Calls for early payment of Zakat .. What is waiting for Indonesia in Ramadan and Eid?

Suhaib Jasim-Jakarta

In light of concerns and warnings that the emerging spread of the Corona virus (Covid-19) may continue to rise in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, the government is moving to impose various measures during the holy month of Ramadan.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs issued directives or instructions for acts of worship two weeks before the start of the holy month of 1441 AH. Because of the questioning of many of these directives, the Minister of Religious Affairs, retired general Fakhr al-Razi Batubara, recorded a speech broadcast on social media platforms to confirm this.

The first of these directives is that there is no establishment for Tarawih prayer in the mosques, nor collective breakfasts by individuals or any governmental or governmental authority, and associated with this is the banning of all forms of mobile collective breakfast as well as any activities in the mosques.

Including lectures and group recitations of the Holy Quran, or other Ramadan events and programs such as the science councils for Ramadan, all of which the Ministry of Religious Affairs prefers not to be held in mosques and non-mosques collectively and Tarawih and study of the Holy Quran and other acts of righteousness individually in homes.

The Minister of Religious Affairs also warned of the importance of the early payment of zakat and charity during this period in which many need financial support amid the stoppage of many economic activities, noting the need to pay attention to the distribution procedures so that people do not compete in light of the conditions of the spread of the virus and the possibility of spreading the infection.

According to the minister, if the virus continues to spread, there will be no Eid prayers this year, and no banquet programs that people used to hold during the days of Eid al-Fitr.

And this was preceded by the imposition of strict procedures regarding marriage, as the matter was limited to the presence of ten people for the legal marriage contract and its official registration without banquet held, and the police and municipalities prevent any marriage banners or others currently.

The matter does not stop at the month of Ramadan. Rather, it is expected that Hajj will not be organized this year. For its part, Indonesia is preparing for the possibility that the Indonesians and perhaps Muslims around the world will not be affected by the continued spread of the virus, whether in Saudi Arabia or Indonesia and other countries, and even if the decline begins before that, and this is what he hopes For many, arranging preparations for the pilgrimage will be difficult in a short time, as the Indonesian minister said.

Jurisprudence of calamities and fatwa
The Corona storm called jurisprudence discussions to many parties around the world and fatwas to deal with the problems of the epidemic, which has not been coexist with many generations around the world.

In Indonesia, the matter does not stop at the official establishment of the fatwa. The highest authority in this regard is the semi-official Council of Scholars in Indonesia, in which several Islamic institutions, associations and personalities are represented, and its current president is the Indonesian Vice President Maarouf Amin, and his jurisprudential and institutional background returns to Nahdatul Ulama Association and is currently part of the alliance Governor of President Jokoy Didodo.

Other institutions have their own juristic councils and committees, including the Muhammadiyah Society, which has been distinguished since its foundation more than a century ago (1912 AD) with what is known to it as the Weighting and Renewal Council, which is considered one of the first councils of collective jurisprudence founded in the twentieth century in the Indonesian archipelago, and which does not adhere to a specific doctrinal doctrine.

The council expands to draw on various jurisprudential opinions and before that rooting for its fatwas from the Qur’an and Sunnah, and as such is part of the broad institutional system of the Muhammadiyah Society. Since the beginning of Corona's appearance, the council issued about twenty fatwas regarding dealing with its repercussions and effects. It was of importance to the people’s debate and questioning what they should do.

Do not go back to your villages ..
Among these fatwas is the preponderance of the view that the Tarawih prayer should not be performed in mosques and the associated programs and lessons and reading sessions of the Holy Qur'an and others, and directing Muslims to pray in their homes, as well as the issue of Eid prayer and the subsequent activities, visits to the family and feasts for the feast.

The head of the Muhammadiyah Association, Haider Nasser, called on urban residents not to return to their villages this holiday as they used to in the past years as a mercy for the residents of villages and so that the epidemic does not spread and in accordance with what the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - ordered in dealing with the plague, criticizing the government's uncompromising position on this. The matter.

The fatwas of the Muhammadiyah’s Weighting Council extend to the noon prayer in the mosques instead of Friday, and this week the fourth Friday in some mosques passes without Friday prayers, pursuant to the jurisprudence rule that “if the original is not possible, the allowance will be made” in the event of hardship.

And for doctors and nursing teams that are based on treating the injured, the Weighting Council advised that it is permissible to collect prayers without minors due to the difficult situation, working conditions and pressures in hospitals and with the wearing of protective clothing, referring to the work of the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - by combining noon, afternoon, Maghrib and dinner "without fear or nor rain".

Pursuant to two hadiths in the Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim periods, the Council directed the mosques management bodies and their muezzins to add the phrase "pray in your travel" or "pray in your homes" which many people had not heard during their lifetime, and it was surprising to some.

But the invitation has already started spreading in the mosques of Indonesia, in accordance with the rule of social separation in dealing with this epidemic, which has in the prophetic Sunnah what confirms the importance of its implementation, including what was narrated by Muslim from the hadith of Abu Hurairah, may God be pleased with him, on the Messenger of God - may God bless him and grant him peace - “A nurse does not report to a sanator.” The famous Hadith of Abd al-Rahman bin Auf, narrated by Abdullah bin Amer when Umar ibn al-Khattab went to the Levant and the epidemic occurred, and the story of the leper in a cultural delegation to whom the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - was sent - " We may sell you so go back. "

"Jihad" for treating the injured
In another humanitarian gesture no less important than the previous, the Muhammadiyah Weighting Council considered the efforts to combat the Corona epidemic as a worship and a "jihad" and involvement in its deliberately spreading "unjustly" pursuant to the Almighty saying "who killed a person without a soul or corruption on the ground as if he killed all people and who revived them as if He revived all people "(Surat Al-Maedah: From verse 32).

The Weighting Council considered the doctors, nurses and nurses and every worker in the field of combating the epidemic and treating those infected with it as militants, mujahideen, and those who died during his work, he has the reward of the martyr.

So far, 25 doctors and nurses have died in Indonesia because of Corona, who was transferred to them from patients who were treating them, and the members of the Weighting Council did not forget to remind people of the good news of the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - by calculating the martyr's wages for the stabbed.

In another fatwa of the Muhammadiyah Weighting Council, its members stressed that it is necessary to make every effort to treat the injured and that the government is obligated to provide what people need of medication and all that is necessary, stressing that "the imam’s disposal of the parish is in the interest."

In addition to all of this, the Indonesian Council of Scholars issued detailed instructions regarding dealing with the deceased from the injured, for medical teams and others who were responsible for preparing and burying the deceased with the virus in order to propagate the spread of infection, while inviting the families and companions of the deceased to perform the prayer of the absent, with the inability to participate in praying on them and burying them with the exception of A few people transport bodies from hospitals to graves.