The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

Zia-ul-Haq (1924–88)

General Zia-ul-Haq (1924–88) was president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death under mysterious circumstances in a plane crash on August 17, 1988.

Born in 1924, Zia-ul-Haq fought in the Indian army during World War II and subsequently rose through the ranks of the Pakistani military, eventually being appointed Joint Services Chief of Staff under Prime Minister Zulfikar ‘Ali Bhutto in 1976. On July 5, 1977, Zia-ul-Haq overthrew Bhutto in a coup code-named Operation Fair Play, exploiting widespread public sentiment that Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had rigged the March 1977 elections.

Zia wasted no time in promoting himself as an Islamically guided leader. He met publicly with Mawdudi and worked to garner the support of Mawdudi’s party, the Jama‘at-i Islami. Zia would later benefit politically from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. After that invasion Mawdudi preached a legitimate jihad against the Soviet state, and Zia threw his support behind the Afghani mujahidin (the loose array of fighters who went out for jihad against the Soviet armies).

The legal “Islamization” of Pakistan was already well under way before Zia took office. Islam was declared to be the “state religion” of Pakistan in the Constitution of 1973 and required, among other things, certain officials to take an oath affirming the finality of Muhammad’s prophethood. The following year, Bhutto amended the constitution to declare the Ahmadis non-Muslims. In 1977 Bhutto also banned alcohol, gambling, and nightclubs, partly to appease the Jama‘at-i Islami, who were critical of his administration.

While Bhutto likely sought to conciliate his critics, it is generally believed that Zia’s efforts to integrate shari‘a-based regulations into every aspect of Pakistani law and society were genuine rather than merely political calculations. Zia declared in 1978 that Pakistan’s laws would be thereafter based on Niẓām-i Muṣṭafā, the “system of the Prophet.” He set up a Federal Shari‘at Court in 1978 and a special bench of the Supreme Court that could challenge the shari‘a compliance of previous legislation. In 1979 he imposed Islamic laws for the punishment of crimes including drinking alcohol, theft, prostitution, adultery, and bearing false witness. In 1980 Zia began the Islamization of Pakistan’s economy, introducing the government collection of zakat (alms tax) and ‘ushr (the land tax).

On April 26, 1984, Zia amended the Pakistan Penal Code to forbid Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslims. Strong opposition to the Ahmadis had been a staple policy of Mawdudi’s Jama‘at-i Islami since its inception. However, tensions between Zia and the Jama‘at arose in 1985, when Zia organized elections for national and provincial assemblies and sought the support of the Muslim League. The Jama‘at then accused him of pressing Islam into the service of political ends. Elections proceeded smoothly, and 1988 saw Zia at the height of his power, when his support for the Afghan mujahidin paid off with the Soviet defeat in April. Then, in May 1988, Zia abruptly dissolved the National Assembly and his cabinet, accusing them of impeding the Islamization process; and on June 15, 1988, he promulgated the Enforcement of Shariat Ordinance to counteract what he perceived as impediments to implementing shari‘a. This was one of the last acts in Zia’s Islamization agenda before his death the following August.

See also Jama‘at-i Islami; Pakistan