Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Natural Disasters

I begin in the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.

Very recently, did a natural disaster strike the world, the enormity of the ruin and destruction that it created, left many millions in utter shock.
We may have come across many sources that have given us a representation of the condition of this Tsunami calamity. We may have been informed about the nature of the geographic disaster, the rising death toll, the social and economic ruin, and indeed, the feelings of despair and desolation that exists amongst that.
However do we know of the islamic understanding towards such a calamity? In this post, I hope to target this aspect.

The wrath of Allah (SWT) gradually descends upon the ummah, when the amount of sins that are being committed are drastically increasing, when the amount of people enagaging themselves in prayer and rememberance of their Lord is contrastingly diminishing.
However, I stress, that this does not mean that all those, upon whom this disaster has taken place, are being punished. For those who died with faith in the Lord are given the status of matyrdom and those who are left desolate, and endure their situation with patience and hope in Allah (SWT) become the beloved of their Lord and in-turn are raised many ranks higher in piety.

Let me emphasis, that we must not look upon such a disaster and think that the same situation can not happen with us. Truly it can. And this must not appear as a doubt in any of our minds. We have seen and read with our own eyes the scale of such a disaster, does this then not create an awareness? Does it not convince us that our constant disobediences are incurring the displeasure of our Merciful Lord? Such a calamity should create greater fear and obedience in Allah (SWT). We must tremble at our past transgressions and repent with sincerity.

In conclusion, yes, we must help those who are in need and yes we must make abundant duas for them, however, at the same time, we must also think about reforming ourselves and fear that such destruction can descend upon us.

I end by making a supplication. Oh Allah, we beg you to grant all those who are suffering, patience, and the ability to endure and rebuild their lives, and to restore joy into their lives, who feel as though this destruction has driven away their joy. We beg you to forgive our many sins that we have commited and to give us the ability to practice upon Islam in every step of our lives. Ameen.