Navigating Islamic Interpretation During the Pandemic
Date and time: Wednesday, May 20 at 4 pm Arabian Standard Time (UTC+3)
Register here.
With:
- Bader Al-Saif, nonresident fellow, Carnegie Middle East Center
- Mohammad Fadel, professor, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
- H. A. Hellyer, senior associate fellow, The Royal United Services Institute
- Online Moderator: Geneive Abdo, visiting fellow, Brookings Doha Center
Governments in the Middle East and North Africa have imposed severe restrictions on religious practice to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These include banning public Ramadan prayers and iftars, canceling the hajj to Mecca, imposing dusk to dawn curfews and restricting religious rituals for burials. Most states have also closed mosques for public worship. However, even as Sunni and Shiite clerics have acknowledged the gravity of the pandemic and the public has largely followed the health guidelines, some Muslims have refused to comply with the restrictions. Theological arguments and historical precedents have been invoked to justify government restrictions and also to criticize them.
The Brookings Doha Center invites you to a webinar discussion on what Islamic texts say about altering (or suspending) religious practices as a result of the pandemic, especially during Ramadan. What do these texts say about performing religious duties in times of crisis? Are governments forbidding what is ordinarily permitted for political expediency? Or are clerics and other groups misinterpreting Islamic precepts? And who has the authority to decide? Are states using the pandemic to regain more control over the religious message in the longer term? Or are religious leaders reasserting their power over the state?
IMPORTANT: For English language use the English interpretation channel and click on “Mute Original Audio.”
Kindly note that there is a maximum capacity to join this webinar.
The discussion will include a question-and-answer session.
All attendees will have the chance to submit questions via the Q&A option in the Zoom webinar and these can be submitted anonymously during the time allocated for Q&A.
