The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in light of Shariah: An Analytical Study

Abstract

Pakistan gained independence on 14th August, 1947. It was a unique moment in history when the Muslim population of South Asia gained a separate homeland for themselves from the majority Hindu population. This situation posted a challenge to come up with a form of government that matches the aspiration of the populace for an "Islāmic state". The first step towards it was creation of a constitution that matches these desires. The current constitution of Pakistan was chartered in 1973. It was instantly claimed to be Islāmic by the then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. But many doubted that claim. Since then, the debate has continued on whether this document is Islāmic or not. This research is an attempt to analyze the constitution in this light. The objective of this analysis is to see if there are any portions in the constitution that are repugnant to Islām. Another purpose is to quantify the portion of the Constitution that is in contradiction to the Shariʿah. For this a line by line (each clauses) scrutinization of the constitution was done. Each clause was classified in three broad categories. In the first category were clauses that were directly in line with the teachings of Islām. In the second category were clauses that were permissible in light of shariʿah as they had to do with issues that Allāh had left to the circumstances defined by culture or norms. The third category were clauses that were in conflict with direct teachings of Shariʿah. The conclusion is that the Pakistani constitution is a good attempt by the legislatures to live up to the Islāmic ideology of Pakistan. However, this research estimates that about 4% of the document conflicts with the guidance provided in Al-Qurān and Sunnah. This thesis will highlight those incidences.