Iraqi Kurdistan: Islamic Scholars Union says “Anyone who dies due to Covid-19 is a martyr per Islamic Sharia”



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The Supreme Fatwa Committee, affiliated with the Kurdistan Region’s Islamic Scholars Union, much like the Iranian mullahs, has opted for theocracy over all reasoning and science.  The Committee issued a statement about the continuation of Friday prayers during the outbreak of coronavirus:

According to Islamic Sharia, daily congregational prayers as well as Friday prayers in mosques cannot be halted now except in those places where the virus has spread. In such a case, the KRG ministries of health and endowment and the fatwa committee can jointly decide to halt congregational prayers until the epidemic ends….Anyone who dies due to Covid-19 is regarded a martyr as per Islamic Sharia.
That is true. It’s in a hadith:

The Messenger of Allah said: There are seven types of martyrdom in addition to being killed in Allah’s cause: one who dies of plague is a martyr; one who is drowned is a martyr; one who dies of pleurisy is a martyr; one who dies of an internal complaint is a martyr; one who is burnt to death is a martyr; who one is killed by a building falling on him is a martyr; and a woman who dies while pregnant is a martyr. (Sunan Abi Dawud 3111)
Another hadith adds that Muslims should not flee an epidemic:

Narrated `Aisha: (the wife of the Prophet) I asked Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) about the plague. He told me that it was a Punishment sent by Allah on whom he wished, and Allah made it a source of mercy for the believers, for if one in the time of an epidemic plague stays in his country patiently hoping for Allah’s Reward and believing that nothing will befall him except what Allah has written for him, he will get the reward of a martyr.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 3474)
Fortunately, the Supreme Fatwa Committee learned its lesson fast, unlike the mullahs. After the first reported death from COVID-19 — the cleric Rashid Abdulrahman — the Supreme Fatwa Committee did not object when the Kurdistan Regional Government Council of Ministers, on recommendation from the Ministry of Health, decided to halt all gatherings to stop the spread of Covid-19.
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“Some Iraqis rejecting coronavirus warnings,” by Dana Tlaib Menmy, Al-Monitor, March 12, 2020:
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — Iraqi Kurdistan health officials’ recommendations seem at odds with some religious leaders’ advice on dealing with the new coronavirus, Covid-19.
Some prominent clerics there are reminding Muslims that the Quran promises a martyr’s reward for the faithful who trust in Allah despite pestilence like Covid-19. Some are sharing a Kurdish poem that reads, “You youths take the mosque’s path / do not care about what is on your way / our mosque’s congregation is far away from epidemics.”
This is quite concerning to health officials. Though the number of infections in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan is thought to be small at this time, Iraq shares a long border with Iran, which is a hotspot for the virus.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Health Ministry on March 1 announced the first confirmed coronavirus cases in the region. “Tests were conducted for 24 [suspected cases]. As a result, four people from Sulaimaniyah tested positive for Covid-19, including a family of three and another woman who all returned from Iran. All of those who tested positive for the coronavirus were in quarantine,” the ministry announced in a statement.
As of March 11, 71 cases of Covid-19 had been officially recorded in all of Iraq, including 15 in the Kurdistan Region. Seven people had died nationally, including one in Kurdistan, and 15 had recovered, leaving 49 active cases.
Rashid Abdulrahman, a preacher at Khanaqa Mahmwi Mosque in downtown Sulaimaniyah, was recorded March 3 as the first coronavirus-related fatality in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. The cleric, 70, had chronic heart and asthma conditions, and previously had undergone heart surgery. He had not visited Iran recently, his son told the media March 4.
A day before the cleric’s death, the Supreme Fatwa Committee, affiliated with the Kurdistan Region’s Islamic Scholars Union (ISU), said in a statement, “According to Islamic Sharia, daily congregational prayers as well as Friday prayers in mosques cannot be halted now except in those places where the virus has spread. In such a case, the KRG ministries of health and endowment and the fatwa committee can jointly decide to halt congregational prayers until the epidemic ends.” It continued, “Anyone who dies due to Covid-19 is regarded a martyr as per Islamic Sharia.”
Hours after the cleric’s death, the KRG Council of Ministers decided “to halt all religious ceremonies, rituals and activities — including Friday sermons — in mosques, churches and temples throughout the Kurdistan Region until further notice.”
“The decision was per a request by the KRG Ministry of Health to stop all gatherings as a protection measure against Covid-19, and the Supreme Fatwa Committee did not object,” ISU head Abdulla Saed Waisy told Al-Monitor….
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