Hawzah News Agency - One of the main differences between secular views and Islamic approaches is the way they look at spirituality and religion. From the secular thought, the philosophy of religion and religiosity can be summarized as achieving personal peace, social order, and morality.

In fact, Western thinkers have reduced religion to its functions. For example, in the current situation where the COVID19 has spread in the world and has affected many people in the world, religion, and religious tendencies have increased among the people of the world. Whereas, according to Islam, religiosity means having instructions for living at all times and in all dimensions, under divine instructions and to achieve happiness in this world and another world.

Furthermore, the empirical sciences and reason, which form the basis of Western thought, are limited to testable knowledge and have many limitations. Hence, in cases such as the spread of diseases and the descent of disasters, which empirical science cannot justify, it relies on God and spirituality. In other words, from the secular point of view, God is the God of the gaps. In the sense that wherever there is a shortage in the world and the empirical science of human cannot justify it, he turns to God.

God and the spirituality of surrounded human in Corona, is the same as this though. This human being has hung on God to fill his knowledge gap in controlling the spread of Corona. He does not know where the virus came from and how he can get rid of it, so he considers it supernatural and seeks refuge in God and prays to protect himself from the disease.

An important drawback of this type of spirituality is that it is often not accompanied by a heartfelt belief in origin and resurrection. He wants only this God to understand, tolerate, and justify these unknown conditions. As a result, the more scientifically advanced he becomes, the less he finds himself in need of a phenomenon in the name of God, the less he seeks it, and the more he will surely forget the Lord he made for himself, by destroying COVID19  or discovering its vaccine. Whereas in Islamic thoughts, we consider God always and everywhere, he is present and is watching us all the time. He is closer to us than the jugular vein, He created us and revealed the religion for our growth and education through the prophets to perfect us. All that is good is from him, and perhaps the spread of the COVID19  is also a means of evolution and good for mankind.

Our religiosity is not limited to time, place and circumstances; For us, religiosity means our belief that we were created by God Almighty, that we came into this world to evolve in obedience to divine commands, and that we would eventually be returned to God.

Maryam Ghazi Esfahani