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How Muslims should deal with Covid19

بسم الله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وصحبه وعلى كل من اتبع سنته واهتدى بهديه إلى يوم الدين.
No doubt that the Covid19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has caused a great deal of fear, sadness, and distress in different parts of the world. So far about 2.5 million people have been infected and more than 180,000 people have lost their lives.
As a result of the lockdowns enforced in the majority of the cities in the world, mostly all businesses have been shut down and many people have lost their livelihoods and stay now with no source of income. Even for the first time in our memory, we have seen the Masajids closed.
It is evidently a plight that has afflicted the whole world and so far its consequences are being felt day after day.
However, what we, Muslims, should do in such a calamity?
First of all, as believers in Allah SWT, we shouldn’t show any kind of discontent towards that plight or towards what may have happened to us as a result of it. The fact of the matter is that this plight has been decreed by Allah SWT and, as believers, we are certain that nothing happens in this world except by the will of Allah SWT. This will make it quite enough for us to accept that test and strive hard to pass it successfully. All what Allah SWT would decide for us is made out of wisdom and justice.
Moreover, in fact, real believers emerge as winners in all situations.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has said in a hadith narrated in Sahih Muslim:
عجبا لأمر المؤمن إن أمره كله له خير، وليس ذلك لأحد إلا المؤمن، إن أصابته سراء شكر فكان خيرا له، وإن أصابته ضراء صبر فكان خيرا له.
The reaction of the real believer in different situations is really impressive and this characteristic is exclusive to him. The believer when blessed by a good fortune he’ll show his gratitude to Allah SWT and this will be good for him. Even when he’s inflected by misfortune he’ll show patience and this will be good for him too.
The real believers should look at all the decrees of Allah SWT by the end-results of those decrees, not by their outward appearance. Many decrees by Allah SWT may look, in the eyes of people at the beginning, as evil but at the end, they turn out to be a blessing from Allah SWT.
Allah SWT. says in the Quran:
وعسى أن تكرهوا شيئا وهو خير لكم وعسى أن تحبوا شيئا وهو شر لكم، والله يعلم وأنتم لا تعلمون.
You may dislike a thing and then it turns out to be good for you and you may like a thing and then it turns out to be bad for you. Allah SWT knows and you know not. (Al-Baqarah: 2-216)
When we look around us now, we’ll find most people in this world are completely headless about their Creator Allah SWT and about the purpose of their creation, which is to worship Him. They are totally obsessed with the worldly gains around them. They are unaware that there is a day in front of them on which they’ll be fully accountable, before their Creator, for all what they do in this worldly life.
Moreover, as a result of the vast advances in ٍٍScience and Technology, most people think that they’ve become in full control of that world, totally overlooking the fact that this whole world is owned by Allah SWT, the Creator of the whole universe, not only this little tiny earth on which they live. This earth, compared to the whole universe, is nothing but a little piece of sand in a huge vast desert.
Allah SWT says in the Quran:
حتى إذا أخذت الأرض زخرفها وازينت وظن أهلها أنهم قادرون عليها أتاها أمرنا ليلا أو نهارا فجعلناها حصيدا كأن لم تغن بالأمس، كذلك نفصل الآيات لقوم يتفكرون.
When the earth will look in its full ornaments and people will think that they are in full control of it, then the commandment of Allah SWT will come to pass for it by night or by day and He SWT will make it as a harvested land as if it never has flourished before, thus Allah SWT explains His signs for people who give thought. (Yunus: 10-24)
At this moment, when we look around us, for example, in the city of New York, where we live, everything around us is closed. The people of the city used to boast that it is a city that never sleeps. However, it looks now as “never flourished before”, which confirms the description mentioned in the previous Aiah.
Therefore, we can safely say that the plight of Covid19 is just a wake-up call from Allah SWT, the Creator of this world, to the people on this earth, just to awaken them to the fact that they are completely helpless before Allah SWT, and they should return back to their Creator and fulfill their duty towards Him.
We’ve seen some signs that some people have been awakened by this calamity and become certain that they are in dire need to Allah SWT, their Creator. People in some cities have been, by some videos, shown in streets stretching their hands to heaven, declaring their total helplessness and seeking the succor and help from above.
In a health crisis like this the real believers should, after taking the necessary precautions, put their total trust in their Creator Allah SWT, who is the only source of mercy and recovery. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said in a hadith narrated by Imam Ahmad:
واعلم أن ما أخطأك لم يكن ليصيبك وما أصابك لم يكن ليخطئك، واعلم أن النصر مع الصبر، وأن الفرج مع الكرب، وأن مع العسر يسرا.
Be certain that what has missed you wouldn’t have happened to you and what has happened to you wouldn’t have missed you. Be certain also that the succor or help from Allah SWT comes after showing patience and there’ll be a relief in times of distress and ease in a time of hardship.
How beautiful are those words that give the believers full comfort and encourage them to submit their total will to that of Allah SWT, their Creator, and be rest assured that with distress or calamity there’ll be relief and easiness from Allah SWT.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said in a hadith narrated by Bukhari:
ما أنزل الله من داء إلا أنزل الله الشفاء
Allah SWT has never created an illness except after creating a remedy for it.
In another Hadith narrated by Imam Ahmad and Tabarani, the Prophet(صلى الله عليه وسلم:) said
ما أنزل الله عز وجل من داء إلا أنزل له دواء علمه من علمه أو جهله من جهله.
Allah SWT, the totally glorified, has never created an illness except after creating a remedy for it, which some will know and others will not.
The conclusion from those two hadiths is that the believers if inflicted with the Coronavirus, should put their total trust in Allah SWT and know that InshaAllah they’ll get rid of that illness by the help of their Creator.
It’s well known that the recovery from Coronavirus is totally dependent upon the strength of the immune system because, so far, there’s no treatment for that plague. The modern science, according to some studies conducted by non-Muslims, has proved that the more faith the people will have in their heart the much stronger will be their immunity. Therefore, the immunity of the believers is really solid and with the help of Allah SWT, they’ll be able to overcome that disease.
Even in the worst scenario, if the believer will lose his life as a result of that disease he’ll have InshaAllah the reward of the Shahid.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said in a hadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim:
الطاعون شهادة لكل مسلم.
If a Muslim will die as a result of Ta’oon (epidemic) he’ll have the reward of Shahid.
On the other hand, Covid19 pandemic has proved the truthfulness of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم who has recommended, more than fourteen hundred years ago, to apply the quarantine when an epidemic would afflict a place.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said in a hadith narrated by Bukhari:
إذا سمعتم بالطاعون بأرض فلا تدخلوها وإن وقع بأرض وأنتم فيها فلا تخرجوا منها.
When you hear that Ta’oon has occurred in an area don’t enter into that area and when it occurs in an area while you’re there don’t go out of it.
That is exactly what has been applied in different parts of the world to prevent the spread of Covid19. The cities, where it has happened, have been closed and people inflicted with the virus have been quarantined and isolated.
Day after day, Allah S. has been proving to the non-Muslims that Islam is the right religion for people of the world.
Allah SWT says in Quran:
سنريهم آياتنا في الآفاق وفي أنفسهم حتى يتبين لهم أنه الحق.
We’ll let them witness our sings in all places around them and in their own selves so that it’ll become manifest for them that Islam is the right religion for them. (Fussilat: 41-53).
Moreover, Alhamdullilah, the believers, in the face of that plague, have their own defensive tools that’ll help them in that crisis.
First, after taking the proper precautions, they put their total trust in Allah SWT. This InshaAllah will bring His succor and help.
Secondly, making supplication and Dua to Allah SWT and He SWT has assured the believers of His response.
Thirdly, reciting Muawizat (the protecting suras), suras of al-Ikhals, al-Falaq, and Annas three times every day by night before going to bed, then wipe the whole body with hands. This will InshaAllah ensure total protection for the believers, as promised by our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم .
We, as believers, put our total trust in Allah SWT and raise our hands to Him seeking His succor and help in that crisis and asking Him to give full and speedy recovery to our brothers who have been afflicted by that disease. We humbly ask our Lord to relieve us from that crisis soon InsahAllah.
وآخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين.

Written by Sayed Abutaleb (Imam Masjid Fatima)

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