By Suleiman Shehu
Ibadan – To check the spread of the coronavirus, Dr Ibrahim Uthman, a lecturer in the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan, has advised Muslim clerics and their followers to use available technology to conduct and listen to Ramadan lectures.
Uthman told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Ibadan that conducting Ramadan lectures physically in front of large gatherings would be inimical to efforts put in place to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
He said the coronavirus would not have degenerated into a global pandemic if the world had followed the teachings of Prophet Muhammad.
“The Prophet said if you are in a place and there is an epidemic, don’t go out and if you are outside don’t come in.
“So, if the whole world had followed this simple teaching, we will not be talking of the pandemic that we now have,” he said.
Uthman said that Muslim scholars all over the world were unanimous on how Muslims should conduct themselves during a pandemic.
Muslims, he said, must understand that since congregation in mosques for the five daily obligatory prayers had been suspended because of the virus, Tarawih and Tafsir also remained suspended.
He said Tarawih, which is not an obligatory prayer but meritorious to help Muslims build themselves spiritually during Ramadan, could be suspended as a congregational prayer while Muslims should pray individually to avoid large gatherings.
“Scholars should make use of the technologies we have today to disseminate the messages of Allah to people (Tafsir) without going out of their houses.
“Muslims should endure the protocols that have been put in place by government as well as health officials so that we can all defeat the virus,”Uthman said.
The lecturer also called on government to enforce the protocols on coronavirus regardless of who was involved so as not to put the lives of people at risk.
(NAN)