Apart From An Economic Crisis, Pakistan Is Also Going Through A Moral Crisis For Which The Religious Class Is Largely Responsible

Four Pakistanis Were Arrested For Stealing Batteries Of Mobile Towers In Makkah.

Main Points:

1.    2. Two Pakistanis were arrested four drug smuggling in Riyadh.

2.    The minaret of an Ahmadi mosque was demolished in Pakistan.

3.    A temple and Hindu families were attacked in Malakund.

4.    Some girls have become drug addicts in Lahore schools.

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By New Age Islam Staff Writer

25 January 2023

Pakistan is going through a severe economic crisis. The citizens of Pakistan are going through an acute food shortage. Wheat flour is scarce and other essential commodities are being sold at stellar prices. But the moral crisis in Pakistan is deeper than what appears.

It can be said that moral values are on the wane all over the world. Recently, two cases of urinating in airplanes by two Indians can be cited as an example. But the moral degradation in Pakistan strikes because Pakistan claims to be an Islamic state. On January 11, 2023, four Pakistani nationals and one Yemeni were arrested by the Saudi Arabia police in the holy city of Makkah for stealing batteries of mobile phone towers. They stole 17 batteries.

Recently, two girls studying in a private school in Lahore beat their girl classmate for sending a video that showed them consuming drugs to their parents.

In September 2022, the Saudi Arabia police arrested two Pakistanis among 6 others for smuggling drugs to the country.

The drug trade flourishes in Pakistan under the patronage of powerful political leaders but now the Pakistanis are smuggling drugs to Saudi Arabia. School girls of Pakistan have been made drug addicts.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, the medical stores in Pakistan sold a medicine that cost Rs 10 thousand at Rs one lakh 25 thousand. During the petrol and, sugar shortage Pakistani petrol pumps and sugar traders black-marketed petrol and sugar and the government could not do anything except issuing an appeal to the traders not to do so.

During the power outages that takes place almost every year, the shop owners sell candles for Rs 500.

All this is not heard of in India where the majority community is Hindu. In India, some shopkeepers were arrested by the police for demanding a higher price for essential commodities.

How can Muslims then claim that they are superior to the non-Muslims?

In Pakistan, religion plays a dominant role in the lives of the Muslims. Madrasas flourish in Pakistan and form a parallel education system in the country. Islam teaches honesty and fair trade practices. But these are almost absent in the Pakistani society. Hording and black marketing is common. This is in contrast to the increase in the number of madrasas in Pakistan. At the time of Partition in 1947, the total population of Pakistan was 3 crore whereas the number of madrasas was 189. In 2022, the population of Pakistan was 22 crore whereas the number of madrasas is 30,000, a 16000 per cent increase. It is obvious that religious values have become increasingly unpopular among the Pakistanis despite a steep rise in the number of madrasas.

The reason may be in the fault lines in the religious and modern education system. Madrasas and schools have not been able instil moral values among the students. Religious organisations and YouTube preachers abound in Pakistan. But they generally discuss sectarian and metaphysical subjects and ignoring the basic moral teachings that form social behaviour of people. They mobilise millions of Pakistanis on the issue of blasphemy and Quran burning cases but do not come on the streets when people are starving due to the shortage of food or in times of floods. The Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan has decided to stage protest march in January 27 against Quran burning in Sweden when the people of Pakistan are dying due to shortage of food. The elite of the country are totally unaffected by the food shortage and have imported cars worth 1.2 billion dollars when the total reserves of the country are only 4.6 billion dollar. This is the kind of the sense of social responsibility the Pakistani elite have.

The religious class was not interested in reforming the society. Instead, it used the madrasa system to further its political clout and financial well being. The political clout was then used to further sectarian agenda in the society. The religious class did not launch any movement against food adulteration, against hording, against drug smuggling and drug addiction, bribery etc. The religious organisations and clerics launched campaigns against the minorities. Recently, the Muslims attacked a temple in Malakand and four Hindu families fled their houses. In Karachi, the police demolished the minaret of an Ahmadi mosque because according to the law, the place of worship of Ahmadis should not resemble a mosque. Religious organisations of the area had complained to the police that the minaret was giving the building the look of a mosque.

The ideology of violence inculcated among the Pakistanis for decades have made them violent and this reflects in the behaviour of the leaders. They seek resolution of every national issue through violence. They try to crush the peaceful protest of Baloch people with military power and try to supress the demand of the Sindhis for a separate homeland with bullets. People also lynch helpless people, sometimes even deranged people on suspicion.

To sum up, the government and the political leaders are not solely responsible for the current economic and moral crisis. The religious class is equally responsible for the lack of respect for human lives and moral values.

 

URL:    https://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/economic-pakistan-moral-crisis-religious-/d/128964

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