Muslim Resistance to the Protocol for the Management of the Corpses of COVID-19 Patients: Lesson Learned from the Indonesian Experience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35516/Hum.2026.10271Keywords:
Muslim resistance, COVID-19 pandemic, corpse management protocol, retrieval of corpses, grave exhumation.Abstract
Objectives: Managing the corpses of COVID-19 patients has become one of the most crucial issues in Indonesia during the pandemic. Many community groups and patients’ families forcibly retrieved and exhumed the graves of family members as a form of resistance to the COVID-19 protocol. This study aims to explore the forms of Muslim resistance to funeral protocols that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic in various regions in Indonesia.
Methods: This research employed a multi-case studies approach to the resistance of Indonesian Muslims to the protocol of managing the corpses of COVID-19 patients during the pandemic. Reports on acts of resistance and the reasons of the perpetrators, as well as the views of experts on reducing the resistance published on social and online media, are the basis for this article's findings.
Results: This study found that community resistance to the COVID-19 corpse burial protocol manifested in the form of forced retrieval of the bodies of COVID-19 patients, exhumation of graves, and filing of legal complaints. These forms of community resistance were triggered by religious beliefs, low literacy about the dangers of COVID-19, and the loss of public trust in hospital authorities and the government. These community resistances can be reduced through a community-based communication approach to increase public awareness of the danger of COVID-19 and involve religious leaders and family members in corpse management.
Conclusions: Various cases of community resistance occurred due to the government's unpreparedness to harmonize legal products regarding COVID-19, the unpreparedness of medical experts in dealing with the patients of COVID-19, and the community's unpreparedness to accept changes in burial procedures for corpses in an emergency situation.
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