– Bilal Hasan (M.Lib.Sc., AMU)
When we declare a pandemic, it requires a population of around 12% to be affected by the infectious disease. When the World health organization declared Covid-19 as a pandemic in March 2020 only Italy was having the highest infection rate at that time, which too was only 6%.
If we compare the pre and prevailing Covid world, the standards have changed. New normals are being introduced day by day. The lifestyle of people has changed a lot. Covid-19 is portrayed as a monster that has the potential to destroy everything that comes in its way from life to economy. People are debating over the existence of this virus. On one hand, where a majority regards it as a natural occurrence, another section of society believes it as a conspiracy, a virus made in a lab to launch a biological war. Both the parties have strong arguments for the same.
Keeping aside the debate, if we practically look into the ground realities, a large section of people don’t take this virus seriously and do not practice the precautionary measures provided against it, although they justify its existence. There is also a section of society that admits that this virus is not as lethal as it is being projected, but we can also find the same people taking weird precautionary measures. Recently at a funeral of a Covid patient, a man was seen wearing 2-3 masks, sanitizing every visitor and also telling his fellows that Covid is nothing but a drama!!!!
But let us look at another dimension. As soon as Covid appeared the mentality of people changed spontaneously. The government advised people to stay away from strangers, but people parted away from their near and dear ones. Whenever a patient was diagnosed with Covid, he was treated like an untouchable. Even after the person recovered completely, he was still looked upon as an untouchable. The patient’s family was treated indifferently and a societal boycott was imposed on them indirectly. There were many testimonies wherein if a person died from Covid, no one from their neighbor came to perform their last rites. The above-mentioned things could have been followed by taking due precautions, but we witnessed the people, especially the literate ones, parting away from it. In some cases, even the blood relatives refused to perform the last rites of their relatives.
If we look at the hospitals, the condition was even worse there. Whenever a Covid positive was admitted, he was isolated from his relatives. The irony was that all medical staff could visit him by taking due precautions, however, his relatives were not permitted to do so. As a result, many of the patients were helpless and were facing a lot of anxiety and stress. It could be estimated that a lot of people would have died due to their isolation from their dear ones since we all know that how the medical staff generally treats their patients especially in this pandemic where large numbers of patients are admitted.
There were also many testimonies that the bodies of patients who died of Covid were not duly handed to their relatives. In many cases, when people forcefully took the body of their relative, they found many of the organs removed from the body. There were many incidents of organ harvesting in this period. As for the private hospitals, they were charging so much that many people were left penniless. It was a situation that people started believing that if one gets admitted to a govt hospital, he would lose his life and if someone gets admitted to a private one, he would lose all his wealth.
The second wave of Covid also showed how the so-called humanity plunged into darkness. Antiviral drugs were sold at skyrocketing prices and some were manufactured fake. Black marketing and hoarding of oxygen cylinders were prevalent. Ambulances were charging heavily and the cost of funeral pyres ranged from 10-30k.
The response of the Government to Covid was very nonstrategic and unplanned, as was expected. Lockdown was imposed blindly leaving a lot of people to die not because of Covid but starvation and unemployment. It was so poorly planned and lethargically managed that despite lockdown, the cases were rising exponentially during the first wave.
Next came the vaccination drive. People were so much scared of this virus that they were ready to inject anything that the government told them to. In our country, country-made desi vaccines were launched without proper approval. There are also concerns that the same vaccine might be a tool to wipe up a large population since the proponents of vaccination are those who are vocal about increasing the global population, according to many scientists. Cases of people dying of Covid even after vaccination are also being witnessed.
The psychological impact of Covid was also very severe. People were mentally sick of continuous bombardment of news regarding corona and its severity day and night from newspapers to televisions. However recently, a doctor at AIIMS told that corona is just a “mild fever”. If this is the case, who shall be held responsible for the mental trauma prevalent since last year.
The strangest behavior was seen in the case of Muslims. As soon as Covid appeared, the followers of the Deen which carries in itself all aspects of humanity and morals of universal brotherhood abandoned the Masajid for the fear of Covid. Without question, a consensus was adopted to perform salat at homes although, throughout the history of Islam, many severe pandemics have appeared but never have the Masajid been shut this way. It was the tradition of Prophet ﷺ that whenever any such calamity befell, he rushed to the Masjid. But we saw the reverse here. The last rites of Muslims suffering from Covid were not duly performed and many Muslims were buried in an inhumane manner. The general public was not much worried about Covid initially and was helping the people affected by Covid or lockdown, but the scholars and pseudo-intellectuals gave lessons from their comfort zones to practice social distancing without any research or due justification diminishing the spirit of several people.
Many Muslims were dejected when they were turned away from Masajid especially in the month of Ramadan. It was also ironic that those Muslims advocating precautions against Covid were seen many a time not abiding by the same precautions. It went to an extent that it seemed that one will get infected with Covid only if he went to the Masjid, rest assured he can do all worldly activities but Covid wouldn’t harm him there.
These are some of the many outcomes that we have so far witnessed since the outbreak of this disease. Globally the people have been evolved to a degree that they can be easily manipulated to believe and follow anything that they are made to believe. In this era which scientists regard as an “Information age,” we are witnessing nothing but an “age of disinformation” where people can be made to believe almost anything in the name of science, without questioning its validity and without using their intellect. The so-called humanity which is revered as the true “religion” of the world has shown its true colors. The people who gave the lessons of morality are seen running away when it comes to help or save humanity in this Covid crisis.
This is indeed “The Real Pandemic” which we are suffering today and is hundred times severe than Covid.
Only Allah knows when the “Covid pandemic” is going to end but surely the “real pandemic” will stay as long as people don’t rectify their connection with the Almighty.
The root cause of this real pandemic is the disconnection of people from Almighty Allah. When one is bereft of divine guidance, he can easily become prey to any kind of tribulation.
This “real pandemic” was also prevalent in earlier times like the times of Pharoah and Namrood where a man was enchained in the slavery of other men. He was made to believe each and everything that their so-called masters told them so.
Unless or until man truly submits to Allah and breaks the chains of slavery he would remain infected with the slavery of other men and will believe and follow their footsteps blindly and will keep falling in the pits of darkness every time. Also, since divine guidance can set the true standards for humanity only, humanity as a whole can be served under the guidance of divine laws only.
“And if you follow the majority of people on the earth, they will lead you astray from the path of Allah, for they follow only conjecture and surmise.” (6:116)
