1. What will become of places of worship during Covid-19 times? Pro-Covid-19 centres, dead buildings, or centres of caring for the community?
2. Should places of worship not NOW be turned into safe distribution and charity centres for food, masks, medicare and money for the poorest?
3. Should they not NOW more than at any other time be seen as centres of compassion, charity and hope?
4. Should mosque and church management committees and groups not do what they can to turn these places into centres for cooperation and support in the community?
5. Should the mosque and church now become DEAD buildings because of the lockdowns and curfews? Or could they be turned into big LIVING warehouses for safe distribution of essential hand sanitizers, masks and aid?
6. Could our loudspeakers also be used to give enlightening tips periodically to the neighborhood for surviving and thriving in these times?
7. Could places of worship be offered to the government as quarantine centres if the hospitals get full?
8. Five-star luxury hotels are very different from two-star hotels particularly in the services they provide their customers.
If Prophet Abraham, Moses, Jesus or Muhammad (peace be upon them all) were to visit your community place of worship, how many stars would he (or they) give it? Would they be that impressed by the architecture, grandeur and beauty of the buildings and aesthetics, or NOT AT ALL (!!!), but VERY MUCH MORE by how much love and compassion it shows the community through the services it offers the needy, the weak and the meek of the earth?
9. What services would they approve of the most during Covid-19 times? And when the pandemic ends (God willing) which services would you imagine these noble servants of God would recommend be continued?
10. Could we take this opportunity to rebrand our places of worship as greener Community Compassion Centres (“CCCs”)?
11. What would a “5 or 7 Star” place of worship look like today? How many stars would we allocate to our regular place of worship? Is it 3 stars or zero … because it’s closed?! Could we do better than that?
12. Would there be stars for more trees and green? For distance learning? Counselling? Cleanliness? Smiling faces? Peace building? First Aid? Community volunteer management? Health tips? Free food and books? Free 1-hour artisan – plumbing/ technical – work, etc.? What else?
13. Could we cooperate or even compete in creatively doing more good in these times?
14. Can we inspire more stars added to our places of worship? And evolve all places in which God’s Name is frequently praised into bigger stars!?
15. Could we come up with safe ways of generating good ideas to accomplish all these?
16. Please ask yourself, WHAT can I DO with what little I have, wherever I may be, NOW!? … While I still can, and while it matters most?
The saying goes, “It’s when the night is at its darkest that the stars shine their brightest”. May our places of worship be the brightest stars during the darkest hours of our community.
What matters most I think, is that we each SHOW we really care about the many victims of COVID-19 and our lockdowns, and NOT contribute to creating more centres and victims for Covid-19.
Peace and safety be with you, your family and your community.
Most respectfully,
Nuruddeen Lemu
*Muhammad Nuruddeen Lemu is the Director of Research and Training at the Da’wah Institute of Nigeria (DIN), Islamic Education Trust (IET), Minna, Niger State