{"id":6585,"date":"2025-07-24T17:29:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T17:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wnp.com.pk\/?p=6585"},"modified":"2025-07-24T17:29:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T17:29:16","slug":"religious-scholars-unite-to-advocate-family-wellbeing-population-resource-balance-in-line-with-islamic-teachings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/2025\/07\/24\/religious-scholars-unite-to-advocate-family-wellbeing-population-resource-balance-in-line-with-islamic-teachings\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious scholars unite to advocate family wellbeing, population-resource balance in line with Islamic teachings"},"content":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD, Thursday, July 24, 2025 : The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and the Population Council jointly organized a high-level consultation under the theme \u2018The Islamic Perspective on Balance and Benevolence<\/em> – <\/em>Striking Harmony Between Resources and Population: Our Survival, Our Future<\/em>\u2018 <\/em>in a major step toward addressing Pakistan\u2019s population challenges through faith-based advocacy.<\/p>\n

The session, chaired by CII Chairman Allama Dr. Muhammad Raghib Hussain Naeemi, brought together over 40 renowned religious scholars and faith leaders from across all schools of thought. The focus was on promoting responsible family planning, maternal and child health, and socio-economic stability – all grounded in the values of Islam.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ali Muhammad Mir, Senior Director of Programs and Research at the Population Council, opened the session by highlighting the dire implications of Pakistan’s rapid population growth. He pointed to high maternal and child mortality rates, rising health complications, and the increasing pressure on essential services and education. \u201cWithout addressing this issue, the burden on our future generations will be immense,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

Citing data, Population Council\u2019s Director of Communications Ali Mazhar revealed that over 11,000 women die annually in Pakistan due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth. \u201cPakistan has the highest maternal mortality rate among Islamic countries,\u201d he said, noting that 62 in every 1,000 children dies before their first birthday. Furthermore, 40% of children under five are stunted, 18% suffer from acute malnutrition, and 29% are underweight.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mazhar urged scholars to use their pulpits and arches to promote natural methods of birth spacing, including the Quranic guidance of two years of breastfeeding. \u201cThis isn\u2019t just about numbers; it\u2019s about the health of mothers, survival of newborns, and the nation\u2019s wellbeing,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n

A joint declaration issued at the end of the session called for an Islamic and constitutional approach to balancing family size with available resources. It underscored that protecting life and lineage are core objectives of Shariah, birth spacing – without the use of harmful or un-Islamic methods – is not only religiously permissible in case of health concerns but a parental responsibility and maternal and child health, family stability, and societal welfare are Islamic imperatives.<\/p>\n

The declaration affirmed scholarly consensus across all sects that temporary family planning measures are religiously acceptable in cases where a mother’s life or health is at risk, or where successive pregnancies cause severe complications.<\/p>\n

Dr. Naeemi proposed the formation of a technical committee comprising religious scholars and health experts to guide public messaging rooted in Islamic teachings. He also emphasized the need to expand this consultative process to provincial and district levels and publish awareness content in religious journals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Prominent participants included Justice (R) Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Dr. Abdul Ghafoor Rashid, Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, Justice (R) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi, Allama Yusuf Awan, Dr. Mufti Intikhab Ahmad, and Sahibzada Saeedul Hassan Shah, among others. Women scholars and civil society representatives such as Saad Muhammad Abbas and Hameer Masihuddin also participated.<\/p>\n

The session concluded with a united pledge from religious leaders to promote the message of \u201c<\/em>Tawazun<\/em>\u201d<\/em> (Balance) from mosques and media platforms, support national health campaigns, and collaborate closely with the government to educate communities about reproductive health, women\u2019s wellbeing, and child development through an Islamic and socially responsible lens.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us serve the nation with wisdom, sincerity, and a sense of divine responsibility,\u201d the declaration concluded.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD, Thursday, July 24, 2025 : The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and the Population Council jointly organized a high-level consultation under the theme \u2018The Islamic Perspective on Balance and Benevolence – Striking Harmony Between Resources and Population: Our Survival, Our Future\u2018 in a major step toward addressing Pakistan\u2019s population challenges through faith-based advocacy. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-religious-diplomacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}