1.      Introduction

Away from the cities, we come to a different world in countryside of Pakistan, where you find large tracts of lands owned by rich landlords who literally enslave the poor workers of his lands through exploitation and fear. The same corrupt feudal elite is now running the government and creating the worst eve conditions in Pakistan, through corruption, abuse of power, nepotism and criminal acts. Welcome to the evils of feudalism that are impacting every aspect of our lives and taking our country towards destruction!

2.      Review

The landlords due to their ownership and control of vast amounts of resources, are able to influence all key variables of rural life, including, distribution of water, fertilizers, tractors, agricultural credit. Absolute power corrupts totally and when this is combined with the influence over local government departments like revenue, police and judicial administration, the landlord comes out as the King of his domain. All the power is then used to exploit the poor people who have nothing to their name and despite working hard and long hours always remain deprived and down trodden. Truly feudalism is a system that should be hated in fact abhorred!

Approximately half of Pakistan's GN Product and a major portion of its export earnings are rooted in the agricultural sector controlled by a few thousand feudal families, yet they pay harly any tax while all the other sectors are loaded with additional taxes and duties in the name of economic reform!

It is disconcerting to note that both the Assembly and the Senate are dominated by feudal politicians. The feudal mind set, the arrogance, the greed and the criminal tendency have become the governing principles of these people, and together these people conspire day in and day out to maintain the status-quo and retard any move towards economic and social uplifting of the ordinary Pakistanis.

The fact of the matter is that unless Pakistan is saved from the feudal menace there is little hope for change for the poor and ordinary citizens of this country. The feudal mind set is based on principles of greed, arrogance, exploitation, torture and corruption. Nothing good can come out of anything which is pure evil and hence until feudalism is rooted out we cannot get rid of poor governance and corruption. Pakistan badly needs land reforms, there is no other remedy, this will have to be done or the very existence of our state might get impacted.

In addition to the negatives already discussed, there are others that need to be highlighted as follows:

• The concentration of money and wide scale deprivation has damaged Pakistan's economy severely; the exploitative feudal system is also one of the main reasons why Pakistan's balance of payments is adverse. It is no rocket science to know that higher income invariably leads to a greater tendency to import and an analysis of our import bill reveals that a substantial proportion of goods consist of non-essential consumer/ luxury items...
   

• The relationship between the feudal mentality and authoritarianism in Pakistan's political arena is blatantly obvious, where feudal lords occupy positions as political executives; they tend to consider the country as their property and the citizens as their subjects.  Pakistan's administrative and political agencies are almost totally controlled at the higher levels by feudal lords. This influence has hindered the growth of true democracy based on principles of good governance and welfare of the people.
   

• Standard of our education is that a common man does not know name of his country’s President. The feudal system will not allow a common man to even raise their voice against excesses and atrocities of centuries. Feudals don’t want the poor people if their lands to get education because with education comes awareness and also the realization of one’s rights.
   

•  Many cases have been reporting where the local feudal has even imprisoned people in private jails, carried out torture and rape and exploited women and children either as a means to exploit or simply as a means to punish for even a slight defiance of an oppressive order.

3.     Feudalism in an Islamic state

It should be clear to any Muslim that Feudalism cannot be compatible with Islam. The very religion that abolished slavery, introduced justice, compassion, dignity for poor people cannot tolerate a system which is founded on principles of exploitation and injustice that too, of the worst kind.

Islam does allow private property but when it becomes a source of evil then it is no longer a legitimate asset.  Islam can never tolerate that while the land owner enjoys all the wealth without working on his lands, those who toil from dawn to dusk are not even given enough to feed their hunger. Let there be no illusion as it stands today the Feudalism in Pakistan is totally against Islamic values and teachings and all those who are party to this form of exploitation are committing a grave sin and will be held accountable on the day of judgment where no lame excuses will work.

Let’s remind ourselves of some of the teachings of the Quran that tell us how we are supposed to deal with fellow beings:

Sura 3, Verse 134

‘Those who spend (freely), whether in prosperity or in adversity; who restrain anger, and pardon (all) men, for Allah loves those who do good.

Sura 55, Verse 9

‘So establish weight with justice and do not fall short in the balance’.

Sura 63, Verse 9

O you who believe! Let not your riches or your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah. If any act thus, the loss is their own.

Sura 83, Verse 1-6

‘ Woe to those that deal in fraud, those who, when they have to receive by measure from men, exact full measure, but when they have to give by measure or weight to men, give less than due. Do they not think that they will be raised again (called to account) on a mighty day, A day when (all) mankind will stand before the lord of the Worlds?’

Sura 92. Verse  8-11

‘But he who is a greedy miser and thinks himself self-sufficient, and gives the lie to the Best, We will indeed make smooth for him the path to misery; Nor will his wealth profit him when he falls headlong (into the Pit).

Sura 102,Verse 1-4

‘ The mutual rivalry for piling up (the good things of this world) diverts you (from the more serious things). Until you visit the graves. But nay, you soon shall know (the reality). Again, you soon shall know!

Conclusion

The study of the Quran and teachings of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), teach humans to be kind, compassionate, just, humble and God fearing. The Feudal system is based on values that are totally opposite these teachings and obviously those who are the exploiters in this system will not have any excuse to give on the Day of Judgment.

While there might be a few exceptions in the current feudal set-up (who are comparatively more humane to their workers) it is very obvious that the large majority of feudals indulge in exploitation and injustice on a daily basis. The living conditions of those who work on the lands are deplorable, often they don’t even have enough to eat or a decent place to live in. This cannot be justified under any circumstances and above all in a State that was made in the name of Islam.