"....when we assert that God intends to punish mankind through natural disasters, we are assuming that we KNOW WHAT is exactly in God's mind. But NO FINITE mind can grasp the INFINITE. Yet, people who say natural catastrophes as divine punishments are DEAD-SURE that that was HOW GOD intended it to be. "
Speculating God's will - the muslim readers Vol 23 page 29
Have you ever wonder why is it, constantly, when some misfortunes hit you there will be someone would be telling you that it is god's warth? And that someone is usually ppl who are outwardly religiously pious.And by that insinuation, they had been spared and protected from such misfortunes - unlike you the unfortunate(?).
(try checking on divorce / polygamy cases, you'll not be surprise that most reasons cited by men are because the wives have NOT been GOOD bla..bla..bla..)
But when such misfortunes hit them or their closed ones, they will be quick to say that it is A TEST FROM Allah of their faith. (bummer!!) While all the blames on them are NOT VALID . Is that logic or what?
I see this as a sickness in our soceity..since i was as young as 12 yrs old. mind me..i'm 40 yrs old now..and still feeling sad whenever i see this...that happens more often than not.
Have i got a BIG Task? and I'm moulding my princes and princess towards a betterment of faith by the value system that Islam has been advocate - in words, thoughts and action. Have got to GET OUT OF THIS VICIOUS CIRCLES!!! Can I ever succeed? InsyaAllah. amin.
Thus over the years i've been asking why? No, Not WHY GOD? not WHY ME? and not Why are you punishing me etc?, but rather, why such mentality exist in my community and society? What warrants such thinking and behaviour?. So much so, that during trouble times we failed misserably to asist the victims with comfort of our ad-deen.
And for some reason(s) when we failed to provide all the necessary aids to the victims - it has got to be someone's fault of sabortaging their efforts to the aid. Worst reasonings are when we start circulating how others' faith is / are trying to jeoperdise our noble mission. huh !! sound familiar? Yup...many of us are guilting. Very guilty indeed.
Oh come on, how long must we blame others for our inefficiencies? HOW LONG MORE? Stop leaning on our past success but rather learn from our past mistakes to grow !!!
Be it as it is, and not belittling God and HIS warth, my mind has been blogging for words and reasons how and what can be done to undo this behaviour so that we become a truly universal ummah as per our UNIVERSAL ISLAM. Anything unislamic abt it?
I am glad that in the recent quake of the NIAH islands, I've not received any news or emails or anykind rhetorical talks abt some mystical events - perhaps for the fact that the MOAQUEs were not SPARED from the quake (?).
Can i say Alhamdullillah that the mosques crumbled too(?) yes, indeed. Because it stops some sanctions of the ummah who would arrogantly prove his or her point(s) of being BETTER than the rest by such insinuation. waallahualam. or was there such emails i've not been receiving ?
Abt 3 mths ago, i was performing my friday prayer in a mosque in singapore. I was intrigued by the khutbah, where the khatib talked abt the tsunami and he highlighted the rhetorical and gullible reasonings many are embarking - failling to focus / concentrate on the real issues that contribute to the high rise of the victims.
Btw, there is a very very interesting and intellectual article by Mohamed Imram Mohamed Taib published in the MUSLIM READER magazines of DARUL ARQAM (muslim converts society in singapore) vol. 23 no. 1. page 20 - 31
A very well researched work and i encourage everyone to get a hold of it and read it at least once - IF YOU ARE SINCERE in YOUR QUEST for the TRUTH. Even if this article may not present the absolute truth it presents a value approach towards the TRUTH. But of course some of you may find the WRITER TOLOL (BIGOTORY).
(buy hey...my gentle reminder if you are tempted to do so. Pls ensure that you have to bring on yr evidence for such judgement ha).
My take is that the writer presented and truly challenged us to revalidate our faith, our intellectual state and also our sentiments. Above all, it dispelled anykind of rhetorical sentiments and speculation - let alone anykind of mystical reasonings.
In any case, i trust that if we are sincerely seeking the truth, we can hear what others are saying - else another bigotory begets.
Praying for yr spiritual advancement as i've wished u've prayed for mine. InsyaAllah. amin.
/dzan
