journal of law, religion and state 8 (2020) 251-271 brill.com/jlrs The Politics of Congregational Prayer Trust, Public Health, and Religious Authority in Pakistan Imran Ahmed School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education University of New England, New South Wales, Australia
[email protected] Abstract Religious authorities in many Muslim-majority countries have argued that the suspen- sion of communal prayers during an epidemic does not contravene Islamic law. In Pakistan, such measures have proven difficult to enforce, in part because many reli- gious leaders in the country have opposed the closure of places of worship and the limits placed on public religious gatherings. The question is why? This paper suggests that the distrust of the state in matters of religion in Pakistan can be traced back to the colonial era, and that the political developments following independence have ampli- fied frustration and mistrust between political and religious authorities in the country. Significant sources of contention in matters of religion and state remain unresolved under the prime ministership of Imran Khan. At the same time, the pandemic has thrust earlier conflicts into the spotlight and exposed contests over opinion, expertise, and authority in matters of religion and public health. Keywords Pakistan – coronavirus – Islamic law – religious authority – constitutional politics – public health – colonization – modernization 1 Introduction The spread of the novel coronavirus (sars-CoV-2) has posed considerable gov- ernance challenges for nation states around the world striving to manage a © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/22124810-2020015Downloaded from Brill.com09/28/2021 04:44:22AM via free access <UN> 252 Ahmed fragile balance between a potential public health disaster, growing societal un- rest, and dramatic economic collapse.