Fri 15 January 2021:
Imams in more than 100 mosques across the UK deliver sermons at Friday prayers this week seeking to reassure worshippers about the safety and legitimacy of Covid-19 vaccinations and reminding them of the Islamic injunction to save lives.
Muslims attending Friday prayers this week will be told not only that the vaccine is halal – permissible in Islam – but that it is also encouraged to be taken by believers, The Guardian reported.
Imams will say that the vaccines are halal – permissible in Islam – and there should be no hesitation in taking them. They will urge worshippers to dismiss rumours, myths and “fake news” about the jabs and say: “It is our ethical duty to protect ourselves and others from harm.”
“It is our ethical duty to protect ourselves and others from harm,” imams will say during the noontime sermon as part of an effort coordinated by the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB).
“Scepticism is driven by two things,” said Qari Asim, the chair of Minab and an imam in Leeds. “First, there are legitimate questions about whether the vaccines are halal, which we have looked into and both vaccines in use in the UK are perfectly permissible.
“Second are the rumours, myths, conspiracy theories and fake news, which we have debunked. Misinformation could cost lives and must be challenged.”
“Those wary of the vaccine, your individual choice and feelings are respected, but we must all stop the spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories. A belief in these conspiracy theories can risk someone’s life.”
Minab has partnered with the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA) in its campaign to convince Muslims of the safety and legitimacy of the vaccines, and is hosting a series of webinars to answer people’s questions. The Muslim Council of Britain has also circulated BIMA’s position statement on the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines, which states they contain no animal products or human embryo cells.
Other claims are religiously targeted, with some Muslims and Hindus being told that the vaccine contains pork or has not been approved by religious leaders. Pork is outlawed in Islam, while many Hindus follow a strictly vegetarian diet.
Dr Harpreet Sood, head of the British National Health Service’s (NHS) anti-disinformation initiative, has warned that South Asian communities are particularly at risk.
“We need to be clear and make people realise there is no meat in the vaccine, there is no pork in the vaccine, it has been accepted and endorsed by all the religious leaders and councils and faith communities,” Sood told the BBC.
A recent poll by the Royal Society of Public Health revealed that people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities were less willing to take the Covid-19 vaccine than the majority of the UK population.
Just 57 percent of BAME people surveyed said they would take the vaccine, compared to 79 percent of white respondents.
Those figures come despite the fact that BAME communities have witnessed the highest death tolls from Covid-19 in the United Kingdom.
Photo: Twitter Bradford Grand Mosque
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