Sunday, March 15, 2020

Religious Minister reckless or ignorant?


Malaysiakini:

Ya Allah, help us combat coronavirus
by Fa Abdul














The Covid-19 outbreak has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Taking precautionary measures, many events around the world are being either cancelled, suspended or restricted.

The Asean summit has been postponed. Champions League, Europa League, London Marathon, NBA, NHL and many major sports events around the world have been postponed.

Disneyland parks around the world and Universal Studios Hollywood are closed. Green Day, Slipknot, BTS, The Who and Pearl Jam have cancelled their concerts and tours.

Even a roundtable conference on coronavirus got cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Everywhere around the world, people are avoiding events with mass gatherings. But in Malaysia, not only are we exposing ourselves to Covid-19 by joining mass gatherings, we don’t even have any qualms about bringing our newly born babies to such events.

On March 13, 2020, more than 40 babies were brought by their parents to the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin mosque in Putrajaya.

After the Friday prayers, the newly appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri conducted "tahnik" - an Islamic ceremony of blessing the newborns commonly done by a pious Muslim.



During the ceremony, Zulkifli dipped his finger into a bowl of honey before touching the lips of one baby. He then dipped his finger into the bowl once again before rubbing it on the infant’s palate.

Once done with one child, Zulkifli dipped his finger into a bowl of water before moving on to the next infant.

In this time of Covid-19, I cannot fathom how someone holding a ministerial post could practice such terrible coronavirus hygiene. How can he be so reckless?

As a minister, scratch that, as an adult with good common sense, he should not even have consented to the tahnik ceremony in a mosque full of Friday prayer congregation, what more take part in one.


Perhaps he still doesn’t understand the gravity of the Covid-19 situation in our country.

On second thought, perhaps he believes all we need is a few more rounds of sembahyang hajat, pleading for Allah to help us combat Covid-19.

After all, despite the official advice from the health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah last Thursday, calling everyone to postpone mass gatherings including religious events to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Zulkifli was among those who decided to turn a deaf ear.



Instead, claiming that the situation in Malaysia is under control, he insisted that Friday prayers should proceed as usual.

I wonder, does he not realise out of the 197 Covid-19 cases recorded in Malaysia as of Friday the 13th, 53 percent of the cases took place in Selangor?

Having Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya located in the heart of Selangor, should he not, as the religious affairs minister, made the call to stop any form of religious ceremonies and mass gatherings in those federal territories and state?

Surprisingly, Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin had the insight to do so although there has been only one case of coronavirus recorded in the state.

Of course, one could argue that at least Zulkifli had suggested shortening the Friday sermon as a preventive measure.





But let me ask you this. How is cutting the Friday sermon short by a few minutes prevent the spread of coronavirus?

Anyone who keeps themselves well-informed about Covid-19 would know that the coronavirus is capable of surviving in the air for a few hours and survive on a hard surface for up to three days. Remaining in a seated position throughout the sermon for a few minutes less does not prevent members of the congregation from being exposed to the virus.

Then again, maybe Zulkifli wasn’t aware of this. After all, he doesn’t seem to be aware of many things related to Covid-19.

Having such a minister, maybe we should all perform sembahyang hajat for some help.




10 comments:

  1. Allah will protect them.

    The rest of you Nons STFU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please its in the hadith. Do not do on what is against the hadith. Death comes to everyone but dying while helping those who are critical in hospital would be more beneficial and get more pahala. We run away from 1 azab of allah saw to another azab by allah saw. Please take note. The second wave of covid happened in a masjid in sri petaling. May the person who spread it die and caused many more to fall sick and die. He will be judged by allah not you not me.

      Delete
  2. An idiot out to prove he is doing his job.

    ReplyDelete
  3. y msia govt still let the mainlanders walk in n out msia as if nothing happen? from ph until pn all did nothing.

    some of my friend keep criticise usa saying h1n1 / flu cause more dead, n how the world discriminate against mainlander, y not all this china lover just move to wuhan n stay there? bring along their dad mum son daughter. wtf some chinese msian become an idiot when come to anything china/usa?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dari Ustaz Hanafi :

    " Hairan. Manusia lebih takutkan Kuman dari Tuhan. Sedangkan kuman tu dari Tuhan. Sepatutnya makin ramai ke Masjid, bukan tutup Masjid."

    Yes, Allah will protect the believers. The rest boleh bla...



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ustaz kuman dari tuhan?hang ni bangang ka apa?

      Delete
    2. Sebenarnya betul kuman dan virus dari tuhan. Di dalam hadith ada di sebut saidina umar ibn al khattab pun mengelak dari memasuki kota yang ada wabak menular yang mematikan. Dia dan rombongan sahabatnya pulang ke madinah. Orang yang paling berani dan syaihtan pun takut dengan dia pergi balik ke madinah kerana dia tahu kita tak lari dari azab allah swt melainkan ke azab allah swt yang lain.Bukan takut kuman bukan takut virus takut memberikan hadiah virus pada anak, pada ibu sendiri dan ustaz ustaz yang tak bersalah.

      Delete
  5. He believed what he belief... what to do?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Action or inaction, hero or demon, do not do onto others what you do upon yourself. This backdoor government surely will end up like Covid19 the shortest lived government in the history of Malaysia.

    ReplyDelete