Ablution might have cut virus risk in UK Muslims: report

LONDON: The Muslim practice of Wudhu five-times-a-day before prayers may have played a role in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus in British Muslim communities.

According to a recent report by Professor Richard Webber from Newcastle University and former Labour Party politician Trevor Phillips, Muslims in the UK might be at a lower risk of the deadly coronavirus because they clean themselves five times a day.

Performing Wudhu five times a day and frequent hand washing might have saved many Muslims from contracting Covid-19, Phillips suggests in an opinion article for The Times. Low employment, especially of Muslim women, also might have contributed to controlling the spread of the virus in areas where there are greater numbers of Muslims. Only 29 per cent of British Muslim women are employed, according to the Young Foundation. A lack of employment implies less use of public transport and travel in hotspots. Philips suggests that some ethnocultural habits of Muslims similar to isolation might have saved them from contracting the virus.

The report delves deeper into the coronavirus hotspots throughout the UK and deduces that the areas with a high concentration of Muslims aren’t included in the top lists, even though areas with high Black and Ethnic Minorities (BAME) are the worst-hit.

Philips said that Blackburn, Bradford, Luton, Rochdale and Rotherham are “conspicuous by their absence” on the list of worst-hit places by the coronavirus, being both non-white and poor areas. All these areas have a high concentration of Muslims. In his opinion article, Phillips wrote:

“Were poverty the key determinant, we would expect the virus to be running rampant among Britain’s Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslim communities.”

He gave the example of Tower Hamlets, in central London, which has more than a third Muslim population and is surrounded by coronavirus hotspots, but appears to be saved from it. Tower Hamlets has 548 cases of Covid-19, compared to 859 in neighbouring Newham, and 1,075 in Southwark across the river. Surprisingly, both boroughs have high proportions of ethnic minority people, but fewer Muslims than the borough of Tower Hamlets.

While it cannot be ascertained whether cultural practices of some Muslim families have protected them for the virus, the data shows that Muslims have been less affected in many areas of the UK. While official statistics show that BAME communities are at a greater risk of contracting the virus because of a higher representation in the NHS and multiple generations living in the same house.

“Maybe there is a revelation to be had here; if one key to stopping transmission of the virus is hand washing, might a faith community many of whose members ritually wash before five-times-a-day prayers have something to teach the rest of us?” Phillips asks.

“And does an ethnic group where almost 40 per cent are economically inactive — and therefore not regularly using public transport, for example — merely underline the protective value of social isolation?” he said.