Pakistan’s emergence on the world map on 14 August 1947, the culminating point of the demand of the Muslims of the sub-continent for their separate homeland, was not only a major event but a unique phenomenon. Though these were times when waves of freedom were sweeping across the globe, and many countries gained independence both before and after Pakistan’s coming into being, the case of Pakistan is unique: it was an ‘idea’ or ‘ideology’ that the people espoused and struggled for. While a number of people – statesmen and scholars – and factors – the Muslim rule, Hindu-Muslim relations, Muslim identity and their being a ‘large’ majority, etc. – contributed to the evolution of this idea, the contribution of Iqbal and Jinnah, and of Syed Ahmad Khan before them, is extraordinary for they not just expounded the idea clearly but translated into reality successfully. It is by examining their views, this analysis holds, that one can understand the reasons of Muslims’ clamor for their own homeland in the sub-continent, and what type of country they wanted it to be, along with the place of Pakistan in the comity of nations. Introduction The emergence of Pakistan towards the end of the first half of the twentieth century on the world map is a historic event. Those who participated in the Pakistan movement, or sympathized with the idea of distinct Muslim identity and the need to protect and preserve it, would assert that Pakistan was the ‘product’ of the circumstances and a response to the aspirations of the Muslim population of the sub-continent. But those who either stood for a united India or did not see the need for a separate state for Muslims for the protection of their identity or promotion of their values viewed its creation as ‘temporary madness’ and ‘aberration’ of history. Here, we would look into the circumstances that led to the demand for a separate state for the Muslims. Also, the many questions that have been raised not only since the coming into being of Pakistan but, in fact, since the days of Pakistan movement would also be examined. Questions about the Pakistan movement: Why Muslims were after all agitating, and what for? What made them call for a ‘different constitutional arrangement’? Were not there chances of reconciliation between the leaderships of Hindu and Muslim populations, or, more truly, was it because the leaders of the two major communities could not reconcile with each other? Then, questions about the nature and objectives of this state: Was Pakistan to be a state for Muslims, or an ‘Islamic state’? Did Jinnah wish a theocracy or a democracy? What the founding fathers of this new state thought of relations with the Muslim and non-Muslim world, especially India? And, very briefly, is antagonism between India and Pakistan to last forever, or is it only a ‘temporary madness’ and ‘frenzied reaction’ to the creation of Pakistan that has bedeviled the relations between the two countries? In order to understand the circumstances that led to the demand and ultimate creation of Pakistan, it is useful to find out the views of the leaders of the Muslim people who faced these circumstances, analyzed them, and shaped them to define the destiny of their people. Among these luminaries, three are most prominent: Sir Syed Ahmad Khan,