Islam in Karachi

A mosque of Defence Housing Authority
Religions in Karachi[1][2][3][4]
Religions Percent
Islam
  
 96.4%
Christianity
  
 2.42%
Hinduism
  
 0.86%
Others
  
 0.4%

Nearly 97% of the population of Karachi is Muslim. Approximately 75% of Muslims are Sunnis and 20-25% are Shi'ites. There is also a small number of Ahmadi Muslims. The Sunnis follow Hanafi fiqh while Shi'ites are predominantly Ithnā‘Ashariyyah fiqh, with significant minority groups who follow Ismaili Fiqh, which is composed of Nizari (Aga Khanis), Mustaali, Dawoodi Bohra and Sulaymani fiqhs. The Sunni Hanafi are divided into the Barelvi and Deobandi sect and both have their own Masjids.

In AD 711, Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Sindh and Indus Valley, bringing South Asian societies into contact with Islam, succeeding partly because Dahir was an unpopular Hindu king that ruled over a Buddhist majority and that Chach of Alor and his kin were regarded as usurpers of the earlier Buddhist Rai Dynasty.[5][6] The Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Empire and local Muslim dynasties ruled the region. Sindh became predominantly Muslim due to the missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of Sindh.

At the time of British East India Company conquest of Karachi on February 3, 1839 the population was predominantly Muslim. The British developed Karachi as a major port which attracted non-Muslims from rest of South Asia. At the time of independence of Pakistan on August 14, 1947, only half the population of Karachi was Muslim. The emigration of Hindus and Sikhs to India and the settlement of Muslim refugees in the city turned Karachi once again as a predominantly Muslim city.

The province of Sindh is 95% Muslim with majority Sunnis with a significant Shia population and a small Ahmadiyya minority. The majority of Sindhis follow liberal Sufi Islam. The state religion in Pakistan is Islam, which is practiced by about 95-98% of the 187,343,000[7][8] people of the nation.[9][10][11] Muslims are divided into three major sects: the majority of them practice Sunni Islam, while the Shias an estimated 20-25%.[9][11][12][13][14] Nearly all Pakistani Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi Islamic law school.[11] The majority of Pakistani Shia Muslims belong to the Ithnā‘Ashariyyah Islamic law school, with significant minority groups who practice Ismaili Fiqh, which is composed of Nizari (Aga Khanis), Mustaali, Dawoodi Bohra, Sulaymani, and others.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Religions in Pakistan". CIA World Factbook. Retrieved 2013-07-09.
  2. ↑ Curtis, Lisa; Mullick, Haider (4 May 2009). "Reviving Pakistan's Pluralist Traditions to Fight Extremism". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 31 July 2011
  3. ↑ a b c "Religions: Islam 95%, other (includes Christian and Hindu, 2% Ahmadiyyah ) 5%". CIA. The World Factbook on Pakistan. 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  4. ↑
    1. ^ International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore: "Have Pakistanis Forgotten Their Sufi Traditions?" by Rohan Bedi April 2006
  5. ↑ Nicholas F. Gier, FROM MONGOLS TO MUGHALS: RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN INDIA 9TH-18TH CENTURIES, Presented at the Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting American Academy of Religion, Gonzaga University, May 2006 . Retrieved 11 December 2006.
  6. ↑ Naik, C.D. (2010). Buddhism and Dalits: Social Philosophy and Traditions. Delhi: Kalpaz Publications. p. 32. ISBN 978-81-7835-792-8.
  7. ↑ (PDF) https://web.archive.org/20090521023211/http://www.spdc.org.pk:80/pubs/rr/rr73.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ Information on other countries: http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_20072008_EN_Complete.pdf
  9. 1 2 "Country Profile: Pakistan" (PDF). Library of Congress Country Studies on Pakistan. Library of Congress. February 2005. Retrieved 2010-09-01. Religion: The overwhelming majority of the population (96.3 percent) is Muslim, of whom approximately 85-90 percent are Sunni and 10-15 percent Shia.
  10. ↑ "Population: 174,578,558 (July 2010 est.)". Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook on Pakistan. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  11. 1 2 3 "Pakistan, Islam in". Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2010-08-29. Approximately 97 percent of Pakistanis are Muslim. The majority are Sunnis following the Hanafi school of Islamic law. Between 15 and 25 percent are Shiis, mostly Twelvers.
  12. ↑ "Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Muslim Population". Pew Research Center. October 7, 2009. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  13. ↑ Miller, Tracy, ed. (October 2009). Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population (PDF). Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  14. ↑ "Pakistan - International Religious Freedom Report 2008". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2010-08-28.

Further reading

External links

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