• About Us
    • Mission & Vision
    • Impact
    • Eboo Patel
    • Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Careers
    • Reports & Financials
  • Sectors
    • Higher Education
    • Racial Equity
    • Emerging Leaders
    • Faith & Health
    • Religion in the Workplace
    • Religious Diversity & Bridgebuilding
    • Policy
    • Faith & Civic Life
    • Tech & Interfaith
  • What We Do
    • Courses, Curricula, and Tools
    • Events
    • Grants & Leadership Awards
    • Research
    • Consulting
    • Speaking
  • Magazine
    • Interfaith America Magazine
    • Interfaith America with Eboo Patel
  • Get Involved
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Us
    • Support Us
    • Our Supporters
Menu
  • About Us
    • Mission & Vision
    • Impact
    • Eboo Patel
    • Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Careers
    • Reports & Financials
  • Sectors
    • Higher Education
    • Racial Equity
    • Emerging Leaders
    • Faith & Health
    • Religion in the Workplace
    • Religious Diversity & Bridgebuilding
    • Policy
    • Faith & Civic Life
    • Tech & Interfaith
  • What We Do
    • Courses, Curricula, and Tools
    • Events
    • Grants & Leadership Awards
    • Research
    • Consulting
    • Speaking
  • Magazine
    • Interfaith America Magazine
    • Interfaith America with Eboo Patel
  • Get Involved
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Us
    • Support Us
    • Our Supporters
Subscribe
Support Us
American Civic Life

My Sajjāda (Prayer Mat) and the Vaccine

By
Sara Al-Zubi

January 27, 2021

Photo by Kurumsal Web Tasarım on Unsplash

The return to my sajjāda (prayer mat) — 5 times a day — brings me serenity. When my forehead kisses the ground, I am centered. In a world of ambiguity, in a world of pain, and in a world of COVID-19, my prayers are my certainty.

The pandemic has reminded me of the importance of an individual in a community— the value of one’s impact. We live in a public health crisis where our decisions directly affect the lives of our neighbors. I reflect on the tenets I grew up with; I reflect on the emphasis Islam puts on the individual duty to our neighbors.

There is a responsibility on me— as a community member— to live in a way that promotes justice and peace. There is a responsibility on me to care for the wellbeing of my community.

As I make my journey to the hospital every day, I carry these tenets with me. And, when my forehead kisses the ground, I think of these tenets. So, I return to my sajjāda again and again.

In these tenets, I found a reason to get vaccinated. I am committed to the well-being of my community. It is for this exact reason I entered medicine. But even more so, I got the vaccine because of how vaccines have eradicated many deadly diseases such as Polio and have lessened the burden of other diseases like measles and dengue. I think about the impact the COVID-19 vaccine will have on my community.

We exist as social humans; we pray in unison, in large gatherings; we care for each other.

When I am in the hospital, I reflect on the impact COVID-19 has had on my high-risk pregnant patients who are not allowed any visitors during their long hospital, often weeks at a time. It’s an incredibly isolating experience for many future moms during this highly emotional period of their life. I have seen and learned from their resilience. They have fostered a community based on a shared experience of isolation and the emotional rollercoaster of their long hospital stays.

One of my most memorable patients was always up when we rounded in the morning. At sunrise, she sat up and meditated– her form of prayer. It was her moment to recenter. Although we might not be of the same faith, we return to the same place— prayer— to find peace and solitude during a turbulent time.

The disconnect and isolation of the pandemic have caused a shared struggle. Suffice to say, the impact of this pandemic ensures our lives will never be the same. There is no return to a “normal” but adjustment to a “new normal” with the loss of more than 400,000 lives.

I pray for the many patients and families that have lost their loved ones during this pandemic.

The COVID-19 vaccine brings hope back into our communities. It gives me faith that we might be able to be together again.

I pray that we see an end to this pandemic with more widespread vaccinations. When I received my first dose of the MODERNA vaccine, my home state Ohio had the second-worst vaccination rates in the country. Currently, Ohio has 13.6% of the COVID-19 cases in the United States even though Ohioans make up 3.5% of the American population. There have been multiple cases of negligence of COVID-19 vaccines and refusals by nursing home employees to get vaccinated.

We need more community-based vaccine distribution that reaches the most vulnerable communities of all faiths and backgrounds.

This is the time to show up for one another— through prayer, masks, and vaccines.

Sara Al-Zubi is a second-year medical student at Harvard Medical School. Sara won the Harry S. Truman Scholarship in 2018 while attending Miami University. As an immigrant to the United States from Jordan, Sara has worked extensively with Arab refugees across Ohio to increase their self-sufficiency in their adopted homes and improve their access to healthcare and mental health resources. This work has led her to start her own nonprofit, the 3Sisters Foundation, which is currently working on a Yemen Healthcare Initiative. She also co-led the Harvard Medical School COVID19 EM/SEA Response Initiative to expand public health information.

Share

Related Articles

  • American Civic Life

    Faith Based Efforts Work in Vaccine Uptake: Now Let’s Make it Easy

  • American Civic Life

    What Does Faith Have to Say about the COVID-19 Vaccine?

  • American Civic Life

    A Muslim Pharmacist on Why It’s OK to Receive the Vaccine During Ramadan

Latest Articles

Congregation members in church. (fitzcrittle/Shutterstock)
  • Racial Equity

A Brief History of the Black Church’s Diversity, and its Vital Role in American Political History

Feb 06, 2023
American novelist and activist James Baldwin (1924 – 1987) addresses an audience in a church, USA, October 1963. (Photo by Mario Jorrin/Pix/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
  • Racial Equity

Running Thread: Black History is Our History

Feb 06, 2023
Dr. Anu Gorukanti (Photo: Katharine Khamhaengwong)
  • Faith & Civic Life

Indian, Hindu and AAPI: Finding Common Threads in a Rich Tapestry

Feb 03, 2023
Screenshot of "Art, Religion, and Academic Freedom: Lessons From the Hamline/Prophet Muhammad Controversy" webinar hosted by IA on January 31, 2023.
  • Higher Education

Art, Religion and Academic Freedom: Baptist News Global Reports on the Hamline University Conversation

Feb 03, 2023
End of content
No more articles to load
Interfaith America, 141 W. Jackson Blvd, Suite 3200, Chicago, IL 60604, US

© 2022 Interfaith America

Instagram Youtube Facebook Twitter
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use