PAKISTAN’S FIRST GOVERNOR-GENERAL

Under the limitations of Dominion Status, Governor-Generalship is the highest position, next to the Crown, which can be conferred on any man in a Dominion and the mantle of the first Governor-General of Pakistan could not have fallen on worthier shoulders than those of Qaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Pakistan may aptly be described as the child of Mr. Jinnah. To him entirely is due the very conception of the idea of Pakistan. To him goes the main credit for the realization of that idea. It is his unwavering faith, his unflinching determination and his consummate statesmanship which has made the impossible possible and wrought this greatest political miracle of the Indian history. It is only in the fitness of things that to him should have been entrusted the functions of the Godfather of this infant state of Pakistan.

Pakistan when it comes into being on August 15, will find itself beset with many a tough and knotty problem, internal as well as external: and if there is any man, throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan, who can adequately grapple with these diverse problems, it is this same septuagenarian who has for seven long years fought the battle of Pakistan almost single-handed and from a mere rabble welded the 10 crores of Indian Muslims into a solid compact nation, never known to the history of this country even in the hey-day of Islam. This soldier of Pakistan, the Qaid-i-Azam, will now be called upon, as Governor-General, to act as the chief architect and builder of Pakistan. If Pakistan attain to a position of a strong, powerful, self-sufficient state, capable of holding its own against foreign aggression, economic competition or international credit, the nationals of this young state shall have to mobilize their resources and energies to the last ounce and harness the same to the safety, solidarity, progress and prosperity of Islam. And the one man who can raise their enthusiasm in the service of the state to the highest pitch and evoke the maximum of sacrifice from them is undoubtedly this Grand Old Man, Qaid-i-Azam Jinnah.

When all is said and done, however, the fact remains that the epithet of Governor-General sounds too small for the true position which Mr. Jinnah occupies in the hearts of the Indian Muslims or is going to occupy in the history of this country. Besides, it is a little smacking too much of officialism and coldness to reflect the warmth, affection and devotion which Mr. Jinnah, the Qaid-i-Azam, commands in the hearts of Indian Muslims. Nor, again, does his designation rise to the fullest dignity and sanctity which has come to be associated with the Head of the Islamic State. But, as observed before, it cannot be helped. Within the limitations of the constitutional framework known as Dominion Status, no higher designation is possible. Let us hope, however, that with the termination of this period of apprenticeship in June 1948, if and when Pakistan steps into complete freedom, this little smacking both of Westernism and dependence on a foreign power will automatically give place to a designation more in keeping with the genius of Islam and the true position of the Qaid-i-Azam.

The Head of an Islamic State must look for a model to that golden chapter of the history of Islam known as Khilafat-i-Rashida – i.e., the first four Caliphs of Islam. Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali were more of servants of Islam and Muslims than Kings or Governors-General. Service of the common man, the masses, was their highest badge of distinction. Hazrat Umar did not hesitate, when the occasion demanded it, to carry ration to a starving family in the outskirts of the capital of Islam, on his own back or in person run after a stray camel of the Bait-ul-Mal in the scorching heat of the Arabian noontide. Hazrat Abu Bakr wrote to the Bait-ul-Mal to reduce his civil list from a rupee a day to annas eight when he found that his wife had managed the house in that much and saved a few annas. In modern conditions, it may not be possible for the Head of an Islamic State to literally follow in the footsteps of these models of Islamic rulers. But the spirit must be the same – the spirit of fellow-feeling and service. It must be the business of the Head of the state to see that there is not one man starving or without clothes or education or medical aid, in the State of Islam.

Pakistan must mean a real revolution – a re-valuation of modern values, if it is to revive the true urge of Islamic life. Modern values are the creation of sordid Western materialism in which man is only a cog in the machinery for the production of wealth. Islam has a far higher conception of man. He is the vicegerent of God on earth. That is the status of man in Islam. And an Islamic State and all its dealings must be rooted in this fundamental conception of human dignity.

Modern civilization has robbed man of this God-ordained sanctity and dignity. It conceives of man in the terms of capital and labour only – that is to say, in terms of money only. All this must be radically overhauled, and man restored to his intrinsic worth as the highest purpose of creation. Pakistan must place the emphasis on man. It must be the business of the Islamic State to make this much needed contribution to the trivialization of the day. It must humanize that civilization. That is the road to the era of peace and prosperity to which every man and woman is wistfully, though vainly, looking forward.

Qaid-i-Azam Jinnah has already wrought one miracle. He has made the impossible possible and won Pakistan. A greater miracle yet awaits him. That is to use Pakistan as a lever for the uplift of modern civilization. He has redeemed Indian Muslims from the clutches of the Hindu nightmare. By giving a right Islamic complexion to Pakistan, he can make Pakistan into a world force for the redemption of mankind at large.

Governor-General or Qaid-i-Azam – what´s in a name? – this is the next role that awaits Mr. Jinnah. And if there is any man who can do this greatest deed of the times, it is Mr. Jinnah. He can make Pakistan the greatest instrument for the good of mankind at large by setting up an ideal State, free from modern social evils of class competition, bitterness and domination, a State which has the uplift of the common man as its sole objective, a State where the Head together with the whole machinery of the State is inspired by the highest ideals of the service and uplift of fellowman. And in doing so Mr. Jinnah will be fulfilling the highest mission of Islam which the Prophet ﷺ summed up as ”surrender to the will of God and kindliness towards the creation of God.”

Muhammad Yaqub Khan

(Editor: The Light – July 16, 1947)