Although I am heartened by the rise of virtual da'wa and reminders in response to quarantining, it is important to occasionally remind ourselves of the full extent of what it is that is occurring. And by this, I don’t mean to rehash the statistics or belabor the potential catastrophe that pandemics can inflict on populations. My sense is by now that most people have received, and continue to receive, a steady fill of reminders and new speculation detailing all of that. What I mean instead is to reflect on the question of community, of human interaction, and of life. It seems to me that the project of much of the tech industry over the past decade has been to condition us to do precisely what we are being asked to do right now: social distancing. Netflix, streaming services, and bootlegging supplant the theater, porn takes the place of intimacy, Grubhub and Doordash rid us of needing to go to restaurants or cook a meal, cell phones and smartphones unmoor us from having to self-reflect and think too hard about anything while social media provides us gossip, discursive combat, and plenty of distraction. These are not occasional past times of Gen Z’ers and a bunch of millennials. They are the way of the world, and have been for some time. The last thing a society suffering social dysfunction needed was an imperative to commit to further isolation. What was once a significant part of our lives is fast becoming the entirety of it. And the longer we go without living with and among others, the more accustomed we become to a life where we are absent from others in every conceivable sense, made distant from the opinions of those who disagree with us, from those who can be our mirrors and correct us when we err, and from those who see more to life than a culture war playing out on Muslim Twitter. Family, community, and fraternity are not light switches to be turned on and off. Community, nay ummah, is an organism that requires exercise for its own health. It is only through the repeated and regular human, embodied experiences of what all of this brings - in relationships, in hugs, in arguments and disputes, in bitterness, despair, hope and joy - that we come to taste a little of life’s sweetness. The lines of prayer bring us shoulder to shoulder with our brethren -- people with whom we share no lineal relationship and may be entirely unfamiliar with -- in a shared commitment to Allah. And it is through that repeated, regular action that we form companionship and develop the brotherhood of faith. The loss of this, even for a few days (let alone weeks), is not trivial. Understanding this loss is essential for charting our course for the days ahead. A better situated community can withstand indefinite conflict. When pressed into a corner, however, we need to band together. Solidarity at moments such as ours is essential. This doesn’t mean that we cannot disagree or quarrel. Nor does it mean that we lose our bearings and become indifferent to the integrity of our faith and heresies which seek to damage it. But it should mean we exercise a fair amount more judiciousness than is generally on display in the ever-combative world of ‘Muslim Social Media.’ Subjecting Muslims in a time of persistent isolation to unending disagreement, ridicule, and mockery is spiritual poison. There is enough of that on offer elsewhere anyways, and I’m sure we will all have the stamina to fight bitterly again when things get back to normal bi idhnillah. And before anyone says it: I’m not telling anyone what they should or should not do. I’m just suggesting what I see as prudent given the circumstances. Perhaps this episode will make us cherish what we have long neglected, opening our eyes to opportunities that have eluded us through our own negligence and propensity to online (and offline) distraction. I am certainly hopeful of that. But like a limb that goes unused, the human community calcifies and enervates when abandoned for too long. We cannot Zoom or Skype this back into existence. Only Allah knows how long this will all go on for. But when it is all done, we will have to redouble our efforts to live once again - with one another as members of the shared jama'ah of Islam. “..so stick to the congregation, for the wolf eats the sheep that strays off on its own." (Fa-'alaykum bi’l jama'ah - fa innama ya’kulu l’dhi’b min al-ghanam l-qasiya.) - Hadith Allahul Musta’an.
Mobeen Vaid