But, indeed, still, some religious leaders are so ignorant of the pandemic in the name of belief. And why is that? The knowledge regarding the pandemic is possible to reach through a few google searches. Yet, some people choose to believe some unreliable WhatsApp group’s broadcasts and don’t make more of an effort to determine whether those broadcasts are actual or not.
Dealing with ignorance, especially in religious communities, will be a long and arduous struggle. Even if sami’na was atho’na (we hear and we obey) becomes a tradition in most religious communities, critical thinking should be one of some things that must be encouraged too. This pandemic teaches us many things. It changes most of our ways of seeing and dealing with things. Adjusting with the new normal, religious communities have to remove ignorance so that most people will be unharmed during the pandemic. Like it or not, even the religious communities have to trust science this time. Even though our lives are in the hand of Allah, praying will not end the pandemic. We’ll need the science regarding the measurable steps we should take to minimize the casualties.
We still have a long way to go to end this pandemic. And quoting KH Ahmad Mustofa Bisri (Gus Mus) in his speech for Harlah PDNU yesterday, Nahdlatul Ulama’s doctors are not merely the frontline corona warriors but also the preachers for those NU’s religious leaders who are still ignorant with the pandemic.