Omar Suleiman – Muslim Resilience During the Pandemic

			hamdulillah I think in some in some aspects of my life, anecdotally, as you mentioned, I feel like
I've come closer to Allah subhanaw taala Yes, he's in control. And, you know, when I feel that I'm
going to be challenged with earning a living during a COVID
		

			experience that Allah subhanaw taala somehow, you know, finds a way to give me a risk. But
		

			on the other hand, I've faced some challenges personally, in maintaining my spirituality, like, I
enjoyed the whole, the whole idea of praying
		

			at home, that was that was quite, you know, that was a blessing was spiritual, my family was
together. But at the same time, my religiosity is probably
		

			linked to community service, and I wasn't able to go out there on the frontlines and help and
organize and, and support as much as I'm used to. And I was recently reading an article in The
Atlantic about how COVID has basically demolished many friendship circles. And for me, that's one of
them, like, my friends have become a lot less fewer. Like I've got, you know, deeper connections
with fewer people. But that broad spectrum of Muslims that you see at the mosque or community
activities has kind of disintegrated, and it's affected my spirituality. So your mind just talking
		

			more to the, to the research that you did? And is this just was a momentary spike in people's
spirituality? Or are they going to be residual effects on on people's faith. And that's, it's
really, really important. And as most researchers will tell you, this is room for more research to
really figure out what we did along with, along with the plan is really look at three stages. You
know, the first, the first study actually came out right at the beginning, within the first week of
COVID. So march of 2020. And then there was a second, you know, pulse checking, right, where we kind
of check the pulse again, right around, you know, preyed on a lot. Because there was always this
		

			fear of like, there'll be the very first time and as you mentioned, a different that I'm old on the
ones we've ever had before. And then again, a third pulse check in, post that on hold on to see
Well, what happened, what was it really like? And then there was a fourth one, actually, right
around the summer, when there was here in the US, there was a lot of tension of, you know, racial
injustice, and just all kinds of societal, historically, societal issues that have really come came
to a head over the summer. So we kind of pulled chapter all throughout to see what was happening,
and absolutely would want to continue checking that. So what we're what I'm presenting to you is
		

			really, data from, you know, about 9000 Muslims globally, if you're out these different stages, and
what we're finding is that even though Yes, there is yes, there's more mental health concerns than
before. Yes, there's more difficulty than before. Somehow, psychologically, and spiritually, there
is still this compared to other faith groups, right. And compared to other groups of people, there's
more kind of this connection with the divine.
		

			And I can't help but imagine that this is something that is very indigenous to the Muslim faith,
there is something about the resiliency building and understanding of this life, this dunya that
we're in is thought to have been at the world, the abode of tribulation, right? And that what's
coming after this will be better. And so the kind of patients that we live through that suburban
jameelah beautiful patients that we live through, even when it's difficult, even when things seem
like they're crumbling, even like you mentioned, job concerns, and monetary, financial concerns, all
of these things, kind of understanding that if Allah sent us something difficult, he will send with
		

			it, its ease, right and then on our sleeves, right, that kind of concept. So yes, I don't want to
oversimplify a very, very complex issue, but there's something very beautiful about the kind of
resiliency that is done gives us