While we have all been in lock down over the past several months, much has been happening in the world that merits reflection.
- How has our world changed as a result of this crisis?
- Has anything positive come out of this pandemic?
The answer appears to be yes in certain important segments.
For example, nature has had an opportunity to recover from the heavy burden placed by our high consumption lifestyles, which have been drastically curtailed by the virus.
We are now beginning to see dolphins swimming freely in the marinas of Malaga, like never before. The carbon emissions from our energy-intensive travels and resource consumption demands have dropped significantly. As a result, the ozone layer that protects the earth, has been restored to more robust levels. The quality of our air and water has also begun to improve as a result of reduced pollution. Therefore, Alhamdulillah, the COVID crisis has delivered some positive outcomes for us and our future generations, especially with respect to the environment.
On the other hand, we have all had to endure significant economic hardship, as well as increased health challenges from our stressed health care infrastructure. The virus has claimed numerous lives and continues to pose an on-going risk.
This begs the question, “What does the future hold for us?”
It is possible that over time, medications for treatment of COVID 19 and new vaccines will emerge that may help put this contagion behind us. Like SARS and other previous pandemics, viruses have been seen to ultimately soften in their impact as a result of improved health care and new lifestyles that emphasize advanced levels of hygiene, health consciousness, and greater use of technologies that enhance efficiencies.
It is expected that a number of new business and economic opportunities may also arise in sectors that will respond to the lessons learned from this pandemic. For example, health care, service industries, logistics, digital transformation, environmental preservation, research and development, and enhancement of quality in the tourism sector, to name a few.
Allah has blessed humanity with an incredible capacity to adapt itself to natural and human-made challenges, such as wars, pandemics and more. If it were not for Allah’s grace upon us all, we as a civilisation would have ceased to exist a long time ago.
One essential pillar of our faith, that has carried our Jamat through its challenging 1300+ year history, has been the power of hope, which is derived from our Imam, where each one of us rests in the absolute knowledge that we are always loved, protected and provided for by our beloved Hazar Imam.
Hope takes away all our fears and empowers us to face our challenges with strength and seek opportunities that may help us emerge stronger from our adversities.
Hope also unites us as we collectively draw upon the strength of our faith with unconditional trust in our beloved Imam.
Mawlana Hazar Imam, in his speech in Tutzing Evangelical Academy, Germany, May 20, 2006, says:
“One of the central lessons I have learned after half a century of working in the developing world is that the replacement of fear by hope is probably the single most powerful trampoline of progress.”
These words by our beloved Hazar Imam are very pertinent as we navigate through the COVID crisis. We have all experienced fear in varying measures since the onset of COVID, because of the unknowns that it placed ahead of us, with the potential to significantly impact our wellbeing. Therefore, it is important that we replace fear with hope and look forwards to a positive future, filled with progress, Inshallah.
In a Baccalaureate Address at Brown University, Mowlana Hazar Imam eloquently articulated, “The right to hope is the most powerful human motivation I know”.
Therefore, we cannot allow ourselves to be despondent, despondency is a sin.
The ethic of our faith teaches us to replace despondency with hope and faith in Allah and use our intellect to convert problems into opportunities through workable solutions. Workable solutions for our benefit, the benefit of the Jamat and the world we live in.
