Aminah Al-Deen and Aasim I. Padela, eds. Islam, Muslims, and COVID-19: The Intersection of Ethics, Health and Social Life in the Diaspora.

Abstract

Islam contributes significantly to the Muslim social life, and many of its teachings and practices are celebrated and rewarded more when performed in congregation, often in public spaces.Ṣalāh and communal ifṭār during Ramaḍān fasting are performed in congregation.Zakāh (almsgiving) is a social responsibility that extends into public welfare.Ḥajj pilgrimage is performed in congregation in Mecca and Medina.The 'aqīqah (naming ceremony of the newborn) and burial rites are all done in congregation.In the domain of ethics, great virtues and happiness can be realized more in public space through companionship and association as taught by Ibn Miskawayh (d.421/1030) in his seminal book on philosophical ethics, Tahdhīb al-Akhlāq (Refinement of Character).These obligations manifest in public space through practices that visibly integrate faith into daily life.With the COVID-19 pandemic, which threatened public health, religious practices in public spaces were reinvestigated.Islam has an internal mechanism that prioritizes higher values over the lower ones.When preservation of religion comes into conflict with preservation of life, religion recedes, or better put, readjusts, to give space to life, particularly public safety, without losing its own essentials.In the science of maqāṣid al-sharī'ah (objectives of the sharī'ah), we were introduced to the hierarchy and prioritization of Islamic values.But we have never experienced how this prioritization plays out from text into context, in real-time experiences, covering