Muslims and Christians, major casualties of COVID–19?

Never in the history of the human race has an unseen enemy, virtually unknown, caused so much pandemonium in practically every country of the world.

The coronavirus, better known by its shortened form of COVID–19, has suddenly descended on the world and has eaten up our planet even though it was initially seen as a Chinese disease, having first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March, four months after it appeared in human beings in Wuhan. By the end of that month, the world saw more than a half-million people infected and nearly 30,000 deaths. The infection rate in the US and other nations was still spiking.

Today every nook and cranny across the globe has had a brush with the virus, not only in terms of mortality rates but in all aspects of national economies.

As at the time of writing the global figure has risen to about four million confirmed cases and about 300,000 death.

Again today there is not a single country that has not taken measures to contain the virus and stop its spread within its borders. The most popular word that has emerged is lockdown, with governments imposing restrictions on movement of its people and forcing social distancing, while bans have been placed on all forms of gatherings, social, political and religious.

Whoever imagined that a time would come in modern times when a pandemic would force almost all countries in the world to close their air, sea and land borders, just to stop travellers from elsewhere from importing the virus into their territories?

Pathetic

What I have found most pathetic is the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on Christian and Muslim faithful throughout the world. Never in the history of Christianity and Islam, the two leading religions in the world, has there been any occasion when the adherents of these two religions have been advised to stay away from churches and mosques.

These two faiths account for nearly 45 per cent of the world’s population, with Christians at 2.3 billion which is 29 per cent of the world’s total. Muslims, on the other hand, are estimated to be 1.9 billion making up 24 per cent of the world’s population.

Even the Hindus who are about 1.1 billion and mainly found in India and who make up 14 per cent of the world’s population are also caught in the web of restrictions, with most temples shut temporarily to avoid the spread of the virus.

It is the case of Christians and Muslims, who are found in every continent of the world, that has come under the microscope. Whoever believed that a time would come when Christians would not be able to observe Easter, for whatever reason?

COVID-19 has made this possible. For the first time in the history of Christendom, Palm Sunday, a popular feature of Easter, with Christians parading the streets of every village, town or city with palm branches, singing and dancing to usher in Easter, was not observed.

There was no decree from anywhere stopping this ceremony. But the top hierarchy of all Christian churches, accepted that the times were not normal and persuaded their followers to stay at home and observe Easter in their homes.

Again for the first time in history the most popular centre of Christian worship, the Vatican, was without the usual crowd from all over the world that throng the Basilica to observe one of the most important festivals in the Christian calendar. It was virtually empty.

The Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, was left to celebrate Easter with a handful of priests because COVID-19 would not allow any religious gathering while it held the whole world to ransom.

It has been the same with the Muslim faithful who have found themselves in the same situation as their Christian counterparts. Very early in the pandemic the authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which houses two of the holiest sites in Islam, in Mecca and Madina, issued an instruction stopping pilgrims from all over the world from visiting the kingdom while the pandemic lasted.

This has never happened in the history of Islam for the Holy Ka’aba in Mecca to be shut from pilgrims from both within and outside Saudi Arabia.

Just like Christians were prevented from observing Easter this year, the Muslim faithful will not be able to visit the Holy Land during the current Ramadan to perform the Lesser Hajj.

I pity my good friend and name sake Alhaji Razak Rahman, the Spiritual Leader of the Old Vandals, based in Bolgatanga, who prefers to go to Mecca every year for the Lesser Hajj to observe the fasting there throughout the Holy Month of Ramadan.

It is yet to be known whether this year’s main Hajj scheduled for late July and early August will come on as a result of the COVID-19. It would be a big blow to Muslims worldwide to be prevented from observing one of the five pillars of Islam. It has never happened before.

Meanwhile, all mosques in Ghana like elsewhere in the Islamic world are closed down to avoid the spread of COVID-19. What is very painful to the Muslim faithful is that for the first time ever congregational prayers cannot be observed during this Ramadan while the Friday Jumaat services have been stopped. It is not only in Ghana but throughout the Islamic world.

Education

Another area that has been sadly and seriously affected by the pandemic is the education sector. In virtually every country in the world, schools, from the basic to the university, have been closed down since March.

This is causing a lot of discomfort to both parents and students as they are all locked down at home each looking at the other’s face, with no hope of when they would return to the classroom to continue with their studies.

Whoever dreamt that a time like this would come when sporting activities the world over would be rudely interrupted by an unseen enemy called coronavirus. Yes it has happened. The greatest sporting casualty has been European football that over the years has given entertainment to millions of football fans all over the world.

Since early March, there has been a stalemate and nobody is sure whether the various leagues will ever resume amid the uncertainly and crisis created by COVID-19.

My dear readers, in world history there have been all sorts of pandemics and calamities that have killed millions of people. One of the best known is the great influenza pandemic of 1918 also known as the “Spanish flu” that was believed to have killed between 50 and 100 million, representing about five per cent of the then world’s population. Some have called it the greatest pandemic in world history with half a billion people infected.

However, it is the spread of the COVID–19 in every known country in the world that has been of concern to everybody. World leaders and scientists the world over are in frantic search for the ‘almighty’ vaccine to crush the virus. So far there has been no vaccine in sight but experts believe hopefully by January next year the world will smile. Let us hope so.

Writer’s E-mail: elzakmediaconsult@yahoo.com/Mob. 0275 193140.