(Report of the Court of Inquiry constituted under Punjab Act II OF 1954 to enquire into the Punjab Disturbances of 1953)
*
Selections from the Munir Report (1954)*
7) The position of non-Muslims
..............
.............
This being the position, the State will have to devise some machinery by which the distinction between a Muslim and a non-Muslim may be determined and its consequences enforced.
The question, therefore, whether a. person is or is not a Muslim will be of fundamental importance, and it was for this reason that we asked most of the leading ulama to give their definition of a Muslim, the point being that if the
ulama of the various sects believed the Ahmadis to be
kafirs, they must have been quite clear in their minds not only about the grounds of such belief but also about the definition of a Muslim, because the claim that a certain person or community is not within the pale of Islam implies on the part of the claimant an exact conception of what a Muslim is.
The result of this part of the inquiry, however, has been anything but satisfaotory, and if considerable confusion exists in the minds of our ulama on such a simple matter, one can easily imagine what the differences on more complicated matters will be. Below we reprodure the definition of a Muslim given by each alim in his own words. This definition was asked after it had been clearly explained to each witness that he was required to give the irreducible minimum conditions which a person must satisfy to be entitled to be called a Muslim, and that the definition was to be on the principle on which a term in grammar is defined. Here is the result: --
Maulana Abul Hasanat Muhammad Ahmad Qadri, President, Jami'at-ul-Ulama-i-Pakistan --
"Q.--What is the definition of a Muslim?
A.-- (1) He must believe in the Unity of God.
(2) He must believe in the prophet of Islam to be a true prophet, as well as in all other prophets who have preceded him.
(3) He must believe in the Holy Prophet of Islam as the last of the prophets (
khatam-un-nabiyin).
(4) He must believe in the Qur'an as it was revealed by God to the Holy Prophet of Islam.
(5) He must believe as binding on him the injunctions of the Prophet of Islam.
(6) He must believe in the
qiyamat.
Q.-- Is a
tarik-us-salat [=one who doesn't perform the prayers] a Muslim?
A.-- Yes, but not a
munkir-us-salat [=one who denies that prayers are a duty]."
Maulana Ahmad Ali, President, Jami'at-ul-Ulama-i-Islam, Maghribi Pakistan --
"Q.-- Please define a Muslim.
A.-- A person is a Muslim if he believes (1) in the Qur'an and (2) what has been said by the prophet. Any person who possesses these two qualifications is entitled to be called a Muslim, without his being required to believe in anything more or to do anything more."
Maulana Abul Ala Maudoodi, Amir, Jama'at-i-Islami --
"Q.-Please define a Muslim.
A.-- A person is a Muslim if he believes (1) in
tauheed, (2) in all the prophets (
ambiya), (3) all the books revealed by God, (4) in
mala'ika (angels), and (5)
yaum-ul-akhira (the Day of Judgment).
Q.-- Is a mere profession of belief in these articles sufficient to entitle a man to call himself a Musalman and to be treated as a Musalman in an Islamic State?
A.-- Yes.
Q.-- If a person says that he believes in all these things, does anyone have a right to question the existence of his belief?
A.-- The five requisites that I have mentioned above are fundamental, and any alteration in any one of these articles will take him out of the pale of Islam."
Ghazi Siraj-ud-Din Munir --
"Q.-- Please define a Muslim.
A.-- I consider a man to be a Muslim if he professes his belief in the
kalima, namely, La Ilaha Illallah-o-Muhammad-ur-Rasulullah, and leads a life in the footsteps of the Holy Prophet."
Mufti Muhammad Idris, Jamia Ashrafia, Nila Gumhad, Lahore --
"Q.-- Please give the definition of a Musalman.
A.-- The word 'Musalman' is a Persian one. There is a distinction between the word 'Musalman' which is a Persian word for Muslim, and the word '
momin'. It is impossible for me to give a complete definition of the word '
momin'. I would require pages and pages to describe what a
momin is. A person is a Muslim who professes to be obedient to Allah. He should believe in the Unity of God, prophethood of the
ambiya, and in the Day of Judgment. A person who does not believe in the
azan or in the
qurbani goes outside the pale of Islam. Similarly, there are a large number of other things which have been received by
tavatir from our prophet. In order to be a Muslim, he must believe in all these things. It is almost impossible for me to give a complete list of such things."
Hafiz Kifayat Hussain, Idara-i-Haquq-i-Tahaffuz-i-Shia --
"Q.-Who is a Musalman?
A.-- A person is entitled to be called a Musalman if he believes in (1)
tauheed, (2)
nubuwwat, and (3)
qiyamat. These are the the fundamental beliefs which a person must profess to be called a Musalman. In regard to these three basic doctrines there is no difference between the Shias and the Sunnies. Besides the belief in these three doctrines, there are other things called '
zarooriyat-i-din' which a person must comply with in order to be entitled to be called a Musalman. These will take me two days to define and enumerate. But as an illustration I might state that the respect for the Holy Book,
wajoob-i-nimaz,
wajoob-i-roza,
wajoob-i-hajj-ma'a-shariat, and other things too numerous to mention, are among the '
zarooriyat-i-din'."
Maulana Abdul Hamid Badayuni, President, Jami'at-ul-Ulama-i-Pakistan: --
"Q.-- Who is a Musalman, according to you?
A.-- A person who believes in the
zarooriyat-i-din is called a
momin, and every
momin is entitled to be called a Musalman.
Q.-- What are these
zarooriyat-i.din?
A.-- A person who believes in the five pillars of Islam and who believes in the
rasalat of our Holy Prophet fulfils the
zarooriyat-i-din.
Q.-- Have other actions, apart from the five
arakan, anything to do with a man being a Muslim or being outside the pale of Islam?
(
Note-- Witness has been explained [to] that by actions are meant those rules of moral conduct which in modern society are accepted as correct.)
A.-- Certainly.
Q.-- Then you will not call a person a Muslim who believes in
arakan-i-khamsa and the
rasalat of the prophet but who steals other peoples' things, embezzles property entrusted to him, has an evil eye on his neighbour's wife, and is guilty of the grossest ingratitude to his benefector?
A.-- Such a person, if he has the belief already indicated, will be a Muslim despite all this."
Maulana Muhammad Ali Kandhalvi, Darush-Shahabia, Sialkot --
"Q.--Please define a Musalman.
A.-- A person who in obedience to the commands of the prophet performs all the
zarooriyat-i-din is a Musalman.
Q.-- Can you define
zarooriyat-i-din?
A.--
Zarooriyat-i-din are those requirements which are known to every Muslim irrespective of his religious knowledge.
Q.-- Can you enumerate
zarooriyat-i-din?
A.-- These are too numerous to be mentioned. I myself cannot enumerate these
zarooriyat. Some of the
zarooriyat-i-din may be mentioned, as
salat,
saum, etc."
Maulana Amin Ahsab Islahi -
"Q.-- Who is a Musalman?
A.-- There are two kinds of Musalmans, a political (
siyasi) Musalman and a real (
haqiqi) Musalman. In order to be called a political Musalman, a person must:
(1) believe in the Unity of God,
(2) believe in our Holy Prophet being
khatam-un-nabiyin, i.e., 'final authority' in all matters relating to the life of that person,
(3) believe that all good and evil comes from Allah,
(4) believe in the Day of Judgment,
(5) believe in the Qur'an to be the last book revealed by Allah,
(6) perform the annual pilgrimage to Mecca,
(7) pay the
zaka'at,
(8) say his prayers like the Musalmans,
(9) observe all apparent rules of Islami
mu'ashira, and
(10) observe the fast (
saum).
If a person satisfies all these conditions he is entitled to the rights of a full citizen of an Islamic State. If any one of these conditions is not satisfied, the person concerned will not be a political Musalman. (Again said
It would be enough for a person to be a Musalman if he merely professes his belief in these ten matters irrespective of whether he puts them into practice or not. In order to be a real Musalman, a person must believe in and act on all the injunctions by Allah and his prophet in the manner in which they have been enjoined upon him.
Q.-- Will you say that only the real MusaIman is '
mard-i-saleh'?
A.--Yes.
Q.-- Do we understand you aright that in the case of what you have called a political (
siyasi) Musalman, belief alone is necessary, while in the case of a
haqiqi Musalman there must not only be belief but also action?
A.-- No, you have not understood me aright. Even in the case of a political (
siyasi) Musalman action is necessary; but what I mean to say is that if a person does not act upon the belief that is necessary in the case of such a MusaIman, he will not be outside the pale of a political (
siyasi) M:usalman.
Q.-- If a political (
siyasi) Musalman does not believe in things which you have stated to be necessary, will you call such a person
be-din?
A.-- No, I will call him merely
be-amal."
The definition by the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiya, Rabwah, in its written statement, is that a Muslim is a person who belongs to the
ummat of the Holy Prophet and professes belief in
kalima-i-tayyaba.
d.)
Keeping in view the several definitions given by the ulama, need we make any comment except that no two learned divines are agreed on this fundamental? If we attempt our own definition, as each learned divine has done, and that definition differs from that given by all others, we unanimously go out of the fold of Islam. And if we adopt the definition given by any one of the ulama, we remain Muslims according to the view of that alim, but kafirs according to the definition of everyone else.
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_munirreport_1954/0707nonmuslims.html
