Hadi urges Muslims to vaccinate, follow SOPs

 

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang today urged all quarters to support the government's efforts in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, including its ongoing immunisation programme.

Taking a jab at those who had been issuing views against Covid-19 vaccination, the Marang MP said people who do not have knowledge especially in religious matters should not issue advice.

"Islamic scholars have made a list of priorities that a human is obligated to protect according to its order, namely to protect the religion, life, mind, lineage, dignity, and wealth.

"According to verses 172 to 173 of Surah Al-Baqarah, the religion puts that protecting life should be above other matters. This is up to the extent that some things that are (normally) haram (prohibited in Islam) are given exception just for the sake of protecting life.

"This includes a medical emergency," he said.

Hadi was referring to a Quranic verse where Allah said that Muslims who have to eat pork or other food deemed as haram in Islam, do not commit any sin if it is done because they do not have any other choice.

He also cited an incident during Prophet Muhammad's time as an example, when the Prophet told a group of travellers, who became sick because they were not used to Medina's climate, to drink camel milk and urine. For the record, urine is one of the things that Islam prohibits its followers from consuming.

Hadi's statement came within days after health authorities reported that thousands of individuals had not turned up during their Covid-19 vaccine appointments.

This has become another problem for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP), which is already facing a slow rate of registration. As of yesterday, the programme received a total of 11,069,418 registrations, which translate to 45.6 percent of the country's adult population.

One of the issues that are being faced by NIP is propaganda by anti-vaxxers, who have been peddling unsubstantiated claims that vaccines are made from prohibited substances, besides the allegation that it is an attempt by Israel to kill Muslims.

Apart from the issues with immunisation drive, recent news reports also showed that some Muslim communities had gone against the government's restrictions on congregational prayers.

"Do not simply speak without knowledge, especially when it comes to religion. Especially when it comes to the time of darurat (emergency), because it can damage the reputation of the religion itself, and brings harm to the public especially in fulfilling their obligation to protect their lives," he said.

The politician also called for the government to take strong action under the emergency laws against those who pose danger to public health, including religious figures who go against the quarantine, SOPs and vaccination, and media members who abuse the freedom of the press. - Mkini