Evidence of Facemasks Functioning as Talismans to Relieve Fear and Anxiety
Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله), when asked about wearing a facemask during Ḥajj (this is prior to 2020):[1]
What Allāh has decreed [for you] will not be prevented by a facemask.
The Shaykh (رحمه الله) advised in essence that you can wear one if you like, but in reality you should be strong and have firm reliance upon Allāh, and that if you do wear one, know that the facemask is not going to prevent the decree of Allāh. This statement is true in itself, whether during Ḥajj or outside of Ḥajj, whether in an epidemic or outside an epidemic. Within it is an indication of the perfection of Tawḥīd (pure reliance) and that the causes (if they are established to be causes in the first place) cannot prevent the decree of Allāh (عز وجل).
Introduction
This entry is in support and corroboration of this statement of the Shaykh (رحمه الله) and is to promote better understanding of the actualisation and perfection of Tawḥīd through indisputable evidences which tear down medical superstitions promoted by the people of disbelief.
We praise and thank Allāh for granting us, from among the scholars, those upon whose tongues He places truth, correctness and wisdom that accord with both religious and creational realities. We gave another prior example from Shaykh Muqbil (رحمه الله), illustrating the same on a related subject matter, and likewise, from Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله) (here and here).
It is important to note that this is purely a knowledge-based discussion of scientific and medical realities upon which rulings must be based, and if there are masking policies in your country, then out of obedience to the ruler, to maintain order and avoid disturbances (not out of belief in superstition), and avoidance of penalties and deprivation of livelihood, you should comply. We make duʿā for the Muslim rulers, that Allāh grants them success, and we have patience over hardships and difficulties.
Further, if you as an individual want to wear a facemask in the direct presence of the sick because of your belief that what the sick emits could, potentially—with other factors and conditions from Allāh’s decree— make you ill, then that is fine, so long as you do not believe in any post-1950s imaginary concept of mutating Darwinian viruses and your understanding of a “virus” is with its original Latin meaning, which is a noxious fluid, meaning what the body expels of pus and morbid, dead materials. However, it is for your information and advice that no scientificaly valid evidence exists that illness is actually "transmitted" in this way and nor that a facemask is going to protect you from Allāh’s decree, exactly as Shaykh al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله) stated. Rather, there is no scientifically valid evidence that a facemask is going to protect you in this situation, full stop.
Further, what is being spoken of here specifically is the disease-free healthy wearing masks among the disease-free healthy, or what is referred to as “community masking” and “universal masking.”
Once that has been made clear, let us proceed:
The policy of universal masking (of healthy people) for prevention of viral contagion is not from "the means" but from the superstitions and medical heresies of the people of disbelief, being based on their speculative Darwinian pseudosciences and it enters into those affairs (of exaggeration) which Muslim scholars have warned against in the matter of contagion.
From them is Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله) who explained how Muslim doctors today not shaking hands with others on account of suspicion and similar exaggerations is from the affairs of the first Jāhiliyyah.
While wearing masks in certain settings—such as in a hospital, during surgery or when around actually sick people, or vice versa when an actually sick person is mixing with healthy people[2]—could be justified (even though that is subject to dispute and see here, here, here, here, and here as it relates to surgery), the disease-free healthy of a population wearing masks fearing other disease-free healthy people is from the exaggeration and superstition that the guidance of the Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) came to put an end to.
This can be likened, conceptually speaking, to people wearing life-jackets to save themselves from drowning while going about their day to day activities on the land. You only wear a life-jacket when you are in the water.
This is actually a very generous similitude, since life-jackets actually save you from drowning, whereas facemasks do not prevent from illness, neither at the individual level, nor the population level as demonstrated by the highest quality of scientific evidence, experience and observed factual realities (discussed below).
The reason for writing in detail on this subject is because of one or two individuals here in the West, gripped with pandemic mania, trying to impose their fears and anxieties upon others, telling them that they should implement masking policies in their mosques because it was the policy in Saudi Arabia and implying that not doing so would be opposing the rulers and scholars.
Ignoring the fact that there are differences in the issue of contagion (even among non-Muslims), and that there is doubt about this speculative pseudoscience of Darwinian Virology, and that in many places, distancing and masking remained a choice and was not strictly enforced, they tried to convince others to follow the path they had trodden.
This affair (and the superstition of social distancing between the healthy by 2 metres or six feet) are from the clear, plain affairs which have been made clear in our religion, and which the scholars of the Muslims have made clear (see Shaykh Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn). Whoever made something to be a means (sabab) what is not a means, in terms of the creational asbāb, then he has fallen into minor shirk.
The dispute is not about taking the means (asbāb) as we are all agreed upon that. It is about separating verified, legitimate means from superstition and pseudoscience. The means that have been derived from the texts are isolating the sick, the healthy keeping away from the sick and preventing travel to and from the place of an outbreak. We thank the rulers of the Muslims for implementing these types of measures out of their sincere desire to protect their subjects from perceived danger.
However, the disease-free healthy wearing a mask or keeping six-feet away from the disease free healthy, fearing the “transmission” of a disease that neither of them have, then this is pure, raw superstition, and is from the affairs of Jāhiliyyah, rather, worse, because the people of Jāhiliyyah exaggerated in the matter of contagion in relation to the sick only, and also because the people of Jāhiliyyah treated a visible symptom (sneezing) as a disease and omen, whereas their modern counterparts treat no symptoms (the "asymptomatic") as disease, contagion and omen indicating the severity of ignorance that their crass materialist pseudosciences have led them to.
As for the response that there is an “exogenous pathogenic virus” lurking that either healthy party may “emit” to make the other ill, then this is from the crass pseudosciences of the disbelievers and has no reality to it. In fact, even they say that unless you have actual symptoms of illness, you cannot be "infectious" and there are studies that have empirically demonstrated that (see below). Further, this (viral causation of disease and viral contagion) is a speculative, disproven theory.[3] No one can force anyone else to believe in and act upon a theory he or she believes to be false, rather to contradict Allāh’s Rubūbiyyah because of its Darwinian nature.
Further still, when it has been shown extensively in experiments that the emission of the sick does not make the healthy sick, then how about the healthy making the healthy sick?
However, if Muslim authorities require it (because they accept and believe in certain medical theories), then a person complies in order to maintain order and unity and to avoid disturbances and being subjected to fines, penalties and discrimination, but without believing in this (the healthy of a population wearing masks) and other similar falsehoods (such as the healthy keeping six-feet apart). It is well-known from some scholars such Shaykh al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله) who was of the view of the negation of contagion, that he never wore a facemask nor did he socially distance.
In the UK, some of the Salafi mosques implemented these guidelines because not doing so would bring problems, in terms of potential fines and penalties, and not out of belief in falsehood. There was among the Salafi mosques those that ignored the guidelines altogether and prayed as normal, in rejection of this falsehood (of social distancing between the disease-free healthy).
Scientific and Medical Realities
Here are some evidences supporting the speech of Shaykh al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله):
01 The standard ear-loop facemasks come with a warning from manufacturers:
Warning: This product is not a respirator and will not provide any protection against COVID-19 (Coronavirus) or other viruses or contaminants. Wearing an ear loop mask does not reduce the risk of contracting any disease or infection.
That should really be the end of the story. It is futile to retort with: "But we are commanded to take the means." As one doctor remarked, "There is no difference between wearing the mask on your face and wearing it on your knee." No one is denying taking the means in principle, what is being contested is superstition, propaganda and junk science.
You can’t wave a copper bracelet or a cord (putting it on your arm to relieve pain) and then say: “We are commanded to take the means, are you rejecting the means?”
02 Also corroborating the statement of Shaykh al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله)—if the manufacturer's warning and disclaimer is not enough—then try this video with visual evidence:
03 Also corroborating the statement of Shaykh al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله), in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), an article titled "Medical Masks" from March 2020, states:[4]
Face masks should not be worn by healthy individuals to protect themselves from acquiring respiratory infection because there is no evidence to suggest that face masks worn by healthy individuals are effective in preventing people from becoming ill.
04 Also corroborating the statement of Shaykh al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله), in a systematic review by the CDC of RCTs (randomized controlled trials) evaluating various non-pharmaceutical measures for pandemic control—which is the highest level of evidence—we find:[5]
Disposable medical masks (also known as surgical masks) are loose-fitting devices that were designed to be worn by medical personnel to protect accidental contamination of patient wounds, and to protect the wearer against splashes or sprays of bodily fluids... Our systematic review found no significant effect of face masks on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza... We did not find evidence that surgical-type face masks are effective in reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza transmission, either when worn by infected persons (source control) or by persons in the general community to reduce their susceptibility
It should be noted that there is no evidence of "transmission" (this was falsified in the early 20th century) and there are no determined mechanisms until today. The authors of this paper state:
It is essential to note that the mechanisms of person-to-person transmission in the community have not been fully determined. Controversy remains over the role of transmission through fine-particle aerosols. Transmission by indirect contact requires transfer of viable virus from respiratory mucosa onto hands and other surfaces, survival on those surfaces, and successful inoculation into the respiratory mucosa of another person. All of these components of the transmission route have not been studied extensively. The impact of environmental factors, such as temperature and humidity, on influenza transmission is also uncertain. These uncertainties over basic transmission modes and mechanisms hinder the optimization of control measures.
The claim of the authors: "All of these components of the transmission route have not been studied extensively", is most likely due to their ignorance of the extensive failed transmission experiments of the early 20th century.
05 In fact, even the WHO, in its "Advice on the use of masks in the context of COVID-19" dated 6 April 2020 (see page 1 of this document) stated very clearly:
However, there is currently no evidence that wearing a mask (whether medical or other types) by healthy persons in the wider community setting, including universal community masking, can prevent them from infection with respiratory viruses, including COVID-19.
06 Likewise, in an earlier press conference on 30 March 2020, WHO officials stated:[6]
We don't generally recommend the wearing to masks in public by otherwise well individuals because it has not been up to now associated with any particular benefit... It does have benefit psychologically, socially and there are social norms around that and we don't criticise the wearing of masks and have not done so but there is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any particular benefit.
This was before the politicised and agenda-driven reversal towards the end of the year to advise with masking policies to help drive fear and anxiety as psychological marketing cues for acceptance of the Covid-19 injections.
07 This was the known and empirically established science prior to 2020, and all the major UK health chiefs, ministers, medical officers and spokesmen stated that mask wearing by the general public is not recommended.
See video: UK health chiefs, ministers advising against masks in first half of 2020, citing lack of evidence. On February 27, during a congressional hearing, Dr. Robert Redfield, then-director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention responded, “No,” when asked if Americans should wear facemasks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Two days later, then-U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams tweeted, “They [facemasks] are NOT effective in preventing [the] general public from catching coronavirus.” (Source).
However, later on, during the summer of 2020 onwards, in order to help maintain the illusion of constant danger and to keep the public in constant fear—on the basis of the superstition and falsehood of the "asymptomatic spreader"—masking policies were advised from a level of command above nations, and masking policies were enforced worldwide in what was a 180 degrees turnaround from the known and established science.
This is evidence of a high level of centralized command, which directed the pandemic responses worldwide, with simultaneous, identical policies being implemented, using the very same slogans.
08 Also corroborating the statement of Shaykh al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله), in another study, "Facemasks in the COVID-19 era: A health hypothesis", there occurs:
Clinical scientific evidence challenges further the efficacy of facemasks to block human-to-human transmission or infectivity. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) of 246 participants [123 (50%) symptomatic)] who were allocated to either wearing or not wearing surgical facemask, assessing viruses transmission including coronavirus. The results of this study showed that among symptomatic individuals (those with fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose etc…) there was no difference between wearing and not wearing facemask for coronavirus droplets transmission of particles of >5 µm. Among asymptomatic individuals, there was no droplets or aerosols coronavirus detected from any participant with or without the mask, suggesting that asymptomatic individuals do not transmit or infect other people.
Keep in mind that all of this is based upon the speculative unproven theory of "exogenous pathogenic viruses" as the cause of these illnesses, in reality no scientifically valid evidence has been demonstrated for this claim.
However, accepting this theory, empirical evidence shows there is zero chance of an alleged "asymptomatic Covid-19 carrier" "transmitting" illness without a mask. In a study, 455 people who tested negative for Covid-19 were exposed for four to five days to asymptomatic Covid-19 carriers. None of the 455 became infected. This makes masks pointless for asymptomatic people, and renders this practice nothing but raw superstition, turning healthy people into omens to be feared and avoided.
09 Also corroborating the statement of Shaykh al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله) is this excellent overview of the systematic review of 78 randomized controlled trial (RCTs, the highest level of evidence) performed by the Cochrane Collaboration. The essence of the matter being that masks are junk science:
10 Also corroborating the statement of Shaykh al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله), a comparison of nations with masking policies and those without shows that masking had no effect, rather masked nations fared worse. The graph below is a data snapshot (from ourworldindata.org) comparing masked and non-masked nations.
Countries such as Sweden, Norway and Denmark which did not have the masking policies of other European nations fared much better. Although there could be other factors at play, this is still credible real-world evidence that masking policies are actually useless, of no value.
The wearing of facemasks by these populations (community masking, universal masking) did not save them from Allāh’s decree, corroborating what Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله) said.
In order to evade these clear evidences 'fraudsters' and 'shysters' such as Anthony Fauci claim that while at a population level masking does nothing (being unable to deny the evidence), on an individual level masking can have benefit. This is just word spaghetti aimed at confusing and deceiving people when faced with concrete evidence of the futility of universal masking policies. The evidence at a population level of masking is comprised of nothing but individuals of that population wearing masks.
Refer to the excellent takedown of this ‘shyster’ by Dr. Vinay Prasad who comments on a CNN video clip in which Fauci is confronted with real science: Anthony Fauci continues to mislead about masking, as CNN confronts him (amazing video).
To help you understand what is going on here: Imagine you bring someone a mutawātir ḥadīth on a subject matter, and this is the highest form of evidence from the Prophetic ḥadīths, and then he tries to argue back by bringing weak ḥadīths, rumours, hearsay, his opinions and intellect and the likes. In somewhat of a resemblance, the systematic review of randomized controlled trials is the highest form of scientific evidence (see diagram). What Fauci is trying to do is undermine them with low quality evidence which includes computer modelling studies (which in some respects can be treated as good as palm reading science).
The Mask Serving as a Talisman as Noted by Non-Muslims in Medical Journals and Elsewhere
Given the above, it should not be surprising that the most prestigious scientific journals in the world should be making admissions about facemasks as talismans and as symbols for mental and psychological relief from fear and anxiety and whose universal wearing signifies human solidarity (against imaginary Darwinian viruses and their mutants).
11 The New England Journal of Medicine refers to masks as talismans that give the wearer a perceived sense of (though not actual) safety and they play a symbolic role, helping to allay fear and anxiety.[7]
It is also clear that masks serve symbolic roles. Masks are not only tools, they are also talismans that may help increase health care workers’ perceived sense of safety, well-being, and trust in their hospitals. Although such reactions may not be strictly logical, we are all subject to fear and anxiety, especially during times of crisis.
One might argue that fear and anxiety are better countered with data and education than with a marginally beneficial mask, particularly in light of the worldwide mask shortage, but it is difficult to get clinicians to hear this message in the heat of the current crisis.
Expanded masking protocols’ greatest contribution may be to reduce the transmission of anxiety, over and above whatever role they may play in reducing transmission of Covid-19.
In the same paper, there occurs:
We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.
Commenting on this NEJM paper, Dr. Saul Marcus states:[8]
The NEJM states that the real reason for social fasemask use maybe psychological. It can reduce anxiety about becoming infected. The words symbols and talismans are used to describe masks. What is ignored is the negative psychological effects. In specific health settings masks reduce anxiety. Forcing all of society to wear them increases anxiety. Masks are a symbol that anyone you pass on the street is a danger. Anyone may kill you with infection. The mask thus becomes a symbol of perpetual fear.
In other words, it has little scientific or medical basis and is simply a superstitious reaction to fear and anxiety. Thus, when it is worn by the public, it is more symbolic, and it generates a feeling of safety by relieving fear and anxiety, even though, it does nothing to prevent any alleged "transmission" or "contagion." Any claims to the contrary are speculations and nothing but contagion business marketing propaganda.
12 Margaret Harris of the WHO’s coronavirus response team said:[9]
The mask is almost like a talisman... People feel more secure and protected.
One author comments on these statements:[10]
An official scientist appeared to say that mask-wearing was no longer about science, but about sorcery and emotion.
13 In an article for the Global and Mail, the author mentions, similar to the NEJM article, that masks are worn as a talisman, to ward off anxiety and to signify solidarity:[11]
For the rest of us with non-medical masks and no symptoms, there are other reasons. The first is that it makes us feel better. The enemy is unseen and invisible, and we find ourselves needing to do something besides anxiously waiting for its appearance. The mask is a talisman.
14 Some have even made the connection between facemasks (as talismans) and the talismans of "Islamic healers":[12]
Just as many now don face masks and do breathing exercises to protect against COVID-19 – despite debate around the science behind such practices – so too did the Islamic world turn to protective devices and rituals in premodern times of trouble.
15 Dr. Wally Strash writes in his article titled, "Masks: The Covid-19 Talisman":[13]
Cloth masks, surgical masks, N95 masks, bandanas and scarves offer poor protection to aerosolized pathogens. The use of a mask allows transmission of aerosolized pathogens in various directions (up and behind the wearer) and permits self-contamination. In Europe, the Danish people do not wear masks and according to Johns Hopkins University boast one of the lowest Covid19 death rates in the world. It’s time to rid ourselves of the mask talisman.
16 A forensic industrial hygienist, having discussed mask wearing in over 80 years of science and history prior to 2020,[14] writes in his article titled, “Masks - The New Old Superstitious Talisman of Disease”:[15]
What is the difference between the ‘superstitious’ 18th Century Central European wearing a useless bird-looking mask based on ignorance and fear and modern US citizen wearing a stupid looking and equally useless bandana? Both are decisions based on nothing but fear and ignorance. As you walk around and see the healthy mask-wearing public, what more is it but the visible testimony of modern day ignorance-based superstition? Never laugh at the ignorant peasants of the ‘Dark Ages’ again.
17 And Juan Zhang, Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Bristol, writes in his article regarding masks:[16]
As the Korean artist Jinjoon Lee perceptively observed, the face mask has become a talisman of our time, one that conjures up trust, science, and strength in transnational solidarity against contagion and prejudice.
18 In an article for GQ magazine, titled, "Coronavirus has changed the way we look at face masks forever", Alfred Tong writes:[17]
In Hong Kong, where I have family, my uncle explained to me it’s now considered simple good manners to wear face masks on public transport, regardless of the medical benefits. Masks, it seems, have become a symbolic, immediately recognisable show of solidarity in the face of an invisible enemy. The talismanic power of the medical face mask has deep roots in Chinese culture...
19 Writing in his article, "When Masks Become A Religious Talisman", journalist, Tristan Justice writes:[18]
When Masks Become A Religious Talisman
“Thou shall not give up the mask,” has apparently become an 11th commandment in the Covid era... Even their most ardent defenders demanding endless mask mandates have conceded their ineffectiveness ... face masks are merely the latest and most aggressive form of religious ritual clothing adopted by left-wing activists hooked on the public display of their supposed virtue, no matter their utility.
20 In his article covering the Cochrane Collaboration's systematic review of 78 randomized controlled trials on efficacy of masks (which showed that no evidence exists that they make any difference, see summary) titled, "How Mask Mandates Defaced Us", Alex Gutentag observes:[19]
Masks perpetuated the lie of universal risk on which lockdowns were predicated, and thereby helped keep in place school and business closures and stay-at-home orders. Globally, the pre-vaccination infection fatality rate of Covid was similar to the seasonal flu for non-elderly populations. To maintain the deceit that mass quarantine was necessary, leaders told us that a magical talisman, not our own immune systems, was what kept us alive when we went outside. This talisman, supposedly, was how essential workers could keep working, how hospital staff didn’t all die, and how we could eventually get some of our freedoms back. Later, officials replaced this talisman with the vaccine—a sacrament they initially said would allow us to unmask. In this way, masks trained people to accept coercive medical demands as a prerequisite for accessing public life. Mask mandates made vaccine passports mandates and passports possible.
21 In an article on the abuse of facemasks on children for the Brownstone Institute, the author, Aaron Hertzenberg notes:[20]
Trapped in a constant state of fear and anxiety. The constant mask-based fearmongering and threats and moral opprobrium has inflicted an unfathomable measure of fear and anxiousness upon children. Masks are the talisman of fear & anxiety (and everything else negative) of the covid pandemic.
22 In his article, "The Mask as Talisman", Christian writer, Mitchell Cochran writes:[21]
In an age of distrust and disintegration of social unity, people still need some external sign in which to trust. For Christians, these signs are the Cross, the Word of God, and the Sacraments. (And other religions have their signs of course.) For a secular, more liberal leaning person who tends to trust government more so than a conservative, the mask acts as a sort of sacramental. It is a talisman that the wearer dons in the hope that it will ward off the evil spirits associated with Darth Corona.
This is a good observation in that just as Christians have their objects and relics (such as the cross), in which they have a superstitious attachment—and this is also found with Jews and with Muslims, among them are those who have their forms of talismans—then in the same way, the Liberal Secularists and those who take science as a religion (Scientism), they also have their forms of secular talismans, and the facemask is an example of that. This is why the liberal secularists are most fanatical about these facemasks, despite all evidence to the contrary.
23 In an article titled, "Face Masks to Stop COVID-19 Transmission are Modern Day Talismans for the Religion of Liberal Scientism", the author, on the basis of what the science says, as has preceded, makes the following agreeable observations regarding what has taken place in the West of liberal fanatics attacking (verbally and sometimes physically) those who do not wear masks:[22]
So why are liberals, especially those found on social media sites such as Twitter, Reddit etc so enthusiastic about forcing people to wear ineffectual face masks? ...
Liberals choose to blindly believe the words of "credentialed" dummies representing the church of Scientism. It is about blind faith, not rational and critical belief.
Ineffective facemasks promoted by the priests of Scientism are best understood as secular Talismans. In case you don't know, a Talisman is an object which someone believes to hold magical properties providing particular power, energy or specific benefits to its possessor.
Note that Talismans or 'good luck charms' have a long history of use in pre-modern medicine and as the more cynical might say, even modern medicine.
While devout believers in church of Scientism might continue to believe in ordinary face masks irrespective of evidence to the contrary, many others are not that ideologically invested.
To make another long story short, the massive loss of credibility caused by failure of such face masks will blow back on those most involved in promoting them and destroy whatever residual public credibility they might still command.
24 It is well known and famous that the rich and powerful elites in Western nations, and the politicians and leaders, except when they need to make a show and display on camera for the general public, they do not wear masks in their private gatherings, shows, parties, galas, celebrations and the likes.
To the extent that many scandals have erupted and reported in the media and press of these people not abiding by the restrictions that they harshly imposed upon the citizens of their countries. This is known and establised in the the UK, the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and elsewhere.
This is because these people are in a position to know full well and to understand that these policies of masking and distancing are not besed on science and are just exaggerations and superstitions. If they were truly scared and fearful of a Darwinian virus and of illness, they would be the most stringent in abiding by the regulations themselves.
25 And it has been related to me through two separate routes that Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī (حفظه الله), when visited at home by those wearing masks, asked them to remove the masks and told them to “place reliance upon Allāh”. It is also widely known from Shaykh al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله) that in his masjīd students would approach him, greet, hug and kiss his forehead, without masks and there was no social distancing, and the Shaykh's view on negation of the superstition of contagion is known.
26 Finally, you should beware of "fact checking" sites that are no more than paid propagandists who spew counter-opinions to confuse and obfuscate truth and fact. In lawsuits (such as the one against Facebook) admissions were made that the "fact check" is nothing more than an alternative opinion, and not objective factual truth. The "fact check" is a tool of the liberals and leftists to promote woke ideology and secular religion (in the name of science).
Closing notes
In summary, the universal wearing of facemasks is based upon a speculative theory of disease and medicine, which is the claim that there are exogenous pathogenic Darwinian viruses that are the causes of illness, which invade hosts, mutate and continue to be the cause of novel diseases and epidemics. This is an unproven claim, rather it is falsified and futile and amounts to nothing but superstition, carefully clothed in the garb of science.
This does not mean a rejection of people falling ill and dying or of the occurrence of epidemics. Rather, it is a rejection of one particular speculative theoretical explanation. Illness, death and epidemics can be explained without requiring materialist, Darwinian theories of disease and medicine. As such, no one has the right to demand that Muslims believe in this or other speculative theories of disease which in their view, oppose their creed, and would detract from the perfection of their Tawḥīd if they were to act upon them.
Regarding "viruses". What are misinterpreted as “viruses” are not causes of disease but end-products of disease processes, which are pre-programmed biological mechanisms through which the body expels morbid and toxic materials, self-heals, and regenerates. These end-products are genetic debris and proteins from cells that have undergone apoptosis (pre-programmed death) or necrosis (death by trauma, damage, toxicity or starvation), and/or they are microvesicles that serve as communications messengers and transporters during the execution of these biological mechanisms. However, the people of disbelief, as is their habit, reverse the realities, and so they turn these end-products into the starting points for their crass, materialist pseudosciences, and thus, we have the notion of the exogenous, mutating Darwinian virus, which is a major, essential building block in evolution. Their claim that these materials are disease causing agents is equivalent to the claim that the road being wet was the cause of rainfall.[23]
However, if a Muslim ruler was to impose these types of policies (because of his belief in the correctness of these speculative theories), then, just as some of the people of knowledge said (such as Shaykh ʿUbayd al-Jābirī), we would comply from the angle of the Sunnah. We would seek to avoid disturbance and commotion in society, and also to avoid penalties and discrimination but certainly not out of belief in these falsehoods derived from the crass pseudosciences of the disbelievers.
Keeping in mind once again that it is widely reported from the likes of Shaykh al-Luḥaydān (رحمه الله), that he neither wore masks nor socially distanced in his mosque, and nor when the students were around him, greeting him, kissing his forehead and the likes, and the Shaykh was of the view of the negation of contagion, and this is from the fruits of this view, it is greater in corroboration of Tawḥīd and in protection from errors in causation which amount to superstition.
Hence, there is no room or angle to criticise this position and to slander and abuse those who hold it by accusing them of the way of ʿAmr bin ʿUbayd al-Muʿtazilī and the Quṭbiyyah and Surūriyyah towards the scholars, or that they will "have blood on their hands" as these amount to false accusations, slander and oppression.[24]
Footnotes
1. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z80fNNvrjmg. The Shaykh (رحمه الله) advised that you can wear one if you like, but you should be strong and have reliance upon Allāh, and that the facemask is not going to prevent the decree of Allāh.2. And more broadly speaking, not in the context of disease itself, such as wearing appropriate protective masks during certain professions to avoid dust particles, such as building, cleaning and the likes, then this is from the legitimate means
3. This does not mean people do not become ill and that epidemics do not occur. Its just explaining this through the claim of exogenous "pathogenic viruses" is not a scientifically validated explanation.
4. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762694
5. Nonpharmaceutical Measures for Pandemic Influenza in Nonhealthcare Settings—Personal Protective and Environmental Measures, Emerging Infectious Diseases, www.cdc.gov/eid, Vol. 26, No. 5, May 2020
6. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/transcripts/who-audio-emergencies-coronavirus-press-conference-full-30mar2020.pdf
7. Universal Masking in Hospitals in the Covid-19 Era, NEJM, May 21, 2020
8. https://saulmarcusnd.com/2020/05/30/are-facemasks-outside-useless/
9. Refer to the article: “Why There Are So Many Different Guidelines For Face Masks For The Public” , 20 April 2020: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/10/829890635/why-there-so-many-different-guidelines-for-face-masks-for-the-public
10. https://c2cjournal.ca/2021/06/re-evaluating-mask-mandates-part-i-science-gives-way-to-the-talisman/
11. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-meaning-of-masks-in-the-age-of-covid-19/
12. https://theconversation.com/long-before-face-masks-islamic-healers-tried-to-ward-off-disease-with-their-version-of-ppe-138409
13. https://www.strashfootandanklecare.com/2020/09/14/masks-the-covid19-talisman/
14. Refer to http://www.forensic-applications.com/misc/Mask_Cure_Aid.pdf
15. Refer to: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/masks-new-old-superstitious-talisman-disease-caoimh%C3%ADn-p-connell
16. https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2020/coronavirus-the-mask-debate/
17. https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/fashion/article/facemasks-fashion-coronavirus
18. https://thefederalist.com/2022/01/21/when-masks-become-a-religious-talisman/
19. https://compactmag.com/article/how-mask-mandates-defaced-us
20. https://brownstone.org/articles/a-partial-list-of-the-myriad-abuses-that-facemasks-inflict-on-our-children/
21. https://www.critlarge.com/articles/2022/mc394045ss0-z4ptg-gnsfm
22. https://pharmaheretic.substack.com/p/face-masks-to-stop-covid-19-transmission
23. They take samples from the sick and healthy containing breakdown genetic materials which are from their own cells, and they fabricate out of these fragments alleged viral genomes that have no correlation to physical reality. Then they claim that these alleged viruses were the cause of the disease, when they were only ever the end products. It is here that the fraud of the RT-PCR test is use to help generate “asymptomatic cases” out of healthy people and to rebrand illnesses and deaths due to any fabricated Darwinian virus and its evolutionary variants and mutants of choice.
24. When it is the case that pointing out, by way of example, that Shaykh al-Albānī (رحمه الله) was in error for believing that the solar system model is established with certainty, this being in opposition to clear texts and also what is empirically proven and established that the earth has no detectable motion and the sun does actually move in relation to the earth, that this does not amount to taking the way of ʿAmr bin ʿUbayd al-Muʿtazilī or the Quṭbiyyah and Surūriyyah towards the Shaykh (by accusing him of not knowing Fiqh al-Wāqiʿ), then likewise, rejecting the superstition of viral contagion (due to Prophetic texts, upon the view of many scholars regarding contagion and also due to clear scientific evidences) and rejecting Darwinian biology and virology (due to its empirical falsification) and rejecting the superstition of invisible mutating viruses as causes of disease, this does not amount to taking the way of ʿAmr bin ʿUbayd al-Muʿtazilī towards the scholars. Furthermore, just as in religion, a ruler or scholar cannot force his Ashʿarī belief on subjects, then likewise, in disputed, speculative, worldly sciences, a ruler, government, health authority or scholar cannot force belief in speculative, materialist, Darwinian theories of disease and medicine upon others. However, practically speaking, a Muslim would have to comply with policies, if they were imposed, purely from the angle of the Sunnah (to maintain order and unity), and because he would otherwise be subjected to harm or deprivation in his livelihood if he did not comply.