Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released religious data of Pakistan Census 2017 on 19 May 2021. 96.47% are Muslims, followed by 2.14% Hindus, 1.27% Christians, 0.09% Ahmadi Muslims and 0.02% others. These are some maps of religious minority groups.
The constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and requires all provisions of the law to be consistent with Islam.
Sunni and Shi'a Islam are the two major Islamic sects practised in Pakistan. Pakistan is a Sunni majority country, with 76% of Pakistanis identifying as Sunni and 10-15% estimated to be Shi'ites. Both variations of Islam have many different religious schools that Pakistanis adhere to.
Pakistan has the second largest number of Muslims in the world after Indonesia. The majority are Sunni (85-90%) while Shias make up between 10% and 15%.
Conversion to other faiths than Islam is not prohibited by law. Muslims who change their faith to Christianity, are subject to societal pressure. Extremely controversial were the blasphemy laws, which made it treacherous for non-Muslims to express themselves without being accused of being un-Islamic.
As it is, officially at least, all sale of liquor in the country is solely for the non-Muslims. Article 37(h) of the constitution states: '(The state shall) prevent the consumption of alcoholic liquor otherwise than for medicinal and, in the case of non-Muslims, religious purposes.
In 1980s Zia ul-Haq introduced a system under which non-Muslims could vote for only candidates of their own religion. Seats were reserved for minorities in the national and provincial assemblies.
The society has shunned the idea of a Shia marrying a Sunni (and vice versa) not because of the religious difference, but because of “what will we tell the society?” The matter has become less of a religious debate, but more of a societal symbol, which then leads to two individuals being punished for choosing each ...
Though the two main sects within Islam, Sunni and Shia, agree on most of the fundamental beliefs and practices of Islam, a bitter split between the two goes back some 14 centuries.
Approximately 11 percent of the population are citizens, of whom more than 85 percent are Sunni Muslims, according to media reports. The vast majority of the remainder are Shia Muslims, who are concentrated in the Emirates of Dubai and Sharjah.
Pakistan became an Islamic state in 1973 when the new constitution made Islam the state religion. Under the earlier 1956 constitution Islam had been merely the “official” religion. Nineteen-seventy-three, in other words, represents Pakistan's “Iran moment”—when the government made itself beholden to religious law.
Pakistanis (Urdu: پاكِستانى قوم, romanized: Pākistānī Qaum, lit. 'Pakistani Nation') are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Today's Afghanistan can be considered 99% Muslim. There is a rough 3/4 to 1/4 split in favor of Sunni Muslims to Shia. Though recent history has been defined by growing religious intolerance and sectarian conflict, Afghanistan does have marginal adherents of other religions.
In Pakistan, hijab is not mandated by law. Most women wear a dupatta as a headscarf and niqab and burqas are more common in the northwest, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
However, the dominant belief in Islam is that, not only is the consumption of alcohol in any of its forms forbidden, but Muslims should avoid even indirect association with alcohol.
Pork is a food taboo among Jews, Muslims, and some Christian denominations. Swine were prohibited in ancient Syria and Phoenicia, and the pig and its flesh represented a taboo observed, Strabo noted, at Comana in Pontus.
Sunni and Shia Muslims both share the same fundamental views of Islam, for instance, both groups worship Allah as God, accept Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) as the Prophet, and follow the teachings of the Quran.
Typically, Sunnis have been described as more traditional in their practices while the Shiites' strict religious hierarchy is seen as more extreme.
Sunni refers to the sunnas, or oral traditions and interpretations of the Koran -- a body of work similar to the Jewish Talmud. Sunnis believe that the position of Caliph should be a position to which one is elected by the religious leaders of the Islamic community, and not dependent on direct lineage from Mohammed.
Mecca is the only pilgrimage site officially accepted by all Muslims, but Iran and Iraq are home to a number of sites considered holy to the Shia faithful: Hussein was buried at Karbala, for example, and the tomb of Ali is in nearby Najaf.
There is a general consensus among Sunni and Shia fiqh experts that Surah Al-Baqarah 221 and Surat Al‑Mumtahanah 10 ban Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men. This consensus is still standing strong. On the other hand, the Quran allows Muslim men to marry non-Muslim women (“People of the Book”).
Sunnis founded several schools of Islamic law (the Sharia), which became the foundation of Sunnism. Scholars belonging to these schools interpreted the Koran and Sunnah, which Sunnis believe are the only true sources of Islamic law.
Freedom of the press in Pakistan is legally protected by the law of Pakistan as stated in its constitutional amendments, while the sovereignty, national integrity, and moral principles are generally protected by the specified media law, Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002, and Code of Conduct Rules 2010.
Executive Summary. According to the 1992 Basic Law of Governance, the country's official religion is Islam and the constitution is the Quran and Sunna (traditions and practices based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad).