IQBAL AS A REFORMER

DR. GHULAM JILANI

I want to discuss here that aspect of Iqbal which relates to the revival of the Muslims.

I have heard some people remark that Iqbal has outlived his utility: and his message has served the purpose in the creation of Pakistan and, therefore, it has ceased to be effective. As a statement of fact, it is partly right and partly wrong. It is wrong because it is to take a very superficial view of Iqbal to think that the aim of his message was only to achieve political independence and, since that has been done, it has ceased to be of value. The fact is that his message is an expression, and an exposition of the fundamental truths preached by Islam and, therefore, has a universal appeal. All great philosophies, which changed the fate of nations, originated from the needs of the specific conditions obtaining at the time. For that matter, their utility and their application did not become restricted to the time or the place with reference to which they took their origin. Iqbal, like all great thinkers, is a leader in the history of the development of human thought. Though his message may be polished, improved, modified and adjusted from time to time the question of its losing value does not arise.

It is partly right because the factors, which in the history of Islam have been making the message of the Qur’an ineffective from time to time, are likely to make Iqbal’s message ineffective too. The truth of the statement is further borne out by the nervousness and anxiety I have already noticed among the admirers of Iqbal to keep his message ‘alive’—as if the message which revived Islam among the Muslims itself now needs revival. It is also supported by the fact that there is a noticeable change in. our attitude from one aspect of Iqbal’s message to another: from the practical to the theoretical. In the history of mankind periods of intense practical activity for the achievement of certain ends were usually followed by relaxation, either in the form of indulgence in luxury or in the form of purely intellectual activity, except in cases where the energy so violently aroused was kept constantly flowing towards newly-created goals as means for the realization of well-planned long term ideals. I find that when from the books which changed the destinies of mankind, people passed on to the writing of further books on them, that itself became one of the causes of weakening the message, of deviation from the fundamentals to the details, of change from action to theory. This is what happened with the message of Socrates, with the books of Ghazzali, of Mujadid Alf-i-thani and of many other great reformers in the history of Islam. This is what happened with the Qur’an itself. Though by itself such an activity is valuable and praiseworthy, there is always a danger of our over-doing it, of our getting lost in the details to the disregard of the fundamentals and the main spirit of the message itself. I am afraid, that is about to happen with the books on Iqbal too. We might get entangled in the intricacies of his metaphysics, in the purely intellectual criticism of the details in the light of the latest developments in philosophy and science; in some other controversies over certain problems mentioned in his books, in proving his greatness by drawing out comparison with other great thinkers of the world and in holding meetings and discussions on his message for purely intellectual delight. I am very cautious in making this remark, but I cannot help remarking that it was in the golden period of Islam, when the largest amount of literary and philosophical work was done on the Qur’an, that some of the seeds for future inactivity and degeneration of the Muslims were sown. The more we feel unconsciously, though it has been given conscious expression by some, that there is a gradual decline in the effectiveness of Iqbal’s message, the more active we are likely to become in intensifying this theoretical aspect of our activity in order to keep his message alive, committing the same mistake as has been committed repeatedly in the history of Islam and outside. If lectures on Islam, on the Qur’an and Hadith have fallen on deaf ears at times in the history of Islam, lectures on the message of Iqbal are likely to produce no better results. Knowledge that does not lead to action is, for Iqbal, pale academic vanity or intellectual luxury. It will, therefore, be the negation of Iqbal if his message, ‘as the source of action’ is allowed to be reduced, even with the sincerest motive, to the ‘metaphysics of action,’ and intellectual luxury and hobby which, perhaps, we cannot afford yet.

The Wider Problem

The question is more general of which Iqbal’s message is a specific illustration: Why do we not feel attracted towards the Qur’an, towards the Islamic way of life at times? The question is relevant here, because if the words of God and his Prophet ceased to produce any effect on us from time to time, the words of Iqbal and other reformers are bound to lose their hold on us, however effective they might have been in the past. This is exactly what has been happening in the history of Islam and this is what is likely to happen now. In modern times, changes are much quicker than in the past. Why this ineffectiveness and how to face it, in order to keep Iqbal and therefore the message of Islam alive, is the problem before us today.

There is no ready-made answer to this general question, though looking for the answer in the external conditions, without due attention to human nature, is not likely to lead us far. History is likely to provide the answer if studied with the background of psychology: historical phenomena after all are both the expression and the reaction of human minds to certain situations and, therefore, must be studied from that angle.

When I look back to the history of Islam I find that sometimes it was over-indulgence in luxury, sometimes passivity and inactivity caused by false sufism, sometimes the frustrating and depressing social and political conditions, sometimes superficial dominance of shallow rationalism causing lack of confidence among Muslims in relation to their religion, sometimes the neurotic reaction in the form of fanaticism and rigorism born of the feeling of inferiority in relation to the materially superior culture of the West—all these singly or jointly became responsible for the degeneration of the Muslims, and like the chronic and periodic ailments, have been attacking them at different periods of their life. It is against these ailments that the reformers of Islam like ‘Umar ibn al-’Aziz, Ghazzali, Ibn Taymiyya, Shah Waliullah and Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan to mention only a few, had to fight.

Conditions Before Iqbal

What, then, are the factors which are likely to make Iqbal ineffective and how can we save the situation? Let us very briefly look to the immediate past. Sometimes before partition, due to various reasons, Muslims became politically disorganized, economically dependent and educationally backward. All the symptoms of weak and degenerated personality set in and political slavery undermined the character and the spirit of Islam among the Muslims. Ignorance, poverty, lack of religious fervour and degeneration in all spheres of life went on increasing. Iqbal, like all great thinkers, felt the pulse of the nation, became directly concerned with the contemporary conditions obtaining at the time. He diagnosed the ailment, interpreted the symptoms, prescribed the remedy and its dosage and taught how to administer it. He set the crooked thinking right, removed the clog in the free movement of Muslim thought, provided a goal to make the action possible, used his magical vehicle of expression as a shock therapy to stimulate the people to the achievement of the end. But it is wrong to think that once the immediate objective was attained, the purpose and the effectiveness of his message was finally served. All great thinkers and reformers seriously and effectively reflect on the existing conditions, with reference to the past, with a view to moulding the future. Iqbal was no exception. The greatness of Iqbal, as of all great thinkers, lies in concentrating on the present with a view to changing the future. They are all creatures of their times and creators of the future. Iqbal likewise had to fight against false sufism and inactivity, against shallow rationalism and western culture which had created a sense of inferiority among the Muslims. He had to fight against the economic domination of the Hindus and the political domination of the British. Since all these were the direct or indirect consquence of slavery, he put political freedom as the most important and immediate goal to combat all other evils. We find, that, though the message of Islam has been the same, these different physicians have been suggesting different prescriptions depending upon the different conditions and symptoms manifesting themselves at different times.

If we now go on repeating exactly the prescription in all its details as given by Iqbal, we will be committing the very mistake against which Iqbal himself has warned us in his introduction to the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. The most essential thing for us is to ponder and see what we are now, how do we feel and how can Iqbal’s prescription be adjusted according to the changed conditions of the patient who was withering away in the times of Iqbal but is not so bad to-day. Conditions To-day

What are the conditions to-day and what should be the line of action to keep the message of Iqbal alive?

Thank God, the Muslims are alive and awake. We are free and the sense of freedom is there. Thirst for the acquisition of knowledge and material advancement is visible. And the impulse for activity is also there, though for want of clear consciousness of ends, and in some cases absence of ends, it has been, in the recent past, misdirected towards channels which were not socially useful. These factors are on the credit side.

On the debit side, the most important problem that faces us to-day is the onslaught of western culture with all its embellishments and attractions, backed by wealth and all the forces derived from the advancement of scientific knowledge and material progress. The danger is much greater to-day than it was in the days of Iqbal. Then we were imitators of the culture of the West as a subject nation, all the time consciously or unconsciously alive to the fact that after all we were slaves and blind followers of the rulers. The inner conflict of attraction and repulsion and the desire to cast it off one day, was always there. We were in search of an opportunity and it was provided by Iqbal, who, like a master-mind, unleashed the suppressed and frustrated energies of the Muslims, harnessed them in the constructive channels by providing the ideal of Pakistan to which the storm could be directed. Revolt against political slavery automatically succeeded in the revolt against western culture. Iqbal’s message was successful because the clog in the thinking of the Muslims was removed, and the energy born of tension created by the attitude of the Hindus and the Britishers could be directed towards the newly presented end. Above all, the basic foundation, the sentiment of love for Islam and for the Prophet of Islam was there on which he could play with the magic of his poetic expression and shake them with the help of this effective instrument. Nothing could stop the Muslims from marching onward.

But now, the freedom is achieved, the tension is gone and we feel free. We entertain no hatred towards the people of the West. Therefore the inner revolt and resistance to western culture is gone. Previously it was, as it were, thrust upon us. Now we are accepting it voluntarily. And unfortunately, I found from an experimental study of the youth that the ground on which we stood firm is gradually slipping away from underneath our feet. I noticed that only about 55 per cent of the students felt attracted towards Islam and further analysis revealed an obvious and graduated decline in this attraction. They Were quite frank in pointing out the reasons for this negative attitude. Islam’s incompatibility with modern scientific outlook, the attraction of western culture, communism, backwardness of the Muslims in the international field are mentioned as some of the factors responsible for the absence of attraction towards their religion. Islam, as preached, they believe, does not represent modern outlook of life, and better ideals than Islam are available in modern times. They also admit that they do not know much of religion except what they have learnt from their uneducated parents. Their faith in religion was further shaken by the lack of confidence which our leaders in the past betrayed in Islam. They also complain of. Islam’s rigorism which makes it unfit for practical life in modern times. Islam does not appeal to reason and its teachings are contradictory to science and reason, they add. The extremely frustrated few react violently in the remark: “One can do without religion and even without God.”

When we had a pivot there was always a possibility of coming back. Now that we are gradually loosening our hold of it, we are likely to be carried away, we do not know where. With a base you are likely to absorb all that is good and modern in western culture. Without a base, you are likely to be completely absorbed in the superficialities of this culture. Admitting the benefits which are definitely there, the bad effects of this impact are obvious. Our society during the last twelve years has been undergoing a mental shake, a confusion of thought and there are all the forceful factors working towards weakening of personality before it could be fortified properly after the creation of Pakistan.

With this picture in view we can very well realise that some of the objective factors which made Iqbal’s message effective are non-existent and some subjective factors—the religious sentiment or the ground on which he could raise the forces of constructive revolution, are about to be taken away from underneath our feet. If the sentiment of love for religion is gone, what appeal can Iqbal’s message have,. which itself is nothing but a device for awakening what was dormant.

With the immediate objective achieved and the tension gone, with a new sense of freedom acquired, and with the ground on which the whole superstructure was raised gradually slipping away from underneath our feet, Iqbal’s message might become a force without direction, a mere form without matter, a source of emotional stimulation and intellectual relaxation.

How Are We Going To React?

How are we going to meet the danger? There are two ways in which the Muslims have been reacting from time to .time in similar situations in the history of Islam. One, to revert to the background and hold fast to the orthodox way of life with a false sense of security and pride in the face of the superior culture of the West. Puritanism, fanaticism and rigidity of outlook and hatred towards everything of the West, have been the different forms of expression of this reaction. The popular cry has been: “Back to the Qur’an”. The other is to make an effort to meet the West on its own ground by adopting western outlook, western ways of life. In other words, to become westernized both in thought and action. The product has always been a peculiar phenomenon, a hybrid, which is neither here nor there, one who is neither firmly rooted in his own culture nor has the background, the qualifications or even the possibilities of being properly absorbed in the other. What is true of individuals is true of nations. Both these forms of reaction are the expressions of the inner sense of inferiority and both are non-creative. They are comparable to the reactions of a child who, sometimes, in the presence of a danger, runs back to take shelter behind the mother and at times, to cover his weakness, goes aggressively forward to face the danger with an outward display of confidence, but with a palpitating heart and trembling limbs. Though the first attitude has a value of its own which I cannot discuss here, none of these two ways has given anything constructive either to the Muslims or to the rest of humanity. One has, on many occasions, resulted in stagnation in Islam and the other, in producing the imitators who are held out to ridicule both by their own people and by those whom they try to imitate.

There is yet another danger in reaching in these ways. The widening gulf between the two types of the same group drifting to opposite directions leads to greater and greater hatred and conflict between themselves, ultimately weakening the very cause which they both thought, they would be able to champion by their respective reactions.

Meeting the West on its own ground in this way will not do. If we try this we will never be able to revert to anything which we may be able to call our own. The current is too strong and we might be carried away completely for want of a firm base. Reaction to the other extreme will not do either. The youth have already begun to feel and express disgust for the way religion has been presented to them by  the orthodox. My answer, therefore, is that the only way to make the reaction creative is to meet the West on our own ground. Our slogan should not be “Back to the Qur’an”, but “Forward with the Qur’an”.

The greatest need of the time, therefore, is to create pride in Islam in the minds of Muslims. This is the time to do what Ghazzali did, though we should not follow his method. He hit the philosophers right and left, betrayed the hollowness of their approach, thereby successfully breaking the backbone of rationalism, which had frightened the Muslims in his time and had created a feeling of inferiority in their minds. Ghazzali’s attack did convince the Muslims that after all reason is not an infallible judge whose judgements on religion are binding. Nevertheless his attack on reason crippled rational thinking among the Muslims for a long time to come. Antagonism towards reason and its condemnation, though it served its purpose well at the hands of Ghazzali, is not the spirit of Islam. Therefore, Ghazzali’s destructive approach will not do. Iqbal, in defence of Islam, followed a slightly different line vis-a-vis reason. He has tried to show how reason and science support everything that Islam says. His attitude was cooperative, but somewhat apologetic. That I personally feel, will not do either, if we, once for all, want to get over the ‘basis’ of feeling of inferiority which infects us from time to time at different stages of the advancement of science and philosophy. For, though I would strongly advocate an intelligent understanding and interpreting of the Qur’an at different stages of advancement of our knowledge, I cannot appreciate the anxiety to always look up to science and philosophy for support. I am not in favour of this apologetic attitude towards religion, nor do I believe that it is this aspect of Iqbal’s Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam which has brought about this revolution among the Muslims of this sub-continent and created a stir among the Muslims of other parts of the world. I do not say that either Ghazzali or Iqbal- was wrong in his attitude towards rationalism. Probably both. did the right thing keeping in view the demands of their times. But I personally feel that for the future, neither the negative and destructive attitude of Ghazzali nor the indirectly apologetic attitude of Iqbal will work in the emancipation of religion and giving it a place of dignity and honour in the minds of men. We cannot, as Muslims, afford to be all the time on the defensive and on the edge of our nerves to prove that every time what Alexander, or McTaggart, Whitehead or Russell or Einstein says is there in the Qur’an. The Qur’an is not a book on metaphysics nor on physics, and it just does not matter whether, what the philosophers and the scientists say, supports or contradicts what is given in the Qur’an. This apologetic attitude will break us and will always give religion and Muslims an attitude of inferiority in relation to the western culture backed by scientific development and philosophy. The urgent need of the time is that this attitude must be got over once for all so that we may be able to meet the West in their advancement of science and philosophy with relaxed nerves and peace of mind.

How Is That Possible?

There is no antagonism between religion on the one hand and philosophy and science on the other, nor is there any rivalry between the two. It is this wrong attitude and misplaced expectations from religion which have created misgivings and sense of inferiority among our youth in relation to the advancement of science and philosophy. Religion has its own independent basis to stand upon which has been pointed out by Ghazzali, and modified and effectively presented by Iqbal. Religion provides you with the framework of morality within which science and philosophy should have unlimited potentialities to advance. Evil was the day when Kepler and Copernicus and others (if that was the beginning) launched mankind upon those strange seas of speculation which by there emphasis created a bifurcation between thought and morality. The wound has been gapping ever since until to-day we are confronted with what Toynbee called “the atomic consequence of our evil deeds,” so faithfully underlining implications inseparable from all our acts. We have philosophers who are philosophising like Russell in a world without warmth; we have our scientists, who are ignorantly happy and convincing, working in their own way, knowing not the goal to which they are moving; we have our men of religion who have compromised so long that they cannot lead or inspire. We as Muslims, once for all, will have to change our attitude towards religion in relation to science and philosophy. Islam does not believe in condemning rationalism as Ghazzali did, nor should Islam seek support from philosophers and scientists for the justification of its principles as Iqbal did. The attitude of Islam is very healthy in this respect. It is my religion to appreciate what the scientists and philosophers are doing. Islam strongly supports their activities. Let them fumble and tumble in the progress of their achievements. Let them propound theories which contradict one another at different times or at the same time. Let them support or contradict what the Qur’an says. Let them reach the moon and harness all the force of Nature and prove the superiority of man over Nature. Nothing should frighten Islam: nothing should create any nervousness among the Muslim. For, none of these things in reality affects our religion adversely. It is our wrong thinking and wrong attitude that recoils on us and creates nervousness and uncertainty regarding the firmness of the ground on which we stand. Advancement of science and philosophy fitted in the framework of morality alone can make the life of man really meaningful and worth living. Let Islam look at the drama of scientific and philosophical development with appreciation and equanimity of mind. We have no enmity towards intellectual and material advancement, entertain no jealousy and certainly should feel no inferiority.

Programme for Future

(i)     The approach will have to follow a short-term and a long-term policy. There are certain things which we will have to do immediately and some spread out over a long period. There are others which will have to be undone. In the times of Iqbal the nation was suffering from a chronic and serious type of depression and lethargy for which shock therapy was the only remedy. Iqbal’s poetry served the purpose. Now when the whole nation is bubbling with activity, the urgent need of the time as a short-term policy, is the proper direction of this energy to newer goals and thus maintain the continuity in the dynamic life of the nation. Any violent exciting of emotions at this constructive stage will overhit the mark.

(ii)   As a long-term policy and the only effective method which can provide a sound and permanent basis for religious reconstruction is to create an attitude of reverence and attraction for religion among the children. Here the more important thing is not to teach, but how to teach. With our knowledge of psychology we can avoid the mistakes of creating anti-religious attitude in the very process of teaching religion to children. This needs a very elaborate, systematic and sensible planning.

(iii)  One way to get over the feeling of inferiority is to make a person conscious of what he is and of what he possesses; of what others need and what he is capable of giving. Let me quote Toynbee as representative of the West to show what the world needs and what our religion can give them:

“Two conspicuous sources of danger, one psychological and the other material.. . . in our modern western society are race-consciousness and alchohol, and in the struggle with each of these evils the Islamic spirit has its service to render, which might prove, if it were accepted, to be of high moral and social value.

“The extinction of race-consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding moral achievements of Islam and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue; for, although the record of history should seem on the whole to show that race-consciousness has been the exception and not the rule in the constant inter-breeding of human species, it is a fatality of the present situation that this consciousness is felt and strongly by the very peoples which, in the competition of the last four centuries between several western powers have won—at least for the moment—the lion’s share of the inheritance of the earth.”

(iv)  Attitudes are infectious, particularly in the relationship of the elders and the juniors. One of the strongest factors which has been responsible for shaking the confidence of the youth in Islam is the lack of confidence which our elders and the leaders, in the recent past, betrayed in religion, and in themselves as the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Their own attitude needs analysis. It was partly due to ignorance and wrong notion of relationship between Religion and Philosophical and Scientific advancement, and partly to our political and material backwardness in the world of to-day. But above all this lack of confidence was born of their consciousness of incompatibility between their professions, as leaders of the Muslims, and their actions, which, they realised, fell short of the ideal of Islam. This should not have been a cause of nervousness for them. Islam is an ideal which we try to approximate. Whether good or bad, we are Muslims. Given honesty of effort, one can pick up courage and say, “I may not be a good Muslim but I am a Muslim and Islam is my ideal.” This can give confidence to oneself and create confidence in others.

(v)    Though I do not want support, yet fortunately for the wavering minds it may be pointed out that almost all the natural and social sciences have themselves started challenging their own assumptions which indirectly lend support to the basis on which our religion stands. Whereas Psychology is proving more and more effectively the reality of subjective phenomena which do not stand the test of scientific method in the ordinary accepted sense of the term, the physical sciences themselves have begun to feel nervous about the so-called objectivity of their methodology. Whereas the material achievements of the West themselves are becoming diabolical in nature, anthropology is fast exploding the myth of racial and cultural superiority. Probably the only criterion of superiority among human beings might ultimately turn out to be: “Verily the best among you with God, is one who is the most pious and God-fearing.” And lastly, the metaphysicians themselves, realizing the limitations of human reason, have given up the ground to which they stuck so fast. This realization should not be regarded as a support to our religion but should lend support to these Mujahids in the intellectual sphere that they seem to be moving on the right direction.

(vi)  As pointed out above, no moral rules or code of morality, whether derived from psychology, philosophy or religion, can be effective unless they are provided with ends, both immediate and remote, in the service of which they can be applied. Iqbal’s message of ‘Khudi’ or ego-hood, so forcefully and beautifully expressed in his poetry, can become effective only in the realization of some ends which are supplied or at least made conscious, if they already exist. The fact is that there are so many ends on the social side awaiting our serious and systematic attention that one fails to understand from where to start. Individualism and inner conflict in our own society are the two great sources of danger with which we are faced to-day. Iqbal’s message can be utilized as a strong instrument for the most important end of welding people together. We can also concentrate on this aspect of Iqbal’s message for providing to the world something to which reference has already been made by Toynbee. Psychology is there to do the diagnosis for the cause of social tensions which are universal phenomena in the post-War world and Iqbal’s expression can do the construction, provided we jealously guard the ground on which we are ultimately to build and start preparing it from the beginning for the future. Then in our society there is the danger of Communism to which Islam is fundamentally opposed. Islam is against any system which denies individuality and moral responsibility to citizens and puts them at the mercy of the state which wields all political and economic power. Iqbal’s gospel of egohood, which is one of the fundamentals of Islamic view of man, can serve as an effective force to meet the challenge of communism in our society. If a fraction of the money so far spent in fighting against Communism had been spent on the propagation of the true spirit of Islam in relation to the egohood of man, more than half the battle of Communism among the Muslims would have already been won.

(vii) On the negative side we find there are certain environmental conditions which are working against the factors conducive to the fortification of personality according to Iqbal. We have to fight against them. Sometimes a frontal attack from the action side is necessary to bring about a change of attitude as, at times, it is necessary to change the mode of thinking in order to bring about change in action.

I may end my discussion with a reference to the remark made by the Rehabilitation Minister of Germany when he visited Pakistan sometime ago. It is reported that he was asked by someone: “What is your list of priority in the rehabilitation programme ?” “Moral and religious rehabilitation”, was the answer. Explaining it further he remarked, “We are Christians and therefore we must be good Christians before anything else, just as you Pakistanis are Muslims and therefore must be good Muslims before anything else”.

It is not necessary always to go too far and too deep in the diagnosis of certain ills. Sometimes the ridiculously too obvious is ignored just because it is so. The need of the time is to teach the Qur’an and teach it well; to take pride in Islam whether we are good Muslims or not; and to go forward with the Qur’an if we want to be creative. With the moral and religious background prepared and with the newer and newer goals put before the nation, there is enough in Iqbal which can always goad the Muslims on to the higher and higher stages of progress.

Summing Up

Let me summarise in a few words what I have said above. Iqbal was a great reformer who shook the Muslims from their deep slumber. The political domination of the British, the economic domination of the Hindus, the cultural domination of the West and the wrong philosophy of the pseudo-sufis, which in a way was the effect rather than the cause of these depressing social circumstances, had reduced the Muslims to the state of virtual death and created a sense of inferiority with regard to their religion and position in life. Iqbal looking at the totality of the situation, gave the immediate ideal of Pakistan as the pulling force, removed the fear of western culture by composing its shallowness and its superficialities and inherent weaknesses, provided strength to religion by getting support from western thought itself and by providing an independent basis for its existence. He removed the clog from the life of the Muslims by his philosophy of the Ego and shook them violently from their pathological depression and inactivity by his vitalizing and forceful expression which served as a shock-therapy. He thus restored the dignity and prestige of the Muslims and therefore of Islam.

Though in certain aspects the appeal of Iqbal’s message is universal, we will have to adapt it to the conditions obtaining to-day in order to retain its effectiveness. This is not the time for any more shocks but for calculated, systematic and constructive effort. Keeping in view the present conditions, the urgent need of the time is to start providing religious foundation to the growing generation which is fast slipping away from underneath the feet of the youth; to create pride in Islam, to present fresh immediate ends to the nation and make them conscious of them to move forward with the Qur’an with a view to shaking hands in confidence and appreciation with the materially-superior culture of the West. There is a lot that Iqbal can do in the fulfilment of these objectives and in the achievement of the ends which are too many to mention here but of which the nation has to be made fully conscious. This aspect of our national life, the social and religious rehabilitation, which has remained ignored for a long time after the creation of Pakistan, needs serious and systematic action.