Afpakwar | By Arshad Zaman | 15 July 2010

A host of clichés on law and governance—religion has no place in politics, church and state must be separate, etc.—adorn the Op-Ed columns of newspapers. They are said to be based on the English example, among others.

England is ruled today by “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.” This style appears for example (in varying abbreviations) in Latin on all English coins: ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSOR. There is much history and meaning in these words.

Elizabeth is Queen “by the Grace of God”—i.e. not by birth, selection, or election by any human assembly, but by Divine dispensation. In the reign of James I (r. 1603-1625) sessions of the Commons opened with the announcement “that kings were visible gods and God an invisible king”. In the face of Royal rebuke, the Commons would respond with reverence: “because the King is God upon earth I would answer him as we should answer God in heaven, that is with a prayer”—this, incidentally, is why judicial petitions in Pakistan even today end in a “Prayer” and courts routinely grant or deny prayers. Although the Whig Revolution (1688-1689) substantially diluted the rights of the monarch over her subjects, her divine selection and related spiritual claims were not altered much.

Thus, her coronation on June 2, 1953 was a deeply religious ceremony, held in a church, with recitation from the Bible, prayers, supplications, incantation, and rituals affirming her earthly and spiritual roles. In her coronation oath—by answers to a series of questions by the Archbishop—Elizabeth solemnly promised and swore, inter alia, to maintain “the Laws of God [shari`ah] and the true profession of the Gospel”; “in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion…”; “and preserve inviolably … the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government [of the Church of England] …” She recited a 224-word creed (“I believe … in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God, Begotten, not made, Being of one substance with the Father, etc.”). Like Prophets of the Old Testament, while the Archbishop sang a hymn and prayed aloud, she was anointed with a cross on both her palms, breast, and head by holy oil—the word ‘Messiah’ in Hebrew, translated as ‘Christ’ in Greek, means the “anointed” one.

She is also “Defender of the Faith”—obviously the Christian faith (although, in 1994, Prince Charles said that he would like to be styled “Defender of Faith” meaning of all faiths). The title was first granted in 1521 by Pope Leo X to King Henry VIII, for defending the Church against Martin Luther. In 1530, however, when Henry VIII broke with Rome and established his own Church of England, Pope Paul III excommunicated him and revoked the title. Some years later, however, the Parliament conferred the same title but with the opposite meaning: defender of the Anglican faith, against Roman Catholicism.

As Supreme Governor of the Anglican Church (outranking the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the “Primate” of the Church), Elizabeth appoints Archbishops and bishops who, along with parish priests, take an oath of allegiance to The Queen on appointment and may not resign without Royal authority. The “Lords Spiritual” (consisting of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and 24 diocesan bishops) sit in the House of Lords.

She is Commander-in-Chief of the British—not ‘Royal’ as a historical concession to Parliament—Armed Forces, and Lord High Admiral of the Royal Navy, the only person authorised to declare war and peace. On enlistment, members of the Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines (but, for historical reasons, not the Navy) take an oath of allegiance to the monarch as Head of the Armed Forces.

Laws are made in her name. Acts of Parliament generally do not apply to her. She is above the law: civil and criminal proceedings cannot be initiated against her under law (the source of presidential immunity in Pakistan today).

Queen Elizabeth II then is chosen by God (if not ‘a visible god’ herself), anointed by priests, above Acts of Parliament and earthly laws, sworn to maintain the Laws of God (shari`ah) and Anglican Christianity, and a feudal monarch to whom oaths of fealty have been sworn by her priests, judges, law-makers, and soldiers.

Clearly, the modern English Queen’s spiritual claims—and earthly privileges—far exceed those of even the first Muslim Caliph, 1400 years ago, or of any Muslim caliph, imam, ayatollah, or amirul-momineen, since then. These claims, and parliamentary “democracy” in England, rest firmly on Christian faith and institutions. That is why one hundred and fifty years of experiment with secular law and governance, copying the English model—but without the religious foundations on which it rests in England—has been an unmitigated disaster in Pakistan.

An abbreviated version of this article appears in the Express Tribune, of 16 July 2010.