According the official source, social distancing measures in the Two Grand Mosques of Mecca and Medina are suspended, while wearing of face masks are mandatory inside these facilities.

Social distancing measures in all open and closed places, activities, and events are also suspended.

Face masks are no longer required in all open areas, however, they will continue to be mandatory in closed places.

The arriving passengers in the Kingdom are no longer needed to present the PCR tests and Rapid Antigen Test. Moreover, these passengers are no longer requested to go through institutional and home quarantine to combat the pandemic.

However, passengers arriving on visit visas are requested to have medical insurance to cover the expenses of treatment in case of Coronavirus infection.

Direct flights are allowed to operate from Saudi Arabia to the following countries and vice-versa: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Malawi, Mauritius, Zambia, Madagascar, Angola, Seychelles, Comoros, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan.

Implementation of the national immunization plan is stressed, which includes taking the booster shot, and also the procedures are applied to verify the health status through the “Tawakkalna” application to access the facilities, activities, events, boarding planes, and the public transportation.

Saudi Arabia achieved success in combating the pandemic, under its leadership, and through the implementation of effective national efforts from all sides, including free vaccination programs and the high rates of immunization.

#VIDEO: #SaudiArabia’s ?? holy city of #Medina among the world’s #healthiest cities. pic.twitter.com/8ylDj3a2SN

— The Milli Chronicle (@millichronicle) January 25, 2021

According to WHO’s statement, “a healthy city is one that is continually creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources which enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and developing to their maximum potential.”

A committee was formed under the supervision of Taibah university’s president Dr. Abdul Aziz Assarani to formulate a strategic partnership between Holy city’s integrated program and the University, in order to record government requirements on an electronic platform for WHO review.

A total of 22 government, community, charity and volunteering agencies contributed for the WHO accreditation.

Having impressed by the university’s role, WHO recommended that the university should impart training to other agencies across the Kingdom to take part in the healthy cities program.

Medina is believed to be the first city with a population of more than 2 Million residents to be recognized under the WHO’s Healthy Cities program.

Healthy Cities program was launched in 1986 in the developed countries namely Canada, USA, Australia, many European nations. However, by 1994, developing countries used the resources and implementation strategies of initial successes to begin their own programmes. Currently, thousands of cities worldwide are part of the Healthy Cities network and exist in all WHO regions in more than 1,000 cities worldwide.

Did the photoshoot happen in Madina?

A number of brotherhood news agencies like Middle East Monitor and others have highlighted the word “Madina” in the headlines. However, the official Saudi news agency Arab News has reported where and what exactly took place.

According to its report published on 6th July, the Lebanese designer Eli Mizrahi had his latest photoshoot in January 2020 for his campaign in the Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage site—Al Ula, which is an ancient city that lies within the Governorate of Ula or Muhafazat Al-Ula in Arabic.

The report vividly mentions that the Lebanese designer came to Saudi Arabia in December 2019, and he was fascinated by the hertitage site, so he decided to have his photoshoot in Al Ula.

No where, did the designer mention in his Insta posts that he did the photoshoot in the city of Madina.

Why the designer chose Al Ula?

Al Ula is around 300 Kms from Prophet’s city of Madina, and the Saudi tourism industry is promoting it as a best tourism spot for the world to come and experience the breathtaking scenic views.

A place called Hegan also known as Madain Salih in Al Ula, was built more than 2000-years ago by the Nabataeans. The city is best known for more than 100 monumental tombs which were carved from the rock formations in which the Nabataean elites were laid to rest.

To promote the tourism and attract more tourists, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is training more than 200 Saudi male and female students in the fields of farming, water technology, and hospitality. They are given training in new languages as well.

It’s quite obvious that the heritage site which has attracted thousands of tourists in the past few years, has attracted Mizrahi too, to have his latest collection to be shot there.

In fact, he expressed in an interview about his personal choice for the campaign that—“I didn’t have a million bucks for this campaign. But you never know until you try. I had my little army of supporters; Carine Roitfeld was on board, and I convinced the talent that they would look back on this moment — 24 hours in AlUla — as something special. Kate Moss not only came, but she was the first one on set at 5 a.m. and the last to leave.”

It’s obvious that the designer though he didn’t have a million bucks, managed the funds through his fans and supporters—all at the cost of the scenic beauty of Al Ula. He indeed convinced the supermodels for the photoshoot that they would relish the moments spent in the ancient city.

Should Muslims be really bothered by the photoshoot?

Muslims regard Prophet’s city of Madina as a holy place, and they get disturbed and concerned to see such raunchy campaigns in Islam’s second holy city.

But why would something bother them which is happening somewhere in Al Ula—a place which has no relation to the Islam’s second holy city?

In fact, once Prophet Mohammed with his companions was travelling to Tabuk, he happened to drop by Hegra, and he left the place immediately. He never lived or rested there.

The place cannot be considered as “holy”, because it’s a regular tourism place which is known for its rich history, scenic beauty and archaeological observations.

Conclusion

Those who run the propaganda are very clever. Their language and alignment changes from audience to audience. For conservative audience, they have their own tools, and for liberal audience, they have their own tools.

People should free themselves from falling into any type of political messaging, and it should be understood that it’s as clear as a day that the site is famous for tourism, and it’s open for everyone to visit and relish the moments.

It’s the blind and superstitious belief which neither conforms to Islamic jurisprudence nor does science approve it

To contain the spread of novel coronavirus, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz announced that curfew to be imposed for 21 days from 7 pm until 6 am starting from the evening of 23^rd March — a step Saudi Arabia has taken to forcefully implement “social distancing” which is the only suggestion scientific communities have given as of now.

The first step Kingdom took in order to contain coronavirus, was to lock-down the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah on 27^th February, and on 17^th March the authorities suspended prayers in all the mosques.

Is it a sign of “weak-faith” to lock-down Makkah and Madinah?

A lot of fanatical Muslim groups have raised objections to these precautionary steps by calling it as a sign of “weak faith”.

Muslims in some of the Asian countries still visit the mosques to attend the daily prayers calling it as “spirit of faith” to fight the coronavirus. They are badly brainwashed to believe that social distancing and the closure of mosques is the sign of weak faith, hence Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations are weak in their faith.

I was indeed surprised to watch a Hindu reporter asking an Indian Moulana recently in a televised interview about why they still choose to attend Friday prayers despite a lot of Muslim countries have suspended it.

The response of the Moulana was hilarious. He said, “they don’t know Islam, had they known Islam, they wouldn’t have done it”.

It’s the blind and superstitious belief which neither conforms to Islamic jurisprudence nor does science approve it.

Indeed blind-faith has caused a great deal loss to Iran. Despite the news of coronavirus outbreak, regime followers were even seen licking the gates of Imam Ali Reza shrine and made videos promoting this maniacal attitude.

And a few days later, coronavirus has claimed lives of over 1800 Iranian citizens and even top regime officials, while more than 23,000 are badly infected.

It’s because of such people Islam and Muslims become a mere laughing stock for the world.

On the other hand, the steps Saudi Arabia has taken from the day one are applauded by analysts and other international communities, despite these steps has had impacted revenue sectors.

How second Caliph of Islam dealt with the pandemic outbreak?

While I was doing an Urdu talk-show last week with a UK-based Muslim thinker Shoaib Hussain on the topic of Coronavirus outbreak and the Muslim response.

He called Saudi Arabia’s response as a “matured step” and then he cited a couple of incidents from the life of second caliph of Islam Umar bin al-Khattab.

The incidents are quite interesting and they fit exactly under the current situation.

The incident is documented in the Hadith of Muwatta al-Malik (Book 45, Hadith 1621).

It states that, Umar bin al-Khattab set out for Syria and when he was at a place called as Sargh near Tabuk, the commanders of the army Abu Ubayda bin Jarrah and his companions met him and told him that the plague had broken out in Syria.

Al-Khattab called his advisors to understand if leaving for Syria would be better. They advised, “We think that you should withdraw the people and not send them towards the plague.”

Al-Khattab finally decided to return and cancelled the plan for Syria.

However, one of his companions asked “Is it flight from the decree of Allah?” 

Al-Khattab’s response was something that needs to be written with golden ink. He said, “Yes. We flee from the decree of Allah to the decree of Allah”.

He explained his statement with a parable, “What would you think if these camels had gone down into a valley which had two slopes, one of them fertile, and the other barren. If you pastured in the fertile part, wouldn’t you pasture them by the decree of Allah? If you pastured them in the barren part, wouldn’t you pasture them by the decree of Allah?”

Imam Ibn Katheer quoted Prophet Muhammad saying, “Do not put a sick one with a healthy one.” “Flee from the leper as you would flee from a lion.”

Shoaib Hussain added, “likewise when the companions of the Prophet faced the plague of Al-Amwaas their commander ordered them with social distancing and God saved them from the plague by that”.

Conclusion

It’s illogical of these fanatical Muslim groups to oppose what is mentioned in the Prophetic traditions and the modern scientific discoveries. The time is still on and the coronavirus clock has not yet ticked the Asian countries like it did to Iran and Italy.

So, take the social distancing seriously, and comply with the governments’ decisions.

Remember, if ignorance is a threat then delusion of being knowledgeable is a life-taking threat.

Better to be safe than sorry.

Zahack Tanvir is a Computer Engineer based in Saudi Arabia. He holds Diploma in Journalism from London School of Journalism. He regularly writes for MilliChronicle on socio-political issues. He tweets under @ZahackTanvir.

According to a statement released by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the suspensions are temporary, but the ministry has not given any timeframe of its expiry. It’s still unclear if this suspension would impact the Haj pilgrimage which is scheduled in late July.

The suspension of entry also includes the Prophet’s mosque in Medina where the pilgrims visit after performing Umrah.

We ask God Almighty to spare all humanity from all harm#CoronaVirus#COVID19 pic.twitter.com/TEYvIW1Wbd

— Foreign Ministry ?? (@KSAmofaEN) February 26, 2020

Despite Saudi Arabia’s Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah confirmed on Wednesday that there are no cases of coronavirus in the Kingdom, but it’s spreading in some of its neighboring countries where the Iranian visitors have arrived recently carrying the virus on them.

The ministry however has not specified the countries whose visitors will be impacted but said that the kingdom’s health authorities would determine where the outbreak constituted a danger.

Al-Arabiya reported some of the exceptions of the suspension which include Saudis who are abroad and wish to return home if their exit from the Kingdom was with the national identity card, and citizens of the GCC countries currently inside the Kingdom who are willing to return to their countries if their entry was with their national identity card.

This will allow the Saudi border authorities to verify from which countries visitors came before their arrival to the Kingdom and apply health precautions to deal with those coming from those countries.

The ministry affirmed that these procedures are temporary, and are subjected to continuous evaluation by the authorities.

If the child was killed by a Saudi national for being a “Shia”, then why Saudi authorities buried him in – Jannatul-Baqi?

A news that is making rounds on social media off late is about a six-year-old “Shia” child – Zakariya al-Jaber – who was beheaded in front of his mother, in the holy city of Madina in Saudi Arabia by a Saudi taxi driver after he came to know that the mother and child belongs to Shia creed.

From the Iranian PressTV to al-Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan, everybody reports this story insinuating to end the “destructive Saudi theological rule”.

Every media channel refers back the report to a Washington-based NGO – “Shia Rights Watch”, which was established eight years ago by Mustafa Akhwand – a graduate from George Mason University Virginia-USA.

Analysis

Careful analysis of the report published by Shia Rights Watch leaves a lot of loose-ends.

The report carelessly says—“Activists report that minutes after this conversation a car stopped..”, and further it says—“Witnesses report the child was beheaded.”

First of all, the report is not official, and it mentions anonymous “activists” and anonymous “witnesses”.

Who are those witnesses? What credibility those witnesses hold? What background those witnesses belong to? How can we believe those witnesses? How do we know if the child was Shia? Where is the factual and official report that the child was traveling in a taxi? And a lot more questions are unanswered.

Interestingly, Shia Rights Watch runs from Washington-DC – the place which is referred to as “the great Satan” by Khomeini and his successor-Mullahs. How come the country – “source of all evils” – has become their own propaganda base?

How can a report that is crafted 11,737 kms away from Madina be authentic and believable?

Official Narrative

On the other hand—official reports based on those present at the scene (not seated in Washington) gives completely contrast narrative.

Official narrative is—the 35-year-old assailant was seated inside a coffee shop (not driving a taxi), when he saw a six-year old child roaming outside a restaurant, the killer quickly grabbed the child from the hands of his mother, broke a bottle he found near the coffee shop and stabbed him. A policeman arrived instantly but couldn’t save the innocent child.

The crafty report by Shia Rights Watch deliberately tried to lure the readers into believing that “Shia” community isn’t safe in Saudi Arabia.

No one knows if the child was Shia or Sunni. No one even concerned to know if he was Shia or Sunni. All we know is—he was an innocent soul.

If the child was killed by a Saudi national for being a “Shia”, then why Saudi authorities buried him in – Jannatul Baqi – the Madina’s ancient graveyard where all the major companions of the Prophet Mohammed were buried 14 centuries ago?

Officially, the assailant was a lunatic and a psychopath, who committed the crime on the spur of the moment, without any thought of Shia or Sunni difference.

Are Saudi Shia suppressed?

Had Saudi Government suppressed Shia community, there would be no Shia notable figures at top-notch positions in the Saudi public services.

Take the example of Nadhmi A. Al-Nasr who is the upcoming CEO of NEOM project and is the former Executive Vice-President for Administration and Finance at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and had held this office since 2008.

Conclusion

The deliberate and “anonymous” propaganda is to defame the Saudi leadership in order to bar the investors, shareholders, and stakeholders from the booming Saudi Arabia’s economy, and to paint the progressive Saudi Arabian society as human-rights violator and also to brush-off the Iranian crimes and murders of the innocent women and children in Syria and Yemen under the carpet.

Zahack Tanvir is also a regular blogger and vlogger, he also holds diploma in Journalism from London School of Journalism. He often writes on Socio-religious issues.