Seven Lessons from the Crises of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Shaykh
By Yasir Qadhi | 2026-01-07T23:07:28.14608+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Seven Lessons from the Crises of Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Opening
Bismillah, in the name of Allah, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who raises whom He wills and debases, showing their worth, the controller of the sun and moon, the stars and winds and the cloud, the all-powerful legislator who decides what is prohibited and what is allowed. He alone is our Rabb, sustaining us from our birth and until our death, providing us all of our needs, each morsel of food and every breath. Praise be to Allah, whom the angels worship without tire continuously.
All shall come to Him on the day of judgment, humbly and with humility. And may peace and salutations be upon the leader of the children of Adam, our Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) whose status no human can ever fathom.
Know that Allah has commanded us to have taqwa of Him, when He says:
O you who believe, be conscious of Allah, the way that it is befitting that you be conscious of Him, and do not die except in a state of Islam.
Introduction
Dear Muslims, the entire world is talking about this potential plague, this coronavirus that is taking place. And so I thought that insha'Allah in today's khutbah, let us look at some of the wisdoms we can derive, some of the morals and lessons that we can learn from what we see around us. For the believer always looks at the wisdom, the believer always tries to derive benefit from every single aspect around him.
And today's khutbah insha'Allah ta'ala I will summarize seven benefits and seven lessons that all of us can learn from what is going on around us.
Lesson 1: Humbling Humanity Before Allah's Power
The first of these seven, to make us humble, and to realize that none of us is powerful, and only Allah Azza wa Jal is all powerful. No human is superhuman, no human is almighty, all of us are under the control of a powerful Rabb.
Look at this virus, the largest country in the world in terms of population and that is China, the most powerful country in the history of humanity, and that is our country America. All over the world, all nations, mighty and weak, the entire human race is in terror. Doesn't matter where they're from, and what are they terrified at? They're terrified at the smallest of the small.
They're terrified at something that is a manifestation of life. In fact, scientists even wonder is the virus technically alive or is it something between life and death? And the virus is the smallest manifestation of any creation. It is around 20 to 30 nanometers in length.
To even look at it, we cannot even look at it with a normal microscope. We only can see it from a special type of microscope called an electron microscope. And the electron microscope does not bounce light off of the object, it bounces electrons off of the object.
And to give you an idea of how small this virus is, to give you an idea of what is causing all of mankind to be terrified at something so minuscule, just to see this virus, we need to magnify it at least 100,000 times. Now to put that in perspective, to give you an idea, if we were to take a grain of rice, just a rice seed, if we were to take a grain of rice and expand it 100,000 times, that grain of rice would be as large as five or six football fields. This is just to see the virus.
You have to expand it 100,000 times. From this virus, all of us mankind are terrified. What does this show us? That there is indeed a Rabb.
That despite all of our technology, despite all that we have come, we are not masters of our own destiny. We do not even control our own lives, much less the lives of others. How can we not humble ourselves in front of subhanal khaliq, the one who creates everything, the one whom Allah Azawajal mentions in the Quran about himself:
He creates that which you cannot even know, you don't even understand.
That is Allah. So the first of these lessons is to make us realize there is a Rabb, and the Rabb is in charge of us.
Lesson 2: Remembering Death and the Temporary Nature of Life
The second of the seven lessons that we can benefit from is to appreciate that life and death are real.
Why? Because all too often we ignore death, all too often we become so comfortable in this dunya, we start living the life, we start enjoying the material pleasures, we become complacent of the riches that we have, we become engrossed to such an extent that we become heedless that this dunya is not the end all and be all. And these types of calamities, these types of tragedies, it is a wake-up call that no one lives forever.
We have not given immortality to any human being before you.
Every single soul shall die.
Just because we ignore it, just because we don't think about it, it does not change the reality of life and death.
Allah is the one who created death and He created life.
When these plagues come and when death surrounds us, we become more cognizant. Our hearts that might have been hard become soft. Our minds who only think of the dunya, we start thinking of the akhira. And if this type of calamity makes our hearts that were hard soft, then this is a blessing and not a calamity. If this calamity wakes us up from the slumber of the dunya and makes us realize that all of life is temporary, then it is wallahi not a calamity, but it is a blessing in disguise.
This is the second benefit we gain from. Our mortality, life is not permanent, death is around the corner. As Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (رضي الله عنه) said every single day we all wake up and death is closer to us then our shoe strap that is on our toe, our death is closer to us. Every day we wake up and we do not know when we are going to die. So these types of calamities rub the point home that life is not eternal and only Allah azza wa jal knows when we are going to die.
Lesson 3: Exposing the Falsehood of Racial and Social Superiority
The third blessing we can see, the wisdom that we can extract from what we see around us, is the notion that some people are better than others. And the fact that this virus attacks all of humanity equally, it really shows us the foolishness of the superiority complex, the foolishness of racism, the foolishness of thinking my race, my people, my nation state is better than anyone else. No, this virus is attacking all of humanity equally.
All classes, the rich and the poor, all ethnicities, the white and the black, and the yellow and the brown, all socio-economic privileges gone. Every single human equally is human.
(Tirmidhi 3955)
All of you are from Adam, and Adam is from dust.
Anybody who feels that because I have a certain background or because my bank account has more, or because my nationality, because my passport, because my irq and my tribe and what not, all of this is thrown in the dust.
Every one of us, our blood cells are exactly the same. We are all equally human. And all illusions that we create of superiority, of differences between us, all of this is shown to be foolish.
And the message of Islam, that the only thing that really separates us is in the eyes of Allah. And that is through taqwa. In this world, we are all equally human.
And so, this virus and the scare that it is generating, in fact should make us realize the truth of our religion of Islam when it tells us that every one of us is equally human. All of us have come from the same origin, and our end result will be exactly the same. There is a beautiful nuqta or just an anecdote, and Allah knows if it's authentic or not, that is mentioned in our books of history, that once there was a tyrannical king, he was torturing scholars and righteous people.
And he was mocking a scholar in front of him. And as he was mocking, some flies came and irritated him. And he swatted these flies away. And he said, Tell me, O alim, what is the wisdom of Allah creating flies? Flies are always pesky. Flies are always a nuisance. And so this alim responded, Allah Azza wa Jal is using flies to humble the arrogant of His creation like you.
The wisdom of having flies is to show you, O king, that you are still a human like I am. So this is what we see here, that this virus does not differentiate between prime minister, there was a minister of some country fell sick, and between peasant, between rich, between poor, between white, between black, every one of us is equally affected because we are one in our humanity.
Lesson 4: This World Is Not an Indication of Success
The fourth wisdom that we can derive from what we see around us is to show us that this dunya and the wealth that comes with it, and the blessings that come with it is not an indication of success and happiness.
No, not at all. Rather, the fact that people that seem to be innocent or good or righteous are struck with calamities. And the fact that people that might be evil or bad seem to be going scot-free. It makes us realize that this dunya is not the end. We must recognize that there's going to be hereafter. This virus, it seems to sometimes take innocent children, innocent people.
Not just this virus, any calamity. Sometimes the righteous are affected, and sometimes the evil people are left. And this should make us reflect that whoever has this dunya doesn't mean that Allah is pleased with them. Whoever has this dunya taken away does not mean that Allah is angry with them. On the contrary, this dunya is not an indication that Allah loves you.
As one of our scholars said, that this dunya is given to the one whom Allah despises and the one whom Allah loves. Doesn't matter. And this dunya is taken away from the one whom Allah despises and the one whom Allah loves. This world and all of the blessings associated with it are not the indication of success.
They're not the indication of Allah's pleasure. Rather, it is the akhirah that is the full indication of Allah's pleasure. And Allah mentions in the Quran:
Beware of the tragedy or of the fitna. Beware of the trial that is not only going to affect those who do wrong amongst you.
This virus is spreading everywhere. It is the righteous and unrighteous. It is the good and the bad. It is the salih and the talih. All of them are being affected at equal.
And it is our reaction that determines taqwa, not the affliction itself. Those of you who are suffering from any calamity or affliction, do not interpret it as Allah not being pleased with you. On the contrary, our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:
(Bukhari 3473)
These plagues that you see, they are an azab for some group of people and a rahma for the believers.
The same thing can be an azab, and the same thing can be a rahma. Why? Because it is of this dunya. Money can be a punishment, and money can be a blessing. Good health can be a type of punishment if you don't use it properly. And good health can be a blessing from Allah.
So we see in this point, point number four, that this dunya, and getting it or not getting it, does not indicate at all a person's maqam in the eyes of Allah. Rather, this dunya, sometimes the best people get nothing of it, and sometimes they get a lot of it. And sometimes the worst people seem to have the best of this dunya, and sometimes they don't get anything of this. And the same goes for this virus as well.
Lesson 5: The Importance of Community and Social Systems
Point number five in our list of seven things that we're going to mention in today's khutbah. Of the blessings really that we see from this tragedy, because again the purpose of today's khutbah, we find blessings in tragedy, we find the positives, we find the silver lining as we say in English. We always look at the positive as our religion instructs us to do.
Of the blessings that we see, is that it makes selfish people realize they need family and friends, they need other people. Subhanallah, what is going to happen if one of us were to fall sick? Who will take care of us? There are many who want to live selfish lives, nafsi, nafsi. And this is not the way of Islam, it is not the way of any decent human being.
A human being needs to love and to be loved. A human being needs to be a part of a good society. In fact, one can also extrapolate from this point number 5, not just the importance of family and friends, not just the importance of having people to take care of you, but also the importance of civil order, of law, of society, of government.
Because we need systems that are checks and balances. We need systems that are going to make sure that people don't go into chaos, that people are taken care of. And that is why when Islam came, and the Arabs pre-Islam were not a civilization.
The Arabs pre-Islam were in Jahiliyyah. And Islam came, and it lifted the Arabs from Jahiliyyah until they control the whole world from China to Andalus. Why? Because Islam came, and it gave them many things. And of the things it gave them is the khilafah rashidah. Of the things it gave them is political strength and power. And this shows us, it's human nature, it's civilization.
You want to have a successful dunya, you need to come together and have law and order. You need to come together, individuals, families, friends, and all communities, and form systems and societies that will keep things in check. And of course, this is not the place to get into the issue of universal healthcare or not.
But nonetheless, these types of viruses, and these types of plagues, they make us think the pros and cons of various positions out there. They make us think, what would be better if all of us came together, and all of us were taken care of, or if it was an individual system. Believe it or not, these types of trials, they make the person think, and they make them see, even when it comes to our worldly policies.
This is the fifth of our seven points in today's khutbah.
Lesson 6: Belief in Divine Decree (Qadar)
The sixth of these seven points is to demonstrate for us that there must be a higher power that predetermines what is happening. There must be what we call in Arabic, iman bil qadr.
This virus, and the anxiety that comes from it, and the seemingly randomness, who gets it, who doesn't get it. This doesn't just come out of nowhere. There must be everything that is predetermined by qadr.
As Allah says in the Quran:
Everything we have done, we have created it with qadr.
A person can take every single precaution. A person can always wash his hands and wear the mask, and don't go anywhere, and still be afflicted with the virus. Another person can walk to the very epicenter without any protection, and nothing happens to him. And that is why in the end of the day, there must be a higher power. And there must be a power that is telling who is what, that is telling what is going to happen to whom.
And this is of course our belief in qadr. And this is something that is mentioned in a hadith narrated in the Musnad of Ibn Ahmad. And some have said it is muqoof on Ibn Abbas, that it is reported that our
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم:said
(Ahmad 2718)
Taking precautions will not help you against qadr.
Think about this. Taking precautions will not help you against qadr. Meaning, if you were to take every precaution in the book, but it is decreed for you that it is going to happen, then your precautions, are they gonna change qadr? So if Allah has decreed death in a certain place, and you wore protective armor, and you did everything you could, will the Malakul Maut not be able to take your soul just because you have protective armor? No.
This is what this narration says لَنْ يَنْفَعَ حَذَرٌ مِنْ قَدَرٍ - You taking precautions will not save you from Allah's qadr. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, But rather, dua is helping you against what has happened and what is going to happen. Dua is your weapon that you turn to.
So I command you to have dua and to make dua, O servants of Allah. The Muslim, the mu'min finds consolation in belief in qadr.
This does not mean that we don't take precautions. The hadith does not say we act foolishly. The hadith is saying, even if you were to take every precaution, yet it is Allah's qadr that something will happen, those precautions will not benefit you. This is what the hadith is saying, which means obviously Allah's qadr is going to happen, but we don't know Allah's qadr.
So we take reasonable precautions, we tie our camel, and then we put our trust in Allah. As the famous incident in the books of history, one of the worst plagues that afflicted the early ummah was the plague of Amwas, Da'un Amwas in the 18th year of the Hijrah. It is estimated at least 50,000 of the sahaba died in that plague.
And it is in... of the people died in that plague, and it took place in Syria. And the stories go as we all know, we mentioned this multiple times that, Umar ibn al-Khattab was proceeding onwards to Syria with reinforcements for the army, and then they heard there is a plague in Syria. And they're debating among themselves, what should we do, until finally they decide to go back to Medina.
One of them says, O Umar ibn al-Khattab, are you running away from Allah's qadr? And what did Umar ibn al-Khattab say? We are running from Allah's qadr to Allah's qadr. It is Allah's qadr that we protect ourselves. We are not trying to... There is no way we can protect from Allah's qadr. Whatever we do is also Allah's qadr. We are running from qadr to qadr. Going back to Medina, which is a bastion of safety right now.
The plague has not reached Medina. Going back to Medina is qadr Allah. We are not running away ultimately from qadr. We are doing qadr of Allah azza wa jal. When we take precautions, and then we
leave the rest to Allah.
So, qadr does not mean we don't take precautions. Qadr does mean that whatever happens, happens by the will of Allah. And we have to memorize this verse and put it in our minds:
As the situation is appearing to worsen, dear Muslims, put this ayah and etch it in your spiritual heart. Say, nothing will happen to us, except if Allah has decreed it upon us. Nothing will happen to you or to me, unless Allah has decreed it. We accept the qadr of Allah, even as we make dua for Allah azza wa jal to protect us.
We accept the qadr of Allah, and we use the qadr of Allah to protect us from the qadr of Allah azza wa jal. And then whatever happens, happens. But we don't act foolishly.
So, point number 6, iman in qadr comes in a very necessary pillar over here. No matter what we do, in the end everything is with qadr. That doesn't mean we act foolishly.
Lesson 7: Returning to Faith During Times of Crisis
We believe in qadr, and we use qadr to protect ourselves from qadr. And this leads me to point number 7, our final point in today's khutbah. And that is that of the greatest wisdoms of any type of calamity, especially a calamity that is as universal as what is happening now, that all of mankind is plagued by it.
One of the greatest wisdoms is that during these times, people rediscover their faith. People turn to Allah. People turn to faith and to religion.
Even those that are not that religious, they generally become religious. Even those that might not worship Allah very regularly, at times of calamity, at times of stress, everybody turns to Allah. And this is one of the most blessed wisdoms of any calamity.
And in fact in the Quran, there are at least a dozen verses, no exaggeration, at least a dozen verses in which Allah mentions, that at times of stress, mankind remembers Me. When they're about to drown in the ocean, they think of Me. When some calamity comes to them, they call upon Me.
When they're in pain or anguish, Allah says, they make dua to Me, standing, sitting and lying down. Now, listen to this carefully. In the whole Quran, Allah never criticizes rediscovering faith at times of calamity.
Allah never criticizes turning to Him when a person is in distress. Where is the criticism? The criticism comes after the distress is lifted, after Allah saves you, after all of this is over, then you forget and you worship other than Allah. That is the criticism.
To become religious at times of stress, this is the essence of iman. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, this is what the Muslim and mu'min does at times of stress.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would increase salah, would pray longer tahajjud, would make dua to Allah. That is exactly what you do when the situation gets tough. Don't feel guilty that you're becoming more religious because of stress.
Feel guilty only if after it is over, you neglect and forget and go back to your ways. You need to raise the bar during times of stress. Turn to Allah.
Increase your salah and your dua. And once the stress is over, and if Allah blesses you to live after that, then don't forget the blessing Allah has given you. And thank Allah for that blessing.
The censure in the Qur'an, the reprobation that comes in the Qur'an, it is for those who remember Allah at times of stress, and then forget everything after it is over. So keep this point in mind. In fact, the Qur'an reminds us that during times of stress and fitna, we should turn to Allah.
And by turning to Allah, this is one of the main ways of protecting us. Allah says in the Qur'an:
Why didn't they beg us in dua when the punishment came down?
Allah is asking a rhetorical question. Why didn't they turn to me? Why didn't they make dua to me when the punishment came down? Rather their hearts became hard, and they neglected.
Allah did not criticize them except for not making dua. The criticism was for not being religious at times of fitna. In fact, dear Muslims, the very purpose of being tested and tried is so that we turn back to Allah before it is too late.
The very purpose of a fitna is that Allah Azza wa Jal is testing us with a small tragedy to protect us from the largest tragedy which is the fire of hell. Allah is giving us a small amount of pain so that we wake up and protect ourselves from the ultimate pain. And Allah mentions this in the Quran that Allah Azza wa Jal says:
What will Allah gain by punishing you? What will Allah gain by sending a punishment down if you truly believe in Allah and you are thankful to Allah?
Allah Azza wa Jal does not gain any sadistic pleasure by seeing His servants in pain. That's not the wisdom. The wisdom is, we turn to Allah before it is too late. And so the greatest moral and the greatest wisdom from this tragedy around us, the purpose of it is so that we rekindle our relationship with Allah.
We rediscover the sweetness of iman. We turn to Allah in salah and in dua, and in tahajjud, and in sadaqah. And in that indeed will be our salvation.
May Allah bless me and you with and through the Quran. And may He make us of those who His verses they understand, and who seek His halal and haram throughout our lifespan. I ask Allah's forgiveness. You as well ask for He is the Ghafoor, the Rahman.
Practical Guidance During the Crisis
Dear Muslims, I have said in our previous khutbas, and many scholars are saying the same thing. Taking reasonable precautions is a part and parcel of our religion. And it is not the job of the ulema to be specific about what precautions to take.
This is the job of the scientists and of the doctors. But what we have heard and what we are all listening is that we need to be cautious about our hands and what they're touching and touching them back to our face as much as possible. And during these times, a person is allowed to err on the side of caution.
During these times, in the first place, it's not wajib to shake somebody's hand anyway, by the way. It is not obligatory to shake somebody's hand. And if you feel that you're in a place or a situation where you'd rather not do that, you are not obliged to shake the hand.
What is wajib is to return the salams verbally. And alhamdulillah, there's no problem doing that whatsoever. So if you choose not to shake somebody's hand, it is up to you.
And don't feel any intimidation from the sharia point of view. As well, the whole concept of you being extra cautious if you feel these symptoms, we already said this. And last week a number of ulema gave fatawa about this regard.
And I already said this few weeks ago. That if you are feeling sick or feverish, and you do not know what the cause of it is, err on the side of caution, and do not come to congregations. Do not come for salah.
Allah azza wa jal will not punish you if you're erring on the side of caution. Allah knows your niyyah. Allah azza wa jal knows you're doing this for precaution.
As we know, this virus spreads in crowds of people. As we know, this virus spreads because of sneezing or droplets. And therefore, if you have the symptoms, it's gonna take many weeks to figure out if you have this virus or not.
May Allah protect all of us. But if you have any fevers, any coughing, any sneezing in this time frame, err on the side of caution. And try your best to not congregate.
Try your best to wear masks at this point in time. Because masks are being told to be worn by those who are sick. It's not gonna protect the people around just from breathing it in because the virus is so small.
It will go through this mask. The purpose of the mask, as we're hearing from the doctors, is that your droplets, if you're infected, do not go outside. As for the virus itself, a mask is not gonna stop it.
It is too small for that. Obviously, we also benefit from our shari'ah in that we are commanded to wash our hands all the time. We're commanded to be pure.
Of the simple sunnahs, is that the left hand is used for anything that is not noble, and the right hand is used for that which is noble. So even these small things, insha'Allah they will help and protect us. But my point is that our shari'ah tells us to tie our camel and then put our trust in Allah.
And a part of tying our camels is to take these reasonable precautions and to listen to the medical experts if the situation is even to the level. And I just heard today that one or two masajid in some zones here in America, in some cities, they stop Jumu'ah because the number of viruses were very high in that locality. And this is wisdom.
This is a part and parcel of implementing the shari'ah of Allah. Let no one think that this is somehow against the teachings of Islam. On the contrary, the preservation of life is one of the goals of the shari'ah.
And there's nothing wrong with praying dhuhr at home if the situation gets there. And before it gets there, this needs to be set on the minbar and on the khutbah. If it does happen, then you should know that if the situation that the government or the health ministry says that there should be no congregations, we will follow that and implement that.
And we will expect Allah to reward us for not coming for Jumu'ah. And we will pray dhuhr at our homes instead. The point, dear brothers and sisters, all of this khutbah is about very simply that we always look at the positive, we always look at the bright matters, we always find optimism.
And in the end, this dunya is temporary. Allahazza wa jalla chooses to test some people in it in different ways. If Allah chooses to test any of us, then insha'Allah ta'ala we pray to Allah that we are given the himmah and the courage to pass the test.
But we ask Allah that to not even test us because we don't want to be tested.
Closing Du'a
Ya Rahman, Ya Raheem, O Allah, we ask that You do not leave any sin of ours except that You have forgiven it, Ya Allah.
And any worry of ours except that You have eliminated it, Ya Allah. And any debt of ours except that You have paid it, Ya Allah. And any sickness of ours except that You have cured it, Ya Allah.
And any souls of our deceased except that You have honored it, Ya Allah. And any desires of ours that is pure and pleasing to You except that You have granted it, Ya Allah. Ya Ghani, Ya Kareem, O Allah, we ask
You to bless Islam and its people.
And the ummah, make it protected and blissful. And the lands, make them safe and peaceful. And ourselves, strengthen our imans and make us thankful.
And our families, give them iman and make them exceptional. And our children, guide them to righteousness and make them not sinful. And our health, gift us the best and make it the most desirable.
And our wealth, let it be pure and make it plentiful. And our lives, make them noble and purposeful. And our deaths, Ya Allah, make them upon the kalima and graceful.
All of this we ask You, O Allah, that You grant us with Your approval, Ya Rahman, Ya Raheem.
Final Salawat and Closing
O servants of Allah, Allah has commanded you with a command that He began with Himself and then seconded with the angels themselves and then followed it up by commanding all of ourselves. For Allah says in the Quran:
Indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels ask Him to do so. O you who have believed, ask Allah to confer blessing upon him and ask Allah to grant him peace.
Servants of Allah, Allahazawajal commands justice and excellence and being good to relatives. And He forbids lewd deeds and evil and rebelliousness. He reminds you of all of this so that you may pay heed. So remember Allah.
Allah will remember you. And thank Allah. Allah will bless you. And know that nothing is greater than the remembrance of Allah and that Allah knows all that you do.
(Quran 29:45)