Ch Rahmat Ali (RA) - Founder of Pakistan
Even though 68 years have passed since his death, his writings about the dangers facing Muslims are as relevant today as they were then (truth always stands clear from error even over the passage of time). For instance, Ch. Rahmat Ali (RA) called for an Islamic Renaissance and in one pamphlet, he wrote:
"Our greatest asset and opportunity is our Faith, which has created what we possess; it has made us what we are. That is, the emancipators of hundreds of millions of human beings. Islam has worked miracles for us in the past, and it can and will do the same for us now and always, if only we let it do so.
Such is the promise of Islam. Yet such is our perversion that we are simply not following Islam. We are ignoring it in every sphere of life - individual, national, moral and material. Not only that, we are turning to alien, `Western' cults instead. That is, to cults that have already poisoned the source of our life, undermined the basis of our beliefs, and weakened the bonds uniting our Fraternity; and that means to detach us from Islam and attach us to `Westernism' and thereby finish Islam which, owing to its values and verities, is their most serious rival for the allegiance of mankind.
It is clear that our neglect of Islam for other cults is a form of apostasy. Indeed it is an act of enmity against Islam. For remember, nothing so degrades and destroys a religion as its neglect by its own followers. It is just that neglect which has killed most of the old creeds and faiths of mankind. That is how by our failure to follow Islam we are acting as its enemies and frustrating its whole mission in the world.
It is imperative therefore, that, if we want to live as Muslims, save our heritage, reunite with our Pak brethren in Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran, and see Islam flourish in the world, we must change. We must shun alien cults; we must revert to Islam. In other words, we must follow its code in thought, in word, and in action."