Secular Jinnah & Pakistan: What The Nation Doesn't Know

by Saleena Karim

People interested in the history of India's partition invariably ask the same question: Why did Pakistan happen? Or, what was the Pakistan idea? Focusing on M. A. Jinnah's political career, this book addresses the issue of whether he had a secular or religious vision for Pakistan, or perhaps something in between.

Pakistan as a country has yet to find its proper place in the world. Logically, it is assumed that if we can reach a consensus on Jinnah's thought, then we can also resolve the long-standing question of what kind of state Pakistan was meant to be, and thus how it should develop today. Pakistanis are tired of self-serving politicians, landlordism, nepotism, the rise of religious fundamentalism, corruption, economic instability, and the semi-predictable cycle between incompetent bureaucratic and military regimes. Hence for Pakistanis more than anyone else, the debate over Jinnah is a highly emotive subject, and at its heart is a battle of ideas. Pakistanis are really trying to work out something much bigger than Jinnah's place in history. They are trying to find their own historical identity as well.

A well researched and thoroughly-indexed book that has earned its place amongst the leading political commentaries on contemporary Pakistan.

Genres: Pakistan

332 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 2010

About the author

Saleena Karim is from Nottingham, England. She is a freelance writer, researcher, editor, and artist. She is the founder of the Jinnah Archive and a co-founder and admin of the Visionary Fiction Alliance. She has authored two books on Pakistan's founding history. The critically acclaimed Secular Jinnah (2005) recounted her discovery that a famous quote attributed to MA Jinnah, founding father of Pakistan, and which is frequently cited by academics as supporting evidence of his political ideology, was in fact fabricated. Her second book, Secular Jinnah & Pakistan (2010) is a detailed treatise on Jinnah's political life as well as the ongoing debate over the historical significance of the Pakistan movement, containing independent research and utilising primary sources.

Systems (2012) is Karim's first work of fiction. The 'Cohesive Ethics Theorem' featured in the novel, which is used to create a model for an ideal society on a supercomputer, is a factual concept. It reflects the poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal's statement that an ideal society actively aspires to transform the three ideals of 'equality, solidarity and freedom … into space-time forces … to realise them in a definite human organisation'.

Despite having no direct link with Karim's non-fiction, the core story is also loosely inspired by the original intentions of Pakistan's early leaders to try new social systems in line with the philosophy of Iqbal, the 'spiritual father' of Pakistan. In July 2012 Systems became part of a series of education courses on Iqbal, at the Marghdeen Learning Centre (an associative body of Iqbal Academy, Pakistan).

Aside from writing books, Karim has worked as a webmaster, a translator and as an editor. She has translated a number of Urdu works into English, and she has also been a co-writer for a UK television show (Deliver!). She has composed soundtracks and themes for the independent TV/film production company, Deliverance Films (Deliver! and Curse of the Bands). She has also edited and published titles for OurBeacon Books, and also runs her own publishing imprint, Libredux Publishing.

Reviews

[Muhammad Rizwan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well-researched and informative book.

[Muhammad Syed · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has presented the case very well. Till today I perceived M A Jinnah as a secular leader who did fight for a separate homeland for Muslims of Indian subcontinent.

Miss Karim has done a marvelous job to obliterate this image and presented the true picture of our father of the nation.

I'd like to suggest this well researched book to all those who still regard M A Jinnah as a secularist. It is a must read for all of you.