The French Revolution brought to the view and practice of the world revolutionary ideas and institutions. Founded upon the collective aspirations to organise a state for the rule of the people, the revolution introduced the politically functional ideas of constitutionalism, or government under written constitutions, sovereignty of the people, individual liberty, separation of powers, and civil equality. The discourse of revolution, as a science and its timeliness, is exceptionally rewarding. For revolutions, like wars, are grand events that result in history-making outcomes. A concise appraisal of the French Revolution, acknowledged in the worlds history as the model of revolutions, in correlation with the surging revolutionary tide in the Arab Middle East (ME), bears propitious relevance for Pakistan. A British political philosopher, Edmund Burke, perhaps, is the only individual of renown, who famously contradicted the French Revolution in his authored work, Reflections on the Revolution in France. This work was published the very next year following the revolution. Burke supported the issue of the rights of man. However, the main ground for his opposition to the revolution was the consequent undermining of the Church and the destruction of nobility, which Burke associated with the civilised society, as its polished ornaments. As a matter of some irony, by the time of his demise seven years following his published work, Burke witnessed the signs of early success of the revolution. In this perspective, it is inevitable to recall Thomas Paine, an Anglo-American journalist and political scientist, who published his renowned work, The Rights of Man, in favour of the French Revolution and as a response to the opposition of the revolution by Burke. As a consequence of the publication of second part of the same treatise during the next year, Paine departed from England, and was later declared a traitor and an outlaw. This episode harbours a meaningful inference: A nation, on the ascendant arc early in its course, is vigorously competitive of its place in history - as England was in 1792, acutely conscious of the model role of the French Revolution in Europe and in history, as reflected from the British conduct towards Paine. It is of proximate relevance to note Burkes stance in this regard, that the revolution was a fundamental and contagiousevil, which had acquired widespread popularity. Recollection hereis due to the historical fact that England was under a parliamentary form of government that was worked out after Glorious Revolution in 1688. Under the impact of revolution on the ancienrgime in France, which emerged in circa 1650, the regime lasted until before the outbreak of the revolution. A point of far-reaching significance derivable from the history of ancienrgime, which is applicable upon the political history of the Muslim ME, is the history-making importance of political revolution. A generous view of the Islamic history will be that since the ending of the era of right-guided Caliphs, to be deemed as the republican period, the remainder history is marked by an absolutist inherited monarchical political rule, of course, barring some random instances in Muslim states in the post-World War II period. In this sense, the revolutionary upsurges in the ME can be assumed to be a harbinger of the change of ancienrgimein the Muslim history. The pock-marked political and constitutional history of Pakistan is a special case in point. The interspersed phases of electoral exercises, alternating with the periods of dictatorial military rules, have severely hampered the nation from realising its actual political, economic and historical potentials. And the cycles of political rules, albeit an outcome of the electoral process that is equated with the democratic rule as a self-deluding view, have at best been political exercises in sham democracy. For the national and public interests during these phases have been blatantly compromised, disregarding the very function and purpose of the representative rule. In the event that the revolutionary tide reaches this nation, with the history of revolutions already described as the guide, it will mark the advent of a genuinely republican rule characterised by constitutionalism, the rule of law and meticulous husbanding of public and national interests. It is needless to say, political revolutions establish distinct historical demarcations of political rule from the past, and exact a cost in political tumult, prone to violence. The more the determination on the part of a nation to bear this cost, the better are the returns of revolution. In addition, at the centre of a revolutionary upheaval, there is a particular issue. For instance, in the event the pivotal issue is monarchical or autocratic absolutism, as during the French Revolution or in the Arab ME, the revolutionary upheaval would naturally come to focus upon it in the foremost. Whereas in the political history of Pakistan, the pivotal issue throughout has been the desecration, disregard, or vulgar disrespect for the rule of law, without heeding the fact that the observance of law is the essence of Islamic dispensation, consistent with the vociferous claims of the ideology of Pakistan. In the final analysis, the course of anticipated revolution in Pakistan will cause to dissociate its political future from the unbecoming past by laying the firm foundations for the revolutionary tradition of rule of law. In the context of Pakistans history, this stated measure as the initial goal, the linchpin, of the revolutionary endeavour will become the basic means for the realisation of subsidiary revolutionary objectives, that is, representative political dispensation to express the will of the people, and to honestly honour the national and public interests in a dependable and enduring way - a way to a new society on the march to realise its potentials. The French Revolution had its worldwide significance, for it evoked interest around the world. However, outside France, during the ensuing nearly half a century, the revolution was imposed and not adopted. Similarly, the revolutionary upheavals in the Arab ME have been of international interest - a subject of involved discourse in various parts of the world. The repercussions of the revolutionary upsurges are being felt in different countries in the ME and the Arabian Peninsula. With the passage of time, and depending upon the outcome and appeal of the early revolutionary changes in the foster countries, the Middle Eastern revolutionary tide can be expected to find its adoption in other countries of the world, where the ruling regimes are perceived to be frankly corrupt, exhibiting disregard for public as well as national interests, and self-indulgent. As a consequence of the French Revolution, albeit due to its Napoleonic imposition upon the European countries, the disruption of old social and political patterns paved the way for the Italian and German unification movements during the mid 19th century. Similarly, the revolutionary wave rolling through the ME may become the source for the unification of the Arab and Muslim countries in future, as a reasonable expectation. The French Revolution brought to the view and practice of the world revolutionary ideas and institutions. Founded upon the collective aspirations to organise a state for the rule of the people, the revolution introduced the politically functional ideas of constitutionalism, or government under written constitutions, sovereignty of the people, individual liberty, separation of powers, and civil equality. Similarly, the revolutionary upheavals in the ME are indicators of a struggle for the organisation of a state, wherein the political rule is forthe people --- that is, common interests of the people are upheld - divested from corruption and vested interests. In addition, it is merely to state the corollary that the realisation of these revolutionary changes has the antecedents of constitutionalism and rule of law, as the indispensable basis of Islamic dispensation. Nevertheless, the pre-eminent contribution of the revolutionary surges in the ME is the revolutionising idea that the protest of the masses on legitimate, or justifiable, grounds is beyond the organised force of the state and its monopoly over its use. Finally, the French Revolution introduced the idea of a 'revolutionary process, as a legitimate way to realise great political objectives. Whereas prior to the revolution in 1789, this idea claimed no adherents in Europe. Similarly, the popular upheavals in the ME have introduced the legitimisation of political revolution in the Islamic history against inept and corrupt political rulers. As a harbinger of great revolutionary transformation, a practical model has been initially created, expressing the familiar Islamic precept (IV:59) wherein the requirements for the political obligation as well as rights are stated, and which has remained without practical realisation so far in Islamic history. The writer is a Chairman of the Pakistan Ideological Forum. E-mail: suhrabaslam@hotmail.com