Celebrating Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May is a relatively recent phenomenon, although honouring mothers has deep cultural and religious roots.

In Islam, the reverence for mothers is profound — so much so that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) declared, "Paradise lies under the feet of the mother." The Quran commands believers to show kindness to parents, reminding us of the hardship mothers undergo especially during pregnancy, childbirth and the early years of nurturing a child.

And still, in 2025, we fail them.

The latest UN report on global maternal mortality trends from 2000 to 2023 is grim. Just four countries — Nigeria, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Pakistan — account for nearly half of all maternal deaths worldwide.

In Pakistan, a woman dies from pregnancy-related causes approximately every 48 minutes. That's nearly 11,000 preventable maternal deaths each year -— a violation of constitutional and human rights. Although maternal mortality in........

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