Between Corona, Ulama, and Science

The World Health Organization (WHO) established the global pandemic status of Covid-19 after the dangerous virus spread to most regions of the world. The number of people infected and the death toll continues to grow, while the light of effective treatment has not yet been found. Mass gatherings in large numbers have been stopped to avoid the transmission process such as schools, campuses, entertainment venues, conferences, and include worship activities such as Friday prayers. Iran and Malaysia have stopped the mosque's prayers. Previously, Saudi Arabia had stopped the Umrah at the Grand Mosque.

Schools in DKI Jakarta, West Java and Central Java were closed. Everything is intended to prevent transmission. The experts in the health sector become the main reference for knowing the development of the disease. However, other parties did not miss discussing it in accordance with the perspective of their expertise. Including among the scholars. When the outbreak began in China, there was a lot of public discussion about the opinion of a preacher who said that Covid-19 was an army of God sent to China for oppressing Uighur Muslims. Controversy also spread, especially on social media. It becomes a big question when the virus is spread to the Islamic community and eventually causes the cessation of umrah activities, Friday prayers, and other Muslim worship activities that involve large numbers of masses.

This view of judging others is actually a reflection of the mindset of some Muslims. In previous cases, there were preachers who accused the affected area of ??being affected by God's curse as happened in the earthquake or tsunami disaster that occurred in Lombok, Palu, Banten and others. Al-Qur'an verses and certain hadiths related to disaster are cited as a justification for his opinion to judge others who are being struck down by disaster. They do not think what if there is a family or even himself affected by the disaster. When disaster also befalls Muslims around the world, as happened in the Covid-19 case, finally those who like to judge are silent. This case should be a lesson for not easily judging others, especially by using verses or hadith which when conveyed by scholars who are considered competent in the field of religion to the layman as an undeniable truth.

In the past, the ulama became a place to ask for all problems. Not only religious issues, his opinions and advice in other fields were also followed by his congregation. However, as knowledge develops, specialization or even subspecialty knowledge emerges. These specialists are the most competent people on an issue. Finally, the role and meaning of the ulama narrowed as an expert in the field of religion. Therefore they must be more careful in commenting on things that are out of their competence. If something goes wrong or is denied by those who are truly experts in the field the credibility will decrease in the eyes of the people. The choice for scholars is to focus on the field of religious knowledge or participate in learning other fields which can later be used as knowledge to guide the people. In a number of Islamic tertiary institutions, curricula are developed that integrate religious knowledge and certain areas of expertise such as medicine, physics, and others. As such, they are able and authoritative to discuss the two areas they study. This will reduce the interpretation gap between the two fields which are increasingly specialized. If they study religion and medicine or physics, then they will become competent scholars talking about health or physics; or conversely, they will become doctors or physicists who are able to explain the phenomenon from a religious perspective.

The theology believed by the preachers influences what he conveys. A view that surrenders to the "destiny of Allah" (Jabariyah), so that no anticipative action is taken against Covid-19, can endanger others. This attitude causes them to ignore the health regulations so that they have the potential to become infected and transmit them to others. Nature runs according to natural law or sunnatullah which can be tested through a process of cause and effect. When we know that a virus is spread through interactions between sufferers and those around them, then preventing the occurrence of a crowd is a precaution that must be taken. The religious leaders' belief that what is important is to believe in God to justify holding an event that is attended by many people is a form of Jabariyah (fatalist) belief. This can endanger many people. When bad things happen, they quickly say that the situation happened because of fate. Though this is due to rash actions. The reluctance to use the perspective of destiny causes us not to learn of the bad events experienced because destiny is God's will that cannot be rejected by humans. Thus, there is no evaluation process that needs to be done, and finally there is no improvement. Finally, the same mistake might happen in the future. Business in the form of prayer is part of our efforts as people of faith. However, God Himself does not provide certainty when prayer will be answered. Is instantaneous or time period that we ourselves do not know. Science, which is based on empiricism is capable of testing the cause and effect process. For example, a virus can spread in certain ways, such as due to interactions with other people. Vaccines with certain formulations can cure a particular virus. Such things are part of sunnatullah in a normal life, as fire will burn an object. Stories about the privileges of certain people who are out of the law of sunnatullah such as Prophet Ibrahim who were not burned by fire, cannot be used as a measure for the public.

Covid-19 is in front of our eyes. The way we deal with the disease will determine our ability to prevent its spread or speed of treatment. Each has expertise in accordance with the competencies that have been built. We guard the efforts of policy makers to make prevention and handling measures. We follow the advice of health experts for a healthy lifestyle that reduces our risk of exposure to the virus. The scholars, if their knowledge is limited to the field of religion, should not get out of the realm of competence, namely by inviting people to make the current event as a moment to do muhasabah, increase our faith in God, increase prayer, or other matters related to religion. Religious organizations such as NU whose management consists of many expertise such as religion, health, public policy, economics and others discuss issues from various perspectives so as to be able to provide more comprehensive guidance than knowledge with a single perspective possessed by an ulama. People, especially NU residents, are expected to follow NU's official guidelines in dealing with this global epidemic.

(Achmad Mukafi Niam)

Source: https://www.nu.or.id/