Islam And Two Nation Theory

Islam has played an important role in the creation and continued survival of Pakistan as a sovereign state. As Pakistan started off, the use of the two-nation theory and a united Muslim front was a useful identity to an otherwise splintered nation, too similar to it’s much larger Hindu counterpart. As Pakistan grew from a theory into an actualized nation, it was proved that this wasn’t a solid foundation for a country as Bangladesh won independence, disregarding Muslim unity in exchange for inter-ethnic conflict. To counter-act insecurities and strife caused by the growing realization that a Muslim identity might not be strong enough to keep the diverse ethnicities from falling apart a stronger tie to Islam was established with Zia-ul-Haq’s …show more content…
If Muslims were truly meant to be their own state and Islam was the only commonality needed to build the foundations of a nation why had Islamic Empires risen and fallen time and time again only to splinter into the many Arab nations? If the Arabs who shared a language and similar cultures couldn’t unite how could it be expected of East and West Pakistan, more than a dozen languages and cultures between them and physically thousands of miles between them. The over exaggerated rift between Hindus and Muslims recognized by Nasir Islam disregarded differences in order to provide a front against the equally diverse …show more content…
The unity of the Muslim nation was largely based on fear of a Hindu majority which was a factor external to the Muslim community. The leadership of the Muslim League never tried to look for the roots of nationalism inside the Muslim community. The second nation in India was simply defined as "Muslims living in the subcontinent," a definition that did not take into consideration the ethnic, linguistic, cultural, regional, and economic differences among the Muslims living in various parts of India. It was assumed that the larger umbrella of Muslim identity had taken care of these differences.”
The two-nation theory as proposed was not a basis for a state that would be able to support itself without resorting to religious conservatism to uphold the identity it’s creation was based on or uniting the people against a common enemy conveniently provided by India, the large rival neighbor.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, started the country off under the idea of a two-nation theory but made it clear that Pakistan was to be a secular nation, using the Muslim identity to give Muslims a homeland but not an Islamic state. Jinnah did not hold religious ideals above the growth of the nation or the right of the religious minorities as mentioned by Anand