Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Coronavirus & The New Start


Mon 30 Mar 2020 | 06:53 AM
Yassmine Elsayed

There is a global political and societal commitment to change the course of the Coronavirus and there are defensive and offensive measures against it. And the phrase "stay in your home" in most countries of the world, has become a protective treatment for millions of people in different countries of the world. Against this deadly global epidemic, I see some of the aspects that have started or will begin to change people, family, state, human groupings, regional and global systems, I will summarize all this in ten points:

- This epidemic began to remind everyone of the weakness of human beings (and the man was created weak) (4/28); that we are all connected, everything that affects a person, quickly affects others; and that the geographical borders which we teach to our students are only virtual, as the virus is moving very fast across countries and continents without visas or passports.

- All people are equal; there is no logic to differentiate between this and that based on gender, color, power, money, prestige, or other classifications that all monotheistic religions abolished. And religions, too, affirmed equality between people in human rights while restricting the standard of differentiation between them in piety only. This standard is reachable by everyone, and can contribute to people advancement, progress, and does not separate them and pide them into classes or categories. The Coronavirus treats everyone in the same way and does not know the age or class exceptions and it does not know the honorables even, and perhaps we have to treat ourselves in the same manner of equality and based on the values ​​of love and justice. And if you do not believe me, ask the heads of state and celebs who have been infected by this disease (British Crown Prince Charles, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prince of Monaco Albert II, famous actor Tom Hanks).

- In a beautiful message sent by the American billionaire Bill Gates to the world about this virus, he said that he does not see it as a catastrophe, but rather as a "spiritual" sanctuary to fix what went wrong in the human and civilization trajectory. Indeed, the Qur'an is filled with verses that explain the reality of the universe as it was created. Allah says: “Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of (the meed) that the hands of men have earned, that (Allah) may give them a taste of some of their deeds: in order that they may turn back (from Evil). (30/41) - “Don’t they see that they are tried every year once or twice and yet they turn not in repentance, and they take no heed”.

 

- This virus reminds us that life is short for everyone, and it is a farmland for next life, and the wise is the one who spends his calculated days in hard work, doing good, cooperating with others. 

- This virus reminds us of the role of the family and giving a lot of time to children, and how much we ignored this. 

- This virus reminds us that our big house is burning, and that this virus has stopped the waves of pollution and climate change, and for years, scientists, from every part of the world, confirm with science that any expected increase in two degrees Celsius as a maximum, in temperatures in the globe, from the original level, will simply destroy everything. The virus, hence, came as a warning for countries not to disregard the legal responsibilities that they assumed, and stresses the need to generalize the possession of technology and renewable energies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which is the responsibility of inpiduals and groups.

- Humans have become materialistic, and matter has become overwhelmed by everything in globalization, which only mercy the powerful and deals only with the materialists, something makes man become more competitive, deceiving and selfish in dealings with others, in addition to his lack of sympathy towards those around him.

- That health is a crown over the heads of the wise (if you ask God, ask him wellness) and how much we neglected this, by eating a lot of bad food and contaminated water, and all of this by the work of humans.

- The world order is sick and selfish, the nation-state is in crisis, and the next stage will change everything from the foundations of this system and the priorities of the nation-state, including investment in health and new social relations.

- This virus reminds us of the verse (Indeed, with hardship [will be] ease, with hardship is ease) and the Messenger (PBUH) says: "Be patient, and hardship will not defeat two eases."

In conclusion, all of this inspires a serious beginning. Either we will build a life that is responsive to the reason for which we were created, that is, to worship the Creator, reconstruct the earth, and coexist among us, or we will sentence ourselves by disasters and catastrophes.