ISLAMIC TRADITION IN THE LIGHT OF THE PANDEMIC

ISLAMIC TRADITION IN LIGHT OF THE PANDEMIC

By: Armaan Syed

With around 1.9 billion Muslims worldwide, Islam is a massive religion that has seemed to stand the test of time. However, the recent Corona Virus outbreak has threatened many parts of Islamic tradition and has forced Muslims to seek solutions to problems that most of them never thought they would have to face.

A complication that many non-Muslims and Muslims bring up is prayer. Muslims typically pray five times a day at buildings called Masjids (Mosques). The reason many people believe Masjids to be problematic is that they are often packed with people of all ages and backgrounds; therefore, they could act as breeding grounds for the virus by allowing it to spread and kill. However, the inability to pray at a Masjid is mostly a non-issue; visiting the Masjid is not required to pray. The act of visiting the Masjid mainly serves as a way to socialize with the community, give donations, and show more dedication to the religion as a whole. 

Other topics that come up frequently in the Islamic community concerning the pandemic are Hajj (or pilgrimage to Mecca), Jumat (a Friday prayer similar to the Christian tradition of going to Church on Sundays), and Eid (literally meaning "celebration," comes at the end of Ramadan). The events mentioned above are brought up due to their social nature. However, the social aspects of Hajj, Jumat, and Eid can be eliminated by using "Ijtihad." Ijtihad can be described as Islamic reasoning; this means that Muslims may use reasoning to determine what to do in particular situations that the Quran may not directly mention, like the Corona Virus outbreak. By using Ijtihad, Muslims should realize that survival comes first and that they should opt-out of social traditions.

Aside from the non-issues mentioned above, Muslims seem to be spiritually thriving in the lockdown. According to a self-published local survey, most Muslims feel that quarantine has pushed them to pray and reflect more than usual, or that having the goal of praying five times a day has helped them cope. The rest of the survey also provided some fascinating insight into others' minds, with many participants admitting that the lockdown has made them realize that all they can do is work on themselves, "tie their camel,"  and accept what God has in store for them while remembering that illness could come at any moment. These responses were reminiscent of a western philosophy known as Stoicism. A reason for their similar effects on people could be that both Islam and Stoicism encourage the practitioner to get to a position in which they are accepting of death, making both beliefs relevant and useful coping mechanisms.

Islam keeps its presence and empowers its followers by providing Muslims with ways to continue their traditions even when faced with adversity. Because of this, Islam remains one of the oldest and largest religions in the world, and Islamic Traditions are barley harmed.