What do Donald Trump and Pakistani imams have in common?

Using religion as a prop to entrench power, Donald Trump and Pakistani clerics share the kind of opportunism and worldview that serves their short-term interests – irrespective of the cost to human life. By James M. Dorsey and Tehmina Qureshi

الكاتبة ، الكاتب: James M. Dorsey & Tehmina Qureshi

U.S. President Donald J. Trump and ultra-conservative Pakistani religious scholars may have more in common than either would want to admit: a belief that congregation is an essential pillar of prayer, irrespective of public health concerns.

Donald Trump, however, may wish that he had the kind of less polarised and/or more compliant audience that Pakistani clerics address. Scores of religious leaders and groups in the United States have sought to protect their communities by advocating virtual, rather than physical congregation, at time when the coronavirus pandemic has yet to be brought under control.

Religious authorities in much of the Muslim world, Pakistan being the exception that proves the rule, have heeded government instructions and medical and public health advice. That advice ranged from the closure of mosques to bans on social gatherings – precluding traditional iftar meals breaking the Ramadan fast as well as last week’s Eid celebrations – not to mention Saudi Arabia’s suspension of the umrah, the lesser pilgrimage to Mecca and possibly the hajj too.

Leaving aside the question whether he has the legal power to do so, Donald Trump vowed to overrule governors who refused to open houses of worship, noting that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) had issued guidelines that included physical distancing.

Playing to his Evangelical base

The move – designed to play to Donald Trump’s Evangelical voter base – received a mixed reception among American faith communities. It appealed to those segments of the community with an unqualified belief in God’s ability and will to protect, social groups that are often steeped in notions of Christian manhood deeply rooted in American Evangelicalism, whose attitudes were boosted by the 9/11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Towers and the Pentagon in Washington.

Trump’s recognition of prayer as an “essential” societal activity further drew a line, intended to give houses of worship autonomy, in an environment in which state intrusion into people’s lives has expanded greatly in a bid to fight the pandemic.

In that sense, the president was fighting a battle similar to that of Pakistani Sunni and Shia Muslim leaders who rejected a total closure of mosques, but were willing to accept guidance on issues such as physical distancing.

Asserting their religious identity

The leaders see mosques “as spaces where you cultivate and express a communal religious identity that is very central to…their vision of the Pakistani state,” said a Pakistani Islamic scholar. The clerics’ determination to retain control of religious spaces was reinforced by Prime Minister Imran Khan’s flip-flopping, which resembled Trump’s zigzags.

Khan initially sought to appeal to religious circles by meeting in the early days of the pandemic with Maulana Tariq Jameel, a leader of Tablighi Jamaat, who initially denied the contagious aspect of the virus. Jameel reversed course and embraced physical distancing after his movement’s mass gatherings in Pakistan, Malaysia, India and Indonesia turned into super spreaders of the coronavirus.

Imran Khan’s government further complicated issues by initially agreeing with religious leaders on a division of labour that would have empowered the clerics to advise their followers to stay at home, avoid congregational prayer and maintain physical distancing, to then jump the gun and announce the measures without any coordination at all.

Mosques packed despite physical distancing

Mosques in major Pakistani cities have been packed in recent days, despite religious leaders paying lip service to physical distancing, reflecting the degree to which ultra-conservatism has woven itself into the fabric of Pakistani society and in stark contrast, for instance, to Saudi Arabia’s pre-emptive response to the health crisis.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled against government lockdowns, suggesting that the coronavirus was not a pandemic. Religious leaders have since backed away from their acceptance of physical distancing, demanding that the advice be abandoned.

Fishing for votes

Donald Trump’s recognition of prayer as essential aligned itself with notions of concepts of religious freedom promoted by his administration, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the lead, that in effect serve to legitimise discrimination against minorities of various stripes.

Few doubt that Trump made his move with an eye on the U.S. presidential election in November. With that, he was embarking on a course that mainstream ultra-conservative Pakistani clerics are also pursuing.

The clerics remained silent when Ahmadis, a sect viewed as heretic by mainstream Muslims, were excluded from a national commission created by the government earlier this month to promote religious tolerance and counter persecution of minorities.

Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry barred the inclusion of Ahmadis, who are among Pakistan’s most discriminated minorities, on grounds that they did not qualify as a minority and refuse to recognise the country’s constitution. A 1974 amendment to the Pakistani constitution bars Ahmadis from identifying themselves as Muslims because they do not recognise Muhammad as the last prophet.

Rights activists rare in Pakistan

Compared to the polarising environment that Donald Trump operates in and likes to entrench, Pakistani clerics have it a lot easier. Except for liberals and human rights activists, few in Pakistan are willing to stand up for Ahmadi rights.

Moreover, the government  and the military, the latter having built quarantine centres in various cities and helped local authorities implement a lockdown, have both shied away from imposing their will on the religious establishment during the pandemic.

Pakistan lacks truly influential, more liberal religious voices in the mould of, for example, Reverend Curtiss DeYoung, CEO of the Minnesota Council of Churches, an umbrella body that groups African-American denominations, the mainline church and the Greek Orthodox Church.

“We listen to communities of colour, and many of our congregations’ people are engaged in representing refugees and immigrants, African-Americans, Latinos, even seniors, they're saying, why the urgency?” said DeYoung in response to Trump’s push. “They're…directly affected. They're actually afraid in many cases to go into group gatherings...We feel that we need to make our decisions based on good science and the recommendations of our health department,” the Reverend added.

Interfaith cooperation

DeYoung also found allies among his Muslim counterparts – in contrast to the situation in Pakistan.

"American Muslim scholars and community leaders have already determined that mosques will not be open in the near future because of the health concerns brought on by the pandemic. That's a determination for them to make, not the president,” said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest U.S. Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation.

To be sure, the United States and Pakistan are vastly different countries. Pakistan has been hard hit by the pandemic with 55,657 cases of infection to date and 1,155 deaths. Yet, that is a far cry from the United States’ 1,613,324 cases and 96,659 deaths. Pakistan, nonetheless, saw its number of cases quadruple during the month of Ramadan and the rate of new infections jump by 30 percent as the holy month drew to a close.

Yet, when it comes to employing religion to entrench power, at the cost of striking a balance between faith and science, Donald Trump and Pakistani religious scholars share the kind of opportunism and worldview that serve their short-term interests – irrespective of the cost to human life and potentially to already battered economies.

James M. Dorsey & Tehmina Qureshi

© Qantara 2020

Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wurzburg's Institute of Fan Culture.

Tehmina Qureshi is a multi-platform journalist and editorial writer at Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English-language newspaper