Application of Ibn-e-Khaldun’s Concept of “Al- Asabiyah” on Fall of Dhaka (a historical analysis) from 1940-71

Abstract

This research paper applies Ibn Khaldun's concept of Asabiyah to Nationalism, which is a feeling and an oath of allegiance that binds the people together. It explores the trajectories of secularist and religious identities in Bangladesh, which had been important in events leading up to the Liberation struggle of 1971. Quaid-e-Azam presented the Lahore resolution in 1940, which demanded a separate homeland for Muslims. Chaudhary Rahmat Ali's view of Pakistan was essentially the same as that in Iqbal's 1930 address but with the single addition of Kashmir. The Muslim League was formed in 1940 by rural-based Islamic clergy, pirs, and Sajjada Nasheens in the Punjab, Sindh, and NWFP (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa). It endorsed the two-nation theory and made Islam-based appeals for political mobilization for the 1946 provincial elections. Ibn Khaldun argued that Asabiyah is the collective bond between tribal groups, consisting of social, psychological, physical, and political factors. Ayesha Jalal believed that the majority of Pakistan's literate citizens have opted for ignorance, habits of skepticism, and conspiracy theories. The East Pakistan catastrophe resulted from the cumulative failure of the country in the political, diplomatic, and military fields.