Saturday, April 25, 2020
بھٹو تم سے نہیں مرے گا
تحریر: علی عبداللہ ہاشمی
کیا قصور تھا ذوالفقار علی بھُٹو کا؟ سرمایادارانہ نظام میں نقب لگا کر غریبوں، مسکینوں ناداروں، مزدوروں کیلئے مراعات حاصل کرنا یا پھر ماڑے لوگوں کو ذات پات کی غلامی سے نکال کر تمھاری اونچی ذاتوں کے برابر کھڑا کرنا؟ کیا یہ اتنے بڑے جرائم ہیں کہ باون سالوں سے تمھاری درندگی ختم ہونے کا نام ہی نہیں لے
رہی؟
رہی؟
بھُٹو کے خون میں ایسی کیا بات ھے کہ بدماشیہ اور اسکے ایجنٹ ہر دور میں “ایک اسی لہو” کے پیاسے رہے ہیں؟ ایسا کیا کر دیا بھُٹو نے کہ ساٹھ کی دہائی سے ایسٹ انڈیا کمپنی کے تربیت یافتاوں کا سیاسی ایجنڈا ہی نہیں بدل رہا؟ یہ قومی اتحاد بنائیں تو وجہ بھُٹو، جونیجو لیگ لائیں تو کارن بھٹو، یہ نو ستارے اکٹھے کریں تو دشمنی بھٹو کی، اس میں سے ن لیگ کشید لیں تو پریشانی بھٹو کا، یہ نیب دکھا کر قاف لیگ بنائیں یا پھر قاف کو ن اور پھر ن تحریک انصاف میں اُُنڈیل دیں، کچھ بھی کریں مگر حقیقت یہی ہے کہ پچھلے باون برس سے بدماشیہ بھٹو کے بھوت سے جان جھڑوانا چاہتی ہے مگر اسکی جان نہیں چھوٹ رہی۔ بی بی کو قتل کرنے والوں نے اُس روز سے لیکر 2013 الیکشن کے دن تک بم دھماکے کر کر کے اس قوم کو ذہنی مریض بنا دیا تھا۔ کوئی پوچھتا کیوں نہیں ان جادوگروں سے کہ انکے بڑے بیٹے نواز شریف نے 2013 الیکشنز کی اپنی متنازعہ “وکٹری سپیچ” میں ایسا کونسا منتر پھُونکا تھا کہ دھشتگردی بدتدریج ختم ہوتی گئی؟
تو پھر اجازت ھے کہہ لیں کہ بی بی کے قتل سے لیکر
آخری پی پی دور کی ساری دھشتگردی ایک “بھُٹو” کی حکومت کو ناکام کرنے کیلئے تھی؟ آج جب بلاول نے “مسند” سنبھالی ھے تو اسکے بدیشی ہاو بھاو اور طریقہِ اظہار پر طنز وہی لوگ کر رھے ہیں جنکے باپ دادا بینظر بھٹو کو شادی سے پہلے تک “زنانہ” اور “بچہ پیدا کرنے سے قاصر” مشہور کرتے رہے ہیں۔ اس مکروہ کھیل کا فارمی چوزوں پر پلنے والی نسل کو شائید پتا نہیں لیکن ھم جانتے ہیں سو ہم آوازہ لگائیں گے اور اتنا اونچا بولیں گے کہ تمھاری جادوگری اکارت چلی جائے گی۔
کیا زندگی گزاری ھے بلاول بھُٹو نے کبھی غور کیا ھے؟ سوچ کر ہی جھُرجھُری آ جاتی ھے کہ کیا بتایا ہو گا اسکے ماں باپ نے اسے؟ یہی ناں کہ اس مُلک کی سب سے بدمعاش مشینری اسکے خون کی پیاسی ھے، وہ من مرضی نہیں کر سکتا، خواھشات نہیں رکھ سکتا، بلا روک ٹوک کہیں آ جا نہیں سکتا، بات بے بات قہقہہ نہیں لگا سکتا یہاں تک کہ عام لوگوں جیسا کُچھ بھی نہیں کر سکتا۔ اُسے خفیہ ہاتھوں، کیمروں سے محتاط رہنے کے کی تلقین کی جاتی ہو گی۔ کیا ایک نوجوان کا دل نہیں کرتا ہوگا کہ وہ عام لوگوں جیسی زندگی جیئے؟ کیا تمھارے خیال میں بلاول بھُٹو بننا کوئی آسان کام تھا؟
لیکن تم بدبودار لوگ ہو اور ایسے بدبودار کہ گھِن آتی ھے تُم سے اور تمھارے باطن سے۔ اگر تمھارے پاس کیچڑ اچھالنے کیلئے مواد نہیں ھے تو یہ قصور بھی بھُٹو کا ھے؟ اگر تم اسے بلیک میل یا ٹیم نہیں کر سکتے تو تم اسکے خلاف گندی باتیں کرو گے، کیسے نیچ ہو تم؟ اصل بات یہ ھے کہ پچھلے پچاس برس کی ملکی سیاست میں “بھُٹو” کردار کی اس اونچائی کا نام ھے جہاں نجاست زادوں کا ہاتھ انکے “گریبان” تک نہیں پہنچ سکتا جیسا کہ جونیجو لیگ سے لیکر موجودہ حکمرانوں، کُلُ ھُم تک با آسانی پہنچ سکتا ھے سو تم اوچھے ہتھکنڈے آزماتے ہو، متعون کرتے ہو، بدنام کرتے ہو، قید کرتے ہو اور موقع ملتے ہی قتل کرتے ہو؟
یاد رکھو! عوام جب جب فیصلہ کرے گی، تم سیلوٹ مارو گے بھُٹوز کو۔
تم بدنام کرو گے بھٹو کو؟ تُم خود ذلیل و رُسوا ہو جاو گے۔ نہیں یقین آتا تو بتاو کہاں ہیں تمھارے بڑے بڑے تیس مار خان؟ کہاں ھے ایوب، کہاں ھے یحیٰ؟ ضیاء الحق کہاں ھے؟ کہاں ھے بینظیر کا قاتل مشرف؟ اور کہاں ہیں انکے پالتو جو تمھارے اشارہ ابرُو پر بھُٹوز کی دھجیاں اڑا دینے پر آمادہ تھے، کہاں ہیں؟
میں بتاتا ہوں، وہ آج یا تو بے نام و نشان قبروں میں محض فاتحہ کیلئے ترستے ہیں یا پھر نواز شریف کیطرح لکیر کے اِس طرف کھڑے ہیں۔ رہ گیا مشرف تو وہ نشانِ عبرت ہے تمھارے لیئے جو اپنے عزائم کیطرح ایک مکروہ انجام کیطرف بڑھ رہا ھے۔
اسی لیئے تو تُم نے نیا شیرُو پال لیا ھے. لیکن تم جانتے ہو، تم جب جب نئے کُتے پالو گے ھم تمھیں اور تمھارے پالتو دونوں کو بے نقاب کریں گے۔ ھم بھُٹوز کے مقروض چُپ نہیں بیٹھیں گے، اپنی زبانوں کو تالے نہیں لگائیں گے، اور چُپ ہوں بھی کیسے؟ کیا ھم نہیں جانتے کہ بھُٹوز ہمارے حق کیلئے ڈٹے رھے یہاں تک کہ مار دیئے گئے۔ سو ھم بولتے ہیں اور ہمی ہیں جو عوام کی حتمی فتح تک آوازہ لگاتے رہیں گے۔
بھلا کتنے دن میں اس افیونچی قوم کو پتہ چلے گا کہ پاکستان کی لاکھوں ایکڑ سرکاری اراضی تم ریٹائرمنٹ، بدعنوانی اور کرپشن سے گول کر چُکے ہو اور کتنی دیر میں عقدہ کھُلے گا کہ سرکاری ٹھیکوں سے لیکر ڈیفنس, عسکریاں، کنٹونمنٹس، کمرشل مارکیٹیں، سیکیورٹی کے نام پر قبضہ کی گئی لاکھوں ایکڑ اراضیاں، بِلا آڈٹ لمبے بجٹ، یہ کوئی حُب الوطنی نہیں بلکہ “کاروباری فوائد” تھے جنکے تحفظ کیلئے تُم نئے سے نئے ایجنٹ پیدا کرتے رھے اور اپنی قبضہ گیری کیلئے ملک کی واحد عوامی جمہوری قوت “بھُٹو” کو نسل در نسل بدنام، متعون، قید اور پھر قتل کرتے رھے؟ تمھیں کیا لگتا ھے کہ اس راز سے پردہ نہیں اُٹھے گا یا اُس وقت کی پلاننگ بھی تم نے ابھی سے کر رکھی ھے؟
ایک بات کہوں؟ بھُٹو تُم سے نہیں مرے گا، اسکا حل تمھارے پاس نہیں ھے تمھارے کیا کسی کے پاس بھی نہیں ہے۔ اللہ کے یہاں عظیم ہستیوں پر نوازش کی ایک ہی نشانی ھے کہ انکے مزاروں پر “دیئے جلتے ہیں” اور یہ وہ دیئے ہیں جو بھٹو کے مزاروں پر تو جلتے رہیں گے پر تمھاری قسمت میں نہی ہیں چاہے تمھیں
“مسجد کے صحن میں دفن کر دیا جائے”
Utility stores across Pakistan shut down at advent of Ramadan
According to details, President All Pakistan Workers Unions, Syed Arif Shah announced that the Utility Stores’ employees across the country will go on strike indefinitely from today (Friday) if the demands are not met. The development comes just a day before the start of the holy month of Ramadan. Syed Arif Shah said, “The union had demanded a COVID-19 risk allowance for all the employees, regularisation of daily wagers and contractual workers, and up-gradation of sales and warehouse staff.”
He asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to order for immediate redressal of their issues. He said the decision to observe strike was taken by all the unions of utility store workers of Pakistan with complete consensus.
He asserted that they were closing the utility stores in protests for indefinite period of time. He said talks between authorities of utility stores and workers unions had failed.The citizens across the country faced difficulties due to the untimely closure of the utility stores as they struggled to buy basic need items before the first fast of Ramadan.
In Punjab’s capital Lahore, the utility stores were locked up while the staff was nowhere to be seen.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/601983/utility-stores-across-pakistan-shut-down-at-advent-of-ramadan/
Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expresses deep grief and sorrow over the death of Dr Muhammad Javed
Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has expressed deep grief and sorrow over the sad death of Dr Muhammad Javed who laid down his life fighting the corona-virus in Peshawar’s Hayatabad Medical Complex this morning.While combating Covid-19, Dr Mohammad Javed himself got infected and was on ventilator for a week before his death.Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that it was the duty of the both Federal and Provincial government to provide protective gears to the frontline warriors against Covid-19 in hospitals so that the doctors and paramedics serve the ailing people in a secure way.
PPP Chairman expressed solidarity with the family of the late Dr Mohammad Javed and condoled with them on the loss.
He saluted the doctors and their staff battling round the clock to treat their fellow citizens fallen victim to the deadly virus.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/2020/04/25/chairman-ppp-bilawal-bhutto-zardari-expresses-deep-grief-and-sorrow-over-the-death-of-dr-muhammad-javed/
#Pakistan - #PPP - Khursheed Shah victimised by govt, says Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
The PPP chairman was talking to Khursheed’s nephew, Sindh Transport Minister Syed Awais Qadir Shah on Thursday and discussed the rejection of the PPP leader’s bail by the SHC bench.
The PPP chairman also asked the PPP minister about the sudden surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in Sukkur and advised him to ensure enforcement of lockdown during Friday prayers and Taraveeh so that the infection does not spread. He said he was in touch with the CM Murad Ali Shah over Covid-19. Bilawal criticised the PTI government saying that the party was unnecessarily politicising the management of the pandemic by Sindh which is not very helpful. He said the prime minister by campaigning against the lockdown is seriously undermining the efforts of the Sindh government and the advice of medical experts to bring the deadly virus under control.
#COVIDー19 #Pakistan’s Imran Khan sidelined by military during corona virus outbreak
Imran Khan has been sidelined by Pakistan’s powerful military after failing to act decisively on the coronavirus crisis or impose a lockdown in an attempt to curb the spread of cases.
On March 22, the prime minister told the nation that his government would not institute a sweeping lockdown, arguing it would put millions out of work and leave families struggling to find enough food to eat.
But less than 24 hours later, military spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar announced that the army would oversee a shutdown to halt the spread of infections in the world’s fifth most populous country of more than 200m people.
Since then, the military has deployed troops across Pakistan and has been orchestrating the coronavirus response through the National Core Committee, a body set up to co-ordinate policy between federal and provincial governments.
The generals have seized the Covid-19 crisis as an opportunity to prove their competency in contrast to Mr Khan, who was ridiculed after urging youth to join the Corona Relief Tigers Force, a volunteer body to wage “jihad” against the pandemic.
“The government left a big gap in its handling of the coronavirus. The army has tried to fill that gap, there was no choice,” said a retired general.
The military’s takeover of the coronavirus response marks another policy failure for Mr Khan in the eyes of the generals, say analysts. He has struggled to generate international traction in finding a solution to the Kashmir problem and has been unable to convince an international watchdog to remove Pakistan from its greylist for terrorism financing.
Now his vital relationship with the military, which backed his run for office in 2018, has frayed.
“In times of emergency, one has to take clear decisions and take them through. You can’t dither,” said Nafisa Shah, a member of parliament from the opposition Pakistan Peoples party (PPP). “The whole world is advising strong lockdown. If the prime minister does not show that he is decisive, somebody else will.”
Coronavirus has shown the disconnect between the national government, regional governments and the military.
Pakistan has reported more than 11,000 cases of Covid-19 and 237 deaths, but with tens of millions of people living in poverty and a dilapidated healthcare system, the impact of the virus could be catastrophic. Experts are concerned the country’s low testing rates may be concealing the true number of infections.
Across the country, doctors and nurses have protested against a lack of personal protective equipment as increasing numbers of health professionals contract Covid-19. “Because of the lack of resources there is chaos among the doctors and healthcare workers. They know people are dying, they know the severity of the illness and they have to work without PPE,” said Shoaib Hasan Tarar, a doctor working in Rawalpindi.The health crisis is pummelling the already sputtering Pakistan economy. According to the IMF, gross domestic product will shrink 1.5 per cent in 2020. The country is set to be the first major emerging economy to apply to a G20 initiative to request debt repayment relief.
Even after the lockdown was announced, Mr Khan repeatedly questioned whether it was necessary, sowing confusion about the country’s response as infections rose sharply.
Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the UK, US and the UN, wrote in a newspaper editorial that “procrastination over measures aimed at social distancing continued to send conflicting messages. Getting mired in a prolonged public argument about lockdown vs no lockdown conveyed an impression of indecisiveness.”
The country suffered a surge in cases in early March when infected pilgrims and workers crossed the border from the religious city of Qom in Iran, a virus hotspot.Pakistan’s limited resources were exposed when quarantined pilgrims protested against filthy conditions at Taftan camp on the Iran border, where they were living five people to a tent with no access to toilets.
It was only weeks later that Pakistan finally started putting tougher measures in place. But fears are mounting that it will not be enough to curb a surge in cases as authorities confront hardline imams downplaying the threat of the virus.
Every week during Friday prayers, tens of thousands of Muslims have been eschewing social distancing recommendations and defy orders that prohibit religious congregations of five or more people.
Islamabad last week signed an agreement to allows for mosques to stay open for Ramadan, stipulating that people must follow 20 rules, including maintaining a 6ft distance from each other.
“There is little consistency in terms of how the lockdown is being approached. Coronavirus has shown the disconnect between the national government, regional governments and the military,” said Sajjan Gohel, south Asia expert and guest teacher at the London School of Economics.
“Imran Khan has been left behind as the cheerleader for keeping Pakistan’s morale high. I think people are starting to ask, ‘How long is he going to last?’”
https://www.ft.com/content/686714d7-ae05-431d-a13d-1966153be151
In Pakistan's fight against Covid-19, religion might not be helping
By Huma YusufPakistan is entering its fifth week under lockdown to control the spread of the coronavirus. But as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan starts this weekend, hundreds of thousands of people will congregate in mosques nationwide to offer special prayers. The government's submission to demands from senior clerics and religious political parties for mosque exemptions highlights that Pakistan's fight against Covid-19 is more about managing political divides than saving lives. As of Saturday, the country of more than 200 million people had at least 11,900 confirmed cases and 253 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. That's more than double the number of cases and deaths the country had on April 13. Despite this steady increase, the religious establishment has remained skeptical of the government's pandemic response. Hardline clerics urged worshipers to defy restrictions first imposed in March and gather in mosques in great numbers. Congregations attacked police officers deployed to enforce the lockdown. The onset of Ramadan -- and the promise of generous charitable contributions by worshipers to mosques as part of holy month observances -- spurred religious groups to intensify pressure on the government, with the latter caving to avoid the political fallout. The Pakistan Medical Association has denounced the decision to permit congregations, saying that protocols agreed between the government and religious groups -- including requirements for worshipers to remain six feet apart and complete ablutions at home -- are unlikely to be implemented. Doctors, who have already threatened to walk off the job owing to a lack of medical and protective equipment, say the health system will not cope if the virus spreads any faster during Ramadan. Prime Minister Imran Khan's decision to accommodate clerics' demands points to their political influence. Although religious political parties have rarely won more than 2% of the vote during elections, they have immense street power, and can whip religious sentiment and organize mass protests to destabilize governments. Historically, religious groups also maintain close links with Pakistan's powerful military, a legacy of the anti-Soviet Afghan "jihad" in the 1980s. The military has previously mobilized religious groups to put pressure on civilian governments. However this time, the pandemic has revealed the limitations of the military's control over such groups. The military supports a lockdown, and its inability to gain clerics' buy-in will frustrate Khan's administration, which has been left open to criticism for kowtowing to the religious establishment. This will intensify civil-military tensions, already spiraling since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. The military was impatient with Khan's initial reluctance to impose a national lockdown, and deployed troops to enforce provincial-level restrictions -- forcing the government's hand to take broader measures. Since the start of April, the military has taken control of the national pandemic response, with a lieutenant general sitting alongside the planning minister at the helm of the National Command and Operations Centre, a coordinating body. On Friday, the military's spokesman announced that all the institution's resources would be available for a "track, test and quarantine" strategy to contain the virus's spread. The military's interests in tackling the coronavirus are clear. A prolonged lockdown or the collapse of the creaking health infrastructure could lead to rioting and widespread civil unrest, which the military would have to manage. This would distract from pressing strategic and security priorities, not least the unfolding peace process in Afghanistan. A poorly managed coronavirus response would also have a major economic toll, which would impact a military budget already affected by US President Donald Trump's decision to cut Coalition Support Funds in 2018. The World Bank has predicted that Pakistan will fall into recession this year. Anticipating calls for greater health expenditure after the pandemic, the military knows that it will have to stabilize the economy to protect its interests. The military also aims to centralize political decision-making to better enable it to exercise behind-the-scenes control. Recent years have seen several attempts to weaken a 2010 constitutional amendment granting Pakistan's four provinces greater autonomy. This consolidation has been upended by the pandemic, with provinces responding independently to the coronavirus threat. Tensions are particularly high between Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, which has long controlled the southern province of Sindh. Murad Ali Shah, Sindh's chief minister, has been widely praised for moving quickly in March to impose a lockdown in the commercial capital Karachi and test pilgrims returning from Iran. Khan has repeatedly mocked Shah's approach, terming it an overreaction.The PTI government's laxity on lockdown rules for mosques will inflame tensions at provincial level. On Thursday, Sindh restricted late-night prayer attendance in mosques to five people. An apologetic Murad described his decision as "very difficult" -- yet necessary -- and argued that he wasn't violating the government's agreement with religious groups. Murad knows that he's not just tackling the coronavirus. He's also navigating the power tussle between Pakistan's government, military and religious groups that will determine the country's fate -- pandemic or not.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/25/opinions/pakistan-coronavirus-lockdown-intl-hnk/index.html
#COVIDー19 #Pakistan - Female Doctors Urge People To Stay Home, Ask Businessmen To Stop Opposing Lockdown
A number of female doctors urged people to stay home and not make the coronavirus situation worse for them and be considerate of the ‘pressure’ on doctors. They said that the people need to stop coming out of their homes ‘unnecessarily’ and that will help the healthcare providers who are currently under pressure due to the surge in coronavirus cases.
Dr. Nusrat Shah, a gynecologist working at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, said that they were receiving pregnant patients every day who was seriously ill and she emphasized on how the virus is putting women at threat.
“Coronavirus threatens both the mother and the child. The patients that we receive, we intubate them, we try to save them but we are unable to,” she said, mentioning how pregnant women are the worst affected by the infection. She also said that the doctors have been falling victim to the virus every other day and to prevent that, people need to follow the restrictions of the lockdown by themselves, without the government having to enforce them because ‘if the doctors start dying, there will be no one left to look after the patients’.
Dr Nusrat also said that the doctors cannot be wasting precious time that the might be saving lives in, to do the government’s job. She said that Tableeghi Jamat was an example of how this virus spreads very fast. “Probably only one or two people had the virus, but just because they did not take precautions, now most of them have it,” she added.
She said that doctors will not be able to work on treatments and developing vaccines if the authorities fail to ensure that precautionary measures are being taken.
The female doctors also requested the businessmen to not think about their profits in this time of crisis and to have some empathy for the women and children contracting viruses because of the men who bring it home.
Another senior Dr Razia said that “80 per cent of the capacity in Karachi hospitals that dealt with coronavirus patients has been filled”. She appealed to people to stay at home, saying that if people followed lockdown measures for one to 1.5 months, it would be “effective” in controlling the spread of Covid-19.
https://nayadaur.tv/2020/04/female-doctors-urge-people-to-stay-home-ask-businessmen-to-stop-opposing-lockdown/
#COVIDー19 & Religion: Why Are #Pakistani Muftis Resisting Closure Of Mosques?
Sultan B Mirza
Islamic scholars in Pakistan have been stubbornly resisting the closure of mosques in the face of a lethal pandemic like COVID-19. They have also failed to give any convincing reason for this suicidal behaviour. However, it seems that their secret reason is that, while they acknowledge the pandemic, they are not fully convinced that a disease can be transmitted from one human to another, clear evidence and modern medicine be damned.The secular case for closure of mosques during the ongoing pandemic in Pakistan is very straight forward: Pakistan is a poor, and religious country where – in the absence of any bars, cinemas and stadiums to speak of – mosques serve as the only community centers across the country. In the mosques, mass entry is not only free for all men but expected five times a day. Indeed, Pakistan should be able to substantially restrict the spread of the virus by closing down mosques and educational institutions. Conversely, keeping the mosques open means that all other efforts to contain the infectious virus will be rendered pointless.
Even if the above secular argument is cast aside, the non-cooperative behavior of Pakistani religious scholars is still very perplexing for four reasons. Firstly, mosques in practically all other Muslims countries have been locked down, including the two most sacred mosques in Mecca and Medina. In other words, Pakistani clerics are taking a path of their own, which probably the governments in other Muslim countries did not allow to their clerics. Secondly, mosques in Pakistan have not been locked down even for a day since the beginning of partial lockdown here a month ago. This means that there is a certain clarity of mind at work here that preemptively resisted the closure of mosques. Thirdly, the religious leaders have not made any notable demand for financial support from government in return for closing down the mosques; rather they have flatly refused to close the mosques at all. And lastly, the prominence in this entire crisis of religious spin-masters for the Pakistani establishment – the good old Mufti Taqi Usmani (who declared Bhutto’s land reforms un-Islamic and designed much of the prevalent Islamic banking system) and Mufti Muneebur Rehman (“our man on the moon”) – suggests that they are not telling us the truth.
The first thing to note in our search for truth is that plagues – understood as a disease suddenly inflicting a large number of people in a specific city or country – have existed for thousands of years. They famously featured in the exodus of Moses and his followers from Egypt in 1500 BCE. Athens experienced a devastating plague in 430 BCE that killed thousands of people. Michael W. Dols, in his groundbreaking 1977 study, “The Black Death in the Middle East”, notes that the bubonic plague that ravaged Europe in the 14th century was the sixth major outbreak experienced in the Muslim world, and that the most notable of the earlier outbreaks was the Amawas plague in Syria during the reign of Caliph Umar (also mentioned in Sahi Bukhari, 5729).
Next, we note that there is nothing in Quran that directly addresses the question of transmission of disease, but that there are at least six ahadith in Sahi Bukhari that contain the same refrain: “la adwa” [there is no contagious disease]. These ahadith, translated by Dr Muhammad Muhsin Khan for Maktaba Darussalam in Riyadh, are reproduced below:
“(There is) no Adwa (no contagious disease is conveyed without Allah’s Permission), nor Tiyara [nor is there any bad omen (from birds)], nor (is there any) Hama, Safar, and one should run away from the leper as one runs away from a lion.”
“”There is no Adwa (no disease is conveyed from the sick to the healthy without Allah’s Permission), nor Safar, nor Hama.” A bedouin stood up and said, “Then what about my camels? They are like deer on the sand, but when a mangy camel comes and mixes with them, they all get infected with mange.” The Prophet said, “Then who conveyed the (mange) disease to the first one?”
“”There is neither ‘Adwa (no contagious disease is conveyed to others without Allah’s permission) nor Tiyara, but an evil omen may be in three: a woman, a house animal.”
“No Adwa (no contagious disease is conveyed to others without Allah’s Permission), nor Tiyara, but I like the good word.”
“There is no Adwa, nor Tiyara, nor Hama, nor Safar.”
“No Adwa.”We may also note a seventh hadith, number 5771: “The cattle (sheep, cows, camels, etc.) suffering from a disease should not be mixed up with healthy cattle,” (or said) “Do not put a patient with a healthy person,”(as a precaution).It is clear from the above that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself warned that lepers should be avoided and that diseased people and animals should be separated from healthy people and animals, respectively.
It is important to note at this point that the germ theory of disease now prevalent in the medical community across the world was developed in Europe only in the late 19th century. Until then, the physicians subscribed to the miasmic theory of ancient Greeks which attributed disease, including plagues, to a corruption of the environment, particularly the air (miasma).
Brill’s Encyclopedia of Islam, under the entry “waba” [plague], tells us that while medieval Muslim medicine, under Greek influence, also subscribed to the miasmic theory, “theological explanations contradicted the medical ones of an infected environment by claiming that disease comes directly from God, hence no infection should be feared.”Brill’s also tells us that, “the beliefs and the behaviour of Muslims when confronted by epidemics of the plague were determined in the Middle Ages, and works of this era, especially those of Ibn Hajar al-Askalani in the 15th century, were regarded as authoritative in succeeding centuries.” About this Ibn Hajar, we are informed by Dols (aforementioned) that he was an Egyptian scholar who “argue[d] against the predominant view that plague resulted from a miasma or corruption of the air. Ibn Hajar believed that plague was inflicted on mankind by evil jinn or demons—a view not inconsistent with the Muslim belief that plague was sent directly by God.” This theory by Ibn Hajar is reminiscent of Imam Ghazali’s famous reasoning for denying that fire directly causes a ball of cotton to burn: “Rather we say that the efficient cause of the combustion through the creation of blackness in the cotton and through causing the separation of its parts and turning it into coal or ashes is God—either through the mediation of the angels or without mediation” (quoted in entry on Imam Ghazali at Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
However, there was one notable exception to these mainstream views noted above – Lisan-ad-Din Ibn al-Khatib (1313-1375), who was a polymath vizier in the court of Muhammad V of Andalus (now Spain). He was a witness to the plague that devastated Europe, and his hometown Granada, in 1348-49. He wrote a treatise afterwards on the plague in which he not only demonstrated its infectious nature but also addressed the hadith that denied such nature.
As regards the infectious nature of the plague, Ibn al-Khatib observed:
“If one asks, ‘how can you admit the assertion, there is infection, when the revealed word denies this?’ we answer: that infection exists, is confirmed by experience, research, insight and observation and through constantly recurring accounts. These are the elements of proof. For him who has treated or recognized this case, it cannot remain concealed that mostly the man who has had contact with a patient infected with this disease must die, and that, on the other hand, the man who has had no contact remains healthy. So it is with the appearance of the illness in a house or quarter because of a garment or a vessel; even an earring can destroy him who puts it in his ear, and all the inhabitants of the house. The illness can first appear in a town in a single house; then, from there, it can break out among individual contacts, then among their neighbours, relatives, and especially their visitors, until the breach becomes even greater. The illness can appear in coastal towns that enjoyed good health until there lands in them a man with plague, come from across the sea, from another coast where the plague already exists, as reports tell. The date of the appearance of the illness in the town tallies with the date of debarcation of this man… But there is nothing more wonderful at this time than the prison camp of the Muslims – may God free them! – in the Arsenal of Seville: there were thousands but the plague did not touch them although it practically destroyed the town itself. The report is also correct that the itinerant nomads living in tents in North Africa and elsewhere remained healthy because there the air is not shut in and the corruption proceeding from it could only gain a slight hold.” (Quoted in Manfred Ullmann, “Islamic Medicine”, Edinburgh University Press, 1978, p.94-95, emphasis added).
Next, Ibn al-Khatib’s scathing comments on blind adherence to the Prophetic tradition are eerily reminiscent of the ongoing criticism of the stubbornness of Pakistani clergy in the face of Covid-19:
“One principle that cannot be ignored is that if the senses and observation oppose a revealed indication, the latter needs to be interpreted, and the correct course, in this case, is to interpret it according to what a group of those who affirm contagion say. In the Law, there are many texts that support this, such as his saying, may God pray for him and grant him peace: “The sick should not be watered with the healthy,” and the saying of the Companion: “I flee from the will of God to His will.” This is not the place for prolixity on this subject…. To sum up, to play deaf to such an inference is malicious, perverting blasphemy against God, and holding the lives of Muslims to be cheap. A group of pious people in the Maghrib have renounced [their previous view] to the people, bearing witness against themselves that they no longer give fatwas to this effect [i.e., not believing in contagion], in order to avoid being in the position of declaring it permissible for people to engage in suicidal behavior. God protect us from nonsense and grant us success in both speech and action.” (Quoted in Justin K Stearns, “Infectious Ideas: Contagion in Premodern Islamic and Christian Thought in the Western Mediterranean”, The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2011, p.80-81. Emphasis added).
Lastly, we come back to the entry on “waba” in Brill’s Encyclopedia of Islam to see the developments in the Islamic world since the 19th century that are also visible these days in response to Covid-19:
“The change came about through the influence of the Europeans resident in the Levant, who successfully applied the techniques of protection in use in Europe, and especially through the awareness on the part of rulers of Muslim states of the importance of the demographic factor in military, fiscal and economic spheres. Traditional resignation to divine will was replaced, at least in the higher echelons of the state, by a conception which sought to reconcile the Sharia with modern science and the interests of the state. From the 1830s onward, the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, equipped themselves with sanitary authorities and regulations, placing quarantine stations on maritime and terrestrial frontiers. These innovations were achieved with the aid of Westerners, diplomats and doctors, who saw an opportunity to enhance their influence. The rapidity of the results obtained, such that no cases of plague were recorded in the Ottoman Empire after 1844, resulted as much from the efforts of local sanitary institutions as from natural extinction of the temporary centres of the previous centuries. Later recurrences of the plague, few and of limited scope, were energetically combatted.” (Emphasis added)
To conclude, the religious leaders in Pakistan are evidently relying on manifestly erroneous statements against contagious diseases attributed by Imam Bukhari to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); and secondly, unlike the governments in other Muslim countries, the governments in Pakistan (federal and provincial) do not have the requisite knowledge and force to prevail upon the power-hungry religious clergy to desist from spreading nonsense, nay death, in the name of Islam.
https://nayadaur.tv/2020/04/covid-19-religion-why-are-pakistani-muftis-resisting-closure-of-mosques/
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