Causes of human sufferings and natural disasters

Everyday when we read the newspaper or watch TV, we come to know about many different kinds of human miseries and mishaps. We also see people around us miserably suffering with chronic diseases, hunger, and poverty. We also hear about many catastrophic natural disasters such as earth quake, floods, hurricanes, tornado, cyclone, storms and droughts killing millions of people and leaving millions of widows, orphans, and handicaps.

A question arises that when God is All-mighty i.e. capable of controlling anything and everything and God is also all-knowing i.e., He knows everything that happens anywhere in the universe, then why such dreadful events occur.

This is a very important question. Many atheists use this question as a valid reason to deny the existence of God. This question also disturbs many ignorant Muslims. It is therefore essential for all Muslim students to have a satisfactory answer to this question.

This question does not have one simple answer as there are many different causes of human suffering and afflictions.

Some of the major causes of calamities and sufferings are as follows:

G Reaction of our action and Divine punishment.
G Warning and reminder to turn back to God.
G To energize and stimulate human spirit and to intensify his efforts.
G Examination.
G Divine system.
Reaction of our action.

The major cause of our all sufferings and miseries is our deeds. i.e., in most of the cases we suffer because of our wrong doings. Quran has disclosed this law of God. "Then it shall be said to the wrongdoers: Taste the everlasting torment; Shall you be rewarded except according to your deeds" (10:52)

i.e., You receive the payment of what you earn. This law of God has also been discovered by Isaac Newton in Nature which we teach in Physics. i.e., every action has an equal reaction. If we sincerely study and analyze our sufferings and miseries we will really know that in most of the cases our sufferings are the outcome of our own actions or attitude. Let us see this categorically.

Hunger and poverty

The most common kind of suffering and infliction are hunger, poverty and diseases. Let's analyze the causes of these infliction one by one.

Poverty is the lack of enough income and resources to live comfortably. It is one of the world's main social problems. In both developing and developed countries, millions of people are suffering because of poverty. Poverty is the most common social disease.

Many of the poor people in the world cannot buy the food, shelter, clothing, and medical care that they need. This creates frustration, hopelessness and lack of interest in life. In the late 1980's, it was estimated that I billion people, about a fifth of the world's population, were so poor that their health and lives were endangered.

But what is the cause of poverty and who should be held responsible for all that suffering ? Man or God ?

Poverty has variety of causes. Some of them are being mentioned here.

a- Lack of education, skills and aptitude to do work. Many people don't want to do work. They suffer due to their laziness or less interest in work. Some people think that Allah Subhanahu taala is our sustainer and He has taken the responsibility of our basic needs. It is true, but still a lot of effor ts are needed to take our share from the Divine warehouse. So in many cases poverty is due to the under utilization of human potential and natural resources.

b- Inflation also significantly contributes to pover ty. Inflation means increasing the price of goods which affects a certain group of the society. We experience this problem now and then. This is a man-made cause in which human selfish nature works to get as much as possible without considering anything.

c- Some countries are poor because of lack of exper tise and equipment needed to produce adequate food supplies for most of their people. It is also due to the lack of involvement in science and technology.

d- Many women become poor after they are divorced or separated from their husbands. It is also a personal reason.

e - In some cases poverty also results from natural disasters such as floods, droughts or poor harvests. This can also be the indirect cause of our wrongdoing which we shall discuss later.

Thus in most of the cases we find that the hunger and pover ty are mainly either due to the improper distribution of amenities or under utilization of natural abilities and resources Divine Punishments It is important to know more about the Divine punishments. Quran has described the Divine punishments in detail. However, it is not easy for an ordinary person to identify the Divine punishment and more importantly its actual cause.

Diseases and epidemics

Disease is also a major cause of sufferings. It is said that diseases have killed or disabled more people then all the wars ever fought. Each year, tens of millions of people die from different kinds of diseases. In the United States alone, diseases kill nearly 2 million people each year and leave many people permanently disabled.

Apparently it seems that God is solely responsible for all kinds of diseases as He has created the viruses, bacteria which cause many different kinds of diseases. But this is not tr ue. Medical experts say that almost all diseases are caused by ignoring the standard laws of nature. i.e., our life-style, habits, living conditions and physical environment nur ture diseases. Let's take malaria, the most common disease of the third world countries.

Malaria is caused by protozoan called plasmodia and is transmitted by the bite of the female anopheles mosquito. It is true that Allah Subhanahu taala has created the mosquito and plasmodia which infect us with malaria. But Allah has also instructed mosquitoes to live in dir ty water and filthy environment. thus, by creating a dir ty environment, we invite mosquitoes, houseflies, rats, and other germs carriers in our home to deliver diseases.

Similarly AIDS, the most dangerous and incurable disease, which has killed millions of peoples, is a disease sponsored by criminals. The cause of AIDS is HIV virus, undoubtedly created by Allah, but who transfer it into the human body ? Allah or the patient himself /herself. At least in this particular disease doctors have honestly acknowledged that the only source of this disease is the patient himself / herself as he or she is the one who has acquired it. That is why they have named it Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

Even those innocent people who get this disease from blood transfusion or blades are due to the human negligence.

Thus in most of the cases, the sufferings due to the chronic disease that makes the life miserable, are the result of our own deeds. Black Death.

As mentioned above, not always but in most of the cases, the cause of the disease is one's bad deed or negligence of Divine orders. Sometimes the whole nation is punished by epidemics. Scientists say they don't yet know, how all of sudden a particular epidemic disease grows and spreads widely killing millions of people and then goes away itself without any human efforts. For example, outbreaks of plague have been repor ted in different periods of history that have killed hundreds of millions of people.

In 542 AD an epidemic of plague struck Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) and killed half of the population.

In 1347, one of the most disastrous plague burst out in Europe which killed 40,000,000 people - about a fourth of the European population at that time. This pandemic plague is called Black Death in history.

In 1800's a third epidemic appeared suddenly in China and spread like a fire. It killed more than 20 million people.

Scientists have tried to guess some of the probable causes of these epidemics but are puzzled by their mystified origin. For instance, they can not answer such questions, how a particular cause develops that spreads plague, and why it has developed at some par ticular time and not at any other time, and how it stops itself without any apparent reason.

To cite an instance, consider the apparent known cause of the second epidemic - Black Death, which killed 40 million people in Europe. It is said that the source of this epidemic were Black Rats which carry a particular species of flies called Xenopsylla Cheopsis. But the origin from where all these rats who arrived to spread the epidemic is still a riddle. More surprisingly, why the same rats did not spread the disease where they were living before.

Further to their surprise, it was found that the Brown Rats, which are rare in Europe, came from China and killed the Black Rats which were spreading the disease.

Those who do not believe in God and in His planning, such epidemics will remain a myster y. But those who read Quran can understand, why the Black Rats brought the disease in Europe and who sent the Brown rats to stop the epidemic.

Natural Disasters

The natural disasters such as earth quakes, storms, floods, and droughts, which bring different kinds of miseries are also sometimes due to our bad deeds. Quran has described in details that how these many kinds of natural disasters have wiped out many nations in the past when they disobeyed Allah and crossed the Divine limits.

Quran mentions different kinds of natural disasters which were caused by the wrath of Allah Taala.

"Each one of them We seized for his crime. Of them, against some We sent a violent tornado: some were caught by a (mid-night) blast, some We caused the earth to swallow up ( powerful earthquake or major volcano eruption), and some We drowned (in water).

It was not Allah Who injured (or destroyed) them: they injured (destroyed) themselves."(29:40) In surah HUD, it is mentioned with all details that how the nations of the following prophets were punished one after the other because of their sins and rebellious nature.

1 - Prophet Nuh (as) - FLOOD

His whole nation except his companions was perished by a great flood. Huge flow of water welled out from the earth and from the sky and all were drowned except few believers. (11:21-49)

2 - Prophet Hud (as) - A DREADFUL EXPLOSION His whole nation, named Aad was destroyed by a horrible natural disaster except those who obeyed him. (11:49-59)

3 - Prophet Saleh (as) - A MIGHTY BLAST His whole nation, named Thamud, except his true followers, was smashed by a dreadful explosion that rang along with a powerful storm. (11:61-67)

4 - Prophet Lut (as) - A MOST POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE His whole nation, except his true followers were destroyed by turning the whole town upside down, followed by a rain of baked clay layer on layer. (11:77-82)

5 - Prophet Shu'ayb (as) - A POWERFUL BL AST His whole nation, named Madyan, except his few followers, was killed by a powerful Explosion (Earthquake). (11:84-94), (29:36)

6 - Prophet Moosa (as) -THROWN INTO THE SEA Pharaoh, his Chiefs and the whole army were drowned into the River Nile.

After giving all details of crimes and punishments, Quran very clearly tells the cause of such dreadful natural disasters in the following verse.

"These are some of the stories of communities which we have told you --- It was not WE that wronged them: They wronged their own souls". (11:100) Thus, these verses of the Holy Quran have explained that one of the major cause of natural disasters is Divine punishment. However, we can not say for sure that each and every natural disaster is a Divine punishment. But the natural disaster do occur as in the past with hor rible results. Hundreds of natural disasters of high intensity have been recorded in the histor y. Here, we present just few of these many natural disasters that terribly hit various nations in last one thousand year.

The Holy Quran has identified the root cause of many of such kinds of natural disasters, as mentioned above, in the following verse; "Verily, Allah does not deal unjustly with man in any way: it is man that does unjust to his own soul." (10:44)

Divine warnings to turn back to our Lord

If we study carefully the painful incidents of our life that occurred in some specific circumstances and judge them in context of our behavior, we can realize that most of these painful events were the milestone of our progress. Many times it has happened that a sudden shock or blow in our life becomes the turning point. These mild punishments are just to discipline us in order to save us from severe punishments.

Those who are mindful they take the advantage of such occurrence and change their behaviors, but those who are not watchful they just cry and complain and finally meet even more severe consequences of their heedless attitude.

We find many people who have very smooth and comfortable life forget their Lord and a sudden undesirable event wakes them up from their deep sleep. A plain and easy living is just like driving on smooth highways in a pleasant night. If the driver is not warned in time by a slash, he will certainly face a dreadful accident. This is why in modern highways engineers fix artificial light barriers at regular short distances just to prevent sleeping during the long driving. Thus ups and downs and hardships in life also serve the same purpose and keep us attentive to escape deadly events.

The Holy Quran rejects such heedless people who do not take lessons from their sufferings.

"We afflicted them with calamities and misfortunes so that they might humble themselves, but their hearts were hardened ..... (6:43)

Thus hardships and painful events can have many different causes and it is not fair to consider them punishment without proper identification. Moreover in most of the cases there are many blessings of Allah in our sufferings as they energize and stimulate our spirit and intensify our efforts.

Even the natural disasters such as earth quakes, droughts, floods, wars bring many significant changes in our physical world and society.

A poisonous snake seems to be a very dangerous enemy of mankind, but its poison which can kill a careless person, is used as a medicine to save the lives of thousands of people.

Source

Why does God allow bad things to happen?

Importance of the Question

Since you live in the 21st century, it is very probable that you have at least come across, if not been influenced by, what is known as “the problem of evil”. You might have heard it at school or work after someone was murdered: “How could God allow this to happen?!” You see it in articles and blog posts after the bombardment of an entire village: “What kind of God would allow these things to happen?!”
You will even find it in intellectual circles and philosophy books: “If there really were a perfectly good, all-knowing, all-powerful God, then there would be no evil and suffering in the world.”

This so-called problem is one of the most common arguments that skeptics use to deny the existence of God. They assume that they have found an Achilles heel in the religions that believe in God. The common picture we have in our minds is of the skeptic atheist calmly presenting a logical, intellectual, and scientific argument while the religiously-inclined defendant becomes emotionally charged and tries to beat around the bush. However, the strength of this argument does not, in any way, have to do with logic or rationale but rather is emotionally charged to the core and attempts to hijack any sensitive event it can find. Nor is it a new question. In fact, we find the angels asking something similar even before man was created: “When your Lord told the angels, ‘I am putting a deputy on earth,’ they said, ‘How can you put someone there who will cause damage and bloodshed, when we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your holiness?’ but he said, ‘I know what you know not.’” Qur’an 2:30 In other words, God was asked, “Why would you allow this human, who will do bad things, to exist? Why not create someone who won’t do anything bad, like us?” The answer was, “I understand the wisdom in what I am doing, and you don’t.”

Exploding the Myth

That, in a nutshell, is the answer to the so-called problem. There is no logical contradiction between God being Infinitely Good, Infinitely Powerful, and allowing bad things to happen. The idea that the evil and suffering in the world present an unanswerable challenge to believers is finally being admitted by more open-minded researchers. Stump and Murray make the following confession in their book, Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions: “The logical problem of evil has been severely criticized in recent years and is regarded in the contemporary literature on the subject as largely discredited. In brief, the problem with this argument is that it assumes something false. Specifically, it assumes that a good being would prevent every evil it can under any circumstances…Thus, at best, the logical problem of evil shows us that if God exists, the only evil that exists is evil for which there is some good reason.”

The rhetorical questions now change to inquisitive questions. Rather than blurting out, “How could God do that?! What kind of God does these things?!” the question now is “Why is the world this way and what wisdom lies in that?”

Life is a Test

The secret to understanding the issue is so simple that it often eludes us. Life is a test. Man has been given a limited free will to do good or bad. Look at the following statement of the Prophet: “The life of a believer is truly amazing. Everything that happens to him is good. This is only true for a believer and none else. If something pleasant happens to him, he is thankful and that is good for him. If something bad afflicts him, he is patient and that is also good for him.” (Muslim) Affliction is part of the test of life. If God were to interfere and prevent every bad thing from happening to each individual, it would be like taking the test away from a student. Saying that the bad that exists in the world is necessary does not mean that it is justified or praiseworthy. Believers are always commanded to enjoin the good and forbid the evil, which is another test in itself.

Wisdom is behind the scenes

Skeptics tend to focus on the negative aspects of things and claim that evil and suffering are ugly facts of life while believers try to see the bigger picture and find an explanation for the existence of such things. It is like someone who observes two people fighting and judges that both of them are in the wrong without thinking that one of them may be defending himself or standing up for justice. Evil is, to an extent, relative. A juicy hamburger may be a good thing for someone who’s hungry, but it’s definitely a bad thing for the cow that was slaughtered.

God said:

“Fighting is ordained for you, though you dislike it. You may dislike something although it is good for you, or like something although it is bad for you: God knows and you do not.” Qur’an 2:216

Being able to see the big picture often affects how we perceive what is good and bad. Someone with little foresight may claim that the injection of a vaccine into a patient, which contains traces of disease, is a bad thing while the injection of heroin, which leads to euphoria, is a good thing. Not being able to understand that the vaccine will help develop immunity to that disease or that taking heroin will develop into a drug addiction is due to a lack of medical knowledge and experience. The following principle is demonstrated in the Qur’an with the meeting between Moses and a man who was given direct knowledge from God about the unseen. Moses wanted to follow him and learn from him, but the man warned him, “You will not be able to bear with me patiently. How could you be patient in matters beyond your knowledge?” But Moses convinced him to let him tag along. Here is the rest of

The story:

“They travelled on. Later, when they got into a boat, and the man made a hole in it, Moses said, ‘How could you make a hole in it? Do you want to drown its passengers? What a strange thing to do!’…Then, when they met a young boy and the man killed him, Moses said, ‘How could you kill an innocent person? He has not killed anyone! What a terrible thing to do!’…Then, when they came to a town and asked the inhabitants for food but were refused hospitality, they saw a wall there that was on the point of falling down and the man repaired it. Moses said, ‘But if you wished you could have taken payment for doing that.’ He said, ‘This is where you and I part company.

I will tell you the meaning of the things you could not bear with patiently: the boat belonged to some needy people who made their living from the sea and I damaged it because I knew that coming after them was a king who was seizing every [serviceable] boat by force. The young boy had parents who were people of faith, and so, fearing he would trouble them through wickedness and disbelief, we wished that their Lord should give them another child-purer and more compassionate-in his place. The wall belonged to two young orphans in the town and there was buried treasure beneath it belonging to them. Their father had been a righteous man, so your Lord intended them to reach maturity and then dig up their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. I did not do [these things] of my own accord: these are the explanations for those things you could not bear with patience.’” (Qur’an, 18:71-82). It was the lack of knowledge and foresight that led Moses to object to what the man did. Likewise, we find ourselves, as limited humans, in similar situations. However, we do have enough insight to see some of the wisdoms behind the general occurrences of bad things.

What good reasons could there be for evil?

1. Suffering and affliction often help return us to the obedience of God. God said: “We sent messengers before you [Prophet] to many communities and afflicted their people with suffering and hardships, so that they might learn humility. If only they had learned humility when suffering came from Us! But no, their hearts became hard…” (Qur’an 6:42-43)

There is a lesson in the conversion of the famous rock star, Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam. He related the story himself: “After a year of financial success and high living, I became very ill. I contracted T.B. (tuberculosis) and had to be hospitalized. It was then that I started to think; what is going to happen to me? Am I just a body? Is my goal in life merely to satisfy this body? I realized this calamity was a blessing given to me by God and a chance to open my eyes, to learn ‘Why I am here, why I am in bed.’ I started looking for some of the answers.”

2. It differentiates between the good and bad people.

God said:

“Do people think they will be left alone after saying, ‘We believe’ without being put to the test? We tested those who went before them: God will certainly mark out which ones are truthful and which are lying.” (Qur’an 29:2-3) Upon analysis, we realize that the Prophets, who are the highest in rank in the sight of God, faced the most difficult tests of all people. Clearly, merit must be earned.

3. Affliction is necessary to experience its opposite feelings of joy and achievement.
God said: “With hardship comes ease. Indeed, with hardship comes ease.” (Qur’an, 94:5-6)
The appreciation of ease and comfort could only exist and be appreciated if the feelings of hardship also existed and were known or experienced. In Chinese Philosophy, the concept of yin and yang is employed to explain this phenomenon. Each part is necessary to understand the unity of the whole. They are in equilibrium: if one disappears, the other must disappear as well, leaving emptiness.

Conclusion

It should be patently clear that the inability to see the wisdom behind something should not be a cause of criticizing that thing. Of course, the final word on all of this is that God knows best.


By Imam Mustafa ‘Umar
 
Source

US says Lashkar in Lanka

A news items published in the Daily Mirror of 27 March 2010 and the Sunday Times following day, 28/3/2010, the United States Admiral Robert Willard, Commander of the US Pacific Command, had stated that he had information about militant group Lashker e Taiba presence in Sri Lanka.


This is frightening as this is how the US spread lies to attacks Muslims in many countries.
The situation is worse here in Sri Lanka with racist elements never missing an opportunity to demonize and harm Muslims.


Veteran journalist and author Latheef Farook sent his response to Daily Mirror and Sunday Times demanding Admiral Robert Willard to disclose the details as the government has already rejected this claim.
Daily Mirror published the government denial. However both Daily Mirror and the Sunday Times failed to publish Latheef Farook's response providing Muslim point of view.


The Response


This is in response to Saturday 27 March 2010 and Sunday Times of 28 March 2010 news item titled “US says Lashkar in Lanka”.
Citing PTI report Admiral Robert Willard, Commander of the US Pacific Command in his testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee, has said, in response to a question from Senator George Lemieux, that the Lasker e  Taiba group is expanding and specifically positioning in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

He has also said that “we have certainly knowledge of their influence within the region beyond the countries that I just mentioned. The extent of that influence is what we're taking under study,”
Now that the government has rejected these reports  saying there was no evidence to prove that the group was in the island it is extremely important that the US provide details about this so called LET influence in Sri Lanka right away in view of the serious Implications of this disclosure to Sri Lankan Muslims,

That is assuming Robert Willard is speaking the truth and is not doing the dirty work for his country to target Muslim minorities in these countries.   
In this regard it is worthy to note that Muslims in Sri Lanka, as rightly pointed out by the island’s former Chief Justice Sarath N Silva, remains the only community which never took to arms to realize their grievances even at the peak of their sufferings during the ethnic war when they were evicted from their homes, their lands   grabbed, their livelihood deprived, kidnapped, tortured and indiscriminately killed.

This alone would have been cause enough for any group to take to arms. However Muslims refrained from succumbing to violence. There were, however, a few Muslims who acquired weapons to defend themselves against the LTTE atrocities, but they disappeared even before LTTE disappeared. After the elimination of the LTTE the remaining few armed Muslims handed over their weapons to the authorities.

The question now is why the Muslims should take to arms now under LET or any other banner as the LTTE terrorism is defeated and people from all communities are hoping and praying that communities are brought together and move this war battered country ahead to ensure peaceful better future.

Under these circumstances Willard’s statement must be taken with a pinch of salt. 

For example, within  days after  the 9/11 events in New York in 2001,  former US President   George Bush, together with  former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, accused Al Qaeda of destroying the WTC without any proper inquiry. Exploiting the mood   in its wake Bush blackmailed the shocked and confused world, created a coalition and invaded within 27 days the war battered and impoverished Afghanistan where he slaughtered innocent and poverty stricken Afghans in one of the most barbarous military ventures of its kind in modern history.

More importantly Willard’s deception must be viewed in the backdrop of the lies and disinformation that the US media, kowtowing its government agenda, spread to create ‘proper’ environment for the senseless attack on Iraq and the slaughter of its unarmed civilians.

The US accused Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction which, Bush and Blair claimed, threatened the west and invaded Iraq in 2003 despite United Nations weapons inspectors repeatedly stating that Iraq did not possess such weapons. They turned this once almost developed country into a waste land. Around 1.4 million innocent Iraqis killed so far, hundreds of thousands of innocent men and women were tortured, women indiscriminately raped, infrastructure destroyed and birth, marriage, death, land and vehicle registration offices burnt causing chaos in the society.

Around four million Iraqis who lived in peace were forced into refugee camps in neighboring countries to languish in sub human conditions. More than two million Iraqis were made refugees in their own country. Shiites and Sunnis were put against each other turning Iraq into a killing field where, with the help of a puppet government, western oil companies started looting the country’s oil wealth while the Iraqis starve. And now it turns out that since he stepped down as Prime Minister Tony Blair has pocketed more than $30 million in oil revenues from his secret dealings with a South Korean oil consortium. 

Thus the   crooks are in Willard’s camp.

The so called US led Western war against terrorism turned out to be a war against Islam and Muslims. Now after Afghanistan and Iraq they have turned their attention on Pakistan which is bleeding .The question is whether this statement is a pretext for US plan to expand its agenda to cover Muslim living as minorities in Sri Lanka and other countries in the region.

The frightening situation worldwide caused by the US led so called war on terrorism is such today that every Muslim with a beard and a head cap and every Muslim woman with a Hijab have been branded as terrorist and humiliated. Muslims have been attacked and killed all over under various pretexts. Muslim refugees walking in sheer desperation in search of shelter with their meager belongings have become frequent common sight worldwide. 

Helpless Muslims worldwide are seething with anger at the west.

This is the reason why Sri Lankan Muslims take serious note of Admiral Robert Willard’s disclosures .Sri Lanka has its own share of anti Muslim elements who could exploit this statement to suit their own agendas. So if Wilfred was speaking the truth he must come up with hard evidence so that the authorities in the island can verify.