Follow precautions and guidelines

By Abdessamad Elmokhalfi

The coronavirus has been officially declared as a world wide pandemic and many are searching for guidance.

As muslims there are a few things to keep in mind as we prepare ourselves for the onset of whats to come.

Firstly don’t panic: panic will only escalate fears and reduce our ability to respond to any situation. We need to be prepared, while it’s important to avoid panicking this however doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the necessary precautions to prepare ourselves for whats to come as our prophet (pbuh) encourages us to take by the reasonable means and at the same time put our full trust in Allah.

As muslims we should follow the necessary precautions and guidelines from health officials in order to protect ourselves and others.

Whether this is from thorough washing our hands, avoiding gatherings etc. while medical officials are advising us to practice self-isolation quarantine today, our prophet (pbuh) gave us this advice 14 husband years ago: “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.”

While Covid-19 may not be deadly in your case you potentially may be the cause to the spread to others putting their lives at risk.

In such a case one should not feel they are missing out on any reward as the reward will be written as prophet (pbuh) advised.

While following all the physical precautions one should never neglect the spiritual protections, there are many specific supplications of the prophet (pbuh) to protect us from affliction.

After taking all the precautions and reciting the daily Adkar one should bare in mind that everything is from Allah as he mentions; “Never will be struck except by what Allah has decreed for us; He is our protector.” And upon Allah let the believers rely.

Instead of having fear and panic let us all use this calamity as an opportunity to return to Allah and to rediscover our faith.

What we are witnessing today is how weak we are as humans and how something that is not visible to the eye is threatening the greatest of nations this is a very strong reminder of how much we are in need of our greater.

Abdessamad Elmokhalfi is the Imam and Preacherof the Tarik Ibn ziyad Mosque.