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Heart and Soul: Faith versus the virus: Pakistan’s struggle

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Faith versus the Virus - Pakistan’s struggle

04/09/2020 GMT

Faith versus the virus: Pakistan’s struggle

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Faith versus the virus: Pakistan’s struggle

The struggle between science and faith in Pakistan during the Coronavirus pandemic

The struggle between science and faith in Pakistan during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Pakistan’s relationship with religion is the most distinct element of its identity. Be it politics or any other aspect of social & cultural life, religion is the main guiding force.
 
The country was created in the name of Islam almost a quarter century ago, where the clergy still enjoys the tremendous power. Even during the pandemic, when the holiest mosques & shrines in Saudi Arabia, Iran & Turkey were closed, the clerics in Pakistan refused to shut down the mosques in Ramadan.
 
The former cricketer Imran Khan’s government tried and failed to stop annual gathering of “Raiwind Tableeghi Jamat” a global Muslim missionary movement in the Eastern city of Lahore, which is thought to have resulted in transmitting the first corona virus case to the Middle East.
 
And now, weeks before Eid-ul-Adha, cattle markets have sprung up in and around cities, where people in large numbers are gathering to buy animals for sacrifice.
 
This program gives a picture of a struggle between science and faith in Pakistan. How the voices of doctors and paramedics were lost in religious rhetoric and how the government has been repeatedly backing down under the pressure from the religious leaders. Presented by: Shumaila Jaffery

(Image: Muslim devotees offer prayers for the Eid al-Adha, at a mosque in Rawalpindi, Pakinstan on August 1, 2020. / Credit: FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP via Getty Images)

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