Daily Times

While the various departments of the government are pursuing different possibilities to combat the COVID-19 contagion, the role of the Ministry of Religious Affairs (“MoRA”), in particular, has become indispensable in these efforts, especially in this blessed month of Ramadan. MoRA should immediately take advantage of the largest network in Pakistan. The network of the religious scholars and spiritual leaders of all faiths (“Ulema”) is far reaching and well respected. Fortunately for MoRA, the current Federal Minister, Peer Noor ul Haq Qadri, himself is a very well-respected spiritual leader. As the entire country is struggling to combat COVID-19 and preaching ways to protect oneself from the contagion, we must adhere to the basic principle of Islam: Cleanliness. As much as cleanliness is promoted in the Islamic teachings it is not uncommon to find its virtues eloquently praised in other religions as well. Integrating cleanliness and good hygiene practices in daily life should become the very basic attribute of our nation’s national character.

Over fourteen centuries ago, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ emphasized the importance of cleanliness in Islam. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Purity is half of iman (faith).” Thus, all religious practices stand incomplete without purity i.e. cleanliness. In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic the plenary importance of practicing good hygiene to keep oneself and dwellings disinfected has become more apparent than ever before. Perhaps, a wakeup call to start understanding the importance of cleanliness as a religious and communal obligation. Ulema must perform their role in educating people in routine who come to congregations by way of example. Not only their sermons should include the intrinsic benefits of maintaining good hygiene, but they should also encourage people to regularly take part in cleaning their mosques. Personal hygiene in the mosques should be practiced with responsibility. People coming to mosques should know their responsibility towards each other and do the needful as prescribed by the government. There are numerous religious precepts on hygiene and cleanliness that must be vehemently preached and practiced. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The miswak (a twig used for brushing teeth [a toothbrush]) cleans and purifies the mouth and pleases the Lord.” Hygiene protocols amidst the current crises, as advised by the government, further amplifies the religious guidance to maintain cleanliness. Specifically, covering your coughs, keeping your hands clean and personal hygiene in general- something that we now witness as being promoted vigorously by scientists around the world.

MoRA should reach out to the masses with the help of Ulema by means of various social media platforms, virtual lectures, and scripted sermons to permeate the importance of cleanliness as part of religious duty. Forsooth, adherence to good hygiene and cleanliness is a deed for which not only one is rewarded in hereafter, but it will also help in curbing COVID-19 and future diseases. Furthermore, MoRA and the respective provincial departments, should regulate all the places of worship to make certain that they are regularly cleaned and disinfected under the government approved sanitizing measures. Ulema should encourage personal hygiene at home as essential element of faith. Ulema should also educate people that hygiene at home includes the vicinity outside the walls of one’s abode in an effort to build national sense of communal responsibility. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Removing harmful things from the road is an act of charity.” Therefore, keeping our dwellings and surroundings clean from any element that is harmful to others such as irresponsible waste disposal etc., is our religious, moral and civic duty. In this regard, Peer Dr. Gohar Nazir of Mohra Sharif, is doing an exemplary job as a religious scholar and a medical doctor. He is actively promoting the government approved safety protocols through social media, while emphasizing on the medical and religious aspects of cleanliness and good hygiene.

For years I have been advocating Clean Pakistan as an essential component in our nations progress. Understanding and realizing the health hazards and pollution caused by the lack of proper waste management is a challenge for Pakistan that requires an urgent attention of the government. Some of the suggestions for the government that are most important and relevant to the current COVID-19 crises include formulating and promoting the policies to encourage people and businesses to adopt their respective neighborhoods. Communities should adopt their local mosques and places of worship. Community based funds should be specifically created to secure and preserve an uncontaminated and disinfected environment in the aforementioned. To this extent I suggest that MoRA and the respective provincial ministries should assist communities in creating and maintaining such funds. Moreover, the imams in the mosques (and religious focal persons in the places of worship) should get the precise training to comply with standard protocols as prescribed by the government. I have noticed that often hygiene is neglected due to the lack of responsibility in the mosques and the surrounding areas. However, if the government diligently devises and promulgates the policy for better hygiene in the mosques and other places of worship, and educates their custodians, we can expeditiously promote awareness and achieve desired results.

Whereas the government is advised to encourage the Ulema, it should also involve the private sector in its campaign in promoting good hygiene. Historically, with industrialization came the adverse implications for the environment and health. Thus, it’s incumbent upon large manufacturers and companies in the private sector to expiate their continuous negative externalities by proactively engaging in a campaign to clean the environment. If the large companies operating in Pakistan assume a reasonable share of their responsibilities to promote cleanliness, the environment with respect to hygiene will improve markedly; hence significantly improving the aggregate health. The Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers should direct the health departments alongside MoRA and the provincial ministries, respectively, to call an emergency conference of the large companies. The government should encourage these large companies to implement the following policies by using their social responsibility funds. 1) The companies should adopt the cities where they are located and become an active partner with the government to ensure clean and healthy environment. 2) The companies should make clean hygiene practices an integral part of their franchise, distribution, retail and other agreements. Thus, making it a contractual obligation of all the entities bound by the aforementioned agreements to adopt the streets, buildings or vicinities of their respective locations by maintaining a clean environment. 3) Make health education, chiefly teaching responsible hygiene practices, as part of their trainee programs at every level.

No campaign on cleanliness and good hygiene will be complete without involving the pharmaceutical companies operating in Pakistan. Through tax incentives, the pharmaceuticals should be encouraged to become effective partners with the government. First and foremost, the pharmaceuticals should assist the government in training the educators in the schools, madrasas and universities on hygiene; whilst by law government should make such education a compulsory subject in all curricula. They can also help the government to reach far and remotes areas by training the lady health workers who can educate women in clean hygiene practices. Additionally, the pharmaceuticals should make every effort to make sanitizing products available for the mosques and the public places at a nominal price. The government, upon consultation with the globally recognized scientists, should develop disinfection protocols to address any future pandemics. Entrepreneurs and the pharmaceutical industry should be encouraged to find efficient solutions that are self-sustaining and self-disinfecting. In the long run the private sector will have to step forward with innovations to address COVID-19 like crises.

Moving forward as a nation, we should adopt meaningful and reasonable elements of the social distancing as part of our routine life. There is a need for an immediate shift in government’s policy to focus on health of the entire nation through modern techniques and awareness programs. Will Durant, an American philosopher, once said, “The health of the nations is more important than the wealth of the nations.” Striving for the aggregate good health and hygienic practices, are not only our religious and civic obligations that will improve the quality of life as a nation, but they will also enhance our immunity and readiness to resist and address future calamities.