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SINGAPORE – The Singapore Islamic Religious Council (Muis) has urged Muslims to get vaccinated once the Covid-19 vaccine is available and medically licensed as safe and effective.
In an irsyad or religious guide, issued on Sunday (December 13), Muis said that Muslims can use a Covid-19 vaccine, as it is a basic necessity to protect lives in the context of a global pandemic.
“The goals of introducing a Covid-19 vaccine and the processes involved in vaccine production in general are largely aligned with established Islamic principles and values,” he added, noting that Islam attaches great importance to sanctity and safety. of human life, as well as the protection of livelihoods.
Muis pointed to a fatwa, or Islamic ruling, issued in 2013 on the rotavirus vaccine, which viewed vaccinations as a form of preventive treatment for diseases and promoted Islam.
“This is based on the prophetic guidance that one should consume foods that offer some protection against disease,” he added.
Muis’ religious orientation stems from concerns by Muslims in neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia about the halal status of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The religious vision of a Covid-19 vaccine must take a more holistic stance that “transcends the narrow view of halality or the permissibility of its ingredients,” Muis said, setting out three areas that he said have been carefully considered.
First, vaccines are a fundamental necessity to save lives and ensure that societies can function safely and cohesively.
A second important consideration is that no vaccine should have known adverse medical effects that can harm those who take it.
On the permissibility of ingredients used in vaccines, Muis cited a 2015 ruling on the drug Heparin, an anticoagulant containing porcine enzymes, as an example of a situation that allows the use of impure or prohibited substances for treatment as is evident in some prophetic traditions. .
“The impure substances or prohibited items used in the above processes would have gone through multiple layers of chemical processes, such as filtration, which would render them undetectable or insignificant in the final product,” Muis said.
“In such situations, the end product (drug or vaccine) is considered permissible for Muslim use.”
In a Facebook post on Sunday, the Minister in Charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli welcomed Muis’s religious guidance and strongly encouraged Muslims to get vaccinated once the vaccines are available in Singapore.
“I am grateful to our religious leaders, who are very knowledgeable, progressive, enlightened and attuned to the concerns of our Malay / Muslim community in the context of the global pandemic,” he said.
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