Across the world, mosques have been “shuttered,” as the English-language news sources here have been saying. For Muslims during Ramadan, restrictions are particularly challenging. On a social level, Ramadan (and eid, the holiday that follows it) is a season similar to Christmas for Americans. It’s a festive time. Stores are usually buzzing with activity as women buy food to prepare iftar (the nightly fast-breaking meal) for their families. Ramadan is a time for the best of the best, the special foods that families don’t eat on a normal weekday. For many Muslims around the world, these festivities are dampened by the orders to stay at home.
But the social cost is only one side of the coin. Each year, wealthy Muslims sponsor public iftar meals for the poor. Some spend hours in the mosque after iftar doing extra prayers. With these activities prohibited and mosques closed, Muslims around the world are losing out on something more significant than the social functions: hassanat(good deeds). For an observant Muslim, prayer, generosity, and fasting are all part of building more hassanat that will, hopefully, be enough for God to have mercy on them at the end of their lives. Not being able to pray taraweeh(nighttime prayers at the mosque that are special to Ramadan) or sponsor iftar means they will miss out on the good deeds that would have been available for them to do this year.
On a spiritual level, it seems significant to me that mosques will remain closed during Ramadan. But I couldn’t quite place my finger on why. Christians around the world grieved the loss of gathering together on Easter. Of course, Christian doctrine doesn’t call for believers to stack up the good works of church attendance against their sins in hopes for eternal mercy. But I had a sense that the difference between mosque closures and church closures was more significant than perfect attendance.
The Bible presents the church as the Body of Christ. While the Body often meets in a building we call “church,” the Scriptural idea refers much more commonly to a group of believers who gather for fellowship, worship, and to further the Great Commission. Church buildings as we know them aren’t mentioned in Scripture (though sometimes the early church community continued attending the synagogue). The mission of the Body of Christ does not need to be hindered by the closing of a building.
I believe that this is a time of disruption in the Muslim world. Year after year, tradition dictates the prayers, the sermons, the festivities. The lives of Muslims are oriented around this yearly event. This is a year of disorientation. We see in the book of Acts that the life of Paul (when he was Saul) was oriented around persecuting believers – until he was knocked off his horse. Ananias then had the privilege of re-orienting him to his new calling. Let’s pray that as Muslims around the world have a sense of disorientation, their re-orientation will be centered on Christ.