Ramadan and COVID-19, two unconnected words that have seemingly nothing to do with each other, and yet we are not both experiencing simultaneously. With social distancing and lockdowns, one has enough time to muse and ask the question: Is there any lessons from Ramadan we can use in our fight against COVID-19? I shall attempt a shot of parallelism.
Ramadan is the ninth month of Islamic Calendar and it is the month where Muslims fast from the first speck of dawn until the sun sets in the horizon. Behind the physical action of not eating and drinking, engaging in physical intimacy (while fasting), abstaining from backbiting and from
general acts of sinning, the ultimate goal of fasting is spiritual and that is to attain Taqwa - an Arabic word that means to shield oneself from the punishment of God.
Essentially, a muslim leaves all the ‘halal’ things like eating and drinking in order to curb his urges as a means for him to realize that if he is able to abstain from what is lawful, he should also be able to abstain from what is unlawful or ‘haram’. Being able to experience hunger once in a while should bring about a sense of empathy to those food insecure families.
Further, during Ramadan, apart from the five daily prayers, a Muslim spends his night in additional prayers - the tarawih - where the Qur’an is recited. By and large, Muslims spend the night praying and the day fasting - fighting the urge of sleep and hunger. This instills a sense of discipline and habit building that can leave a lasting impact on one's personality. Ramadan is also a month where generosity is emphasized. This is exemplified by God Himself that He will
reward the fasting person immensely more than any other acts of worship. Feeding a fasting person will give you the reward of that fasting person without diminishing his reward. Just before Eid festivities, Muslims sacrifice animals such as sheep or cows to be given to those who are in need.
In other words, fasting and praying in Ramadan brings about in a person a sense of discipline, God-consciousness and empathy - among other things. In this time of COVID-19 discipline is required and empathy for the poor people is needed.
Discipline
Non-pharmaceutical means of flattening the curve of spread of pandemic such as social distancing, quarantine and lockdown require a great sense of discipline among the population.
A Muslim, who reads the Qur’anic words: “Obey Allah and His Messenger, and those who are in authority among you” should not have any problem following instructions from the government of staying home and observe physical distancing and wearing mask when going outside. Meanwhile, having to pray five times a day - and washing the extremities and face as a
ritual - five times a day - should make following hand hygiene easier to adhere to.
For some Muslim women who wears the niqab, wearing a mask in public is like any other ordinary day. All of these require a sense of discipline, conscientiousness and following orders.
Fourteen hundred years ago, Prophet Muhammad said “If you hear of an outbreak of plague in a land, do not enter it; but if the plague breaks out in a place while you are in it, do not leave that place."
The consequences of lockdown and community quarantine means that ordinary people who depend on daily income are not able to feed their families anymore. A fasting person who experiences hunger for a month is more likely to relate to this situation and hopefully be more generous and charitable.
Humility and Hope
Mankind is now attempting to colonize another planet and yet cannot defeat one of the smallest biological entities - a virus. This is a reminder that no matter how technologically advanced we may become, there is one ultimate source of power - the Creator of the universe. And in Ramadan this Creator declared - according to His Prophet peace be upon him - “Whoever fast in Ramadan - with faith and hope for its reward - will have his past sins forgiven for him”.
Ramadan is a month where one’s sin is hoped to be forgiven. Hence Ramadan is in a sense a month of renewal offering glimmering rays of hope in these difficult times. Just like the month of Ramadan will end, mathematical models predict COVID-19 will reach its peak and the curve will have been flattened, herd immunity reached or vaccine discovered. Indeed the Prophet Muhammad said “There is no disease that God has created, except that He als has created its treatment”.
