Audrey Litto

Mrs. Lucarelli
Honors Comp. Civ.
9 November 2015
Analysis of Islam in Pakistan
Islam is the predominate religion in the Middle East, and influences many Middle
Eastern countries. One of these countries is Pakistan. The Islamic religion influences the
Pakistani people, and Pakistan as a whole country. As of today, 95% of all Pakistani people
practice Islam, and the other 5% are people practicing Christianity, Hinduism, Baha'i,
Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Kalash, Jainism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Irreligion. Pakistan is
also mostly made up of Sunni Muslims, which causes religious tension between the people
and the government. The Islamic religion is very influential and important to the Muslims
living in Pakistan.
The Sharia Law plays a big role in Pakistan. The Sharia Law is the body of Islamic
law. The term means "way" or "path"; it is the legal framework within which the public
and some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on
Islam (Wikipedia). Most Muslims follow the Sharia Law and take it very seriously. While
other Muslims dont care to much for it, and dont think it is extremely important to follow.
In Pakistan, because most people are Muslims, the Sharia Law has a high degree of
influence on the legal system, criminal laws, and family laws. Which means that the Sharia
Law is very important to the government in Pakistan. Normally in the Middle East, the
government and religion go hand in hand with one another. For example, unlike in the

United States, many Middle Eastern countries are run by the predominate religion in the
area. So, the laws in Pakistan most likely stem from the Quran or other popular Islamic
books. There are no separate laws for government and religion, because the government is
influenced by the religion. This shows what an important role Islam plays in Pakistan,
because it shows how the religion influences the Pakistani government and its laws.
Along with the laws being influenced by the Islamic religion and the Islamic laws,
the people are gratefully influenced by the religion. For example, the two main sects of
Islam are Sunni and Shia (BBC News). The majority of Muslims in Pakistan are Sunni and
the Shia Muslims are the minority. These two sects of Islam have never been in agreement,
so there is a lot of violence between to two. On Nov. 15, Abbasi, 34, offered noontime
Friday prayers at Madrassa Taleem ul Quran when the seminary was attacked by a procession of
Shiite mourners. Besides the Sunni madrassa, the Shiites also struck 100 shops, four private
banks and scores of cars (Huffington Post). This shows how violent the people are, and what
they are willing and capable of doing. Most likely every fight is stemmed from religion, and this
shows how influential religion is in Pakistan. Religion provides the motivation of most people
in Pakistan, especially the people who practice Islam.
The Islamic religion plays a big role on the people and government in Pakistan. Even the
bad things that happen are because of the religion the people practice. The Sunni and the Shias
hatred for each other is escalating quickly, but there would be no fighting without the religion
causing the problem (globalpost.com). The relationships that people have with one another are
all caused by their religion, and this is seen in not only Pakistan but all of the Middle East.

Work Cited Page

"Conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims Seen as Escalating across Middle East."
Globalpost.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
"Sharia." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
"Sunnis and Shia: Islam's Ancient Schism." Bbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
"Sunni-Shiite Violence In Pakistan Soars." The Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.