The decision by some Muslim clerics to conduct Friday congregations in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and thereby defying the ban on large gatherings is not surprising.
There is this sentimental attachment to religious rituals among our people. I have seen how Muslims react to the recent lockdown of the Haram in Mecca with apocalyptic concerns.
To most Muslims, such decisions/situations are unthinkable, and that religious services should continue even in the face of an emergency. That explains why some clerics even organized mass prayers against Covid-19, oblivious of the fact that such mass gatherings are the ideal places for the spread of Covid-19 infections.
Sadly, this kind of attitude has its roots in our subconscious Islamic makeup, which places more emphasis on rituals rather than essence.
That’s why we have Muslims who are ritual compliant but wanting in core Islamic attributes of integrity, humility and decency.
Even criminals today pause to perform their five daily prayers and continue with their crimes. Some even killed innocents in the name of God, and their violent ideology is borne out of a ritualist-literalist theology that demonstrates complete disregard for rigorous scholarship.
I’m not saying that religious rites and rituals are bad and less important, far from it, rituals are the outward manifestation of faith. But for them to be complete, they must be complemented with substance.
Their practitioners must exude the unique attributes of decency, honesty, humility and integrity. As important as the Kaaba in Mecca is or any religious symbol or obligation, the life of one single innocent Muslim is more sacred in the sight of Allah.
The essence of the Islamic faith (and by extension the Shariah) is the attainment of good, welfare, advantage and benefits for the people and the warding off of evil, injury, and loss. The overarching objective of Islam is the protection of life and dignity of humans. That’s why all Shariah prohibitions (with the exception of shirk) are waived in the course of protecting human life.
Contagions like Covid-19 are not a new experience in Islam. Some of the most celebrated companions of the Prophet died during epidemics. And our faith teaches us that there is no affliction that God sends our way upon which a cure has not been provided. Ours is to discover that cure, using our God-given faculties of critical enquiry and scientific reasoning.
Putting a temporary ban on religious gatherings as a measure of combating the spread of Covid-19 is directly aimed at protecting the lives, health and wellbeing of the community. It perfectly aligns with Islamic principles and values. Those clerics who consider it as an attack on their religious freedom or faith are doing that out of willful ignorance, irrational fear, sheer mischief or a perverted notion of religious piety.
That’s why their arguments are devoid of any logic. They are mainly the repetitions of worn out conspiracy theories. But even if we accept those conspiracy theories for the sake of this argument, the fact that Covid-19 is real and infecting and killing people is incontrovertible. It is therefore in our own interest to take every measure to stop it, even if for the sake of defeating the alleged enemy conspiracy against us.
That’s why we must reach out to our communities, engaged relevant stakeholders and educate our people on the dangers of Covid-19, the wisdom behind the lockdown order and its compatibility with orthodox Islamic teachings. Because, it is this type of ignorance and complete aversion for expert opinion as expressed by some of our clerics that poses a greater threat to Islam, far more than any conspiracy, real or imagined.
By Ahmed Musa Husaini
