As New England’s Islamic communities prepare for Monday’s start to Ramadan, some are hearing an unusual question: Is it acceptable to be vaccinated during the daylight fasting that is required in Islam’s most sacred month of the year?
The answer is yes, according to Islamic authorities in the region and around the world. Saudi Arabia’s highest cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, and Sunni Islam’s top religious leader in Lebanon, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Latif Derian, have both said that getting the coronavirus vaccine does not constitute breaking one’s fast. Similar statements have come from Islamic leaders throughout New England.
During the 30-day Ramadan, which starts Monday evening, the faithful must refrain from eating or drinking between sunrise and sunset. The prohibitions as laid out in the Koran include not taking pills or liquid medication unless in a medical emergency, but it does not cover injections.
Coping with this question is one of many adaptations that New England’s Islamic communities have taken during the pandemic. The Islamic Society of Greater Concord has reopened its mosque on North Main St. but masks are mandatory, as is bringing your own prayer rug. The need for social distancing also means that some people cannot attend at this time, including children under 14.
The prophet Mohammed established the Ramadan fast as one of the five pillars of Islam. Like Easter, Ramadan is based on a lunar calendar and falls on different periods from year to year, from March through May.
The requirement for fasting is more difficult in northern latitudes where daylight lasts longer; in Concord, for example, Monday’s fast lasts 13 hours and 11 minutes, almost an hour more than in Mecca. By the last day of Ramadan in May, Concord faithful will have to abstain for 14 hours and 34 minutes.
In Maine, imam Mohamud Mohamed is working to assure Muslims at his Portland mosque that getting the vaccine is fine but says some people are clinging to misperceptions.
“There is a lot of bad information going around,” said Mohamed, who devoted his address during recent Friday prayers to promoting the vaccine. A vaccine clinic was held at the mosque on Saturday.
On New York’s Staten Island, imam and NYPD chaplain Tahir Kukaj, whose mosque was administering 1,000 vaccines on Thursday and Friday, said he has heard all sorts of misconceptions about vaccines, and some “people tend to believe nonsense rather than facts.”
But protecting others is a core teaching of Islam, and Kukaj said Muslims are taught to do whatever they can to save lives. Getting vaccinated is a way to do that: “Of course, we have to save our own life first.”
Medicine and fasting is nothing new. Muslims may forgo fasting if they fall ill and make up for “missed” days at a later time, after Ramadan.
“If you miss a day because of the effects of the vaccine, then that is not a sinful act,” said Ahmed Abdirahman, a respiratory therapist at a Portland hospital and community service coordinator at the Maine Muslim Community Center. “Protecting lives is the ultimate goal in Islam.”
Dr. Hasan Shanawani, president of the American Muslim Health Association, said he’s encouraging everyone to be vaccinated even if that means getting the jab during Ramadan.
A lung specialist, he said he has treated dozens if not hundreds of people with COVID-19 and seen firsthand the horrific toll the disease can take.
“This is not just a decision that weighs on you,” Shanawani said from his office in Michigan. “It weighs on everybody.”
Similar conversations have played out in other countries.
The British Islamic Medical Association circulated a WhatsApp message reassuring people that “taking the COVID-19 vaccines currently licensed in UK does not invalidate the fast during Ramadan as per the opinion of the majority of Islamic scholars.”
Association vice president Dr. Wajid Akhter said there is a growing understanding among Muslims in his community of the importance of not delaying vaccinations due to Ramadan. But for any who may be wavering, he emphasized that COVID-19 represents a threat that cannot be ignored.
“How many fasts are you going to miss if you catch COVID? How many fasts are you going to lose if you get long COVID? … And how many fasts will you lose if you die from COVID?” Akhter said. “You’re never going to fast again.”