Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, is a time for Muslims around the world to focus their attention on spiritual life. This year, Ramadan celebration will be a lot more special for Muslim communities. The reason behind this is associated with the announcement made by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, that Malaysia will transition to the endemic phase and reopen its borders on April 1, 2022. Muslims who observe Ramadan will be relieved by the statement because it eases restrictions and allows them to resume their normal lives after nearly two years of fighting the COVID-19 outbreak.
Some restrictions imposed during the pandemic will be relaxed during the transition phase, one of which is related to worship activities. According to the Prime Minister, social distancing rules in mosques and other places of worship would be relaxed, but only after state religious officials issue suggestions. Other than that, all Malaysians, regardless of their immunisation status, will be permitted to travel across states.
This news would undoubtedly bring joy to all Malaysians, particularly the Muslim population who will be celebrating Ramadan and later, Aidilfitri. The removal of the prohibition on worship in mosques and suraus allows the Muslim community to perform not only the mandatory worship, the five daily prayers in congregation, but also the voluntary acts of worship, or ibadah, such as breaking fast with family and friends, performing tarawih prayers, tadarus al-Quran, attending Ramadan lectures, qiyamulail, and sahur to enliven the mosque and surau. The reopening of interstate travel is much-awaited news, too. With the ease of restriction, Muslims should take advantage of the chance to celebrate Ramadan with their families, as they have in the past.
The ease of restriction should not be the reason to be careless and neglect the need to take serious precautions to contain COVID-19. This “freedom” needs to be accompanied by several actions to reduce the transmission of the COVID-19. The need to maintain new norms such as wearing face masks in public areas, maintaining cleanliness, including regular handwashing, maintaining one-metre physical distancing, ensuring good ventilation in worship areas, conducting COVID-19 self-tests when symptomatic, registration through MySejahtera and the requirement of MYSJTrace for closed spaces remain valid.
These precautionary measures should be taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and, hopefully, eliminate it in the future. It’s important to remember that this viral infection is still widespread. The virus had infected over 3.9 million Malaysians as of March 28, 2022. The number of new cases is high, and it frequently exceed over 15,000 persons. Although more than 90 per cent of these new cases involve patients in categories one and two, it is important to remember that those over 60 years old, people with comorbidities, pregnant women, and children are all at higher risk, and transmission among these at-risk groups must be closely monitored to avoid death.
Keep in mind that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is very contagious. Although this variant causes only minor symptoms, it may have a more serious impact on people who are at high risk. As a result, caution must remain a key priority in our enjoyment of the freedom of prayer and gathering during Ramadan. Members of the community have become accustomed to self-control in preventing COVID-19 infection after two years of living a life with numerous regulations or following various SOPs. Because this infection cannot be entirely removed, this practice should be maintained. Indeed, new COVID-19 variants are very likely to emerge and pose new problems for us.
With the relaxation of some limitations and a desire to establish a new way of life (new norm), the entire Muslim community should seize this chance to make this Ramadan one to remember. We must make significant efforts to enliven mosques and suraus during Ramadan, as this is what the Muslim community has been waiting for since the COVID-19 outbreak began two years ago. We must try our best to make this Ramadan more meaningful.
Other aspects of life must also be taken into consideration during Ramadan. In addition to obligatory and voluntary ibadah, Ramadan is usually connected with food and preparations for the Aidilfitri. In this sense, moderation is the keyword, which means eating and preparing for Eid should be kept to a minimum. Both of these qualities have become second nature to us over the past two years. The bazaar Ramadan was no longer a focus at that time since many of us believed that going to the bazaar would spread the illness easily. Even the preparations for Aidilfitri were basic because visiting family members were not permitted at that time. After two years of learning to be modest, it should have become second nature to us all. Hence, throughout this Ramadan, be modest in worldly affairs while focusing on mandatory prayer and voluntary ibadah, because isn’t this what we’ve been waiting for the past two years?