From the Islamic point of view, Partition had no justification at all. Islam is a universal religion that addresses the whole of humanity. It is not a mere philosophy. Rather, it is a missionary and revolutionary religion. It does not aim to create insurmountable walls between Muslims and non-Muslims by manufacturing a fictitious ‘two-nation theory’, the theory that Muslims and non-Muslims are two separate and opposing nations—which is Pakistan’s official ideology.
Despite this, the movement for the Partition of India gathered pace, and the country’s Muslims lent it their support. In their unthinking emotionalism, the supporters of this movement declared, ‘What Does Pakistan Mean? [It Means] ‘There is No God But Allah!’ But the fact is that the Pakistan movement was an entirely communal, and not a religious movement. It had nothing whatsoever, directly or indirectly, to do with bearing witness that there is no god but God, the testimony of faith in Islam.
Meant to solve the Hindu-Muslim problem, the natural consequence of the Partition was only to further worsen the conflict. Prior to Partition, this conflict was between two communities. Following the Partition, it transformed into a conflict between two established states. And, as a result, the conflict grew much worse than it was ever thought possible in pre-Partition times.
There is no limit to universality in Islam. The universality of Islam is unlimited. When the Prophet was migrating from Makkah to Madinah, the journey was not similar to the roads and highways of today. There were jungles and mountains in the path. Not every person knew the path from one place to another. Only some people knew the way. This was a family profession. People would get trained in this. They would then stand in the path to guide people. The Prophet needed a guide to travel from Makkah to Madinah. The guide that the Prophet chose was Abdullah ibn Urayqit or Abdullah ibn Arqat. He was a Makkan polytheist and didn’t yet believe in the Prophet. This journey was very difficult and treacherous. In this journey, the Prophet took Abdullah ibn Arqat as his guide. This shows that there is no limit to Islam's universality.
The hadith says: Copy Arabic text (Sunan ibn Majah 4169)
Wisdom may come from Muslim or non-Muslim, Asian or European, black or white. You don’t need to see who the speaker is. You only need to take in wisdom from people. The Prophet not only said take wisdom but also said that wisdom is the lost property of the believer, wherever he finds it he must accept it. If I drop my pen somewhere, I will return to find it. If I find the pen, it will be mine and I will take it back happily. In the same way, if you find wisdom anywhere you have to happily accept it. One shouldn’t think that this isn’t coming from people of my community. There is no concept of us and them in Islam.Wisdom is a universal asset. It belongs to all. It is not that it belongs to one and not to another. It is for all.
