Hamilton, April 25, 2020
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
Assalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barkatuhu
Greetings to the New Zealand Muslim community.
I hope you are safe and well in your bubble during this Coronavirus lockdown period.
Alhamdulillah, with Ramadan starting today, I am confident that you had looked forward to welcoming this beautiful month, despite the current pandemic situation.
Additional Challenge this year
While some may feel that facing fasting is an additional challenge at this time, know that it is the decree of Allah SWT in His Infinite Wisdom that we should encounter this month during the Alert Level 4 and Alert Level 3 period.
Editor’s Note: Muslims always express ‘Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala’ (abbreviated as SWT), meaning ‘Glory to him, the Exalted,’ every time they mention the name of Allah.
This means that we will likely not be able to do many of the rituals and activities that we associate with Ramadan, such as Tarawih prayers, Iftars at the Masjids, Itikaf, group gatherings at the Mosques to listen to Tafsir of the Holy Quran, coming together to break our fasts at friends’ homes and common-places.
Overall, we will miss these social interactions that Ramadan often engenders, and we will most likely feel even more nostalgic about them due to the physical distancing and isolation requirements.
Teachings of Islam
During situations like this, we must remember to be true and consistent with the teachings of Islam on how to behave during a pandemic; about the importance of relying on competent authorities in everything we do (21:7); that Allah SWT does not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear (2:286); and that we are only expected to do our best (64:16).
Being conscious of these Islamic instructions should help us confront the prospect of fasting under whatever level of lockdown with patience and joy.
We should endeavour to live the spirit of Ramadan to the fullest, like we have previously done, by bringing our efforts that we used to do at the masjids back to our homes.
We can still fill our homes with prayers and Nawafils, Zikr, reading the Holy Quran, listening to Tafsir, contemplation, learning about our Deen and other such things; we just need to keep it inside of our bubbles.
Although currently we cannot invite others to ours home for Iftars or sponsor the same in Mosques, we can still share food by estimating the amount we would have spent on the Iftars and donating to charities that are feeding the poor and indigents in New Zealand.
The good side of lockdown
We should also realise that there are many advantages to fasting during lockdown. For instance, this makes it easier to eliminate or reduce ostentation (Riya) in the performance of all our acts of worship; to avoid more of the challenges and provocations that weaken or break our fast and to lessen the pressures on spouses from cooking and entertaining large number of persons.
I urge myself as much as you to reflect on the current pandemic and how fortunate we are to be fasting in this amazing country with its beautiful people, weather, low COVID-19 cases, short fasting hours, and with food abundant.
Contrast that to other places where Muslims will be fasting under all sorts of challenges and with no provisions to start or break their fast.
Issues in FIANZ
I remind myself as I do you all that despite some of the internal issues within FIANZ, we are still one of the best, most united and most democratic Muslim communities in the diaspora.
Therefore, in the spirit of Ramadan, may I plead to you all to work hard to strengthen this unity by forgiving one another and working together for our community and country.
I start with myself by humbly asking forgiveness from anyone I have knowingly or unknowingly offended, as I forgive everyone who offended me.
May Allah SWT enable us to witness the coming month of Ramadan, May He Accept all our Ibadah, Forgive our sins and the sins of all who passed away before us, Protect us, our families, our communities and our countries from COVID-19 and all other diseases and calamities and Grant us all Jannatul- Firdaws.
Dr Mustafa M Farouk is President, Federation of Islamic Association of New Zealand (FIANZ) based in Hamilton.
