There is a Pakistan that is always in the news. It is a place where extremism, especially of the religious type, is rampant. It is a place that has become synonymous with exclusion and intolerance, and recently, worryingly, with incidents of mob lynching. It is a place that has raised concerns over its treatment of minorities. If such a view of Pakistan is not justified in its entirety, one can also not deny altogether that such a view is warranted.

Pakistan can be a problematic country, but it is also a complex country. And it is in this complexity that one finds hope for moving forward from the religious extremism we face today. My current musings are prompted by a book that I have been fortunate to have read in the recent days. The book, written by the noted scholar Amineh Ahmed Hoti, is titled Gems and Jewels: The Religions of Pakistan.

In the interest of clarity, I should mention that one account of Pakistan does not render the other untrue. As I have noted, Pakistan is a complex society. However, as is the nature of news and to a degree, of academia’s work, we tend to lose sight of the other reality because it is too banal. This is where the book fills a large vacuum.

Other than for how beautifully it is designed and laid out, Gems and Jewels is an unremarkable book in other contexts. It is skillfully written, with historical accounts and engaging anecdotes, with descriptions of cultural cuisines and elegant traditional dresses, and with the images of religious architecture and vintage furniture. But as wonderful as these qualities are, what makes the book truly exceptional is that it is written about the religious communities in Pakistan. These communities have coexisted, and often thrived, alongside one another. This last statement may not sound like a revelation to anyone, and Dr Hoti admits as much in the first paragraph of the book. However, the current environment demands that we bring to light the religious diversity of Pakistan, not only for its value as an actual fact of Pakistani life but also – and I reckon more so – as an aspirational ideal for what coexistence in Pakistan should look like.

I have been a proponent of the idea of religious harmony and coexistence for as long as I have been familiarised with these ideas. However, a different idea occurred to me while reading the book and browsing through the vividly illustrated accounts and images of fascinating religious communities. The idea grew on me that perhaps coexistence is not, and should not, be the ideal that religious leaders should seek. Gems and Jewels shows us that we should aspire towards something higher and nobler than mere coexistence – like a notion of co-prosperity.

Gems and Jewels shows us that we should aspire towards something higher and nobler than mere coexistence – like a notion of co-prosperity.

The book tells the stories of the relatively well-known – the Kalasha with their mystifying landscape, their mysterious history and their uncommon traditions; the Sikhs and Hindus who are often the ancient indigenous people of the land, living in these areas for as long as the rivers and desert have existed; and the Christians who are woven into the fabric of the society. More remarkably, the book also tells its readers about the largely unknown religious communities – the Jains who until recently did live in Pakistan. Dr Hoti reports that the last remaining Jains had to unfortunately migrate on account of growing insecurity, although their presence is still felt in the magnificent historic places of worship that they left behind. She also talks about the Zoroastrians who are a few but have always produced distinguished individuals. She also speaks to a Messianic Jew Rabbi who tells her that there are an estimated 5,000 messianic Jews in Pakistan.

Despite highlighting the existence of diverse religious communities in Pakistan, Dr Hoti’s book is not an effort at whitewashing Pakistan’s troubles with religious exclusion. If anything, her effort seems to be aimed at drawing attention to how many of these historical communities are under stress and often declining and in danger of complete depletion – like the Jains. Through her ability to allow people to tell their own stories, she humanises communities that are, sometimes willfully, forgotten in our national quest for solidifying a ‘harmonious’ national identity.

Due to the historical processes through which it came into existence, the vision of its founders and the fact of its demography, it is inevitable that Islam continues to form the core of the national identity of Pakistan. However, a national identity based on Islam does not necessitate obliterating other communal or individual identities. In fact, an Islamic society is both scripturally and historically distinguished by its treatment and inclusion of its minority communities.

Gems and Jewels: The Religions of Pakistan

Author: Dr Amineh Ahmed Hoti

Publisher: DP Edulji

Pages: 415

Price: Rs 5,995

The reviewer is the chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology. He has also served as the vice-chancellor of the University of Peshawar. He can be reached at qibla1@outlook.com