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October 15, 2005

Pakistan Earthquake: Is Allah Guilty?

This morning's Daily Telegraph carried an article entitled "Earthquake is Punishment from Allah". It quoted Mullah Abdul Hayee of Battal who said in a sermon during his Friday prayers

"Allah has sent this great punishment on account of our misdeeds," he said, jabbing a finger at the open sky. "We must now end our rebellion against the orders of Allah and submit ourselves again to his ways."

His congregation of 1,500 listened reflectively. The local school had collapsed, killing more than one hundred children. Mullah Hayee encouraged his flock to be "strong like the lions of Allah" and not to chase after relief vehicles like packs of stray dogs.

What occurred was a human tragedy, beyond my personal comprehension. At times like this, it is easy to blame God, or in Mullah Hayee's case, to blame oneself or one's society for invoking Allah's wrath. Mullah Hayee's sermon sounded as if it was a dignified and thoughtful voicing of words that perhaps needed to be said from a clergyman to a congregation confronted with such inconsolable tragedy.

Mullah Hayee's words of philosophical humanity seem far from the campaigning of another Imam, prayer-leader Shafquat-ur-Rehman of Eid Gaah, in Garhi Habibullah. According to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, the Imam had called in his sermon on Monday for the members of the general public to destroy their television sets, to stop the rising tide of "increasing obscenity." At least four people handed over their TV's for burning. Mr Rehman stated afterwards that "the destruction caused by the earthquake was God's wrath for the obscenity promoted by cable networks."

The four television sets were duly set ablaze by the Imam when given to him. Cable television had only arrived in the region six months previously. More had offered to give up their TV's for burning, Mr Rehman said, but because the items were among others crushed when houses collapsed, the televisions were not available for incineration.

Times of tragedy cause people to act in strange ways. Mr Rehman can be forgiven for looking for a tangible cause for the disaster. In his community, mass burials were being carried out because so many members of individual families had died in the disaster. One Mullah seemed to have gone totally potty in reaction to the horror.

The Pakistan Daily Times on Wednesday reported that on Monday night, an Imam was booked for creating panic by making hoax earthquake announcements. The Imam, Hafiz Muhammed Ashraf, was using a loudspeaker to tell residents of the Bawa Safra neighbourhood that another earthquake was imminent, and that people should leave their homes. Even though Mr Ashraf was booked under section 16 MPO, he still managed to make his escape. A few days later, there was, in fact another quake, an aftershock reaching 5 on the Richter scale, perhaps vindicating the Imam.

I am agnostic on issues of the divine. The events are so tragic and incomprehensible that it easy to assume "God is angry". However, if the theologians were less intent on looking for reasons, perhaps they should assume that if Allah created the disaster, it is his will alone, and happened for his reasons. It is surely hubris to attempt to know the mind of God. Hopefully those who lost loved ones will find a way to finding some peace and comfort in their shattered lives, once the necessary relief arrives.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 15, 2005 9:03 PM

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