With the outbreak of COVID-19, pilgrims and devotees of sacred places, governmental institutions and their health sectors, and also religious leaders and clerics are challenged. Each is endeavoring to be reasonable and resolve several key issues of the effect of COVID-19 on pilgrimage to the sacred sites, questions such as caution about the health of pilgrims and the provision of related guidance and manuals; bodies, touch and the transference of disease; the importance of purity and the miracles of saints, their relics and shrines for healing COVID-19 and other health problems.

This is a unique time for anthropologists and other social scientists to observe the behavior of the entire society (pilgrims, governmental sectors and also religious authorities) regarding the pilgrimage of devotees to saints’ shrines and sacred pilgrimage sites based on COVID-19. This is a call for participation in general observation and the sharing of knowledge in this regard among all faiths around the globe.

Source: Institute for the Study of Islam and Muslim Societies (IISMM)