By Adellatif Sharaa

KUWAIT: Today is Friday, a day when one prepares himself to go for prayers, then return home to once again get ready to receive family members, go join them at a family gathering or go out somewhere! Yet this Friday is different. A game changer came into play that turned everything upside down. A virus, the coronavirus in specific, scared the globe from north to the south and from east to the west.

It does not discriminate between the poor or rich, old or young. Most people remain at their homes out of fear as thousands of people have already been affected, and unfortunately, the number is still rising in some places where some authorities had lost control.

Kuwait had taken measures including the halt of prayers in mosques, including the Friday prayer, which makes me sad on one hand, as this is the first time in my six decades of life that I cannot enter a mosque. But I find some solace, however, when I go back to reading about similar situations in Islamic history in particular.

About 1,400 years ago, a plague hit an area in Palestine, and some troops did not enter, nor anyone left, following a saying by the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) which means that when an epidemic hits an area, no exit from or entrance to the affected area are allowed.

This situation, while being tough, is necessary to protect human life, which is the most precious. Kuwait's government was among a few governments around the world to take early protective and preventive measures to fend of this virus, and felt the danger of this virus as it was spreading rapidly elsewhere.

Kuwait is dealing with the situation very seriously and is taking the steps to safeguard the health of the population, so it is necessary to prevent gatherings of all forms including gatherings at public places, mosques, churches, malls or anywhere else. It seems that authorities are having control over the matter so far. May Allah protect all humanity from this or any other evil. May Allah bless Kuwait.