A Timeline Response: How Does Islamic Organizations Respond to COVID-19 in Indonesia?

Indonesia has made several regulations to end the pandemic, including PSBB. This regulation is related to physical distancing in all sectors and activities, including religious activities. To strengthen this policy, MUI and other Islamic organizations have made fatwa and official statement about how worships, especially those which are done in groups should be conducted during this pandemic. But efforts made by government and other organizations are not enough to ensure society that these regulations will not affect their religiousity. This paper is a literature review aimed to describe and analyze religious-related cases of COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. It includes MUI, Muhammadiyah, and Nahdlatul Ulama responses (fatwa and official statement) to this issue and public responses as well. It also compared this case to vaccine hesitancy case, due to similarities between these two cases. Both of these cases are dealing with religious dogma as it affects the policies’ effectivity. Religious and community leaders are needed in this kind of cases in order to help government promote and educate people about health issues from religious perspectives. Moreover, some kinds of punishment made by government are needed to strengthen fatwas and rulings, as most of these religious opinions do not have legal enforcement.