This book explores how the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the siege of Mecca changed Pakistani politics
· Scroll
Saudi influence in Pakistan was not new. So far, it had taken the form of benevolent generosity for grand projects, like a national mosque for which King Faisal had donated $120 million in the 1960s. But the subcontinent was steeped in Indo-Persian culture, and Pakistan’s heritage was layered with centuries of Persian influence, from literature and poetry to food and music – and also its national language. Urdu is filled with thousands of Persian words and the national anthem is almost entirely in Persian. Historically and culturally, Pakistan felt closer to Iran, on its western border, than to the countries across the Arabian Sea. Religious scholars with connections in Mecca and Medina, like Mawdudi, felt differently. The scholar had long impressed Saudi kings; his books had been read in the kingdom since the 1950s, the Jamaat had long-standing ties with Saudi clerics, and Mawdudi sat on the board of the Islamic University of Medina, where the blind sheikh Bin Baz was vice rector.
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On September 25, 1978, as the revolution was taking hold of Iran and Khomeini was about to head to France, a small item appeared in Pakistan’s biggest English-language daily, Dawn, announcing the arrival of the “special assistant to King Khaled...