Of between faith and reason of my favourite zikir (remembrance of God) that I recite during the Movement Control Order is a short verse from Surah Al-Anbiya’ (21:87) of the Quran.
The repetitive utterances of “There’s no God but You; Glory be to You. Truly I have been one of the wrongdoers” remind me and believers that we need to return to God in faith and not to lament the misfortune that has befallen us.
Prophet Yunus made this invocation when he was swallowed in a whale’s belly after deserting his people.
He had set out to sea, embittered that the pagans refused to listen to his call towards monotheism.
In the whale’s belly, Prophet Yunus realised that he had committed an error in deserting his people and felt “trapped”. He prostrated, seeking God’s forgiveness and uttered this doa.
A similar analogy can be applied to our current situation. We feel “trapped” as our movement is restricted. We moan about the adversity that we’re going through.
Hence it’s always good to fall back on our faith when we hit rock bottom. Spirituality in terms of prayers for divine intervention can be good for our soul, knowing that God is always hearing our pleas.
When I was a little boy, the first hadith of Prophet Muhammad I learnt was “cleanliness is part of faith”. It dwells on the need for extreme cleanliness, body and soul. It’s about balancing faith and reason. We clean, we will be safe — an approach that entails cause and effect.
Since we’re isolating at home, it’s a good time to read the hadith of Prophet Muhammad so that we can learn what he said some 1,400 years ago about what we are going through now.
One authentic hadith that amazingly relates to the present situation says “if you hear of an outbreak of plague in a land, do not enter it, but if the plague breaks out in a place while you are in it, do not leave that place”. Unfortunately, many of us don’t listen.
Prophet Muhammad knew how to balance faith and reason when he encouraged the sick not to just seek help from God, but to seek medical treatment too.
In an authentic hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah, he said: “Seek medical treatment, as God has not made a disease without appointing a remedy for it.”
Al-Tirmizi narrated that one day, Prophet Muhammad noticed a Bedouin man leaving his camel without tying it. In replying to the Prophet’s question, the Bedouin said: “I put my trust in God.”
The Prophet then said: “Tie your camel first, then put your trust in God.”
This hadith tells us to take affirmative action before indulging in prayers and making doa. This, again, is about balancing faith and reason.
What we face now is a new normal. The Leader of this daily on Friday aptly elucidated that “Covid-19 is forcing changes in our lives — how we consume, learn, work, socialise and communicate”.
We must accept and adapt to change. Everything that we do now is a new way of looking at things.
We stay home. We order food online and do business transactions digitally. When we work, we resort to video-conferencing with our colleagues.
When we go out for groceries, we practise social distancing.
Gone are the days when people don’t mind if we let out a gentle sneeze or cough even using a face mask.
These days, when we sneeze, people run away, avoiding us and uttering heavily-loaded innuendos.
Even worse, if a person with a skullcap spots a goatee or long beard and wears a kurta (a Northern Indian garb), strangers will avoid him.
A question pops out from their mouths: “Awak tabligh ke? (Are you from the tabligh gathering?)”
Guess what, I’ve gotten that reaction from strangers.
C’est la vie.
The writer, a former NST journalist, is now a film scriptwriter whose penchant is finding new food haunts in the country.