By Professor Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi

The coronavirus has now reached and epidemic level at the global scale. The World Health Organization has raised its highest alert to all countries. The subject of religious gatherings now seems to be another acid test of the PH government weakened critically by race and religious issues. The subject of netizens' concern seem to be the expected 1.6 million visitors and devotees on the Batu Cave celebration of Thaipusam. It is a prickly issue. The main question seems to be will the PH government intervene the sacred celebration to answer the alert level as declared by WHO? This is a serious problem indeed.

In this article, I wish to speak to all Malaysians about the issue of religious gatherings and threats to health in an epidemic scenario. In this article I will raise the issue of my own religion of Islam in relation to the holy pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in the form of the non-obligatory Umrah and the semi-obligatory Hajj (semi because it falls only on those who can financially afford it). I will not touch on the Thaipusam issue but the Umrah and Hajj issues. But the lesson should be for all Malaysians to ponder seriously. I am going to send a message that the first onus of deciding to perform a holy pilgrimage in Islam lies entirely first and last to the individual worshipper him or herself. Not the government. The second onus should fall on the religious leaders like the Mufti to declare whether it is haram to perform Umrah at a time of serious global threat of a viral epidemic. The last is only that of a harsh and decisive declaration of ban by the government itself.

If I had an intention of performing the Umrah with my wife during this time of global alert of threat of a virus epidemic, I will ask the travel agency for a postponement. The travel agency MUST agree to this request and cannot deny me that right. The government must ensure that my financial investment is protected and that I should not lose money. Now, I know Muslims because I have lived with them all my life. Many would still proceed with the Umrah thinking that they may be protected by Allah because they are on a holy pilgrimage. Their ustaz would probably agree and even egg them on especially because his own fee depended on it. The ustaz would even sugar coat it and say that performing Umrah under this time of trial would make us even more pious and please Allah. I am not going to say that these ustaz are wrong but as an intelligent Muslim I would exercise my own judgment in spirituality. I am educated in science and can see the statistic in Wuhan for myself. The ustaz does not know any science after coming out of a madrasa so why should I listen to him? If I listened to him and proceed and was infected or I infect others, the fault would be mine and mine alone, not the ustaz.

On another note, if a Mufti is not an arrogant individual and understand science better than the pilgrimage ustaz, he would himself urge a cancellation or a postponement. Since there is no specific time for the Umrah, this should not be difficult. But what of the Hajj? The Hajj is seen to be a time and place specific ritual. The Umrah is only place specific but not time specific. What then? Will the Saudi government as guardians of Mecca and Medina do the right thing and cancel the Hajj for that year? Will they risk losing billions in financial rewards and also the wrath and anger of the Muslims? If I were the Guardian of Mecca and Medina I would not hesitate to cancel the Hajj performance of the year. What would be my religious justification?

Firstly, it is recorded in history that the Prophet was denied his first performance of Hajj by being stopped by the Unbelievers from his family, the Quraish tribe. The Quraish negotiated a treaty with the Prophet outside of Mecca after the Prophet and his companions traveled for weeks in the searing sun to perform the Hajj. The Prophet saw many good things from the treaty and agreed to return to Medina and perform the Hajj next year. Muslims should learn from the Prophet.

Secondly, it is well understood that in Islam every act is judged by Allah as to the exact and precise intention. If we intend to perform the Hajj as a religious and spiritual obligation as well as voluntary act of piety, then we would be rewarded with one award for a sincere intention, even though we have not performed the Hajj yet. In Islam any good deed is rewarded one reward just by intention and 700 times if the good deed is actually performed. However, if one intends a bad deed, it is not recorded as a bad deed until the deed is done and the punishment is registered as one punishment only and not multiplied 700 times. Islam encourages Muslims to intend good deeds even though they may not be able to do it.

Thirdly, Muslims should remember how the Prophet at one time ordered that the muadhin call out an Azan to prevent the people from coming to prayers because there was a threat of flash flooding in the torrential rain. Similarly, when my wife and I were studying for our Bachelors and Masters in Architecture in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the mosque committee sent out a message for the Friday prayers to be canceled for two weeks because of threats of bombings by American radicals who seek vengeance due to the Iranian Hostage Crisis. I obeyed and many Muslims stayed away from the prayers. In this regard, we avoided such massacre as that happened in New Zealand.

In conclusion, I wish to summarize that religious gatherings are sacred and important but it should not override safety issues. However, the onus must firstly be on the worshipper to understand the real dictates of religion and not just as a cultural norm. Secondly, the onus falls on the religious leaders themselves to give a clear guidance based on scientific rationale over arrogant displays of piety because lives of people will fall legally on these leaders and in the hereafter these leaders will be held accountable by God for their failure at prudent decision making. The government should be the last entity to call for a ban on any religious gathering under threat of bombings or viral diseases.

We Malaysians who are of various religions like Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and others must evaluate our own rational understanding of our own religion based on a sincere spiritual construct and not based on financial, egocentric or political agenda that may cause thousands of lives of infants, children or elderly. We always agree that God is the Most Compassionate, Forgiving and Generous. Perhaps it is time we practice what we say we believe in.

(Professor Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor at a local university.)