I've known for a long time that Pakistani Muslims believe that practising birth control is a heinous sin. I used to hear (in my teens) that those who did so would suffer the tortures of hell in the hereafter. When I was asked why I had only three children and replied that I was using condoms, invariably I would be told to stop doing so. There was a Memon, distantly related to me and also resembling me, who had seven children. His wife once told my wife that even if a woman had her womb removed, she would still get pregnant. This is the kind of illiteracy prevalent in the country today. The reason, of course, is that the vast majority of Pakistani Muslims spend their spare time in mosques, where they hear that they should strive to have as many children as possible, if they want to spend their after-lives in Paradise.
In the floods of 2010, it was discovered that most women in the rural areas had more than ten children. There was one woman who wasn't sure if she had sixteen or seventeen children.
I once told an educated, Memon industrialist that Pakistan's problems are mainly caused by its exploding population. He was shocked. "What kind of Muslim are you?" he exclaimed. "The world needs to have more and more Muslims, so that they can rule over the whole world". When I told him that there is only one Jew on the planet for a hundred Muslims, yet it's the Jews who control the world, he didn't believe me.
I doubt if Pakistani Muslims can ever be made to restrict the number of children they have. Fortunately, in Malaysia, Turkey, Bangladesh and Iran, Muslims do practise birth control. Perhaps there is hope for us after all.
Post a Comment