To Survive Alone With God (Reflections on the Pandemic 2020)

Abstract

This essay reflects on the experience gained by the global Muslim ummah under the quarantine restrictions imposed by the global COVID-2019 pandemic. The difficulties faced by Muslims in this new quarantine-based reality have been cause for a plethora of theological discussions in the Muslim world, as Islam is a religion where daily collective rites hold a special place. Yet quarantine restrictions have led to ritual practice becoming a private affair for each individual believer, turning such practice into a new, non-Islamic form of religiosity. The author proposes a sketch of what Muslim religious practice could potentially look like in the new world formed by the pandemic.