By Abdullatif Sharaa

Over the weekend, I decided to watch the news from various parts of the world, and the prominent subjects were the United States’ various elections and polls. But that is not my concern at the moment - obviously the COVID-19 situation is of the utmost concern. Maybe it’s boring to keep repeating the word COVID-19, but believe me it should not be at all!

The new thing in it is that places where the number of cases was going down are now seeing the virus making a comeback. I discovered that my dear city of Dallas, Texas is now reporting record numbers of cases, after being relatively in good shape. In South America, the virus is wreaking havoc, and Brazil is a good example that seems to have lost it. If we go north to Europe and take Sweden as an example, cases made neighboring countries close their borders.

This makes it very clear that the fight is still raging on and it is extremely fierce. This virus is the most opportune thing on the face of earth and what happened proves this fact. Cities of the world started to open up as permitted by concerned authorities and stipulations were being made, but unfortunately, people were lax and complacent - no social distancing, no masks, no this and no that… against the advice of the medical community.

People were told to stay home, but they did not, us included. People were asked to keep a distance between each other, but they did not, us included. They were told to wear masks, but they did not, us included. Maybe some people did not realize the mistake made by the World Health Organization (WHO) when it said that those who are asymptomatic will not transfer the virus to others, then retracted this claim an hour later, but those who I call social media operatives kept spreading the first claim and ignored the retraction.

It is understood that human beings cannot stand confinement and being in the same place for prolonged periods. Even fugitive criminals who are keen to keep a low profile and stay in hiding will come out every now and then. We are not criminals but victims of something called a COVID-19 invasion, and the irony is that to defeat it, or at least fight it off, we must stay at a distance from each other and not gather in numbers.

Life must go on – this is a given fact! The country as a whole cannot stay locked down for longer periods because the wheels of the economy must keep rolling, and that is why conditions, stipulations and instructions are given to be followed during the phased return to normal life. Please follow what the authorities say. Stay safe!
Finally, Allah says in the Holy Quran: “And spend in the way of Allah and do not throw [yourselves] with your [own] hands into destruction [by refraining]. And do good; indeed Allah loves the doers of good!” (2:195)