Tribune survey: Online Pakistanis ‘Muslim’ first, ‘Pakistani’ second

[EastWest]

Tribune survey: Online Pakistanis ‘Muslim’ first, ‘Pakistani’ second

A majority of Pakistan’s internet users say they consider themselves ‘Muslim first’ (49%) , ‘Pakistani’ second (28%) while 23% voted ‘Other’, a survey conducted by The Express Tribune found. On the flipside, the survey results also showed that overseas Pakistanis identified more with being a ‘Pakistani’ than a ‘Muslim’ as compared to locals.

The survey, taken by more than 1,600 online Pakistanis, including expats was designed to measure the population on three different scales: their level of tolerance, level of religiosity and adherence to tradition.

While 77% of online Pakistanis expressed a belief in a supernatural being, only 46% said they identified themselves as a religious person. Some 75% said they believed in the existence of ‘Heaven and Hell’.

A majority of Muslim respondents (63%) agreed to the statement that “Pakistanis are not perfect but our religion is superior to others”.
In a core finding related to tolerance, 66% of Pakistanis voted against the need to influence others to share their set of beliefs. However, only 11% of total respondents said they would experiment with other belief systems.

Men do their own research
Women proved to be more traditional than men with 72% saying that they shared the same religious beliefs as their parents. A large number of male respondents said they had reached their current set of beliefs through research, while a majority of females said that they were raised that way.
The online survey found males were more inclined than women to researching new ideas and more willing to explore their beliefs. On the other hand men (36%) felt it was important to influence others when it comes to religion.

Education and age
The survey found that those who were older, and those holding a doctorate degree exhibited the greatest degree of tolerance and openness to religious plurality.
Older age groups (30+) and doctorate degree holders also exhibited lowest religiosity, suggesting that higher education and greater age results in lower religiosity.

Muslims and Non-religious groups
The sample consisted largely of Muslim respondents and those who identified themselves as non-religious. While members of other religious communities did respond to the survey their results were too few to be conclusive. In general, the Muslim segment gave very different responses to the non-religious segment, displaying a greater degree of intolerance and traditional thinking. Interestingly, a larger majority of the non-religious segment (92%) said they had researched other belief systems as compared to Muslims (72%).

Locals and Expats
The survey found expats exhibited slightly lower religiosity than local respondents. For example the local population showed greater belief in Heaven and Hell, was more regular in prayers and identified more to scripture. Expats were inclined to be more egalitarian than local respondents with reference to religious tolerance.

While a majority of expats disagreed with the statement ‘Pakistanis are not perfect but our religion is superior to others’ 53% of locals agreed with it. Fewer expats (35%) voted in favor of needing God to be moral, compared to locals (44%). A greater number of expats (81%) said they had researched other belief systems, as compared to locals (75%).

Scope of the research
The survey was available for three days during the month of January, 2012 and The Express Tribune obtained over 1,600 results from online Pakistanis and expats. The figures and information presented in this report only provide information about religious perceptions in Pakistan with reference to the online audience’s views.

Read the complete findings of the Pakistan Religious Identity Online survey report here.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2012.

 

[notsuperstitious]

Older age groups (30+) and doctorate degree holders also exhibited lowest religiosity, suggesting that higher education and greater age results in lower religiosity.

I always thought the young are less strictly religious and they grow more so with age. But coming to PDF changed that perception.

 

[Armstrong]

'Muslims first - Pakistani Second', I dunno sounds like a moot question because many of us identify Pakistan quite strongly with Islam. In fact come to think of it, its the only thing keeping us together; the Kashmiris, the Punjabis, the Pathans, the Baloch, the Sindhs all of us have a rich history, culture and a distinct language of our own - for many of us religion is the only thing that lets us supersede that kind of ethno-nationalism. Its actually a marvel that in a society where honor killings, extra-judicial murders, moral corruption and a whole host of other evils are rampant, an aspect of religion has provided some sort of national cohesion.

 

[beggingwalker]

see their local condition,poll is correct.many ppl says pakistani army as punjabi army

 

[it'sok]

well of course the results are going to be 'Muslim first'.

Nationalism is un-Islamic.

 

[Baby Leone]

when i see the topic, i was expecting tht it should be started by indian....

see i waz right,

BTW these difference in thoughts show the diversity in Pakistan which we all love the most...

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

<PAKISTANI FIRST... MUSLIM SECOND... BALUCH THIRD.

 

[Armstrong]

well of course the results are going to be 'Muslim first'.

Nationalism is un-Islamic.

No my friend. Not many hold the concept of Nationalism to be unislamic but there are people out there, including me, who think that ethnicity or linguistic based nationalism is not the way to go.

 

[Jackdaws]

They lost East Pakistan because of trying to shove Punjabi brand of Islam down their countrymen's throats. Perhaps they will lose Balochistan and Sindh next.

 

[Armstrong]

<PAKISTANI FIRST... MUSLIM SECOND... BALUCH THIRD.

No, more like : Pakistani = Muslim = Baloch, because we all have multiple identities. For example, I'm a Pakistani by nationality, a Kashmiri by ethnicity, an Urdu Speaker by linguistics, a Muslim by faith and a Punjabi by culture, and yet not one of them is mutually exclusive of each other...don't you think ?

---------- Post added at 01:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:28 PM ----------

They lost East Pakistan because of trying to shove Punjabi brand of Islam down their countrymen's throats. Perhaps they will lose Balochistan and Sindh next.

Define, Punjabi brand of Islam, brother ?

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

They lost East Pakistan because of trying to shove Punjabi brand of Islam down their countrymen's throats. Perhaps they will lose Balochistan and Sindh next.

From your nonsensual posts.... reminds me of a proverb:
The barking of a dog does not disturb the man on a camel."

 

[SQ8]

They lost East Pakistan because of trying to shove Punjabi brand of Islam down their countrymen's throats. Perhaps they will lose Balochistan and Sindh next.

Im a branded "Indian" by many bigoted Pubjabi's.. but living here in Punjab I have never heard of this brand.. please do tell us what this is.

 

[third eye]

'Muslims first - Pakistani Second', I dunno sounds like a moot question because many of us identify Pakistan quite strongly with Islam. In fact come to think of it, its the only thing keeping us together; the Kashmiris, the Punjabis, the Pathans, the Baloch, the Sindhs all of us have a rich history, culture and a distinct language of our own - for many of us religion is the only thing that lets us supersede that kind of ethno-nationalism. Its actually a marvel that in a society where honor killings, extra-judicial murders, moral corruption and a whole host of other evils are rampant, an aspect of religion has provided some sort of national cohesion.

Which is this ' distinct language' which is common across Pakistan ?

Urdu, Punjabi ..?

Neither are spoken across and nor are the languages of Kp or Baluchistan spoken across Sindh or Punjab.

 

[Jackdaws]

From your nonsensual posts.... reminds me of a proverb:
The barking of a dog does not disturb the man on a camel."

The current term is "nonsensical" - what is nonsensual? The opposite of sensual perhaps??

 

[beggingwalker]

From your nonsensual posts.... reminds me of a proverb:
The barking of a dog does not disturb the man on a camel."

nearly every news channel saying same these days
i watch many