A Timeline Response: How Does Islamic Organizations Respond to COVID-19 in Indonesia? - OSF
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A Timeline Response: How Does Islamic Organizations
Respond to COVID-19 in Indonesia?
Aisyah Putri Rahvy1, Ilham Akhsanu Ridlo2
1
Department of Health Policy and Administration, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Airlangga
(email: aisyah.putri.rahvy-2017@fkm.unair.ac.id )
2
Corresponding author. The Airlangga Centre for Health Policy (ACeHAP),
Department of Health Policy and Administration, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Airlangga
(email: ilham.ridlo@fkm.unair.ac.id)
Abstract
Indonesia has made several regulations to end the pandemic, including PSBB. This
regulation is related to physical distancing in all sectors and activities, including
religious activities. To strengthen this policy, MUI and other Islamic organizations
have made fatwa and official statement about how worships, especially those which
are done in groups should be conducted during this pandemic. But efforts made by
government and other organizations are not enough to ensure society that these
regulations will not affect their religiousity. This paper is a literature review aimed
to describe and analyze religious-related cases of COVID-19 pandemic in
Indonesia. It includes MUI, Muhammadiyah, and Nahdlatul Ulama responses
(fatwa and official statement) to this issue and public responses as well. It also
compared this case to vaccine hesitancy case, due to similarities between these
two cases. Both of these cases are dealing with religious dogma as it affects the
policies’ effectivity. Religious and community leaders are needed in this kind of
cases in order to help government promote and educate people about health issues
from religious perspectives. Moreover, some kinds of punishment made by
government are needed to strengthen fatwas and rulings, as most of these
religious opinions do not have legal enforcement.
Keywords:
Pandemic; Islamic Organization; Covid-19; Public Health Response; Indonesia
Introduction
For the last four months, many countries have been struggling to tackle
COVID-19 pandemic. Most of countries are applying lockdown to assure physical
distancing and minimize contact between people. Policies and regulations made to
end this pandemic indeed are not easy for the citizens, including Indonesian. Only
two months after confirming its first two cases in March 2 nd 2020, Indonesia is
currently in battle with 10.843 confirmed cases in May 2 nd 2020 with 1.665
recovered cases from COVID-19 and 831 deaths. The growth of this pandemic
finally forced government to make several regulations in order to flatten theepidemic curve. In April 3rd, Ministry of Health published PSBB (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar, Large-scale Social Limitation) regulation, Indonesian version of lockdown. Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia which is also the most impacted city by coronavirus pandemic applied PSBB a week after, followed by other areas like Depok, Bogor, Surabaya, and others. Although Indonesian government does not apply full lockdown which includes no activity in and out in every sectors, this version of lockdown also requires people to limit their activities outside their houses unless some essential sectors ruled in Minister of Health’s regulation about PSBB. It plainly brings about a huge difference to people’s day-to-day basis in both public and private sectors, as well as religious activities. Based on this policy, government also limits any kind of large-scale religious activities. Question raised after PSBB applied is more likely: Until how far Indonesians will obey this regulation when it comes to religious matters? Indonesia is famous of its reputation as country with the largest muslim population in the world, while data from Central Bureau of Statistics in 2010 showed that 87.18% population in Indonesia are muslims. It is also a fact that Indonesian muslims mostly join some Islamic organizations, such as Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and so on. These organizations play important role in guiding their followers, especially in terms of worship. Furthermore, MUI (Majelis Ulama Indonesia) also takes part as an institution which has authority to give fatwa, a formal ruling or point of Islamic law given by qualified formal institution or scholar (mufti). Since Indonesia does not have mufti to make fatwa, government gives MUI the right to give fatwa over religious matter. For instance, when the issue of vaccine hesitancy was breaking in Indonesia years ago, MUI made Fatwa No. 4 year 2016 about halal status of immunizations (Sulistyani. 2017). This fatwa was also a way to help government promoted immunizations to the citizens and countered anti-vaccination arguments from Islamic perspective. During COVID-19 pandemic, this kind of issue again is spreading in society while government tries to limit some forms of Islamic worship for physical distancing purpose. In terms of worship, there are types of worship those performed in groups, such as Shalat Jum’ah, Shalat Tarawih, and so on. But with social limitation regulation applied, many of these worship will not being able to be
performed since it will increase the possibility of virus spread. The first issue came
out about this is associated with different perspectives of some Indonesian muslim
about how to perform these prayers in pandemic. Furthermore, the role of Islamic
organizations in guiding their followers in term of religious worships during
pandemic is also being questioned.
Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama
(NU) and Their Positions in Muslims Society in Indonesia
Indonesia, with the fact that the majority of its population is muslim, also
consists of several muslim groups and organizations. These groups have
differences in some aspects, such as mazhab, priorities and aims of the
organizations as well related to Islamic worships. Islamic organizations indeed
play important role in society by leading their followers to certain kind of
beliefs and thoughts. On the other side, Indonesia also has Majelis Ulama
Indonesia (MUI) as a representative of all muslim groups in Indonesia.
MUI is a non-governmental organization formed in July 26 th 1975 in
Jakarta, Indonesia. The function of this organization is to provide a place for
ulama, zu’ama, and Islamic scholars to lead and guard muslims in Indonesia
and encourage the religious life in society. Although it is not officially a formal
part of the government, but Indonesian government mostly relies on MUI
fatwas and thoughts over several issues such as halal-haram of vaccine, and
so on. Fatwa or Islamic ruling is made by MUI through Komite Fatwa, that
has the authority to establish fatwa over religious public issues, especially
those which are associated with fiqh and aqidah, along with the purity of
Indonesian muslims in performing their devotion.
Talking about Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), these two
organizations are often being considered as two largest muslim organizations
in Indonesia. Muhammadiyah was found in November 18th 1912 by Kyai Haji
Ahmad Dahlan, about thirty three years before Indonesia had its
independence. Muhammadiyah includes Majlis Tarjih, a commission aimed to
examine Islamic opinion (fatwa) over khilafiyah or debatable issue based on
Islamic Law: Holy Qur’an and hadith (Mujib, 2015). This commission was
formed in 1928 and has made several fatwa including Muhammadiyah opiniontowards vape or electronic cigarette. Meanwhile, Nadlatul Ulama was found in January 31st 1926. Similar to Muhammadiyah, NU also formed a special commission to examine fatwa in 1992 named Bahsul Masail. Its purpose is to examine and decide fatwa of khilafiyah issue using fikrah nadliyah, a framework of thinking based on Ahlussunnah Wal Jama’ah (Mujib, 2015) MUI surely has made some fatwas to help government end this pandemic as soon as possible. This is aimed to minimize the virus from spreading through worship performances, as well as to strengthen the consistency of PSBB regulation. Islamic organizations and leaders are fully aware that PSBB regulation may result some conflicts and different interests among muslims in Indonesia, because of its scope in regulating religious worships performance especially for those done in groups. But sadly, this approach is not effective enough to handle different perspectives and interests related to religious worships during pandemic. At glance, different beliefs between people related to this issue is not something problematic. But it does become as problematic as possible while breaking news is flooding in social media, stating there are some cases related to SARS-CoV-2 spread through religious worships. Knowing a number of reports about faith-related cases in pandemic, we realize that these factors contribute to high increase of coronavirus confirmed cases in Indonesia. Moreover, these phenomena are some proofs of how certain worships have impacts to government efforts in tackling coronavirus pandemic. This paper would like to provide reporting of Islamic organizations response during pandemic in terms of Islamic worships impacted by COVID- 19 pandemic. This includes ways of these organizations support PSBB and government effort to tackle the coronavirus. It lies on facts that Islamic organizations in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama for example, is playing a significant role in resulting Islamic law consideration through its Bahsul Masa’il (Nofialdi, 2015). Align with NU, Muhammadiyah also takes part in this area with Majlis Tarjih. These organizations, in conjunction with their idea and thoughts, more and less contribute to muslims perspective of Islamic worship performance during pandemic. Furthermore, this paper also analyzes public response to fatwa and regulation made based on the timeline.
Methods
This paper emphasized the analysis of Islamic organization role during COVID-
19 pandemic. Analysis was made after all events related to Islamic organization
and muslims response had been arranged in form of timeline. Since this paper was
a literature study, data from other researches are collected and analyzed in line
with the aim of this study. The main areas of this paper include Islamic
organization responses, also phenomena of both pros and cons coming from the
public towards those responses. Researchers will focus on MUI as the formal and
authorized organization by Indonesian government to make fatwas or Islamic
ruling. As for two other organizations, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, their
responses in the form of fatwa, official statement, and humanities acts were
included in this research. Muhammadiyah and Nadlatul Ulama were discussed
further in this paper due to their positions as two largest Islamic organizations in
Indonesia. Events and cases related to Islamic worships in specific were obtained
from media, and analyzed. Moreover, only initial case of coronavirus spread is
included in timeline.
Cases analyses in this paper were compared to other faith-related health issue
like vaccine hesitancy. We believe that these two issues have similar characteristic,
as government needs to strengthen health policies with fatwa or religious opinions
to solve refusal of public to these health policies due to their religious beliefs.
Results
Timeline of Islamic Organization Response and Related Cases
Fatwa MUI No. 14 year 2020 was published
In March 16th 2020, MUI made a fatwa related to worship performance
during pandemic. This fatwa includes the rule of Shalat Jum’ah and Shalat
Jama’ah while in pandemic with Holy Quran, Hadits, and qaidah fiqhiyyah as its
bases. MUI commanded all muslims to prevent any possible activity which
increase the potentials of coronavirus spread as the part of al-Dharuriyat al-Khams. MUI also ruled certain condition in which muslims could go to mosque,
based on the status or level of their area related to COVID-19.
Cluster of Ijtima’ Gowa
This event was supposed to be held in March 19 th-22nd 2020 in Gowa,
Sulawesi Selatan. Government dismissed this event before it was ever started.
But around 8000 people had gathered in Gowa, and few days later some other
areas in Indonesia confirmed COVID-19 cases related to this cluster. In May
13th 2020, nine patients in Manggarai Barat were confirmed coronavirus
positive from this cluster.
Masjid Jammi Tamansari case in Jakarta Barat
In March 26th 2020, three jamaah were confirmed positive and about 170
others were under surveillance. This mosque were famous as pilgrimage place
for years. 78 foreigners and 100 citizens were quarantined in mosque area for
14 days.
Fatwa MUI No. 18 year 2020 was published
If MUI in March 16th 2020 published a fatwa as Islamic worship
performance guide, eleven days later in March 27th 2020, a fatwa about tajhiz
al-jana’iz or Islamic Funeral ruling was made and published to the public. It
contains procedures of taking care of muslims who died because of coronavirus
based on Islamic rules and medical protocols. It includes how bathing the body,
shrouding, and Shalat Jenazah or funeral prayer are conducted under medical
protocols, such as bathing it without opening the body’s plastic wrap and
keeping the body inside coffin.
Tahlilan case in Tulungagung
As tradition when there was someone who had just died in neighborhood,
in 3rd April 2020 a citizen (MA) in Tulungagung held a “tahlilan”, a form of
prayer for the dead for his father. 3 days later, he started to experience COVID-
19 symptoms. His father was not diagnosed as coronavirus patient, so they did
the funeral with a non-medical protocol. But MA was suspected to be exposed
to the virus while taking care of his father in hospital. This case contributed to
the increase of 12 patients in total, making this a new cluster in Tulungagung.
Tahlilan case in BogorSimilar to what happened in Tulungagung 9 days before, around 25
people were under surveillance because of tahlilan by April 12 th 2020. People
who attended tahlilan found out that the one they were praying for was
confirmed as COVID-19 positive a week later. This case caused a massive
increase in ODP (Orang Dalam Pengawasan) or people under surveillance in
Bogor, Jawa Barat.
Banyumas case
In 18th April 2020, at least 10 people were confirmed as other coronavirus
cases in Banyumas, Jawa Tengah. One of the suspects performed shalat
jamaah, or a form of prayer done by group in local mosque. After tracking other
people who were in contact with the suspect, they found 10 positive cases in
sum which later named as Kober cluster. The first confirmed case was in Gowa
for Ijtima’ Ulama that supposed to be held in 19th-22nd March, 2020.
Parepare case
Three new COVID-19 cases confirmed in 26th April 2020 at Parepare,
Sulawesi Selatan was associated with shalat jamaah in Mosque Al Manar. One
of the suspect had travelled abroad and often attended gatherings held in
mosque. Local government had made some warnings related to any form of
gathering, including ones held in mosque.
The letter of Takmir Masjid in Banyumas
After having a case related to shalat jamaah as a part of Islamic worship,
10 days later in April 28 th 2020 a letter by some takmir masjid or people who
are in charge to take care of local mosque in Banyumas were being
controversial since it included the idea of destroying the mosque. Takmir
published the letter as a form of protest to the government which implemented
Fatwa MUI No. 14 year 2020.
Fatwa MUI No. 28 year 2020 was published
After making fatwa about worship performance, in May 13 th 2020 MUI
published a document which included a guide to perform Eid Al-Fitr at home
during pandemic. Similar to its first fatwa (Fatwa MUI no. 14 year 2020), this
fatwa also talks about how Indonesian muslims should perform Islamic worship
during coronavirus pandemic specifically Eid Al-Fitr prayer.
Muhammadiyah Letter and Guide for Eid Al-Fitr was publishedAs one of the largest Islamic organizations in Indonesia, Muhammadiyah
in May 14th 2020 made a letter and guide about performing Eid Al-Fitr prayer
during pandemic. This letter and guide are made by Majlis Tarjih as a part of
Muhammadiyah which has authority to give certain fatwa specifically for
Muhammadiyah followers.
Boyolali case
In May 14th 2020, about 19 people in Boyolali were isolated after burying a
muslim without medical protocol. They found out in two days later that the one
they performed Islamic funeral for was confirmed SRS-CoV-2 positive. Family
and local government were questioning the protocol of funeral from his
hospital in Jakarta, which they claimed it had not applied any medical protocol
and informed any statement if the patient were a COVID-19 suspect.
Solo case
May 16th 2020, local government put 90 families in Serengan, Solo under
surveillance after they had been detected to be in contact with a coronavirus
suspect while performing tarawih prayer. Seven people of them were
developing COVID-19 symptoms and classified as under surveillance patients.
Banjarbaru case
An under surveillance patient in Banjarbaru, Kalimantan Selatan was
forced to be buried with non-medical protocol by her family in May 26 th 2020.
The hospital, police officers, and local government had explained to her family
the necessity and importance of medical protocol for COVID-19 suspect
funeral, but they refused to use it. After hours of negotiation, her family finally
let the hospital and other institution to perform medical protocol.
Discussion
Role of MUI and Islamic Organizations during Pandemic
Laypeople were less likely to be convinced that health policy is rooted in a
certain ideology, values, or philosophy and this is implied drom no identifiable
effect of political pasrtay support acceptability (Zein et al., 2020). When it comes to
giving fatwa or Islamic law for Indonesian muslims, government seems to put MUI
in trust with no exception. MUI is the actor behind Indonesian government-
muslims relationship, as it bridges both sides’ perspectives and stances in publicpolicy-making. The role of MUI is mostly interpreted through fatwas. Fatwa in
oxford dictionary means “a legal ruling on a problem related to Islamic law
delivered by some authentic and famous authority”. It is basically needed to help
government rule some issues related to private and religious performances, and to
ensure that these performances are still on track with Islamic beliefs and
teachings. A fatwa over something is made through ijtihad, which is defined by Al
Amidi as “to spare no effort in the quest of discovering the supposed rules of the
Shariah in the sense that the mujtahid leaves no stone unturned” (Pakeeza &
Fatima, 2016). Ijtihad can only be done by mujtahid, or person who is classified as
capable to perform ijtihad. Hamzah (2017) explained that urgency of MUI fatwas
could be translated in two forms. First one, fatwas play an important role to
describe the way MUI responses to socio-cultural phenomena and conflicts in
society, plus those related to government regulations and policies from Islamic
perspectives. Second, fatwas has the urgency to unite and lead Indonesian muslims
thought towards certain issues as the result of socio-cultural transformation.
Looking back to the contribution of MUI during the pandemic, it has
published three different fatwas which related to daily and routine worship
performances, Islamic Funeral ruling (tajhiz al-janaiz), and Eid Al-Fitr prayer
performance. These three fatwas are Fatwa MUI No.14 year 2020, Fatwa MUI No.
18 year 2020, and Fatwa MUI No. 28 year 2020. These fatwas are strong bases for
muslims in Indonesia to perform their devotion during COVID-19 pandemic. All of
those fatwas have explained in detail about how to perform regular prayers like
Shalat Jum’ah and Shalat Jama’ah which often being done together in mosques, as
well as Eid Al-Fitr prayer that in Indonesia usually includes the habits of family
gathering, visiting relatives, mudik and so on. These kinds of worship cannot be
done in a regular way of performance while Indonesia is still in war with the
pandemic. Since it consists physical and social contact with a lot of people, it may
be dangerous for muslims if they keep insisting on performing these prayers in the
regular form.
This goes as well with Islamic Funeral ruling or in fiqh, it is called as tajhiz
al-jana’iz. In a normal condition, burial of the body will involve such ceremonies
like bathing the body which often conducted by several people, shrouding, and
Shalat Jenazah or funeral prayer. In Islam, dead body is not buried in a coffin butonly shrouded in cloth named kain kafan. But when it comes to the body of
coronavirus patients or suspects, doing these ceremonies without medical protocol
will be such a disaster as we do not know whether the corpse is still able to spread
the virus or not. MUI response to this is similar with its response to Tsunami Aceh
in 2004, through Fatwa No. 34. At that time, MUI responded quickly by making a
fatwa over funeral ruling during the emergency period. This fatwa was made
under consideration and rukshah (dispensation) that body of the victims should be
taken care based on fiqh of emergency condition. Right now after recognizing this
issue in COVID-19 pandemic era, MUI again showed quick responses to public
needs by publishing three important fatwas over prayers those performances are
considered as the most impacted by COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, MUI has also
provided and explained certain dalil from Holy Quran, hadith, and ushul fiqh as the
foundation to make those fatwas. As a formal and authorized organization, MUI
indeed has the responsibility to ensure that fatwas given to the society are in line
with Islamic rules.
But fatwa as one type of Islamic law has this non-binding legal force
characteristic, or in fiqh it is known as mulzim-ghair mulzim. Al-Syâtibî in
Muhammad (2016) defines fatwa as an explanation of syara’ or Islamic Shari’ah
ruling which is not forcing all muslims to follow and perform it. This is in line with
Mulyati (2019), that fatwa contributes to the process of forming religious norms in
society with its “quality feeling” effect to create religious emotion and moral
sanction instead of legal enforcement. With these characteristics, effectivity of
fatwa in the society is fully depended on people’s submission towards the fatwa
itself. Even when MUI is supported by the government and treated as the
representative of all muslims in Indonesia despite the absence of several small
muslim groups in it, MUI is still not able to force Indonesian muslims to follow its
fatwas, as both fatwa in general and MUI fatwa in specific do not have the
authority of law enforcement.
At the same time, two other Islamic organizations also show some responses
to this pandemic. Muhammadiyah through Majlis Tarjih has made a guide for its
followers to perform Eid Al-Fitr in their own houses. In line with that,
Muhammadiyah leaders also make some public statements related to how
Muhammadiyah followers should obey the government and lessen physicalcontacts. Meanwhile, Nahdlatul Ulama also shows its supports by educating people
about COVID-19 prevention through some socializations in mosques, ta’lim, and
pesantren or Islamic boarding school. These two organizations have done several
humanity acts, such as distributing masks and food to people who are in need, and
preparing their hospitals to be referrals. Furthermore, both of these organizations
have spread information about COVID-19 using their websites, as a platform to do
health promotion and education from both medical and Islamic point of views. A
study of Slamet and Laila (2018) in Jepara showed that both Muhammadiyah and
Nahdlatul Ulama were using several media platforms, like websites and printed
publications to spread information. Even in some specific areas, Muhammadiyah
and Nahdlatul Ulama were using radio. The important role of religious
organizations and community leaders in promoting health is not a new thing to
realize. A study from Tomkins et al. in 2015 showed that collaboration between
religious organizations, health organizations, and policy makers contributed to
immunization promotion and delivery in Pakistan, after it had been previously
opposed. It also has been proven that religious leaders and organization take part
in promoting certain health behavior to their followers. Heward-Mills in 2018
found the relation between unhealthy habits prevention, such as smoking and
alcohol consumption, and African faith leaders’ role by promoting it in Sunday
church service. This is supporting the idea of faith leaders who are able to give
such crucial impacts to their followers’ health behavior and habits.
In Indonesia, most of people are willing to obey rules if those are made and
supported by their religious organizations and leaders. Along with MUI,
organizations like Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama have their own
commissions of ulama or fuqaha’ which function is to give thoughts and
consideration towards certain issues based on Islamic perspectives.
Muhammadiyah has Majlis Tarjih, and Nahdlatul Ulama is standing with Bahsul
Masail. The differences of MUI and these organizations’ commissions can be seen
from their scope of influence. MUI as an authorized organization by the
government has wider scope of influence, as it makes fatwas which are applied for
all groups of muslims. This is possible because MUI is consisted of ulama from
most all Islamic organizations in Indonesia, as a way to ensure that these
organizations’ opinions and perspectives are heard and considered. This alsomeans that Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama place their representatives there
for MUI. But when it comes to Majlis Tarjih and Bahsul Masail, both of these
commissions have different styles in examining issues from Islamic side as certain
Islamic organizations usually have their own bases and referrals of fiqh. This is
surely narrowing its scope of influence merely to their followers. But at the same
time it will enhance the possibility of the acceptance from its followers, because
most of certain groups’ followers will have a tendency to listen and obey their own
groups’ regulations (Setiawan, 2014).
Three big Islamic organizations in Indonesia have done a lot of effort to
support government during the pandemic. But still, their efforts have some other
questions related to how effective the efforts are and how obedient their followers
are to those fatwas and advices. The answers of these questions are further
discussed in the next part of this paper.
Responses from the Public and How this is not a “Fresh” Issue
After MUI published fatwas related to COVID-19, the public was starting to
react responsively to those rules. Islamic organizations, like Muhammadiyah,
Nahdlatul Ulama, and many more are suggesting Indonesian muslims to obey both
government rules and MUI fatwas. Religious community leaders care also
influencing their followers by using faith-based approach. It is actually not a new
idea that health programs can be impacted by faith and religious worship.
Sabahelzain (2019) studied the relation between vaccination hesitancy and
religious belief in Pakistan. He found out that most community health workers
agreed of religious belief and attitudes from parents as the causal of vaccine
hesitancy. His study proves the connection of faith and health behavior, while
religious faith is influencing most of certain religion followers’ thoughts and acts
that related to their health. A study from Lane et al. (2018) found that religion was
ranked 3rd as the reason of vaccine hesitancy globally based on WHO/UNICEF Join
Reporting Data from 2014-2016. Reasons related to religion were “due to certain
religious sects (minority)” and “traditional cultural beliefs”. Religion was
rd
constantly being in the 3 place as reason of vaccine hesitancy for three years in a
row. This a proof that health issue somehow can be connected to certain faiths or
beliefs.Also in Indonesia, this issue is not really something fresh. Religious belief is
often being a main reason why people are against certain programs or policies.
Religious faith of parents make them prohibit their children from getting
immunizations. A study from Sulistiyani (2017) showed a phenomenon in which
families in Sendangmulyo, Semarang was reluctant to give their children
immunizations. This happened even after MUI published Fatwa MUI No. 4 year
2016 that specifically examined Islamic opinion of vaccine. Through that fatwa,
MUI ensured the permission of immunizations under certain condition. First,
immunization is permissible (mubah) as it is a form of ikhtiar or an effort to
prevent diseases. Second, vaccine should be made by halal materials. When it is
under an emergency condition and it will threaten somebody’s life if he/she is not
vaccinated, vaccine is still permissible despite the availability of haram materials.
But after publishing such fatwa, there are still some cases related to community
reluctance of immunizations. In Sendangmulyo, more than 50 percent of
participant believed that vaccine was haram or not allowed because of its haram
materials. Furthermore, immunizations was never been discussed explicitly in
certain religious gathering such as ta’lim, making its status of permission stayed
unclear in the society. This also indicated the lack of awareness and role of
religious leaders in community to educate their followers of certain issues related
to faith and belief. But this is in contrast with a study from Padmawati et al. in
2018 about the rotavirus vaccine acceptance of religious and community leaders in
Yogjakarta. Her study explained the need of halal label for rotavirus vaccine in
order to increase community acceptance. Moreover, religious and community
leaders were aware that their role as key players could contribute to promote
vaccine in society especially in post-labeling. From these studies, we can assume
that not all religious and community leaders in Indonesia are already aware of their
role in educating their followers about health-related religious issues. It is also
obvious if not all of them understand the potentials of their roles to lead and
influence their followers in this kind of issues.
The question is: how these phenomena of vaccine related to today’s issue
about COVID-19? Both vaccine and coronavirus pandemic issues are strongly
connected to people’s religious beliefs and performances. Also, these two issues
are in a similar condition, in which society is currently threaten by certain diseasesand government needs to do something to prevent harms. If MUI and other Islamic
organizations have made actual responses to support immunizations from religious
side, this time during the pandemic they once again express their responses as a
form of responsibility towards their followers. Sadly, both of these cases are
dealing with society’s religious dogma. People believe that using vaccine consists
of haram materials will affect their worships to God, in spite of MUI fatwa about its
usage in emergency condition. The same goes with the case of COVID-19
pandemic. Most of faith-related coronavirus cases in Indonesia are due to
community belief that anything should not prevent them to perform religious
worships, not even a pandemic. The thing that they do not realize about is that
religious worship performances can be progressive to current condition if it is
needed. The case of tahlilan in Tulungagung and Bogor for example, they put aside
the harms of gathering in order to pray for the dead in tahlilan. In Tulungagung,
the suspect of COVID-19 is not the dead, but his son instead. While in Bogor, they
found out later that the one they were performing tahlilan for is another
coronavirus confirmed case. This kind of cases is actually preventable. About a
month before, government had demanded social and physical distancing for all
people to slow down the spread of SARS-CoV-2. This means certain religious or
cultural activities which include gathering of people should not be conducted
during pandemic. But unfortunately, government through Ministry of Health
published PSBB regulation at the same day with Tulungagung case in April 3 rd
2020. Even so, the case in Bogor was quite avoidable as it happened nine days
after such regulation was made.
If those two cases are associated with Islamic funeral, other cases in Jakarta,
Banyumas, and Parepare were about enactment of shalat jamaah and religious
gathering as one kind of worships in Islam. In Jakarta, Masjid Jammi Tamansari is
famous as a pilgrimage place, making lot of people come to this place for religious
purposes. So when government confirmed three cases of COVID-19 in the mosques
March 26th, it also put about 170 people under surveillance. In Banyumas, ten
coronavirus cases came from a mosque in April 18 th 2020, after a suspect who
traveled to Gowa weeks before regularly performed shalat jamaah and infected
other people.. Government later classified these ten cases in a specific cluster
named Kober cluster. Similar kind of case also happened in Parepare April 26 th2020. Local government found three confirmed cases of COVID-19 after tracing
people who had several physical contacts with a suspect through shalat jamaah in
Mosque Al Manar. In fact, local government had warned the citizens about any
kind of gathering including religious gathering in mosque. But still, some people
insisted to perform prayers and ta’lim in mosque when government had already
locked the mosque’s fence by climbing up the fence to enter the mosque. In Solo,
90 families were put under surveillance after performing tarawih prayer together
with a coronavirus suspect in May 16th. These cases happened weeks after MUI
bring out a fatwa of performing jamaah prayers in pandemic period. Moreover, a
case of Gowa’s Ijtima’ Ulama adds another fact of how people will prioritize any
effort to fulfill their religious-based needs. This event was supposed to be held in
March 19th-22nd, but it was forced to be finished before it was even started with
around 8000 people had gathered in Gowa. This case is not only related to how
Islamic organizations could prevent any possible harms in religious gathering, but
also how government applied an early warning system to stop SARS-CoV-2 from
spreading through this kind of event. PSBB regulation was made 3 weeks after this
event, making it “late” enough to prevent a number of people from gathering.
Meanwhile, cases related to tajhiz al-janaiz are found in Boyolali and
Banjarbaru. For Boyolali case in May 14 th, both of family and local government
were not aware of the patient status. This is the basis why they still performed
Islamic funeral ruling without medical protocol. But in point of fact, national
government through BNPB (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana, Indonesian
National Board of Disaster Management) had ordered medical protocol for every
patient, both confirmed and not-yet confirmed patients as coronavirus positive in
April 20th. This is a way to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during funeral. From
this case, we know that there was an unclear communication between hospital,
family, and government which resulted in another religious-related case of COVID-
19. As for Banjarbaru case in May 26 th, the family was not being supportive in term
of conducting medical protocol for the funeral. Even if the patient was classified as
under surveillance patient and not yet as a coronavirus patient, but both
government and MUI have explained why the normal performance of Islamic
funeral is not possible to be conducted. Furthermore, MUI also explains in detailhow tajhiz al-jinayah should be performed during the pandemic and why it is
permitted to do so based on fiqh.
From those cases, we may see that these are an evidence of people’s
religious and personal beliefs characteristic which cannot easily be affected by
externalities, even when it consists of another religious perspective comes from
another religious organization. Also, this may be an effect of non-binding fatwa
characteristic. According to Mulyati (2019), fatwa has a characteristic named as
mulzim ghair-mulzim, explaining how fatwa may not have a power to “force”
people to apply it. MUI fatwa does not contain legal enforcement from law
perspective, but it does have an impact of society’s “quality feeling” by creating a
sense of guilt and other moral sanctions. For this case, we may observe that MUI
fatwa does not really cause a change of religious behavior and worships in
pandemic. Moreover, the role of religious community leaders in those cases are not
effective enough. Even in Banyumas after confirming 10 cases of COVID-19 in April
18th, ten days later takmir of the mosque made a letter expressing refusal on
physical distancing for jamaah prayer by wanting to destroy the mosque instead.
MUI, Muhammadiyah, Nadlatul Ulama and other Islamic organizations in
Indonesia may have made certain moves to influence muslims in preventing
coronavirus spread. But these organizations have a wide scope of influence. Even
MUI is to lacking of certain muslim groups’ representatives. This is why such
organizations movement cannot be successful enough in guiding muslims as their
followers to certain Islamic opinions. Therefore, local community leaders are
needed to educate their followers about certain worships performance during the
pandemic. If they do not do such thing, fatwa and other regulations will not be
enough to rule people in terms of religious activities. This is related to Padmawati
at el. (2019) that community leaders played an important role by educating and
influencing their followers about vaccine halal status.
Both issues have the same kind of barrier in society. In facts, these problems
need supports from religious organizations in order to ensure muslims that
government effort towards certain health issues are tolerable and will not affect
individual religiousity. In addition, if people are still reluctant to obey both
government and MUI fatwa, a form of punishment should be made for this kind of
cases. As fatwa does not have legal enforcement, government may examine anddetermine certain rules as well as punishment in order to make people obedient to
their regulations. MUI and other Islamic organizations’ fatwas are supportive to
government regulations. So it is possible for both institutions to formulate a
penalty for people who do not follow regulations related to religious worships
during COVID-19 pandemic. This is also stated in a study from Ahmed et al. (2018)
that authorities in certain countries like Pakistan and Malaysia applied strict
punishments to parents who refuse vaccinations for their children. Government
also may take this idea into another discussion of human right, about how
punishing people who are not obedient during the pandemic is not against the
religiousity right as part of human rights, while it is actually protecting each
citizens’ right to live.
Conclusion
Indonesia is dealing with religious-related cases of COVID-19. Several
responses of Islamic organizations like MUI, Muhammadiyah, and Nadlatul Ulama
are proven not effective enough to ensure society how religious worship can be
progressive to nowadays issue which is COVID-19 pandemic. Actually, this is not
the very first time Indonesia is dealing with this kind of issue. Vaccine hesitancy
has been problematic for years, as it is strongly related to society’s religious belief.
Therefore, government and Islamic organizations should analyze public responses
and evaluate their policies by benchmarking PSBB regulation and fatwas related to
vaccine hesitancy case. This step will help government to increase the effectivity of
PSBB regulation, especially in religious-related cases of coronavirus.
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