Book Review: Mashal Saif,The ‘Ulama in Contemporary Pakistan: Contesting and Cultivating an Islamic Republic

Formed on the basis of religion, yet rejecting theocracy, Pakistan’s ambiguous relationship with Islam has been causing various, widely explored predicaments for this Islamic Republic, given that a proclivity for establishing an Islamic state remains an inherent trait among most of Pakistan’s ulama, also spelled ulema. Shifting away from conventional Pakistan Studies, Saif examines the dialectical relationship between the state and the ulema in Pakistan. Such clerics often criticise the Pakistani state for not living up to the religious ideals and seek to compel private and public behaviour in a specific ‘Islamic fashion’. Based on extensive fieldwork and diverse archival sources, her study first goes back to pre-modern times, then examines the colonial period and finally scrutinises post-1947 Pakistan.

In pre-modern times, Saif argues (p. 45), the ulema possessed an unprecedented authority with respect to religious beliefs and practices and the pre-modern polity also readily accepted the ulema’s epistemic authority over the legal sphere. However, under the colonial state, ulema authority encountered serious attack, as this new political entity codified some laws and also demanded earthly sovereignty. The end of colonialism did not bring any significant relief, as legal authority remained with the post-colonial state, not the ulama/clergy. The modern state’s exceptional power and its legitimacy to use violence, however, did not render the ulema insignificant. Indeed, they have continued to wield immense influence in Pakistan’s public sphere.

As the Pakistani state asserted itself as an Islamic Republic, it faced tough competition from ulema who do not accept the master narrative of the postcolonial state. According to Saif, ulema behave as active citizen-subjects, who ‘push the state to reconsider and at instances compel the state institutions and government officials to implement legislations that they deem religiously obligatory’ (p. 51). Discussing the Hudud Ordinance controversy of 2006 and the related divorce law debates of 2008 in Chapter 1, Saif brilliantly demonstrates the ulema’s influence in Pakistan, as their opinions carry weight and are effective in making the state ‘rethink’ its course. In both legal controversies, the demands of non-state-affiliated ulema were largely implemented by the state (pp. 60–9). In Chapter 1, Saif basically argues that those non-state-affiliated ulema, putting pressure on the state to bring an ‘Islamic tenor’, operate as active agents in the ongoing state formation and Islamisation processes (p. 66). This raises questions about the effectiveness of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), assessed by Saif as a body that helps the Pakistani state to claim its Islamic identity and project it as working for Islamisation, thereby helping to cultivate the Islamic Republic (pp. 67–70).

Chapter 2 engages with the extra-judicial killing in 2011 of Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab, by Mumtaz Qadri, which Saif discusses as closely intertwined with the concept of sovereignty. Several lawyers, Islamists and many middle- and lower-class Pakistanis celebrated Qadri’s act. Saif (p. 86) asks who actually has the right to declare an insulter as worthy of death, and who reserves the right to carry out the death sentence? Formulating their arguments from the extensive Islamic literature on sabb al-rasul, broadly related to blasphemy, many ulema justified Taseer’s killing for ‘allegedly insulting’ the Prophet Muhammad. Since the state considered Qadri’s actions legally unwarranted, resulting in a clash over sovereignty, this assumed dangerous complexity, as Pakistan’s constitution emphasises the Pakistani judicial system’s commitment to Islam. Examining Qadri’s trial, Saif clearly shows that the court built the case for state sovereignty and public order, refusing to engage with religious arguments on blasphemy, as invoked by Qadri’s defence team (pp. 98–103). Towards the end of this chapter, Saif presents a differing interpretation, of ulema arguing that no Islamic legal school allows an individual to extrajudicially punish a criminal, and if anyone has the right to do so, this is vested in the ruler alone (p. 130). These ulema also show concern about civil strife and anarchy becoming routine, if extrajudicial killings are legitimised, and believe the state alone should deal with persons committing insults to the Prophet (pp. 128–30).

In Chapter 3, Saif discusses religiously mandated rebellion against the Pakistani state, invoked by militant groups like al-Qaeda. While the leadership of al-Qaeda considers revolt against the state a religious obligation, even some ulema who participate in the CII discredit the religious legitimacy of the Pakistan state. However, while some ulema share a similar line of thought with al-Qaeda about the Pakistani state’s deviation from Islam, they mostly condemn the violence committed by militant groups (p. 155).

Interestingly, several Pakistani clerics compare the Pakistani state to a Muslim individual, whose actions are deficient and flawed, while such a person believes in the Almighty Allah and the Prophet (p. 159). This is strikingly similar to the writings of Taliban leader Ayman al-Zawahiri (1951–2022), who declared Pakistan un-Islamic for not banning usury and failure to bring all laws in conformity with Islam (p. 155) and also compared Pakistan to a Muslim who has merely accepted the faith of Islam but lacks correct action (p. 163). The Deobandi scholar and former judge Taqi Usmani, on the other hand, argues that Pakistan is indeed an Islamic state and opposes rebellion against this political authority (p. 166). Such nuanced differences in the understanding of different ulema, so typical of Islamic jurisprudence, is also reflected in the theological debates of the Khawarij movement and the Murji’ah school of thought (pp. 163–9). The Khawarij movement emphasises actions as determinants of religions identity, favours punishing sinful believers and advocates rebellion against corrupt Muslim rulers and those who deviate from Islam (p. 163). The Murji’ah school refused judgement on believers who committed grave sins and also extolled obedience to Muslim rulers, even when their policies and characters were questionable. Importantly, Saif argues that for the ulema it is hard to break away from their intellectual training, while the concept of the modern state is yet to be fully embedded into Islamic thought (p. 177). Pre-modern political authority models with figures such as caliphs, monarchs and just and unjust Muslim rulers continue to dominate the Islamic politico-legal canon, as reflected in the anthropomorphism of Pakistan by its ulema (p. 177).

In later parts of her book, Saif uses violence as an analytical category to examine the Shia ulema’s view. While sectarian tensions could be traced right from the 1950s, arguably the state remained largely neutral towards the Shia community until General Zia (1924–88) usurped power in Pakistan in 1977 (p. 195). Saif subtly highlights the pervading fear among Shias of retribution from the government and state apparatus if they openly criticise lack of protection for Pakistan’s Shia minority (p. 192). Most Shia ulema criticise the Pakistani state for sectarian violence, its role in aligning with Sunni militancy and its disinterest in preserving Shia lives, yet they conceptualise the state as a legitimate authority, from which they demand security and protection from sectarian violence (pp. 206–9). For Saif, these two contradictory conceptualisations of the Pakistani state by Shia ulema flow from the intimate and basic struggle for survival of their community, faced with violence in their daily lives. Mashal also presents some Shia ulema who advocate ‘eschewing the state entirely’ (p. 222), which would lead to delegitimising and weakening the state. Could one really delegitimise the state and ‘practice the art of not being governed’, as some Shia ulema like Javad Naqvi suggest (pp. 232–3)? It is hard to dampen the spirit among Shias that Pakistan belongs to them, too, given that they have played an important role in the creation and existence of the state. Equally, it is hard to practise the ‘art of not being governed’, especially when the state’s reach extends so deeply.

Saif has produced a stimulating and fascinating work, which gives vast and enriching access of the ulema’s political thinking, without which any understanding of Pakistan remains deficient. Mostly studying ulema belonging to the Deobandi and Barelwi schools of Sunni Islam and the Ithna Ashari strand of Shiism, it brings out diverse case studies of how the Pakistani ulema envisage and engage with the state. Everyone interested in studying Pakistan must engage with this treatise.