Fatwa Brigades and Islamophobes: Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca Have Cleared Suspicions of Pork Gelatine Usage
By
Syed Zubair Ahmad
6 January,
2021
Even as
India is scrambling to start the coronavirus vaccination drive, Muslims have
raised concern over the use of pork products – forbidden in Islam – in the
vaccine.
However,
three firms – Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna – have rejected the allegations
of using pork gelatine, but in vain. The issue has triggered an intense debate
among the ulema, prompting some to write to the World Health Organization (WHO)
and seek details of the contents of the drug.
The coronavirus vaccines are kept in extreme cold storage | Photo:
Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
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In India,
which has the second-largest Muslim population, the concern can have a
significant impact because of its potential to disrupt the vaccination drive,
although the Narendra Modi government has maintained that it would not be
mandatory. Vaccine advocates swiftly responded to the concern of the hesitant
groups, prompting several Muslim bodies to clarify Islam’s stand on the
controversial issue. The concerns must be quickly addressed in the interest of
public health and the community’s willing participation.
Fatwa
Brigades And Islamophobes
Islamic
scholars are divided on the issue with the majority of them citing verses from
the Quran to advocate for the vaccine. However, the controversy came to light
after the respected Muslim religious body, the Raza Academy, along with some
other organisations, reportedly issued a fatwa against its use. The fatwa was
sufficient fodder for Islamophobic Indians, who jumped in joy and started
Islam/Muslim bashing.
The
television studios were gleamingly adorned with misconstrued mullahs and
anchors cunningly putting Islam in the dock. But, thankfully, the biggest
Islamic seminaries came in quick succession to denounce the fatwa and the
hesitancy against the vaccine. The prominent organisations and individuals
include the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Darul Uloom Deoband,
Dargah-e-Ala Hazrat, and prominent scholars like Maulana Kalbe Jawad and
Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali. Above all, the Gulf countries, mainly
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have started the vaccination drive
and even announced that a vaccine with pork product is permissible. Perhaps,
these views took away the TV anchors’ smiles.
Further,
noted scientist and Islamic scholar M.G.H. Zaidi, who teaches in G.B. Pant
University of Agriculture & Technology, has made it clear, according to a
report in Amar Ujala, that pork-derived gelatine is used in the drug as a
stabiliser and asked everyone, including Muslims, to take it.
Vaccine
Hesitancy Not A Muslim Problem Alone
It is not
only the Muslims who are hesitant about the vaccine, Jews too remain in doubt
about the drugs allegedly made from forbidden food. Since the Abrahamic faiths
have a set of dietary guidelines, Muslims and Jews often raise questions on
such issues. (St Paul, the most revered man who is viewed as the founder of
Christianity, had separated Christianity from Judaism, arguing that Moses’
Commandments are not applicable for Christians).
Islam has a
set of codified guidelines for all aspects of life. The main focus of Islam is
purification of the soul, for which it prescribes certain ritual practices.
Besides insisting on purification of the inner self, Islam also asks its
believers to exercise restraints in the intake of food and drinks. However, the
Quran allows even the use of forbidden items to save a person’s life. But,
there are differences in jurisprudence over the interpretation of the Quran’s
verses.
Some
clarify that even a ‘haram’ item can be considered ‘halal’ and fit for
consumption or use if its original form transforms radically. However, Imam
Sha’afi, one of the four jurisprudence that the majority of Sunni Muslims
follow, does not consider it valid if the transformation is through man’s
intervention.
“According
to the Jewish law, the prohibition on eating pork or using pork is only
forbidden when it’s a natural way of eating it,” said Rabbi David Stav,
chairman of Tzohar, an Israeli rabbinical organisation. The Jewish religious
scholars clarify that if the item is injected into the body, not (eaten)
through the mouth, then it is permissible.
The Muslim
world is often seen as the epicentre of vaccine hesitancy. But it is factually
incorrect.
A London
School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine survey of 67 countries, published in
2016, showed that the European region had one of the lowest confidence levels
in vaccination safety.
And, so far
as hostility towards the polio campaign in north-west Pakistan is concerned,
the border conflict played a major factor. Further, the long-cherished
perception that the Christianised West was ever-ready to usurp Muslims
strengthened in the post-9/11 world.
Didn’t the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) try to use a fake
vaccination campaign to acquire DNA from Osama bin Laden’s relatives in
Abbottabad?
Referring
to a study, Al Jazeera writes, “Polio prevalence in Pakistan is correlated with
the frequency of US drone attacks between 2004 and 2011. Militants suspected
that polio vaccination campaigns were a smokescreen for intelligence-gathering
operations, and were therefore reluctant to grant them access to areas under
their control.”
Theories
and Veracity
Many groups
and ulema are casting aspersions on the nexus between vaccine firms and certain
governments. Fake claims of infertility resulting from the coronavirus vaccine
are also adding to public fear. Even though it has been fact-checked multiple
times.
These
suspicions, no matter how small, should be addressed. It is the responsibility
of both corporations/scientific community and Muslim leaders to dispel fears.
If these questions are not addressed, it will be naïve to expect that people, especially
Muslims, will come forward for vaccination.
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Syed
Zubair Ahmad is founder-editor of MuslimMirror.com. Views are personal.
Original
Headline: Not fatwa brigade or
Islamophobes, scientists and Muslim leaders must set vaccine facts right
Source: The Print
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/fatwa-brigades-islamophobes-pfizer,-moderna/d/123993
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