Traditional Method of Dividing the Bodies of Covid-19 Patients for Islanders

The main basis for handling deaths from infectious disease outbreaks in positive law is based on Law Number 4 of 1984 concerning infectious disease outbreaks, Law Number 6 of 2018 concerning health quarantine and Director General of P2P Circular Number 483 of 2020 concerning 2nd Revision of the Preparedness Guidelines Facing Corona Virus Novel Infection (Covid-19). Each of these regulations focuses on handling the bodies of infectious plague patients in health care, preventing the transmission of disease transmission from the body to the mortuary officer, and preventing transmission of the disease from the body to visitors, including their families.

Ideally these rules apply to victims who die in hospitals or health care services and are handled by health care workers. The trouble is, for some islands in the country, there are no quarantine institutions for patients. The more troublesome, patients who are suspected to be positive with infectious outbreaks, cannot use boat transportation services to cross into other island areas that have been used as a place of reference for patients. Why? Before boarding the ship, there are standard transmission prevention procedures that have been carried out by local service officers. As a result, people who are identified as infected cannot cross, so they must remain in the islands and fight alone to handle it. Even more troublesome, when a victim dies. Generally, Muslim island communities will immediately bathe the dead victims of infectious plague. In fact, this action was positively dangerous for bathing because the transmission of the disease was very likely to occur at that time. Not only for those who bathe, to their families and other pentakziah, as well as grave diggers and at the same time officers who unload bodies into the grave are also vulnerable to contracting the plague. Conscious or unconscious, this is most likely to happen to islanders in the midst of an outbreak.

Moreover, added by the passing of the entry and exit of local residents who travel every day to areas with red zone for commercial purposes, adding to the vulnerability of islanders to be infected with infectious plague. To anticipate this, it is necessary to convey in this paper some of the minimum standard procedures in the Shari'a, in the event of a death toll due to an infectious outbreak due to coronavirus. This procedure is certainly taking into account: 1. The safety factor for the community tasked with handling the bodies of the victims of the plague. After all, Allah SWT has forbidden His servants from falling into destruction (Sura Al-Baqarah verse 195). 2. The bodies of infectious plague victims can still be rotated according to the guidance justified by the Shari'a. 3. Allah SWT wants ease and does not want difficulties (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 185). Some of the procedures the authors have successfully adopted are as follows: First, if a victim dies, then what must be done by the pentakziah and the victim's family, is to immediately use a minimum health procedure. For example, wearing clothes made of simple plastic, or a coat that can protect himself and his family from transmission. Masks are things that should not be left behind, because coronavirus is a disease that lives in the nasal mucosa, and can transmit through breathing. (State Official Document as of March 16, 2020, Guidelines for the Prevention of Coronavirus Disease Control (Covid-19), Jakarta: Directorate General of Disease Prevention and Control, March 2020, page: 52)

Second, it should immediately cover all holes in the dead, especially the nose and mouth with "solation", and immediately spray using an antiseptic solution (70% alcohol), then prepare the body to be rolled. All clothes related to the deceased, pillows, etc., should be kept out of the reach of healthy families and visitors. (Official State Documents, 2020: 53).

Third, after the body is sprayed with an antiseptic solution, the body should be avoided from people who do the screening by using water, because water is the fastest mediator of virus transmission. Traditional safer screening for the general public in cases of epidemics such as this is by offering death victims for the reasons stated in the first point.

إذا تعذر غسل الميت لفقد الماء أو احترق بحيث لو غُسِّل لتَهَرَّى ، لم يُغَسَّل بل يُيَمَّم ، وهذا التيم واج لأنه تطهير لا يتعلق بإزالة نجاسة, فوجب الانتقال فيه عند العجز عن الماء إلى التيمم كغسل الجنابة, ولو كان ملدوغا بحيث لو غسل لتهرى أو خيف على الغاسل يمم لما ذكرناه

means, "When hard to bathe the deceased because the absence of water or deceased footed causes burning, with as if bathing has a destructive effect, then it is not bathed, but rather be pampered. This law of revelation is compulsory, because tayamum becomes a referee for purification that has nothing to do with eliminating impurity. This obligation to move on paddling also applies to parties who cannot be touched by water, such as taking a janabah bath. Even though the condition of the deceased is destroyed, if it is bathed it becomes flaky, or there is a concern for the person who bathed it, then it is enough to smile it, as we have mentioned. " (Al-Majmu 'Syarah al-Muhazzab, Juz 5, page 178 and I'anatut Thalibin, juz II, page 127).

After finishing the screening, it is recommended that the dead body be sprayed with an antiseptic solution, then analyzed. Fourth, all officers who handle and lift the deceased to the graveyard until the burial must use standard safety devices, such as masks, hand sanitizers or hand sanitizers, waterproof clothes that can be made of plastic and most importantly, can avoid direct contact with the body of the deceased. Every treatment should be done carefully to avoid getting infected. Burial of the deceased should be hastened and not wait for a time that exceeds the time of 4 hours to avoid things that are unexpected and dangerous to health. (Official State Documents, 2020: 55-56). Fifth, the deceased who have been completed, should be fused with a standard shroud and then wrapped in plastic that can be easily ripped. The purpose of wrapping the victim in plastic, is to avoid the discharge from the deceased suspected of being an intermediary for spreading the virus. Or you can also put it in a coffin, without the need to open it again. (Official State Documents, 2020: 57). Sixth, when the deceased is put in the coffin, the position should be in a slanted sleeping condition, with the face being touched with the soil placed in the coffin. The purpose of tilting the position of the victim's body is so that the position of the deceased can face the Qibla when it is placed in the tomb. Because after all, confronting the deceased towards the Qibla, the law is mandatory.

وَوَضْعُهُ مُسْتَقْبِلَ الْقِبْلَةِ وَاجِبٌ ، كَذَا قَطَعَ بِهِ الْجُمْهُورُ. قَالُوا: فَلَوْ دُفِنَ مُسْتَدْبِرًا أَوْ مُسْتَلْقِيًا نُبِشَ وَوُجِّهَ إِلَى الْقِبْلَةِ مَا لَمَّْ فَإِنْ تَغَيَّرَ لَمْ يُنْبَشُ It means, "And laying the dead body before the qibla of the law is obligatory, so the ulama scholars ensure the law. They argued: ‘If the deceased were buried by turning their backs on the qibla or lying on their backs, they should be dug up and faced towards the qibla as long as it hasn't changed. If it has changed, it should not be excavated, '' (See An-Nawawi, Raudhat Thalibin wa ‘Umdatul Muftiyin, [Beirut, Al-Maktab Al-Islami: 1405 H], juz II, page 134).

That is what the writer can summarize regarding the standard procedure for laypeople in conducting the scavenging of victims of infectious plague in the islands, where the scanning process must be carried out independently by the community. This procedure was adopted by combining the standard handbook of handling infectious outbreaks of coronavirus published by the Directorate General of Disease Management as of March 2020 and some of the results of NU's bahtsul masail decision regarding corona virus. Allah knows best.

Ustadz Muhammad Syamsudin, Aswaja NU Center PWNU Research Team in East Java.

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