شفیق الرحمن قدوائی
شفیق الرحمن مرحوم اگر چہ شہرت و ناموری کے عام معیار سے کو ئی بڑے آدمی نہ تھے مگر اپنے ایثار و قربانی، اخلاق وکردار، اخلاص و عمل اور خاموش اور بے لوث خدمات کے لحاظ سے بہت سے بڑے بڑے لیڈروں پر فائق تھے، جامعہ ملیہ کے لئے تو انھوں نے اپنی زندگی وقف کردی تھی اور سرد و گرم دور میں بھی اس سے جدا نہ ہو ئے، اور یہ کہنا غلط نہ ہوگا کہ جامعہ انہی کی محنت و جانفشانی کی بدولت زندہ رہ گیا، ظاہر وباطن دونوں میں مسلمان اور اپنے اوصاف کی بنا پر ہر جماعت میں مقبول تھے، کا نگریس اور حکومت دونوں کے سنجیدہ طبقہ میں ان کا بڑا وقار و وزن اور اخلاقی اثر تھا، مگر وہ اتنے بے لوث تھے کہ کبھی اس اثر سے فائدہ اٹھانے کی کوشش نہیں کی، ان کو بنیادی تعلیم کا عملی تجربہ تھا، اس کے وہ ماہر تھے، اس لئے یو این او کی جانب سے اس کام کے لئے انڈونیشیا بھیجے گئے تھے، ابھی وہ وہیں تھے کہ گذشتہ الیکشن میں کانگریس نے ان کو دہلی اسمبلی کے لئے مقرر ہو ئے، مگر اس سے بھی ان کا فائدہ اٹھانے کا موقع نہ مل سکا، تھوڑے ہی دنوں کے بعد بیمار پڑگئے، اور چند مہینے بیمار رہ کر ۳؍ اپریل کو انتقال کیا، انتقال کے وقت کل ۵۳ سال کی عمر تھی جو سیاست کی دنیا میں عین شباب کی عمرہے، مسلمانوں میں اب ایسے مخلص اور باعمل آدمی مشکل سے پیدا ہوں گے، اﷲ تعالیٰ اس پیکر اخلاص کو اپنی رحمت و مغفرت سے سرفراز فرمائے۔ (شاہ معین الدین ندوی، اپریل ۱۹۵۳ء)
This study investigates the case of arbitration in the modern states in general and in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in particular, as a self-binding, amicable mode of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). It starts with arbitration’s meaning, history and evolutional background and discusses them as preliminaries and entrance to the main topic. The study debates Pakistani legislation on the subject, with special focus on the Arbitration Act, 1940. It examines the functioning of arbitration in Pakistani legal system, detects the flaws and areas of improvement therein, and most significantly, suggests proposals for required amendments in the relevant laws. In this connection, the equivocal nature of ADR provisions in some statutes other than Arbitration Act, has been specially highlighted. As per requirement of the Article 2(A) of the Constitution 1973, some inconsistencies of the laws on the subject with Sharī‘ah have also been traced. The issue of qualifications of arbitrators (hakams) has been detected as the main subject of inconsistency between law and Sharī‘ah, resulting in substantial and effective bearings. A similar inconsistency, comparatively with a lesser effect, has been noted in arbitration of family disputes regarding fixation of number of arbitrators and the hail from families of the disputing spouses. While investigating all these issues, an analytical-cum comparative strategy has been followed. The conclusion contains a concise brief on comparison between Sharī‘ah and law on the subject and a package of proposed amendments in the gray areas.
This dissertation explains the contribution made by the Muslim landed elites to the separatist politics in the colonial Punjab. It aims at presenting the narrative of the origin and development of Muslim nationalist consciousness as a result of Muslim landed elites’ conflict with the classes of moneylenders and professional urban middle classes. The research focuses on studying the phenomenon of Muslim separatism in the Punjab from the standpoint of Marxian notion of class conflict as most of the studies on Muslim nationalism are based on essentialist interpretation of this phenomenon. This study views the emergence of consciousness of Muslims as a distinct cultural community in interrelationship between class interests of Muslim landed aristocracy and imperial institutions. The Muslim landed gentry was nurtured and patronized by the British colonial state. The post-annexation Punjab witnessed tremendous modernization of infrastructure of roads or railways and agricultural colonization. The pastoral-agrarian Punjab thus became integrated into world capitalist market with the export of its surplus wheat, cotton and oilseeds. The agricultural production was revolutionized by technological innovation and as a consequence, social organization in rural and urban areas was developed in accordance with imperial interests. When the British introduced institutions like District Boards, Municipal Committees and Legislative Council to have representation of rural and urban elites; the landed and mercantile classes pursued conflicting interests. The Muslim landed classes championed the cause of Muslim communal interests in the Punjab to shield their economic and political position against the growing mercantile classes. They entrenched themselves in the imperial political institution by securing their nominations which solidified communal identity. The Punjab National Unionist Party was established by Punjab landed notables in 1923 and it played a remarkable role in the construction of Muslim identity and also served as counterweight to nationalist ideology of the Congress. The development of Muslim communal consciousness showed the imprint of pastoral-agrarian society in the Punjab. The constitutional communalism employed by Unionist Party eventually paved the way for the victory of All India Muslim League in its struggle for separate homeland. When All India Muslim iv League entered the Punjab with its separatist ideology in 1940, the scions of landed gentry jumped on to its bandwagon as they perceptively observed the signs of the crumbling of the Raj in the wake of World War II. They organized the Punjab Muslim League and provided it with the funds necessary for propagating the message of separate homeland. The process of communal consciousness which began with the constitutional communalism of the Punjab Nationalist Unionist Party. This dissertation argues that Muslim nationalist consciousness did not appear suddenly and abruptly after the Lahore Resolution of 1940. The dissertation seeks to give an alternative narrative to the prevailing interpretation that it was Muslim League under the leadership of MA Jinnah which brought Muslim nationalist consciousness to the Punjab.