Throughout history plagues, epidemics and other outbreakshave caused havoc across the world. The fatal diseases like Cholera,Plague, Small pox, Tuberculosis and Malaria killed millions in the past. Withno better solution, the sick were removed away from the healthy populationuntil the epidemic ran its course. The people were superstitious and believedin fairy tales, myths, spirits, dark magic, quackery and that gods inflicteddisease and destruction upon those that deserved their wrath. Little did they knowabout the existence of bacteria, viruses etc. This perception often led todisastrous responses that resulted in wiping out entire population of a placeand the deaths of millions. With scientific progress humans have been winningwars against infectious diseases through scientific inventions anddiscoveries. The evolution of scientific theories and the technologicaladvances during the last few centuries revolutionized our outlook and modes ofliving on earth. A better understanding of infectious diseases, antibiotics andvaccinations allowed humans to have the upper hand against its invisiblepredators. Today when the world is facing the unprecedented situationof the Coronavirus, it is only the science that can help us find a drug or avaccine, for its cure.
However, we find a big section of people having irrationalbeliefs, slanted bias and emotional inflexibility to be an issue far moreconcerning. One Federal Minister in Pakistan recently stated that that globaloutbreak of Coronavirus has spread in Pakistan due to ignorance of thereligious community and now they say Coronavirus is a punishment from God andwe need to repent, adding that the scholars who have the knowledge and theintellect are the blessings of Allah, but to give an ignorant a status of a scholar is destruction. Thereligious mass gatherings in different countries particularly Saudi Arabia,Malaysia, Iran etc and the subsequent transport of virus by those returninghome afterwards triggered the spread of Coronavirus in different parts of theworld. We also experienced it in Kashmir where most of the Coronavirus casesthat were confirmed till date have links with such gatherings. Kashmir is alandlocked place, remote and cut-off with only two locations Jawahar Tunnel andthe airport where from the people can access this place. The possibility ofvirus reaching here was remote and could have been controlled otherwise. Whenthe religious scholars ask people for congregation of prayers and vehementlydeclare that “we can beat Coronavirus” the virus spreads to large number ofpeople. It was not the advisory/guidelines but the societal pressure thatreligious scholars latter changed their viewpoint and advised people to pray intheir homes. Alas! It was too late. The virus had already spread in Kashmir tounknown number of people who are currently being tracked. People don’tchallenge theology but we must understand that we are living in the age ofscience and technology. We cannot challenge science; it has been the mostexciting intellectual pursuits humans have ever carried out. The world haschanged more during the last 200 years than in the past 4000 years.
It is a fact that we cannot exclude the role of religion inour lives. The religion has been our guide and savior all along our lives andmore so in times of extraordinary situations. Today we are facing the uniquechallenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic. We are helpless and turning toAllah for supernatural response as it is His desire that servants turn towardsHim, to free them from the snare and from the pestilence before it is too late.Allah is generous, merciful and He alone can heal us of our fear. Look atAmerica, the most powerful country of the world; it has also been badly shakenby the threat of the virus. President Trump recently made a number of tweetsasking people of all faiths, religious traditions and backgrounds to offerprayers. He declared Sunday, March 15th as a National Day of Prayer, eventhough he was criticized for this stand. But, it is also a fact that prayersalone cannot stop the Coronavirus. Praying for a swift end to the disease is agood thing to start with but we must not cease asking God to add wisdom to ourunderstanding. Religious illiteracy has become a serious issue in the moderntimes. We don’t have one group of religious people but there are so manygroups, sects with so many views all claiming to represent the true face ofreligion. When we say that Coronavirus is nature’s fury, we must repent, theforces of nature are inevitable; it lets us off of the hook from doing anythingto prevent its worst effects. Our religious scholars need to bring people onone platform, understand and discuss science, interpret scriptures in the lightof modern rationalism. Superstitions and irrationality has no place, neither inthe religions nor in the sciences.
Richard Feynman, noble laureate and one of the all timegreat teachers of Physics compared human knowledge to an expanding balloon. Asthe volume (i.e. knowledge) of the balloon grows, its surface (i.e the unansweredquestions) also grows. As an invisible stealthy killer is stalking the earth’ssurface and moving from person to persons growing exponentially, there’s apandemic of fear unfolding alongside the pandemic of the virus. The globalreach and the modern media make the fear of contagion to spread faster than thedangerous virus itself. The big issue is how to stop worrying and not succumbto the fear in the face of uncertainty and unpredictability. The best way toconquer fear is to confront it and challenge the fear of death. We need tolearn lessons from the Chinese resilience which recently reported no new casesof the virus. Furthermore, we need to follow all the scientific guidelineswhich come from the administration. The religious scholars can boost the moraleof the people and appeal them to avoid mass gatherings. Of course, there is noreason to fear, when Allah’s power and love is pervading in infinite measureall around. Science can help us in dealing with the Coronavirus issueswhile the religion can help to copes with its fears.