That Terrible Tsunami - Why did Allah let so many people be killed?
by
Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood.
Very often, in life, the tragic loss of someone we love can be the very thing that triggers off in us the real urge to find out answers to the ultimate questions. Why did God let this happen to me? Or my mother? Or even my pet hamster? Why did He punish or wipe out that person? Or, those thousands of people? Surely they hadn’t done anything that wrong? How could Allah be so cruel?
And then comes the urge to think even more deeply – maybe God doesn’t really exist? Maybe belief in Him is just a waste of time anyway, if He deals with completely innocent people in such a nasty manner? Why didn’t He answer their cries? Doesn’t this prove that praying to Him is just pointless?
Our questions cannot always be answered by struggling to find answers. Sometimes the best advice is that as Muslims we must just accept everything, because it must be God’s will for us. We must be patient. We must not turn against Allah, or demand an explanation, or become bitter and in the end reject belief in God altogether. But our hearts are in pain, our minds are confused, our brains are outraged, and we do cry out for some sort of explanation, some sort of help that will make us feel better.
Why did that tsunami happen? Why did Allah let so many people be killed? I was interested to read in several Muslim reports of the event that it actually revealed a miracle - Allah had miraculously preserved many mosques of those regions, when everything else had been devastated and laid flat. This was surely a marvellous act of God, and we should be amazed and humbled by this. Now, why can I hear a loud chorus of outraged voices commenting that it would have been far more marvellous if God’s miraculous act had been to flatten all the mosques but save all the Muslims!
Surely it was not fair – these people didn’t get any warning of their impending doom, and maybe if they had, they could have prayed extremely hard and Allah would have averted the tragedy? Or, at least, some of them could have got off the beach.
In fact, no matter how noble people are, no matter how hard they pray, no matter what sacrifices they promise to Allah, no matter how desperately they try to do deals with Him, the laws of Nature are the laws of Nature, and if you live on a flood-plain sooner or later you are likely to be flooded. If you live beside a volcano, sooner or later you will be erupted upon. If you live in a steepsided Welsh valley like Aberfan, sooner or later the steep sides may tumble down and overwhelm you with muddy debris. If you live at the outlet of a river, sooner or later flash-flooding may sweep your village into the sea. If you live on a beach, sooner or later a big wave might snatch your life with no mercy. If you are faced with a villain intending to kill you by firing a bullet at you, it is most likely that it will hit you and you could be killed. Allah will not intervene and catch the bullet.
The Prophet himself (pbuh) once had the nasty experience of someone determined to kill him by hurling a rock at him, and even though our Prophet (pbuh) was the most saintly of men, prayed and believed in Allah more than anyone else, and was clad in full armour including a sturdy helmet, the rock smacked into the side of his helmet with such force it crushed the metal into his jaw, smashed out two of his teeth, and the Companion who struggled desperately to dig the jagged iron back out of the Prophet’s face by gripping it with his own teeth, lost two of his own! I assure you, this did not signify that Allah did not love the Prophet (pbuh), or wanted to punish him for something, or that the Prophet’s (pbuh) faith slipped at that moment.
Allah is not capricious or open to manipulation. Some believers seem to expect that if they are devoted enough, or chant enough phrases, or do enough pious practices, Allah will produce cosmic results and violate the laws of the universe just to oblige them. People with that sort of attitude often act rather like spoiled children; they seem to genuinely believe that if they cry loudly enough or long enough they will be able to bring themselves to God's attention, make Him notice their worthy cause, and perhaps even make Him act differently - in accordance with what they want Him to do. Yet the Qur’an states clearly for us that we will all suffer, and be tested by all sorts of calamities, and ultimately we will all taste death.
In fact, Allah does not even need to be told our problems - He knows everything already. He will not have failed to observe that one of His servants is sick, or dying, or bereaved, or that one tectonic plate of the earth is about to slide under another, which will cause a tsunami that will destroy 500,000 people. Allah is not there just to oblige us - no matter how worthy we are, or how desperate our cause. God is not a cosmic errand-boy. He is not standing by, waiting for our 'orders of the day' - sometimes with the implication that He had better get on with doing what we want Him to do or we will punish Him by rejecting Him. Indeed, think how outraged and bitter a bereaved person might feel if he really believed that Allah chose to drown his beloved child but saved the son of the local Imam!
Well? Should Muslims not grieve at all? Should they just accept a terminal illness or a tsunami as God's will, or a test of faith? What can they expect from God? What should they ask Him for? It is not wrong to ask questions. Human beings are creatures with minds. If God had wanted automatons with no minds, He would have created us that way. It is all right for us to ask for the reasons; but we have to realize that we cannot always get, or understand, the answer.
Could a Muslim expect a life free from guilt? Possibly, if they try hard. A life free from the fear of death? Possibly, if they have enough faith. A life that can be lived differently from that of non-believers? True, with God's help. A life free from sorrow, problems, difficulties, catastrophes and death? Sadly, no.
Death seen in terms of a capricious universe with a God who can be somehow bribed to do our bidding is painful and depressing; but when we think deeply about death in connection with the meaning of life, we may be able to see it in a totally different light. We have no idea how long we shall live. ‘Life’ may be as short as a moth's, or as long as a sequoia tree's. A whole universe may come in its own ‘Big Bang’, and be created, and evolve, and decay and be destroyed in the striking of a match. What matters is not its length but its quality. Real faith in God helps us to put death in perspective. Only physical things die; spiritual things already have the dimension of the infinite and eternal and are therefore indestructible.
'It is absolutely certain that you will be tried and tested through the things you possess and in that which happens to your own selves; and you will most certainly hear of much that will distress you, including from those who received the Book before you, and those who worship many gods. But if you continue to do your best with patience, and guard against evil - then that is the determinating factor (for your ultimate destiny).' (Surah 3:186).
Being a Muslim does not protect anyone from the reality of suffering. Belief is not some kind of spiritual inoculation which will provide immunity from all that is difficult and painful. We love Allah - but doesn't He care when we suffer? In times of crisis, it is so easy to feel that He is far away and cannot hear our cries - but this is not so. He is closer than our own neck vein; or, as the Messenger (pbuh) touchingly put it, closer than the neck of our own camel. His love will never desert us or let us down, even in our darkest hour.
It is not wrong to grieve. People who believe in God grieve for all sorts of things. People with sympathetic hearts feel human misery deeply; some work to exhaustion to heal the sick and reach out to the needy. To see someone we love suffering makes us unutterably sad, and God knows that. He gave us the feelings in the first place. But believers should not grieve in the same way as those who have no hope - for God promised His people comfort and strength right into the shadow of death, and beyond.
Allah sometimes works through our suffering. Some people get physically healed, others are given the ability to live with the illness and finally to die with trust and hope. Suffering can never be considered enjoyable, but there can be good responses to it. If we can see that neither distress nor death can separate us from the love of God we have a living hope which transcends all the trials of our present situation.
As Muslims, who try to accept God's will, should we fight against things like tsunamis, or accept them? Would it be right for a patient to refuse medical treatment on the grounds that it must be God's will for them to have the sickness? The Muslim answer to that must surely be 'No'. Such apathy is against the general desire of Allah to see us always working for healing, wholeness and peace. We have a responsibility as khilafah (Allah’s guardians and helpers of the planet) to care for our bodies and our earth as best we can, so we should encourage patients to seek and take medical advice and co-operate with whatever treatment is consistent with Islam, and we should encourage scientists and geologists and technicians to invent and construct and set up whatever defences and aids they can for humanity.
'Allah has not created an illness without creating a cure for it.' When you take a medicine, you are not acting against the will of Allah; you are cured by Allah's will, because He has put into that particular medicine the qualities which will enable the human body to overcome a certain disease.
Medicine functions by God's will. This is exactly what Umar ibn al-Khattab said to Abu Ubaydah once, when the latter questioned him about his orders concerning quarantine-preventing entry to or departure from an area where plague was widespread. Abu Ubaydah asked: 'Are we trying to escape from the will of Allah?' Umar answered: 'Yes, we try to escape from God's will with God's will.' This means that if we avoid certain causes of death we nevertheless remain subject to the will of Allah, because avoiding them and preventing them is also part of the will of Allah. Insha’Allah, by the time of the next major earth-disaster humanity may have the technology to give advance warning to everyone.
A Muslim will always have to acknowledge that the final outcome is in God's hands. If we pray for our sick and dying, and for the bereaved, it is never wasted; God always hears us, and something always 'happens', even if it not quite what the person has prayed for. Umm Salamah, one of the Prophet's (pbuh) wives (peace be upon both of them) reported the Messenger as saying: 'Whenever you visit the sick or the dying, make supplication for good, because then the angels will say 'Amen' to whatever you say.' (Muslim, 2002)
We are human and limited in our understanding. Instead of telling God what we want, we should try to ask God what it is He wants for us, or wants us to do, in each and every situation. Sometimes He gives a very clear indication of what it is He wants us to do - through a verse of the Qur'an, or an insight given to us or another person. We should always pray to be shown what seems to be the best solution, the best thing to do next.
Things like a tsunami often lead us to question things we had taken for granted before. Does God really exist? Does He know I exist? Does He love me? How could He let this happen? Allah welcomes our honest searching, and will not collapse under investigation. Ask your questions, seek your answers. Ask for the wisdom that will lead you to Him. Search the Qur'an for answers - find out for yourself what it says about the things you are questioning. After having experienced suffering or the grief-pangs of bereavement for yourself you may find yourself coming to a new level of commitment, one that is perhaps truly meaningful for the first time.
True believers have nothing to fear in the most gloomy scenes of life; they have nothing to fear in the valley of death; they have nothing to fear in the grave; they have nothing to fear in the world beyond. For God is with them. They do not go anywhere alone-for God is the Companion, the Guide.
God bless you, wasalaam, Ruqaiyyah.
Booya
