Bismillahir rahmanir Raheem 15th January 2021

Respected brothers and sisters in Islam.

The topic for today’s khutba is the Islamic ruling of getting the Covid 19 vaccine. As I said last week, today we will be talking on the English part of the same khutba with some amendments.

Alhamdulillah! First of all I praise Allah (swt) Who has given me the thawfeeq to come back to His house once again after being inisolation for two weeks. My three children all contracted the Covid Virus but my wife and I stayed syptom free and negative on our latest tests. Alhamdulillah, my sons only had mild symptoms, and Alhamdulillah their accumulative isolation days are over.

I would like to expres my deepest gratitude to those who made dua constantly by thilawah and Khotmul Quran for our wellbeing and for everyone else, may Allah protect you all and forgive your deceased.

I pray to Allah to make it easy and bearable for those who are affected with this virus and may Allah grant the status of martyrdom for those Muslims who have left this dunya with this virus especially from within our community.

As you all know, two days ago the prime minister announced that the death tollof this country has reached one hundred thousand by this virus. The archbishop of Canterbury has encouraged everyone to participate in praying to God from the first of February.

As Muslims we always urge everyone elseto follow their own religion sincerely. Because it is the word of Tawheed in which we believe that, “There is none worthy of worship but Allah, He is alone, He has no partner. Dominion is for Him and all praise is for Him, He gives life and He causes death, and He has full power over everything. O Allaah no one can hold back what you give, and no one can give what you hold back, and no one’s riches can benefit them against you.

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, can you ponder over the power of these Kalimahs and the reality of this virus.

Since the outbreak of covid 19, as Muslims we have been supplicating to Allah (swt) to direct the human mind to be able to invent its cure and remedy immediately. On the basis of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, Islam obliges its followers to seek protection from illness, regardless of who is providing that protection. Muslims want a cure, or at least a vaccine, as badly as anyone else.

In a hadith mentioned in Muslim narrated by Jabir (ra) he said: The Prophet (saw) said,

"Every disease has a cure. If a cure is applied to the disease, it is relieved by the permission of Allah Almighty."

After the utmost endeavour of the scientists of the whole world, both Muslims and Non-Muslims, finally with the mercy of Allah (swt) have been granted the ability to produce a vaccine for covid 19.

When the whole world is counting every second impatiently to acquire a vaccine, and make this deadly period safer, we have already seen so much suspicion or outright opposition and fear mongering within the Muslim community in the UKabout the vaccines.

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, there is a lot of confusion and conspiracy about the vaccine circling in the communities.

I thought most of the global fiqh councils have addressed this issue and that would be sufficient for those who are in this dilemma for their answers.

But then I start getting questions locally from our community whether they should get vaccinated or not.

So I realise that the issue should be addressed locally.

Okay, what is the Islamic ruling or fiqh of getting the covid 19 vaccine?

1. The fatawa which I have gathered was from the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA). 2. Then American Muslims juries association. 3. Then I gathered the fatawa from darul ulum dewband, 4. Then KUALA LUMPUR: Special Muzakarah Committee of the National Council for the Islamic Religious Affairs. 5. Then The United Arab Emirates highest Islamic authority, the UAE Fatwa Council. 6. And The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis)

All of these councils have approved the vaccines and they encourage people to be optimistic towards them.

Those people who are spreading confusion and fear mongering among the people about this vaccineare willingly or unwillingly encouraging Muslims to stand against the principles of Shariah. Basicallythey are trying to make Islam an impractical and unreasonable religion to non-Muslims.

Imagine, when the whole world are eagerly looking for a vaccine.

How many children have become orphans? How many sisters have become widows? How many people have lost their loved ones? How many people have lost their jobs? Schools, colleges and universities are empty. Masajid are locked.

All the religious activities including hajj and marriages are abandoned.

People are struggling to bury their deceased, in this deadly situation is there anything more important for the whole of humanity than getting the remedy or a vaccine for this virus?

Isn’t it more necessary than the dire situation of the permissibility of having pork meat for surviving a life threatening situation? Because hunger is not contagious and as life threatening for others like covid.

My dear brothers and sisters in islam, Islam is a universal religion. Islam accommodates its lawsby postponing certain rules with laxity onthe authorization of thejurists.

Can you understand three basic principles of Shariah which will help you to recognise the validity of Covid 19 vaccine?

* The First principle is: Necessity renders prohibited things permissible. For example: Eating forbidden food in the case of dharurah. Allah said in the A’aiah 173 of Suratul Baqara, "He has only forbidden you what dies of itself (carrion) and blood and the flesh of pig, and that which is slaughtered as a sacrifice in the name other than Allah. But if one is forced by necessity without willful disobedience nor transgressing due limits, then there is no sin on them. Truly, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

The protection and preservation of human life is one of the highest objectives of Islamic law. So, we will do all those things possible to protect and prevent and to preserve human life.

* The Second principle is: Greater harm must be prevented even at the expense of the lesser harm "severe damage can be avoided by lighter damage"
In the case where there are two evils, the lesser evil can be committed in order to prevent the greater evil from occurring. In other words, it is choosing the lesser of two evils or between two harmful things.
If the benefit is larger than the harm, we should focus on the benefit for the greater good.

For Examples: To Seal or close an area to prevent the spread of disease.

* The third principle is that Allah (swt) wants ease for us all. He does not want difficulty for us.

So how do we survive from this virus?

There are two ways to solve this.

* One is to just allow the infection to grow and circulate so that everyone will develop their immunity. And then eventually you will not get it again. But this is not compatible to our sharia law.

Because it has harms. You are actually putting other lives in danger, especially those who are vulnerable and elderly, or those who have underlying problems.

Since one of the principles of Shariah is "There is no harm in Islam" everyone agrees on this.

* The second possibility which is actually compatible with the sharia is by vaccinating people against the virus. And from the viewpoint of Islamic lawit is absolutely fine and permissible. Islam encourages its followers to take medicine to prevent a disease as long as the contents are halal. The Prophet (saw) said,

"Be keen on what benefits you" [Narrated by Muslim) Therefore, according to some scholars, it is not only permissible, but highly recommended, mustahab. Which means you will be rewarded if you take medicine to prevent disease.

And some scholars have actually taken it to the level of wujoob. If the disease creates life threatening situations, not only for you but for others too, for instance, a contagious disease like covid, then they take it to the level of wujoob which makes it an obligation to take the vaccine.

Because one of the principles of sharia is La dharar wa la dhirara fil-Islam "harm may neither be inflicted nor reciprocated in Islam. "And it is an important obligation of shariah to avoid any kind of harmful actions.

Are there any haram ingredients in the vaccines? As some people are claiming?

When some Muslim scholars, doctors and Islamic Fatawah councils researched these vaccines, when they checked the ingredients, they found that the vaccines were free from any haram products, therefore, they approved them. The fatwa councils that I mentioned earlier encouraged people to take the vaccine without any doubt or hesitations.

If there is an animal product in a vaccine, then the discussion of fiqh will come into place. Is it pure or impure? Halal or haram etc.

When they checked the ingredients, one of the scholars from the uk, Mawlana Yusuf Shabbir, emailed Phyzer about one of the ingredients which wasCholesterol. He was concerned that it was animal fat. They emailed him back and assured him that the cholesterol they used was plant based and synthetic. So basically there is no reason for us as Muslims to refuse the vaccine based upon waham or shaque only. Based upon doubt and suspicion only. Because from the shri’ah stand point there is no evidence.

Are there any side effects in the vaccine? There are many people have already taken this vaccine from our community. According to my knowledge everyone is okay so far.

* If you have any concerns about the side effectsfor the vaccine, instead of checking on your WhatsApp messages and Facebook posts, go to the medical physicians and talk to them. Because spreading and sharing messages without checking its authenticity is sinful and harming the community.

So after discussing all the points:

a) From the ingredients stand point, b) From the Islamic law stand point, c) From the usool stand point, d) And according to the council’s fatwa,

It is very clear that there is no reason to say that taking the vaccine is makruh, how will you even say it isharam? There is no reason for that.

Rather we can say it’s absolutely permissible. In some cases it is recommended,

And in some cases it might be at the level of wujoob, on the basis that Islam does not allow us to harm people or to let others harm us. Islamic law forbids anything which causes harm.

Therefore, what is considered harmful must be removed or avoided whenever possible. All necessary measures should be taken to prevent any kind of harm from happening.

According to this principle of sharia it is Wajib (obligatory) upon everyone to take the vaccine to protect themselves and others from this deadly virus.

In conclusion, I would like to say, it is an individual decision whether you want to take the vaccine or not. If you have any concern, if you have any under lying problems do consult your doctor, he/she can guide you.

I tried to remove the misconceptions that are rotating in the community and strived to make the Islamic perspective clear to you only. Allahu Alam.

May Allah bless you all.

Posted on September, 2020 by Md Yousuf Saleh