Abstract
The imposition of protective health protocols in public spaces to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has confronted the ritual of congregational prayers in mosques for Muslims. This study examines the adoption of protective behaviors in the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak and the influence of religion on risk perception by comparing precautionary behaviors in public and in mosques. Data were collected through an online survey of 327 Muslim men across the Aceh Province, Indonesia, from April 21, 2020, to May 2, 2020. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the paired t-test were employed to compare the uptake of protective behaviors in public and mosques. The adoption of protective behaviors was higher in public rather than in mosques. It further revealed that the understanding of Islamic teachings during the pandemic has influenced perceived risk and the way Muslim men comply with the protective guidelines. Those who have complete, incomplete, or no compliance of precautionary behaviors have their own interpretation of Islamic teachings that inform their individual actions to manage the risk. This study suggests the significance of religious views for developing public health preparedness during the current and future pandemics in Aceh and other Muslim majority regions.
Highlights
On March 2, 2020, the first 2 cases of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported in Indonesia, and, as of December 6, 2020, 575 796 confirmed cases and 17 740 deaths have been reported.[1]
Consistent with the previous literature on perceived risk as the key predictor in social distancing,[16,17,18,19,20] the current study found that those who had a higher perceived risk to be infected with COVID-19 were more likely to avoid communal prayers in mosques
This study has shown how the different interpretations of Islamic teaching during the pandemic result in risk-taking and risk-avoidance action
Summary
On March 2, 2020, the first 2 cases of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported in Indonesia, and, as of December 6, 2020, 575 796 confirmed cases and 17 740 deaths have been reported.[1]. The rigorous imposition of social distancing will undoubtedly affect the Muslim daily congregation prayers and Friday prayers in the mosque. While only a small number of Muslim men perform daily congregational prayers, Friday prayer attracts large mass gatherings to mosques since the majority of Muslim men attend the prayer once a week. Praying in a congregation in the mosque is obligatory for every adult male Muslim,[3] while they shall not consecutively miss Friday prayers more than 3 times for no religiously legitimate reasons.[4,5]
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