Call on Allah this Eid to destroy the virus

IMAM IQUBAL HYDAL

“Even when Gog and Magog are let loose and they sally forth from every elevated place,

And the True Promise draws nigh, then lo! The eyes of those who disbelieve will be fixed open:

O woe to us! Surely we were headless of this; nay we were unjust.

Surely you and what you worship besides Allah are fuel of hell; to it you will come.”

– Holy Qur’an: Ch 21 V 96-98

AS WE prepare to celebrate Eid, we cannot help but reflect upon the last year which has been of pandemic proportions as we continue to battle with that unseen force of the coronavirus. It has led me to reflect upon the verse which I have quoted above, and which can also be found in the Holy Bible: “And when a thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea” (Rev 20: 7,8).

Is Gog covid19, and Magog the strains that have emerged from it? Certainly this virus has emerged from the most advanced (elevated) countries of the world and the eyes of the world have been opened to the fragility of human civilisation. A minuscule unseen virus has shown us the power of that which is unseen.

There are many powerful unseen forces in the universe. X-rays, gamma rays, atomic and nuclear forces are among the many that can be enumerated. Man, however, can detect unseen forces that exist. He can manipulate and use them, but he cannot create them.

Unseen forces can only be created by a higher force that is unseen. Thus in the Qur’an at the very beginning, after Allah introduces Himself as its author and extols His supreme majesty in its opening chapter (Al-Fatiha), He reveals Himself at the very beginning of the second chapter:

“I, Allah, am the best Knower. This Book there is no doubt in it, is a guide to those who keep their duty, who believe in the Unseen and keep up prayer and spend out of what We have given them. And who believe in that which has been revealed to thee and that which was reveled before thee and of the Hereafter they are sure” (Holy Qur’an: Ch 2 V 1-4).

Anything that is created, including life in any form, has been created by Allah for a specific purpose, a fact that man has to recognise. Thus, there are admonitions in the Qur’an that augurs man’s attention, as in Ch 2 V 155.

“And We shall certainly try you with something of fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruits. And giver good news to the patient.”

The letting loose of Gog and Magog and their domination of the whole world is reported by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (UWBP) in Hadith:

“No one will have the power to fight against them” and in yet another Hadith:

“I have created some of My servants whom no one can destroy but Myself.”

Let us follow the protocols that are expected of us and have patience (sabr), bowing with our foreheads on the ground (sajda), as we earnestly pray to Allah in our daily prayers, asking Him to destroy this virus, as only He can. Remember that He admonishes you in every Friday’s (Jum’ah) Khutba:

“O servants of Allah, remember Allah. He will remember you; call on Him. He will answer your call. And verily the remembrance of Allah is greater than everything.”

Eid Mubarack!