KARACHI: Dismissing a petition seeking mandatory teaching of Holy Quran and its translation in Urdu in all schools and colleges, the Sindh High Court has observed that matters of faith are personal and even otherwise best left to the individual.

A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh and Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed dismissed the petition in limine for being misconceived.

A lawyer along with another petitioned the SHC seeking directives for provincial authorities to amend the curriculum of primary, secondary and higher secondary education and to make the teaching of Holy Quran in Arabic along with its translation in Urdu mandatory in all schools and colleges.

The bench in its order said that petitioners made no argument as to how the present curriculum offended any law or fundamental right but merely asserted that acquiring knowledge of the sacred text was the obligation of every Muslim and such teaching in educational institutions would strengthen the moral fabric of society.

“Be that as it may, it bears equal consideration that our Constitution is founded on the theory of trichotomy of power between the three limbs/organs of the State, namely, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary, and it is not the function of this Court to dictate the content of the curriculum to be followed in the province under the given circumstances, in the absence of any violation of law or fundamental rights,” it added.

Furthermore, in our view, matters of faith are personal and are even otherwise best left to the individual, the bench noted.

While quoting a judgement of the apex court reported in 2014 in the case of province of Sindh and others versus MQM and others, the bench said, “Human rights law makes a distinction between positive and negative rights, wherein positive rights usually oblige action and negative rights usually oblige inaction. Similarly, many of the fundamental rights granted by our Constitution pertain to both positive and negative rights. The holder of a negative right is entitled to non-interference, while the holder of a positive right is entitled to provision of some good or service.”

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2022