The Use of Religious Symbolism in Nation-Building Narratives: Faith and State in Pakistan’s National Identity Formation

Abstract

This research explored how religious themes have been applied in the process of nation building and how a national identity has been created in Pakistan. It examines to what degree the flag, the anthem, and elements of discourse in education combine the consolidation of state power and authority with Islam, hence establishing emotional unity and political legitimacy. The study adopts a qualitative and interpretive methodology by reviewing literature in the social sciences, historical sources and policy documents between the years 1963 and 2025. The theoretical framework of the research is a combination of imagined communities by Anderson, invented traditions by Hobsbawm and Ranger, symbolic regimes by Elgenius, and desecularization model by Saeed. The findings of the research suggest that Islam was the main moral and ideological justification of the state since the independence, and the religious themes created the social unity and the sense of collectivity. The state, on the other hand, institutionalized the religion to promote the pluralism of civic education, which was reinforced by the political marginalization of the minorities. The overriding influence of the desecularization process, coupled with low levels of democratic participation, has strengthened the claims of the people to Islam and, at the same time, weakened the claims to democracy. This process of marginalization of the civic element and the emphasis of Sufi traditions of love, tolerance, and peace provide the transformative path of the potential research, as it deals with the exclusionary and oppressive national identity in order to be integrated. The end of the study suggests that the future of the national identity of Pakistan will depend on the reinterpretation in which faith will be still the ethical guide, but it will co-exist with pluralism, democracy, and peace. This balancing should enable Pakistan to enhance its inner spiritual and outer social internalization in an era of an increased globalization.

Keywords: Religious Symbolism, Nation-Building, National Identity, Pakistan, Islam, Desecularization, Sufism; Education, Pluralism, Symbolic Regimes