Islamization of Constitution and Legal Framework
Pakistan holds the honor of being founded in the name of Islam. Hence the first constitution of Pakistan enacted in 1973 has many articles which are Islamic. Article 1 declares Pakistan as an “Islamic Republic”; it opens by stating in the preamble “sovereignty over the entire Universe belongs to Almighty Allah alone”. It makes Islam the state religion as per Article 2.
It says in Article 41 that the president and prime minister must be Muslim and must swear an oath referencing Islamic idiom. Further, the oath declares that the president, prime minister, and other ministers “will strive to preserve the Islamic Ideology which is the basis for the creation of Pakistan” as per Articles 42, 91, and 92. Article 227 also declares that “no law shall be enacted which is repugnant to Islamic Injunctions”.
Further, Article 31 declares that “steps shall be taken to enable the Muslims of Pakistan, individually and collectively, to order their lives in accordance with the fundamental principles and basic concepts of Islam”. Article 38 states that “the state shall eliminate Riba (usury) as early as possible”. Article 62 states that the members of parliament must have “adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings” and not be “commonly known as one who violates Islamic Injunctions”.
Article 227 states that “all existing laws shall be brought in conformity with the Injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah”. All this removes any room for doubt that the Constitution of Pakistan is Islamic. However, despite all this, the dilemma is that it has certain loopholes due to which Islam couldn’t be established in Pakistan to date.
The biggest loophole of all is that the final authority of declaring a Law Islamic or un-Islamic rests with the Parliament and the Supreme court which are currently under the control of liberals while the institutions such as the Council of Islamic Ideology and Federal Shariat court hold no authority in this regard. Similarly, it’s also important to analyze the legislation done so far under the current constitution to figure out how much it is in line with Islam and the constitution so that necessary amendments could be recommended accordingly.
Hence, the purpose of this initiative is to highlight all such loopholes in the constitution of Pakistan as well as in the legislation done thereunder which are preventing the establishment of Islam in the country, propose necessary amendments to close such loopholes, and then strive vehemently to raise awareness in this regard.
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