Muslims in the Post-pandemic World: The Call to Balance Individual Freedom and Community Rights?

Abstract

Moving into the post-pandemic world, many studies have been conducted to learn the best responses of countries and institutions in dealing with related issues and emerging consequences, and several key areas were investigated such as healthcare, financial and political responses, whereupon numerous factors of their success have been highlighted. There is no doubt, however, that community participation is extremely crucial to remedy the situation in many sectors including politico-economic restoration and education. The conflict between the right to pursue individual freedom and the moral obligation to keep the community safe from the impact of the pandemic has also been the subject of philosophical inquiries. This paper explores the concept of community in Islam in light of the above discussion. It begins with discussing the commonly recognised concepts of the duty of individuals (farḍ ʿaynī) and the duty of sufficient execution (farḍ kifāʾī/kifāyah). The author argues that the concepts do not correspond to the highlighted discussion and the discussion is losing the clear definition of what should be regarded as the constant obligation of the whole community as a single unit and not only “some” of the community as present in the ʿaynī-kifāʾī division. This opinion paper calls for the establishment of the middle space or hybrid space in dealing with the notion of rights and obligations in the post-pandemic world.