Pakistan is British; the same as the borders and a number of other things, ugly remnants of colonialism. British law is aimed at preventing and punishing crime mainly which has meant a dividing disconnection between the law and the Pakistani people since traditional South Asian customs focus more on maintaining honour, backing family and saving face. On top of that, the state can be fairly accused of not doing nearly enough to uphold these laws across the country. Police, more often than not, must be bribed to be efficient because of disgustingly low incomes and have little to no monitoring and supervision. The judiciary system is grossly inefficient with an enormous amount of pending cases and the peculiar requirement to have every case carried out and recorded in english, — which of course creates inefficiency if witnesses and defendants cannot understand unless things are carried out in their language and recorded in english — another obstacle created by colonialism.
South Asian culture provides an alternative to the law. For example, the Pashtunwali code in West Pakistan provides a way of governing society based on tribal culture; based on kinship and jirgas (where family elders decide your judgement). A low income farmer searching for justice over the stealing of their crops cannot turn to a law they may not believe in, police they cannot afford to pay and wait long enough for court to come to a verdict when it’s too late. Leaving a space for groups to come in and actually serve them justice the way they wish to.
Culture is a beautiful thing; brilliant colours, explosive foods and beautiful music. Speaking as someone raised in London with Pakistani heritage, culture is a huge part of my identity and I truly recognise the importance of it, especially in such a connected world. But seeing said culture become imbued with nationalism dedicated to borders drawn in bloody ink by the West made me second doubt this love for culture. Here in the west and on social media platforms we see a glorification of said culture.
These cultures were the victims of colonialism and nations all over the world never got to flourish and create systems based on their own traditions and customs; but this unfortunately doesn’t guarantee that these systems would have succeeded, the same way America has its own legal systems and is slowly falling apart. These traditions are, as seen in the name, traditional and therefore old and possibly outdated. They may carry wisdom but tribal codes can be exactly what they sound like and harmful in the modern world.
For example, the aforementioned farmer looking for justice may turn to groups like the Taliban for justice; a group who follow mostly the tribal Pashtunwali code in Afghanistan and Western Pakistan. These laws include the cruel treatment of women; including the trading of them, forced marrying of them and general oppression.
So if official law is foreign and inefficient and cultural law is harmful; what can citizens turn to for justice and guidance? And thus religion offers itself again in the form of Shariah law, the very foundations upon which Pakistan and many other countries were founded on and then strayed from.
In contrast to tribal codes, Shariah law from The Holy Quran offers rights to women ahead of its time; such as financial liberation, the right to marry whoever and no oppression. These laws were created mainly to counter tribal codes in pre-Islamic Arabia. All while the West continues to struggle with objectification and gender pay gaps and the East continues to struggle with oppression; the solution clearly lies away from nationalism.
No muslim country today follows a pure version of the Shariah (where it is upheld by its leaders and its citizens).
As nationalist wars flare and Western powers continue to decline I remember religion and the better alternative it serves. The sadder thing is I genuinely believe that people understood this when a muslim state in India was being proposed. The poet Allama Iqbal wrote poetry that aligns with this concept spectacularly: before partition. One of his quotes that most aligns with this is “The goal of the Western policy was to maintain distinction of all Nations; But the goal of Islam was only to preserve the Community of Adam.”
This means people before partition believed and saw a vision of that imaginary state; and the melancholy at the Western-style nationalism rampant on my visit to Pakistan reminded me:
Whether they are right or wrong, the West always wins.
To collaborate with this article I have taken some photos and labelled them with more quotes from Allama Iqbal that align with the concept. You can see them, and other photography and design projects, on my instagram @kid6rown .
