Islamic Concept of Tribal Identity and Modern World; a Case of Pakistan

RAHAT-UL-QULOOB Bi-Annual, Trilingual (Arabic, English, Urdu) ISSN: (P) 2025-5021. (E) 2521-2869 Project of RAHATULQULOOB RESEARCH ACADEMY, Jamiat road, Khiljiabad, near Pak-Turk School, link Spini road, Quetta, Pakistan. Website: www.rahatulquloob.com Approved by Higher Education Commission Pakistan Indexing: » Australian Islamic Library, IRI (AIOU), Tahqeeqat, Asian Research Index, Crossref, Euro pub, MIAR, ISI, SIS.


Introduction
In Islam, tribes are considered as the source of identity not superiority. In Arab there were different tribes as Banu Hashim, Banu Umiah, Banu Adi, Banu Bakar, Banu Saqeef, Banu Khiza, Banu Qareza, Banu Nuzair. 1 Even now days in the modern phenomenon of the world politics the concept of tribe or ethnic groups is only to achieve the goal of the rights or their representation in the state with the existing political system. In the world there are many groups and they tried to acquire the political and economic advantage with their strength. The world politics especially after the World War-II persuaded the racial, lingual and ethnic groups to cash their ethno-national position for their identity due to democracy.

Review of Literature
Literature has important role in research and the most concerned literature for this paper has used. The primary & secondary sources as the Holy Quran and historical books i.e., Tabqat, Tareekh-e-Masoodi, Muqadima Ibne Khaloon and contemporary material has been used. While the historic method has been used in this research paper.

Discussion
The word tribe is basically used for a social group which belong to same race or the people who same genealogical tree and they have similar features and characteristics of life is called tribe. 2 Before the advent of Islam the humanity was divided in communities and society was facing stratification on the basis of strength and power. There was a system of slavery and was a sound business of human purchase and sale. Slaves were considered the lowest standard people of the society and there was a rule of might is right. But Islam abolished all the non-human traditions and custom from the society due to its universality. 3 As compare to other nations and religions, Islam which is universal religion explains the status of the individual. It emphasis on piety rather than caste, color and creed as the Holy Quran Says in surah Hujrat; 4  He it is who, hath produced you from a single being While the Prophet (PBUH) said about it, the whole creature that they are as; For equality Islam emphasized that people should not adopt pride and arrogance. As they used it in various time before Islam that the tribe is superior. In his last address at Arfat, the Prophet said, "O" people listen to me carefully, you all are the followers of Allah and there is no priority of any Arab to a non-Arab or rich on poor or any white on black except piety. In Islam the concept of nation is related to Religion and it creates harmony among the followers and they are called Ummah as Iqbal said; ‫ںیہن‬ ‫ھچک‬ ‫اہنت‬ ‫ےہ‬ ‫ےس‬ ‫تلم‬ ‫رطب‬ ‫اقمئ‬ ‫رفد‬ ‫ںیہن۔‬ ‫ھچک‬ ‫درای‬ ‫ریبون‬ ‫اور‬ ‫ںیم‬ ‫درای‬ ‫ےہ‬ ‫ومج‬ 8 Before the advent of Islam all the Arabia was divided in tribal structure and every tribe was sovereign and autonomous is in its territory. Every tribe was completely independent in its jurisdiction and were not under any external sovereignty. These tribes fought many times for their tribal supremacy. Tribal revenge took many years and it considered necessary for the tribes in this regard many battles continued for forty years. 9 The Arabs considered savages before embracing Islam they lived tribal life and robbery was the profession of these tribes while robbery considered as pride. Even after the dispensation of Islam these tribes did not give up their tribal identity. The Jews tribe of Madina also expressed their tribal nobility. While the tribal conflict between Bani Hashim and Bani Ummiad and Abbasid is also a Part of Islamic History. 10 Pakistan is a plural state and it established on Islamic ideology. The founding base was Kalima but the different tribes are inhabiting in this state are also want their identity to gain their socio-political and economic rights under the constitution of Islamic republic of Pakistan. Different ethno-nationalist movements are the result of their political awareness and it is also considering their political exploitation. 11 Allama Iqbal always tried to construct the Muslim identity as ، ‫رک‬ ‫ہن‬ ‫ےس‬ ‫رغمب‬ ‫اوقام‬ ‫ایقس‬ ‫ہپ‬ ‫تلم‬ ‫اینپ‬ ‫اہیمش‬ ‫روسل‬ ‫وقم‬ ‫ےہ‬ ‫اخص‬ ‫ںیم‬ ‫رتبیک‬ 12 Although the majority of people is Muslim and there is no conflict but the economic sources motivates the marginalized people of remote area to use this tool of ethnicity so that tribal card may be fruitful for them. In the context of identity, the changing phenomena of the world all the people are struggling for their political rights after World War-II, therefore the marginalized groups especially used the ethnic card to achieve their socio-political and economic rights in plural states. The ethno nationalist and racial movements provided oxygen to all deprived groups and they used their identity in politics to gain a share in power mechanism. In this context ethnicity became a popular mode of politics in the plural societies. The study of identity is an important phenomenon of modern era and different scholars have explained the term. Pakistan is a country of multi-ethnic and multi-lingual region since centuries. The Muslim of Subcontinent was not ethnically homogenous and loyalties of the people were ethnically motivated. Ethnic based movements have been dominant since the colonial era. The decentralized future frame work presented by All India Muslim League was more appealing to these provinces and regions as compare to All Indian National Congress. All he Muslims of India united on their religious identity against powerful Hindus. But after the creation of Pakistan, the dilemma of ethnic identity rose and could not be resolved.

The Issue of Identity and Pakistan and Politics
The issue of identity appeared in the modern world as a factor of political power on basis of their tribal strength, although Pakistan is an important Muslim Country of the world but the role tribal politics is also considered significant in the political environment. The idea of racial supremacy is always involving in human nature as in the ancient time people felt pride on their genealogical background. The term of identity is also existing in modern world and first it seems to be in the Oxford Dictionary in 1972. 13 As Mazari Stated, that, "ethnicity is cultural and linguistic symbols at a basic level and which provides internal cohesion and differentiate an ethnic group from other groups. According to her, ethnicity is also a type of social organization to class formation". 14 The concept of ethnicity is not limited it is very vast and two major schools of thoughts explained it in their own as the Primordialist and instrumentalist Whale The Geertz Primordialist defines ethnicity "the cultural givens assumed blood ties, race, language, region, religion and custom as the heart of the ethnic matter". 15 Instrumentalists focus upon competition and interaction their stress is on the situational and circumstantial nature of ethnic solidarity. They consider ethnicity as a weapon in the pursuit of collective advantages. 16 "Ethnic group is a collection of people who share some patterns of normative behavior and form a part of a larger population, interacting with people from other ethnic groups within the framework of a social system. For Cohen, one of the characteristics of a people so addressed as an ethnic group is the "sharing of normative behavior". This normative behavior is a distinct behavior which distinguished one group of people from others and it include kingship, marriage, friendship, festival, rituals and other similar ceremonial activities. Normative behavior can also be coupled to the continuous interactions with another distinguished group especially within the same Nation-State. Therefore, ethnicity can be seen as interaction between culturally distinct groups operating within a common social context. 17 During Ayub regime East Pakistan mostly felt exploitation, deprivation and marginalization because they said west wing is not providing the enough share of their economic sources. People of Bengal were demanding separate provinces as autonomous unit with separate governor. It was the first ethnic crisis in Bengal during Ayub but he did not take any notice of such voice. 18 Table Showing Per Capita GDP of East and West Pakistan. 19 Year  21 Yahaya Khan issued legal framework order in March 1970 to hold the election and promised to grant provincial autonomy and the rights to the people of both parts. He decided the representation of both parts on the basis of population and election policy was adopted on basis of one man one vote. 300 general and 13 reserved seats for women were decided for National Assembly and allocation of seats for each province was as following.   0  01  11  Independent  01  05  03  07  0  16  Total Seats  162  82  27  25  04  300 The election's results were totally in the favor of Awami league and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman because Awami League received absolute majority in all over the Pakistan and it swept the elections in East Pakistan. 25 Even the country lost its national integration and in 1971, East Pakistan was separated. The downfall of Bangladesh supported other deprived groups as the Saraiki speaking people of South Punjab whose identity is not recognized started a struggle for their separate identity and the issue of ethnicity and ethnic conflict raised in Pakistan. In 1977, Zia imposed martial law in Pakistan again with 3 rd time in the history of Pakistan and during Zia Regime the state policy remained same in its spirit. Ethnic groups again demanding for their due rights especially political representation and Zia focused a new emerging identity of Urdu speaking in Sindh as Muhajir, he availed this opportunity and adopted the policy of divide and rule as his ancestors in the past. 26 During the regime of Musharraf ethnic conflict rose again in Balochistan & Karachi. The murder of Nawab Akbar Bugatti created unrest in Balochistan while in Sindh Musharraf again fully supported to MQM. In urban areas of Sindh MQM swept the election through rigging and violence which destroyed the peace of Karachi and provincial govt: has become support less. After Musharraf in PPP and PMLN time ethnic politics is considered now the important tool of victory Punjab and Sindh card was used by PPP and PMLN respectively. In Sindh MQM used Muhajir soba card and in south Punjab the voice of Saraiki Province is also in progress now a days.

Conclusion
Islam is a universal religion and with its dispensation one of its teaching was equality that all the people of this world are the son of Adam and they have no superiority among ones therefore they all will be treated on equal basis. In Arabia the tribal system was in progress and each tribe wanted to maintain its supremacy on the basis of its strength and fame. But Islam declared all equal and tribes were for their socio-political identity rather than nobility. The social concept of Al-Asbiya is found in every plural society and that's why the Islamic state faced such challenges through ages of the Islamic History. The use of ethnic identity is considered very important to gain power in the world and even in the modern world different groups use their ethnic and racial or linguistic identity. Although Islam dislikes this standard of Superiority but as an understanding power tool Islamic states are still facing this political challenge not as religious challenge. In Pakistan, the sole ambition of these ethnic groups is to protect not their identity but also gain powers. In this paper it is tried to highlight the dilemma of identity in Pakistan.The downfall of East Pakistan decreased the identity as Muslim and increased to motivate the regional identities as ethnic card especially in NWFP and Balochistan during Bhutto era. While during Zia regime MQM and Sindhi Nationalist were promoted against Peoples Party. MQM became a dominant ethnic and linguistic group of Urban Sindh especially in Karachi and Haiderabad. In South Punjab the issue of Saraiki identity has been raised, due to injustice, inequality and imbalance distribution of resources and representation as compare to upper Punjab. In the last election a group of politicians contested the election on the slogan of South Punjab as a Separate province. So, the issue of identity is a reality in Pakistan it is not a problem actually need is to address different groups. To minimize and reduce the negative impact of identity, it is necessary for the state to address the socio-political and economic problem at regional level and provide maximum representation to marginalized groups. The equal distribution of equal sources and avoidance to creating economic imbalance among the different ethnic by providing fiscal autonomy at basic unit level can also minimize the concerns linked with ethnic politics. It can be concluded it with that as Islam provided the equal rights to the citizens, it is necessary for the personal satisfaction of the groups that maximum participation and inclusions of the identity of groups in the political process is the key to the unity and national and religious solidarity in a multi-ethnic based Islamic state. The issue of identity is rises as problem in Pakistan when the powers of groups are not recognized by decision makers. This becomes problematic when demands and concerns of different communities are not addressed. Democracy has a capacity to solve problems which is only possible through power sharing and the continuity of rights to the people. In this context, the principles of Islamic ideology for humanity are best option for all political challenges.