The Coronavirus, an outbreak origination from Wuhan, China has kept the world in tension. The death toll from the Virus is on the rise, spreading from countries to countries as more countries are restricting China travel.
On the internet, we have seen some Muslims analyzing the situation with the conclusion, that, the Coronavirus is a punishment from Allah on China for China’s inhumane and barbaric treatment of Uyghur Muslims: the Chinese government has destroyed thousands of Mosques and imprisoned millions in Camps. China’s hostility towards Muslims especially Uyghur is nothing but evil.
Consequent upon China’s evil treatment of Muslims, it is no surprise to see a Muslim say the Coronavirus is a punishment from ALlah on China. Some of the arguments say,
“…China banned Niqaab (female covering their faces) and hijaab. Now they All dresses in similar manner(sic)…”
“…they banned #MesutOzil from China for Speaking against their evil act against the Muslims, today more than 35Million Chinese have been banned from traveling to other countries”.
No man has knowledge of the unseen. Therefore, it becomes wrong, theologically, to specifically connect a tragedy to an evil act. As Muslims, it is more beneficial to say, “Allah knows best” in situations like this. If care is not taken, some self-acclaimed Sheikhs will claim they have prognosticated the outbreak of the Coronavirus.
Now, we have Muslims in China who are not immune to this Virus. In fact, some non-Muslim Chinese people who do not subscribe to the evil of the Chinese Government are at the risk of being infected. Also, this disease has gone beyond the borders of China to the whole world.
At the time of this writing, China, Canada, Cambodia, France, Finland, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Spain, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, UAE, and many other countries have confirmed cases of the Coronavirus. Therefore, this is not just about China. As of now, the Coronavirus is guessed to be among future pandemics. If we were to jump into conclusions, then, to what do we connect the case of Lassa Fever in Nigeria?
While calamity, tragedy, diseases could be a result of sins, it is unacceptable to specifically link it with an evil. When did people now become mouthpieces for Allah? How would Nigerians feel when citizens of The Republic of Benin link Lassa Fever outbreak to the border closure? And how fair and humane would their argument be to some Nigerians who are not in support of the border closure?
Prophet (salla Allah alayhi wa sallam) said, when our mother Aisha (ra) asked him about plagues: “This is a punishment that Allah sends upon whoever He wishes, but Allah has also made it a mercy for the believer. So whoever is afflicted with a plague in his town, and he remains in it, patient, expecting Allah to reward him, knowing that nothing shall happen to him except what Allah has decreed, shall be rewarded the rewards of a martyr!” [al-Bukhari].
Allah says in Qur’an 72:26,
“[He is] Knower of the unseen, and He does not disclose His [knowledge of the] unseen to anyone“
The Coronavirus is spreading and it knows no colour, tribe, race, language or religion.
Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman
English 
