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 The Majlis-i-Ahrar-i-Islam (MAI) occupies a very special place in the demonology of the Pakistani Movement. Their deeply personal attempt at defaming Mohammad Ali Jinnah by attacking his westernized lifestyle, marriage to a Parsee lady and lack of familiarity with religious esotericism, in particular, has drawn the ire of subsequent generations of Pakistani historians. Samina Awan’s Political Islam in Colonial Punjab, Majlis-i-Ahrar, 1929-1949 is a groundbreaking study in the English language that draws upon an impressive array of sources and provides a comprehensive and balanced perspective of the MAI that treats them as something more than Indian National Congress-subsidized Muslim showboys.
Political Islam in Colonial Punjab, Majlis-i-Ahrar, 1929-1949 operates at three levels. Most obviously, it is a historical narrative focused on the political activities of the MAI. Alongside the historical narrative there is a considerable component of analysis that focuses on the socio-economic profile of the MAI and the impact that it had on its politics. Related to the socio-economic profile is the MAI’s understanding of concepts such as nationalism, constitutionalism, federalism, territorialism, imperialism, etc. Awan has successfully employed classical historical narrative with socio-economic analysis and intellectual history to tell the story of the MAI.
To begin with the political aspect, the MAI participated in major political campaigns and elections/by-elections. It was more successful as a pressure group and mobilizing agent on individual issues such as Kashmir, anti-Ahmedi agitation, the Pakistan demand, the Quit India movement, etc., than as an electoral force capable of winning and holding majorities. Part of the reason for this was that in the Punjab the alliance of Muslim, Hindu and Sikh landed interests made it extremely difficult for an electoral alternative to emerge. Another reason was that the MAI did not have much money and depended on volunteerism and small donations to keep afloat. The hostility of the state apparatus to the MAI further diminished its electoral viability. Awan correctly identifies the MAI as a party that lived from issue to issue in the hope that one of the issues might translate into real political success.
The socio-economic profile of the MAI deserved special attention. Awan makes it plainly evident that the MAI was a predominantly urban and lower-middleclass movement geographically centered on the Punjab. Thus, the MAI demanded greater equality, socio-economic justice and opportunities for the urban masses, and was not inimical to land reforms or socialistic programs of improvement. The MAI represented an early example of urbanized Muslim middleclass involvement in provincial and national politics.
Perhaps the most stimulating aspect of Awan’s work is her treatment of the ideology and conceptual parameters of the MAI. Without getting polemical or taking undue advantage of the MAI’s punishing lack of intellectual coherence, Awan manages to drive home several key points. The first is that the MAI leadership genuinely regarded the British as the primary threat and continued to do so even after it became clear at the outbreak of the Second World War that the Raj was doomed and the question of imperial succession needed to be squarely addressed. The second is that the MAI leadership regarded the Muslim League leadership in general and Jinnah in particular as Muslims only in name that would never be able or willing to bring about a hukumat-i-Ilahi. And third, Islam would be safe and secure in a united India after the British left and the Muslims would be able to order their lives in accordance with sharia. Leaving aside the identification of the British as the principal threat to Islam in India, there was a tremendous inconsistency in the argument that a Hindu-majority India governed by the avowedly secular and social democratic Indian National Congress would permit the creation of sharia states within the Indian Union.
There are a number of lessons that can be derived from Political Islam in Colonial Punjab, Majlis-i-Ahrar, 1929-1949. One is that the pattern of agitation and electoral failure that characterized the MAI continues to characterize most of the urbanized middleclass parties that emerged after independence. Another is that the MAI, with its sectarian bias, foreshadowed the rise on the Pakistani political landscape of sectarian organizations and religious-political parties. Finally, although the narrative stops at 1949, the greater fervor of the religious right in Pakistan and its willingness to employ agitation and violence has meant that it has succeeded in setting the political agenda to an extent far greater than warranted by its electoral performance. The anti-Ahmedi agitation in Pakistan, for instance, was in many respects a continuation of the MAI’s pre-independence strategy.
Awan has proven that it is indeed possible to produce quality social scientific studies in Pakistan and has made a notable contribution to the history of the late-colonial era in South Asia. Political Islam in Colonial Punjab, Majlis-i-Ahrar, 1929-1949 should be recommended reading at the post-graduate level and in research programs for any researcher interested in understanding religion and politics in South Asia with particular reference to Pakistan, and essential reading for researchers working on the MAI. One only hopes that Awan keeps up the momentum and perhaps produces another volume on religion and politics in Pakistan from 1949 onwards. 
Ilhan Niaz is the author of ‘The Culture of Power and Governance of Pakistan, 1947-2008’ and ‘An Inquiry into the Culture of Power of the Subcontinent’ He is currently an Assistant Professor of History at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.
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