Jinnah, Pakistan, and Islamic Identity By Akbar S. Ahmed Routledge, New York; 1997, 274 pp. + xxix.

Abstract

Dr. Akbar S. Ahmed is probably the most published author in Pakistan. His pub­
lished works, some of which have earned excellent reviews, make a fonnidable list. As
perhaps the best known contemporary Muslim anthropologist, his commitment to the discipline,
despite his avocation of being an administrator, is the key to his success. What
sets Ahmed apart from most Pakistani authors is that his writings are informed by theoretical
considerations and anchored in empirical data. He exudes easy familiarity with
methodology, is creative and imaginative in his approach, and can conceptualize.
Moreover, he can intellectu.alize problems and issues. As with his earlier writings, his present
work is marked by these characteristics.

The work is structured around one major theme (Jinnah), and the subthemes of the
nature of nationhood, Islam, ethnic and religious identity, the problems of minorities, and
the pervasive and ubiquitous influence of media, race, empire, and other factors. Using
the methodologies of cultural anthropology, semiotics, and media studies, Ahrned
explores old ground with new insights and interpretations. What we have here is neither
biography nor history per se; it is part biography, part history of partition, an exploration
of Muslim nationhood and Pakistani statehood, and part the Muslim search for identity, a
quest that not only inspired the Muslim struggle for Pakistan during the 1940% but which
is still relevant (e.g., northern Cyprus, Bosnia, Chechnia, Kashmir, Kosovo, Mindanao
[the Philippines], Pattani [Thailand], and even for the Turkish minority in Bulgaria).
All said and done, it was the critical problem of identity to which Jinnah addressed
himself in the Indian context of the 1930s and 1940s. Thus he represents not only
Pakistan, but also a manifestation of the very search for identity in the present larger
Muslim world context. His solution to the problems of marginalization, alienation, and
even exclusion of Muslims from the corridors of power serves as a beacon to Muslim
communities struggling for identity, self-expression, and self-realization. Hence the relevance
of Jinnah to the modem Muslim world ...