{"id":3853,"date":"2026-07-28T05:10:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T05:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alfaqr.net\/en\/?p=3853"},"modified":"2026-07-28T05:11:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T05:11:31","slug":"the-ideology-of-pakistan-national-sentiment-and-the-role-of-sultan-ul-faqr-hazrat-sultan-muhammad-asghar-ali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alfaqr.net\/en\/the-ideology-of-pakistan-national-sentiment-and-the-role-of-sultan-ul-faqr-hazrat-sultan-muhammad-asghar-ali\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ideology of Pakistan, National Sentiment, and the Role of Sultan-ul-Faqr Hazrat Sultan Muhammad Asghar Ali"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author: Babar Jan Khwazi-Khail<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just as rapidly changing worldly conceptions and prevailing methodologies continue to evolve and assume new forms, so too are global warfare strategies and conspiratorial schemes advancing by degrees from crude operations to extraordinarily subtle and sophisticated ones. In the modern era, alongside direct armed conflicts, the collective consciousness of nations has itself become a battlefield, where knowledge and information are deployed as weapons to assault the ideologies and beliefs that form the very foundation of society. This constitutes a lethal poison for the collective human consciousness. Nations are frequently subjected, in a highly organised manner, to circumstances and events in which it becomes difficult to even identify the actual source of the corruption being wrought.<\/p>\n

National Sentiment<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the destruction of any nation, it is sufficient to strip it of its soul, meaning to eliminate that foundational basis upon which its national existence rests. If one carefully examines the composition of our national identity, the role of beliefs, ideology, history, and the legacy of forebears becomes clearly evident in its formation. Generally speaking, more or less these same constituent elements are also responsible for the emergence of other nations. By damaging these elements, it is easy to weaken that existence, that is, the nation itself.<\/p>\n

It is, in fact, through these elements that a common feeling is generated among the various individuals of a nation, which creates attachment to one another at the individual level and to the homeland at the collective level. Ibn Khaldun named this shared feeling as common feeling or group solidarity (a\u1e63abiyyah<\/em>). To understand this philosophy in simple terms: first, one or several or all of the following, that is, beliefs, ideology, civilisation, history, and the legacy of forebears, together generate this shared sense of belonging through which a nation comes into being. Based on the nation’s unique identity, a distinct destination and specific collective social objectives emerge. To achieve those objectives, a state is brought into existence. Subsequently, devotion and love for that state also depend upon this very national sentiment, because without shared sentiment there is no nation, and this sentiment arises from a shared value or purpose, while purpose itself is established under the influence of ideology.<\/p>\n

The present situation of our beloved homeland is confronting precisely such conditions, where rather than a direct attack upon it, the foundational basis of its nationhood, which comprises national sentiment and its constituent elements, namely the ideology of Pakistan, history, civilisation, and the legacy of forebears, is being subjected in a highly organised manner to doubts and suspicions. Unfamiliarity with the true nature of these four elements, or harbouring misgivings about their true contours, destroys that national sentiment by virtue of which the Pakistani nation came into existence. The absence of the sense of nationhood is itself the cause of the extinction of the feeling of attachment to the homeland. In such circumstances, however, certain personalities have emerged who took upon themselves the responsibility of preserving this national sentiment and discharged their role most finely.<\/p>\n

When the endeavours of the founder of Islahi Jamaat, Sultan-ul-Faqr Hazrat Sakh\u012b Sul\u1e6d\u0101n Mu\u1e25ammad A\u1e63ghar ‘Al\u012b \u1e62\u0101\u1e25ib (R.A), are examined through the lens of a social scientist, one senses that the King of spiritual excellence (Sultan ul faqr), apparently clad in the garb of a dervish, was in reality a master of the social sciences who, in the light of the subtle principles and precepts of those disciplines, offered solutions to the social and national problems encountered in practical life. For instance, he endeavoured to dispel confusion about the elements that constitute a nation at a time when even intellectuals had not yet begun to count those elements among the causes of national decline. According to the social sciences’ definition, ideology is born within human thought, concepts, and collective consciousness, and it is this ideology that clarifies the direction, objectives, and destination of a nation. Ideology itself, which determines the national ideal, grows under the influence of religious beliefs, history, civilisation, the legacy of forebears, and the psyche of people, and that same ideology then in turn becomes the guarantor of the preservation of those very elements.<\/p>\n

Therefore, to set ideology right, he (R.A) would attend to and correctly interpret those factors that influence it, namely religious beliefs, history, civilisation, the thought of forebears, and psychology and temperament. When the objective was national unity, he taught and promoted the constituent elements of the nation, that is, belief, the ideology of Pakistan, history, and the thought of forebears. When the subject was society or its system, he paid particular attention to the starting point of that logical process, which is thoughts, concepts, and collective consciousness. In all of this, however, he, quietly and without drawing attention to himself, endeavoured to correct that invisible foundation upon which the edifice of nation and society is built.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, he arranged countless programmes whose purpose was the restoration of national spirit and sentiment and the elimination of unwarranted doubts and suspicions about the ideology of Pakistan, its history, and its forebears. Through the successive articles published in the monthly Mir\u0101t al-‘\u0100rif\u012bn<\/em> and through the numerous seminars and conferences held under the auspices of MUSLIM Institute, the original spirit of the ideology of Pakistan was repeatedly brought to the fore, and by refuting distorted interpretations of history through argumentation and modern research, the enviable and praiseworthy dimension of the legacy of forebears and of history was conveyed to the people at large.<\/p>\n

“His birth on 14th August 1947, the 27th of Rama\u1e0d\u0101n al-Mub\u0101rak, is a clear proof that he had a special relationship and connection with Pakistan that is not devoid of a particular wisdom. In accordance with his vision, seminars were held all over Pakistan from his monastery (Kh\u0101nq\u0101h<\/em>) under the title ‘Struggle for the Unity of Ummah.’ The sole purpose of this was to promote the shared national sense of unity. He always highlighted the concept of nationhood based on Islamic identity and ideology rather than upon transient and artificial bases of nationality such as colour, race, language, regional affiliation, provincialism, geography, sectarianism, and the like, which is the original, effective, enduring, and guaranteeing basis of unity. To this end, he personally visited every district of Pakistan to hold programmes and initiated the training process of awakening national sentiment on this basis of thought.”<\/p>\n

A nation cannot be formed by stringing individuals together like beads on a thread, nor does a nation come into existence by signing a written agreement. It is the product of a conscious and ideological acceptance, through which various individuals, following that conscious acceptance, begin to regard themselves as one nation and one entity. Any single, commonly accepted reason, purpose, or ideology generates a shared sense of belonging among the members of a nation. It is then a straightforward matter that if that very reason, purpose, or ideology is removed from the equation, the shared sense of belonging and attachment that constitutes the nation can no longer survive. Once the nation ceases to exist, where will the feeling of love for the homeland, known as patriotism, remain? This is, therefore, an interconnected and continuous process developing within consciousness, where a change in one element automatically affects the second and, through the second, the third. Hazrat Sul\u1e6d\u0101n Mu\u1e25ammad A\u1e63ghar ‘Al\u012b (R.A), by nurturing and irrigating the starting point of this logical process, namely consciousness, thought and concept, sentiment, feeling, and ideology, in effect protected the entire process from being contaminated. This is precisely the discernment of a man of spiritual excellence (faq\u012br<\/em>) that, without apparently participating directly in any process, he constructively influences every part of it through his far-sightedness and focused attention. The imprint of the pain for the nation and country that resided in the heart of the man of spiritual excellence (faq\u012br<\/em>), and of his quiet and unsung support in working for the reform of society, is visible upon every part of that process. He was not merely the patron of a monastery (Kh\u0101nq\u0101h<\/em>); he was the king of the field of action and the guardian of shared sentiment, Pakistani nationhood, the ideology and movement of Pakistan, history, and the legacy of forebears. Beyond this, he not only took it upon himself to raise awareness of the importance of these elements, but also continuously taught their contemporary relevance and their connection with and significance for the present age.<\/p>\n

The History of the Pakistan Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Much has been written, said, and heard on this subject, and it might seem as though no room for further discussion remains. However, for the convenience of readers, let us attempt to understand the role played by events from the death of Aurangzeb ‘\u0100lamg\u012br until 1947 in the formation of the Pakistani nation. Before the death of Aurangzeb ‘\u0100lamg\u012br, an enduring and centuries-long Muslim rule had been established in the Subcontinent. In the early eighteenth century, following the death of Aurangzeb ‘\u0100lamg\u012br around 1705-1706, the decline of Muslims in the Subcontinent began for the first time. This decline proceeded gradually over a hundred and fifty years, affecting every sphere of life, including political, social, economic, and educational, and eventually culminated in complete subjugation in 1857. The period from 1857 to 1947 represents ninety years of struggle under the condition of subjugation.<\/p>\n

The journey from rule to subjugation, from subjugation to struggle, and from struggle to the freedom took two and a half centuries. The aspiration to create Pakistan did not arise suddenly, as if the Muslims of India, quite contentedly residing in a united India, happened one day to conceive the idea of creating a separate country. The ideology of Pakistan emerged through centuries of intellectual struggle and a phased evolution of consciousness. Certain schools of thought view the ideology and movement of Pakistan within the context of the struggle of the Muslim League, the Quaid-e-Azam, and Allama Iqbal, but they do not see it as the outcome of a historical process of conscious evolution.<\/p>\n

This thinking did not arrive in a single day or in a few years, nor was it the thought of a few specific individuals; rather, it was the culmination of the final phase of intellectual struggle. The Muslims of India had, during those two hundred and fifty years, tried every kind of policy and made every possible effort to resolve the problems facing them. During this period, priceless ideas were put forward by senior leaders, and the nation tried adhering to them as well, but nothing proved effective. For example, during the hundred and fifty years from approximately 1705-06 to 1857, the Muslims of India were undergoing a gradual decline in every sphere of life, while opportunities were increasingly opening up for Hindus in every field. During this period, multiple movements arose to transform the lives of Muslims. Each identified certain specific causes for Muslim decline and proposed its own solution. Some cited distance from the Divine commandments as the cause of decline; some saw armed struggle as the solution; others sought to change the wretched condition of Muslims through the acquisition of political and military power. Then came the movement of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Kh\u0101n, who regarded the acquisition of modern English education and loyalty to the British as the solution to the problems of the Muslims of India.<\/p>\n

If we examine the second phase of this era, from 1857 to 1947, it appears to consist of three stages from the perspective of movement. The first stage spans from 1857 to 1906, the year of the founding of the Muslim League, during which, in accordance with the prevailing collective consciousness, the acquisition of modern English and scientific education and the establishment of friendly and loyal relations with the British were regarded as the solution to the problems at hand. At the time of the founding of the Muslim League in 1906, its stated aims and objectives are a clear proof of the analysis given above, as follows:<\/p>\n