When the pandemic first emerged, I observed the resuscitation of verses of scripture floating around Twitter, particularly depicting the Holy Prophet’s mannerisms during the bubonic plague; records of how he maintained his hygiene and kept his composure amidst the flurry of mayhem resurfaced, offering a model for us to emulate.
Others within religious communities posited that the virus had surfaced to admonish mankind – we were so consumed with our own lives and individual struggles that we had become acquiescent towards the evils that were consuming the world: of the decay of nature, of the humanitarian crises that had become mundane headlines, of the oppression of innocuous people.
I firmly agree with Mcloughlin’s highlighting of the idea that mankind once, and still does, rely on God as a pillar of ‘crisis management’ and propels the spiritually connected to conduct an internal synthesis to deduce the wider meaning of mass-scale events like this pandemic. I find it even more intriguing that the Ancient Greek etymological root of the word ‘crisis’ lends itself to many definitions, including that of ‘measuring oneself’, which offers the notion of introspection. On a micro-level the pandemic has given those of us that had become too absorbed in the urban bustle and constant bombardment of superficial goals and activities time to sit beside ourselves, to contemplate and to assess our characters. In these moments of solitude, we have had time to distance ourselves from the obligations of work (at least initially), detach from technology momentarily and question our purpose on Earth. Some of us have suffered from great loss, coming to grips with the transience of our lives. But have we now come to value our finite time on Earth more? Have we drawn ourselves closer to our ‘true purpose’? Have we finally understood the virtue of patience in a world marked by instant gratification?
This pandemic has been the most existential one yet, further characterised by fifth generation warfare, rapid subliminal messaging, economic chaos, political agendas and civil disunity, and, as Caduff very rightly highlights, the exacerbation of inequality. This pandemic poses its own unique dilemmas but also offers certain privileges that exist by the virtue of time and generation (at least for some of us). Previously, there was no sufficient technology or infrastructure that could prop up a hospital in the span of 10 days. There were no means of circulating anecdotes or sharing news about medical breakthroughs in the span of seconds and there certainly wasn’t faith that that teams of researchers would be able to pull through with a vaccine within a relatively quick timeframe of 12-18months. While this certainly hasn’t been the most devastating epidemic, we can observe more nuanced problems within our particular socio-economic bubble, such as the restlessness of being trapped alone within an apartment, resorting to starting at a screen for solace at the expense of human contact.
Personally, I have experienced waves of anxiety and harmony, transacting simultaneously within me. I have come to appreciate the frailty – both physically and mentally – of humankind in the midst of this pandemonium. But with the promise of great chaos, comes the promise for great opportunity – that has been one of my sources of solace
Further Reading:
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/what-islam-tells-us-about-responding-to-deadly-pandemics-35441#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWhen%20you%20hear%20that%20%5Ba,the%20principle%20of%20modern%20quarantine.