COVID19 – Closure Of Mosques: Justified By Shari’a -By Muhammed-Bello Buhari

I have been inundated to share my little knowledge on the principles of Shari’a by the various arguments about this issue, from people for and against the closure of mosques, and I believe it would be beneficial for all of us to understand the matter at hand, to foster understanding of the reasoning behind the closure of mosques taken by scholars across many countries, and to highlight the fact that the scholars who hold different views are in fact in agreement on the major principles involved.

Certainly, any muslim will agree that an objective of the Sharia is the preservation of life. We all agree that the principle that prevention of harm takes precedence over gaining benefit. We all agree that out of two necessary harmful choices, one has to choose the lesser of two harms to avert the greater one. We all agree that if we are prevented from our usual ‘ibādah such as praying in the mosques, we will still Be rewarded for them.

It is important to remember this, because we naturally ignore the majority area of agreement and focus on relatively small matters of disagreement.

The following are some of the Islamic justifications of the decision to close mosques en masse by scholarly bodies: Hadiths of avoiding spread of disease:
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said:

“If you hear of a disease outbreak in a land, do not go there, and if you are there during an outbreak, then do not flee from it.” – Bukhari & Muslim

“The afflicted should not be mixed with the healthy.” – Muslim

“Flee from leprosy like you would flee from a lion.” – Bukhari

The jurists agree that the intended meaning behind the narrations above is to prevent or limit the harm caused by a disease, because the Sharia intends to preserve and protect life—including health. Since the #CoronaVirus not only infects a large number of those who come into contact with it, but leads to death and secondary and tertiary disasters such as the overwhelming and destruction of public health service capacity, the Shariah thus instructs us to do what is possible in order to prevent it and limit its harms (al-ḍarar yuzāl).

The above explanation alone without going further explains why the closure of Mosques is justifiable.

And on the Islamic Doctrine of Neccessity: al-mashaqqah tajlib al-taysīr (hardship begets facility).

The most important question any reasonable person should be asking is ‘Will praying our five daily prayers and the Friday prayer in congregation lead to the virus spreading death and destruction of the public health services?’ The medical and epidemiology experts give us an overwhelming ‘yes’ to this question.

The answer to this further compliment the branch of this maxim that ‘Necessity is determined by the extent thereof’.
For instance, performing the prayer in congregation assists a person in carrying out the prayer, therefore fulfilling the objective of preservation of the Dīn(Religion). But if a person does not pray in congregation but still prays, he will still be able to preserve his Dīn. It will not be immediately detrimental to his Dīn and its preservation.

Therefore this opinion does not simply look at one dimension—Dīn vs life—but rather it looks at them combined with the second dimension, of necessity.

Hence it is important to note that this is from within the Islamic legal paradigm. It is not an ‘Islām vs medicine’ or ‘dunyā vs ākhira’ binary—these are false dichotomies.

And in addition to the above, other supporting evidences on the closure of Mosques on the account of the #CoronaVirus outbreak, from the statements of Allāh(SWT) are:

“And Allāh wants to lighten for you [your difficulties]; and mankind was created weak.” – Al-Qur’ān 4:28

“And strive for Allāh with the striving due to Him. He has chosen you and has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty.” – Al-Qur’ān 22:78

“And do not throw yourselves into destruction with your own hands…” – Al-Qur’ān 2:195

Also among them is the legal principle “al-ḍarar yuzāl – Harm must be removed,” which is taken from the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “There should be no harm nor the reciprocation of harm.” – Ibn Mājah

In conclusion, it is true that Some knowledgeable people are misleading the Ummah without facts or reference or recourse to the Principles of Shari’a and some without knowledge have taken a condemnable course of action of being negligent with regards to their responsibilities to limit the harms of this virus—which is as I have explained an Islamic obligation. What is more condemnable is using the great Islamic value of Tawakkul (reliance on and trust in Allāh) as an excuse for negligence.

May Allah forgive and have mercy on us all.

1. Muhammed-Bello Buhari is a Human Rights Activist and a Shari’a & Civil Law student of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Nigeria’s Open Mind Young – Voices Youth Activist 2020 Fellow.
embbuhari@gmail.com
Twitter: @mbbuharii
Facebook.com/muhdbellob