What does Zaid Hamid want to prove by laying claims on Spain? British, French and Dutch have also ruled ‘us’. If Zaid Hamid lays claim on Iberia, Europe may claim almost entire Muslim world

Zaid Hamid is a TV-phenomenon popularized by his programmers like Brass Tacks and Iqbal ka Pakistan. Twenty episodes of Iqbal ka Pakistan have been examined by this author in the Viewpoint. Episodes 21 and 22 of Iqbal ka Pakistan are reviewed below.

Episode 21

Ali Azmat started the show by claiming that they were 'indoctrinating' audiences which ironically is the right description of the show.

Zaid Hamid: Women rights is a fitna. Similarity is not equality. Women should look after the households.

Comment : This division of labour is classical patriarchal narrative often touted by Zaid Hamid. In the course of this very program, we have heard about Atiya Faizi, Iqbal's friend from Europe. Atiya Faizi was a modern woman, opposite of what Iqabl and Zaid Hamid want other women to be. Atiya Faizi was among the first elite Indian Muslim women who made their way to the UK universities for higher education. Attiya also went to Cambridge on a scholarship in 1906. She had the means and she visited each country of Europe and even measured the depth of the Grand Canyons of America. Atiya Faizi even arranged for a girl named Anna to study the arts of the Subcontinent and after her father's death, Anna, who later came to be known as Madam Azurie stayed with Atiya Faizi. Having studied different schools of dance from renowned teachers of those times, she joined the Bombay film industry and was featured in numerous films. While appreciating Atiya Faizi, the two men want different choices for other women.

Zaid Hamid: According to the U.S. constitution, women can't become president of the country.

Comment: Rubbish. There are three explicit criteria in their constitution for election of a President:

1. He/She should be native-born U.S citizens.

2. He/She must be at least 35 years old.

3. He/She must live in the United States for at least 14 years to be President.

By the way, a Muslim can also become President of the United States of America.

Zaid Hamid : Ramooz-e-be khudi should be our constitution. When a whole nation comes together, it becomes a tsunami.

Comment- Ramooz-be-khudi is a document that aims to promote belief in one’s own self. A constitution is “A body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed.” A country cannot be run based on self-belief. We also discovered the word “tsunami” here which has recently been used frequently by Imran Khan and his party.

Zaid Hamid: Pakistan and Islam are synonymous.

Comment: This is a linguistic error. Pakistan literally means the land of pure. Islam can be translated as peace, submission and goodness. Equating the two is not possible in any language except the one fashionable in the utopian republic of Zaid Hamid.

Zaid Hamid : We ruled Spain and parts of Europe.

Comment: Zaid Hamid is confusing us (Pakistanis) with Arabs. It was the Arabs (the Umayyads mostly) who ruled Spain and parts of Europe. The same Arabs will not grant us citizenship of their countries even if we spend our whole lives in their countries. They treat us the same way we treat our minorities i.e. as second class citizens. Also, what does Zaid Hamid want to prove by laying claims on Spain? British, French and Dutch have also ruled ‘us’. If Zaid Hamid lays claim on Iberia, Europe may claim almost entire Muslim world.

Zaid Hamid: Pakistan main jitnay log bastay hain, wo kehtay hain kay ham musalman hain (All the people living in Pakistan are Muslims first).

Comment: This statement negates role of minorities living in Pakistan. Due to this particular attitude i.e. denying the identity of Pakistan to minorities, a lot of people have migrated to other countries after Partition. When Partition occurred, 25% of Pakistan’s population was non-Muslim, today only about 2%.

Zaid Hamid: Pakistanis don't fight each other.

Comment: This is over-simplification and distortion of facts. More people have died in last 10 years (nearly 35 thousand) in terrorist attacks than wars with India (Zaid Hamid’s hated enemy).

Zaid Hamid: He is proud of the fact that he learnt using Kalashnikov during his university days.
Comment: Zaid Hamid is not setting a good example by revealing this snippet from his life.

Episode 22
Zaid Hamid: Ahmad Shah Massoud used to call me Engineer Sahab.
Comment: While Pakistan did help Ahmed Shah Massoud during the time of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to cause unrest in Afghanistan for strategic reasons, Ahmed Shah Massoud became fiercely anti-Pakistan as the “Jihad” progressed. Massoud ultimately had to fight against Taliban, the ISI-created monster in Afghanistan. The relationship with Massoud does not give any more credibility to Mr. Hamid.

Zaid Hamid: I have read all books by Allama Iqbal, Naseem Hijazi and Qudratullah Shahab.

Comment: This pretty much explains all the fantasies espoused by Zaid Hamid. Naseem Hijazi’s writings promote a nostalgia for the “golden era of Islam” and the “brave warriors of the past”. Qudratullah Shahab, a civil servant all his life, served the Ayub dictatorship.

Zamir Niazi in his excellent book, “Press in Chains” writes, “Qudratullah Sahab (later became Sufi and used to tell as to how he witness the separation of his soul from his body while alive in a Chapter of his biography Shahabnama)- but he was the very persons who is the reason of the collapse of independent and vibrant print media and journalism in Pakistan way back in the 60s.”