We can be better! A reflection of the recent past

“There was an attack!”. “They violated the rules!”.

A few years back, when these statements were heard, people were more likely to ask, “Who did this?”.

But now, “Was it a Muslim?”. We won’t be surprised if someone asks this. If it is a Muslim asking this question, it is probably because they are afraid of a potential backlash. If someone else is asking the same question, it could be because they want to have a backlash, or it’s a result of some form of hatred towards the Muslim community. It could also be because of the frequency with which we hear such incidents involving Muslims in the media. As humans, we are inclined to make heuristic guesses based on our experience and prior beliefs. We are not to be blamed for that. Not so surprisingly, this is not unique to Sri Lanka. It is quite common across the globe, especially in the West. This article does not talk about the West though. This is about us, the Sri Lankans, and our motherland that is currently infected with two deadly viruses, Covid19 and racism. This article is especially aimed at the Muslims in Sri Lanka.

Before I write anything further, let me highlight that I am not here to pinpoint any verses from the Quran or the life of our Prophet (PBUH). When I refer to Islam, I will point at commonly agreed facts (hopefully). I will also not pinpoint specific media statements, given that my intention is not to play a blame-game. At this extraordinary time, my only intention is to discuss and reflect on how Muslims in Sri Lanka have dealt with the Covid19 situation in the country so far. This is strictly my own perspective and need not be generalised.

To give you some basic information, in case you are not aware of it yet, Covid19 is officially a global pandemic (you may refer to the World Health Organization; WHO). The most practical solution to fighting it at this point is flattening the curve, i.e., reducing the frequency of cases per day such that the healthcare system is not overly burdened. If we are to see the end of the tunnel, one possibility is the invention of a vaccine. Continuing efforts are being made across the globe and we must appreciate them. If any of us can fund vaccine-invention research, it could be one of the best deeds we can do at this point. The second possibility is to reach “Herd Immunity”. For this to occur, the transmission of the virus from one person to another must hit a bulwark. This can happen within the scale of a country, a state or even a small local community. Whatever happens, the best way we, the general public, can help defeat the virus is by adhering to guidelines given to us by the WHO and the health authorities in Sri Lanka. Unless you are a leading scientist researching specifically on Covid19 and you have a different opinion, I suggest we keep our common sense aside and follow these guidelines. Rigorous testing by the healthcare system, wearing a mask, keeping your social distance, regular washing of hands and avoiding touching your face, are all so fundamental, to an extent that you cannot imagine. For some insight, you can refer to success stories of countries such as Vietnam, China, South Korea and New Zealand in controlling the spread of the virus.

From our side, among all, being honest is the most important one. Whether you are a person who is lying to travel from one district to another, hiding Covid19 symptoms or even visiting someone for non-essential reasons, you are all clearly responsible for increasing the likelihood of spreading the virus. If we end-up doing any of those, at the very least we should feel guilty and seek forgiveness from Allah. Do note that, stabbing someone is not the only way of killing. If I intentionally violated these guidelines without valid reasons (while being aware of the risks) and it results in a fatal spread of the virus, I would feel equally guilty of killing. I understand that is quite an extreme statement, but I would like to stick to that, for the betterment of humanity. I can easily predict that some of you who just read that statement would think “if only he knew how much people are struggling because of this virus”. Trust me, I am a victim too, but I simply do not want to disclose it and I hope the readers respects my privacy. On a separate note, please also note that seeking/providing essential services and doing other things that are essential for survival can still be done while following the safety guidelines. It’s not a matter of doing the necessary. It’s a matter of doing it the right way.

If one is to be a good Muslim, in my opinion, we need to first realise that we Muslims should follow the religion in a manner that is exemplary to others. Acting exemplary is the best way to help others (i.e., Muslims, as well as people of other faiths) to understand Islam. Some recent incidents have made me question this “exemplary nature” of us. First, as I highlighted before, social distancing is crucial to beat the spread of the virus. Sri Lanka had placed strict rules, but we were not alone. Many countries were on lockdown. Even India implemented them, despite having a population of over 1 billion. Considering the smaller population in our country, implementing and following the rules should be relatively easier for us. However, despite being given clear directions, Muslims were on the news several times over certain incidents where safety measures were violated. Keeping the reliability of the media aside, we all know that most of these incidents did happen. I consider these as incidents where “the intentions of the Muslims may have been pure, but the executions were poor, and our perception of the consequences were utterly disappointing”.

Leading Islamic scholars and Muslim countries who were/are significantly affected by the virus, had unequivocally decided that any form of religious gatherings, including Friday prayers, should not be permitted, until the situation is well-contained. Even if we are allowed to continue with gatherings in the future, we would still need to adhere to safety measures until the virus is no longer in the air. Having said that, we Muslims in Sri Lanka, could not resist holding Friday prayers. We could not resist having other religious gatherings. Did we think that having religious gatherings was more important than saving lives? If that’s the case, it points to a certain level of ignorance. However, how likely is ignorance going to be in this 21st century. We may think that some information does not reach the grass-root level and hence they are ignorant. I do not want to encourage that explanation because of certain reasons. There is no denial that TVs and internet have reached grass-root levels. Not finding a smartphone within a household is close to impossible now. Even teens who do not go to school and adults who do not have a job are using smartphones and are in constant communication with the rest of the world. Not to forget that Muslims have also been very good at knocking door-to-door to create religious awareness among other Muslims, which is a good thing, but perhaps not at the moment.

If it is still the case that Covid19 safety measures did not somehow reach people, it is quite alarming. This is because, videos of religious sermons, political statements, sports updates and even gossips about public figures have all reached the grass-root level, but not Covid19 safety measures! That is hard to believe, isn’t it? It may be that the news, religious sermons and political statements did not really emphasise on Covid19 safety measures, but again it seems highly unlikely. On the other hand, keeping Friday prayers aside, how about holding other religious gatherings? Did we not know that people could not do Umrah anymore? Did we not know that the holy Ka’ba was closed? Did we not know that people who rely on odd-jobs and small-scale businesses are fighting for survival? Did we think that religious gatherings were more important than any of the above? Alternatively, we may have thought that it is very unlikely that the virus would spread from just one gathering. Then let me bring to your attention that one Islamic gathering in Malaysia resulted in thousands of people getting infected. Infections related to this gathering remain the largest Covid19 cluster (infecting over 3000) ever discovered in Malaysia. We as Muslims should be extra-careful, because if the disease spreads from a religious gathering, we are not really making things better for Islam. We spread the label “Islam” together with it and this only aggravates hatred towards Muslims.

Muslims were also in the news for charity-related incidents. As for cases such as distributing porridge (or even dry rations) and donating money to people in need, it is very important to understand that these were all done with good intentions. We can only imagine how hard the month of Ramadhan would have been for those below the poverty line and such attempts of donations should be highly appreciated. However, dwelling in the thoughts of good deeds, we may have been careless about the prevailing extraordinary circumstances. Who knows, we may have even stubbornly negated safety measures. For any form of charity events that involve contact with other people, let it be going door-to-door or inviting people to a certain location, health authorities must be informed beforehand. They will provide us with the necessary guidelines that needs to be followed. Did we ever imagine that if the person who makes or packs the porridge was infected, every porridge recipient would get infected too? And every single recipient can spread it to another 2–3 people on average, and the chain goes on. Even the distributors will get infected. The police should also be informed for several reasons. First, they will be able to help with managing the crowd. Second, if a new cluster is to emerge from the event, they will be the ones tracking down the infected along with the help of Public Health Inspectors. Ideally, contact details of every participant / recipient of a charity event must be obtained to facilitate later contact-tracing, if the need arises. To summarise, charity is clearly important, but it needs to be done the right way. When and if something goes wrong, we spread the label “Islam” together with it. Some people may argue that there are also others doing similar mistakes. For instance, weren’t the bars open and didn’t people gather in large numbers without adhering to safety measures? Again, as Muslims, should we be exemplary by doing the right thing or should we compete for stupidity? On a separate note, there were definitely some charity events organised by Muslims that strictly followed safety measures (Kudos to them!).

Another fact to highlight is that some of our donations (especially those given as part of “Zakath”) were specifically targeted as Muslims. When a country as a whole is suffering, should we limit help to Muslims? One might argue that Zakath can only be given to certain groups of people. I leave the argument of whether the Zakath entitled list can be expanded, to the Islamic scholars. However, did we not realise that if we help people in need throughout a year and we constantly donate, we might not even have enough wealth remaining to be considered as donors that must give Zakath. Even if there is a strict list of Zakath eligible groups, I am pretty confident that, according to Islam, charity apart from Zakath can be given to anyone in need, irrespective of their race and religion. With all likelihood, you can question if people of other faith are doing the same (i.e., limiting their donation to their own communities). Again, as Muslims, should we not be exemplary by doing the right thing?

At this point, I have a personal request to make: “please include the tri-forces, police, janitors and healthcare workers in any charity”. Without them, we would be as endangered as the black panthers in Sri Lanka. If you see any of them in your neighbourhood, at the very least, offer them a meal and some water. Some Muslims are already doing it and I salute to them.

A further matter that I want to discuss is how we take pride in being Muslims at the wrong time, perhaps in illogical ways. As a passive viewer of social media, I noticed several Muslims pointing out that certain prescriptions in Islam were already existent to protect humanity from catastrophes like this virus. For example, assuming that Covid19 virus was initially spread to humans from animals like bats (which at the moment is scientifically inconclusive), people claimed that it is the reason that Islam discourages consuming those animals. First, I would like to highlight that we can never be certain as to why Allah prescribed something to us, unless Allah or the prophet had explicitly stated so. We can only find evidence to support what is prescribed in Islam. Second, did we not know that one of the most likely sources of the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome was the camels, whose meat Muslims are allowed to consume? Another example is where people claimed that the face-cover recommended to Muslim women were already existent for reasons such as preventing the spread of infectious diseases. While leaving the argument of whether face-cover is essential, to the Islamic scholars, I cannot stop wondering why then Islam did not prescribe the same to men? Are men not worthy of being protected from infectious diseases?

Lastly, we often blame the media for exaggerating incidents involving Muslims. While it’s certainly possible that they exaggerate, if we are being an exemplary community, does that even matter? Can we keep our hands to our hearts and say for certain that we have not done anything wrong at all? To take an example, we witnessed a recent incident in Atulugama where some media reporters were claimed to be interrupted by a group of Muslims. Keeping the truth of this incident aside, did we not see pictures and videos of lots of Muslims without masks gathered at the location of the incident? Did we not see many Muslim motorcyclists without helmets? We were not only increasing the likelihood of spreading the virus, we were not even following the traffic laws of this country. For the hundredth time, you can still question, aren’t other people doing the same mistakes? Again, as Muslims, should we be exemplary by doing the right thing or should we compete for stupidity?

I do not want to conclude this article with a recommended way of life for Muslims. We should all reflect on what has happened and come-up with ways to improve the lives of Muslims in Sri Lanka. Lessons are for learning. Learning is for improvement. Improvements can ensure the survival of a community.

Here is something to think about! “When a fisherman goes to the sea, and the sea treats him rough, does he blame the sea? Or does he find ways to beat the sea? Does he get angry at the sea and pollute it in return? Or does he make peace and be thankful whenever it offers him the prize? Finally, does he even stop going into the sea?”

- Dr Miflah Hussain

A concerned Sri Lankan Muslim