Reflections on the Tsunami

Abstract

Wa’l `Asr Innal Insana lafi Khusr…1 By the testimony of time, surely humankind is in a state of loss… The exegetes mention that the testimony of time, mentioned in this verse, refers to the testimony of each era’s extraordinary events, events that indicate the incomparable power of God.2 In our time we have seen many such events. The recent tsunami, which devastated regions in and around the Indian Ocean, is only the latest. Only God could have ushered the awesome power unleashed by the earthquake that moved the island of Sumatra 100 feet, yet left it intact. Only God could have ushered the awesome power to send a wave of water, whose depth reached from the surface of the water to the ocean floor, hundreds of miles across the sea at speeds exceeding five hundred miles an hour. Only God could devise an “early warning system” which told myriad species of animals to flee to the safety of high ground. Only God. Yet many, even some professing faith in Islam, having seen such an awesome display of God’s power, question His wisdom. Why must our faith be constantly tested? Why did so many unsuspecting people have to perish? Why were children swept from their mothers’ arms? Why such widespread and apparently wanton destruction? Why, once again, are Muslims the majority of those suffering from such calamities? Why? ...