بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Only the Khilafah can Provide Health Care with the Inherent Capacity to Handle Large Scale Disease Crises
News:
Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed on 18th May 2020 issued directions to reopen shopping malls across the country. During a hearing of a suo motu case regarding measures taken to deal with the coronavirus crisis — being heard by a five-member bench comprising the CJP,— Justice Ahmed questioned the "logic" behind keeping malls closed. During the hearing today, the chief justice had remarked, “Coronavirus does not go anywhere on Saturday and Sunday. What is the reason behind keeping markets closed on Saturday and Sunday?”
Comment:
The Western world adopted the method of lockdown, in order to control this epidemic, and Pakistan’s rulers followed suit. However, as the Western world eases on lockdown, outweighing the economic harm of lockdown over the harm of the spread of disease, the rulers of Pakistan again followed suit. The rulers of Pakistan merely imitate their Western masters, even though it is clear that Capitalism has failed to address the COVID-19 pandemic effectively on all counts, with widespread dissatisfaction in the West. At first, the Western world presented lockdown as the only solution to contain the spread of COVID-19 epidemic. The lock down policy was presented as if the Western regimes cared for the lives of their people, first and foremost. However, it was soon revealed that the actual reason was to protect the health sector of the Western world, which was woefully ill-prepared for the crisis and in danger of being completely overwhelmed.
The failure of healthcare was due to Capitalism itself. For many decades, especially after the fall of Communism, Western capitalist states increasingly handed over healthcare to the private sector. The private sector’s first priority is to maximize the profits so financial planning was made according to normal disease burdens, without planning for overwhelming, very occasional surges in burdens. So in order to cover the failure of Capitalism, they were compelled to adopt the policy of lockdown to prevent healthcare from collapsing. However, as the lockdown continued, the people became restless with confinement and financial hardships. Moreover, the beginnings of economic collapse that occurred before the COVID-19 pandemic, were worsened by it.
Even though the rulers of Pakistan talk about the State of Madinah, they did not refer to Islam and stuck to the failed ideology of Capitalism. Had they adhered to Islam, then the pandemic could have been controlled from its outset, without resorting to the drastic step of lockdown. Islam places great responsibility on state with regard to healthcare sector. The state prepares its economy, education, transportation, industry and healthcare to face extreme situations, as the Khilafah is always in a state of Jihad. The Khilafah state thus ensures healthcare of large capacity, which works well in normal circumstances as well as large scale health crises, such as wars and epidemics. Thus, life continues in an Islamic State even during epidemics, after taking certain precautionary actions, such as the protection of the frail and the elderly, strictly quarantining the areas of outbreak form the onset and separating the diseased from the health. Yet again the Muslims are reminded of the urgent need to fulfill their obligation to rule by Islam, through establishing the Rightly Guide Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of Prophethood.
[اُولٰٓٮِٕكَ عَلٰى هُدًى مِّنۡ رَّبِّهِمۡ قوَاُولٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ الۡمُفۡلِحُوۡنَ]
“Such are on true guidance from their Lord; such are the truly successful.”[Al-Baqarah: 2:5]
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Shahzad Shaikh
Deputy to the Official Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Pakistan
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