CONGREGATIONAL RELIGIOUS PRAYERS AMID COVID-19 AND PANDEMIC SPREAD – EVIDENCE FROM SOUTHERN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Purpose of the study: This study explored how opening up mosques amid the COVID-19 pandemic may have increased the spread chances of disease and estimated how many individuals, attending mosques post-pandemic had experienced COVID-19 related symptoms in the study area. Furthermore, it evaluated how successful were the governmental Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for attending congregational prayers in protecting masses against the pandemic in its three dimensions 1) citizens’ following SOPs themselves in mosques, 2) implementation of mosque and prayer guidelines by mosques committee and 3) imams’ contribution in mobilizing the society against the pandemic. Methodology: Data were collected from 800 respondents between the ages of 18 to 50 years who were going to the mosques regularly during the lockdown using a purposive sampling technique. Descriptive statistics like frequencies and percentages were calculated. The 15 items self-constructed, a piloted questionnaire related to COVID-19 SOPs was used in the current study. Main Findings: The study’s findings revealed that religious gatherings played a vital role in COVID-19 spread as 66.25% sample that was attending communal prayers at mosques felt that they may have contracted COVID-19 symptoms because of offering prayers in the mosque. Further, evaluation of anti-COVID-19 policy measures namely degree of implementation for citizen SOPs in the mosque by people themselves, degree of implementation for prayers’ SOPs as per governmental announcement by the mosque committee, and imam’s mobilization against the pandemic as per the perception of the sample of people going to mosque post-pandemic were also found to be of the medium level at best. Applications of this study: The study gave an idea of whether the allowance of communal religious gathering with some anti-COVID guidelines as in the case of Pakistan a useful policy. It provided a useful framework for the evaluation of governmental covid-19 policies (SOPs). Finally, this study could also be useful to know the public response to SOPs and need of community stakeholders like Islamic Mosque imams in policy implementation on the grass-root level during the covid-19 pandemic. Novelty/Originality of this study: The study’s uniqueness is evaluation of success or failure of anti-COVID measures announced by the government to implement and monitor by the mosque committee. It measures how effective were local mosque imams in mobilizing people against the pandemic– an indeed missed out institutional means in policy debate of fight against the pandemic and creating awareness.