Ideological Diversity and Birth Control Differentials in Pakistan: A Study of Islamabad

Abstract

Population explosion was not a grave problem in the early days of Islam or in the period of Islamic legislation. Thus, no explicit negation or affirmation of it is available either in the religious texts or in the religious jurisprudence or law. That is why presently the ulema from both the ends  the opponents as well as the proponents of family planning, extract some selective Quranic verses, Ahadith and inferences of jurisprudence in favour of their respective viewpoints. Such diverging views have made the future of family planning programmes doubtful in Pakistan. With this background, the present study shows that in the contemporary situation, it is solely the individual who makes the final decision about approving or disapproving family planning. This decision-making process is influenced by the personal attributes of the practitioners. In order to evaluate these attributes, the researcher has attempted to analyze and highlight the perception of family planning by Muslim residents of Islamabad i.e. the Capital city of Pakistan. The people surveyed are predominantly from different social, geographical and economic backgrounds and from different religious callings, along the sectarian continuum. The researcher’s task has thus been to observe the responses and to point out whether the objective variables i.e. geographical, income and class, occupation and age factors etc. are more significantly associated with knowledge, attitude and practice of family planning or the subjective variables like religion and sect appear to be more important determining factor of family planning practice in a traditional society like that of Pakistan.