Flee from the infected “as you flee from the lion,” ISIS told its followers.
By Josh Plank, World Israel News
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has joined the long list of organizations to issue recommendations for avoiding coronavirus.
In its Al-Naba newsletter last week, the terrorist organization published seven directives, each backed by a passage from Islamic hadith, a record of the traditions or sayings of the Prophet Muhammed.
A full page of the weekly newsletter was dedicated to the new guidelines which appeared on a striking green and white infographic with purple coronavirus-shaped accents.
Entitled “Sharia directives to deal with epidemics,” the text has been translated into English by blogger Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi.
First, ISIS informed its jihadists that illnesses strike “by the command and decree of God” and that they are to “put trust in God and seek refuge in Him.”
Turning to more practical matters, ISIS told its followers they are obligated to prevent and avoid coronavirus, fleeing from the infected “as you flee from the lion.”
Plans to attack infidels in faraway lands came to a screeching halt as the terror group issued an outright travel ban, saying that “the healthy should not enter the land of the epidemic and the afflicted should not exit from it.”
This appears to be at least a temporary reversal of position after years of encouraging its members to travel abroad to commit acts of terror.
ISIS recommended the use of hand or clothing “to cover the mouth when yawning and sneezing,” the British daily The Times reports.
The black masks, once thought to be only for concealing one’s identity during gruesome beheading videos, may now serve a dual purpose, the paper says.
And finally, ISIS advised jihadists to “cover the vessels and tie the waterskin” and to “wash the hands before dipping them into vessels.”
Along with more conventional news media, Al-Naba has been closely following the coronavirus outbreak from the beginning.
“A new virus spreads death and terror in China,” the terrorist newsletter reported in January, adding that “communist China is panicking after a new virus has spread.”