• Home
  • Perspectives
  • Articles
  • Columns
  • Platform
  • Poetry
    • Literature
  • Shop
    • Cart
    • My account
  • Support
    • Donation Confirmation
  • Write for us
Search
47 F
Los Angeles
Monday, January 30, 2023
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
Media Monitors Network (MMN)
  • Home
  • Perspectives
    • Jerusalem Israel Palestine Dome of The Rock Golden Dome

      The Abraham Accords undermined much-needed peace with Palestinians

      World Map

      Global disturbing disparities

      Globe Algeria Niger Mali Africa

      There is always a price to pay for befriending the Zionists

      Illegal Israeli Settlements

      Antisemitism claims mask a reign of political and cultural terror across…

      The Flower - Pakistan Monument at Night

      Israel in the vanguard of India’s mounting conflict with Pakistan

  • Articles
    • Man studying religious book

      Ishmael and Isaac: An Essay on the Divergent Moral Economies of…

      Mahmoud Abbas

      May Your Home Be Destroyed

      Netanyahu Lighting Hanukah Candles with His Wife and Sons

      Bibi’s Son or: Three Men in a Car

      The Map of Greater Israel

      The Man Who Jumped

      West Bank - Palestine

      Cry, Beloved Country

  • Columns
    • Progressives Must Fight With -- and In -- the Democratic Party

      Steps Left for Electing Progressives and Defeating Republicans in the Midterms

      Tax Revelations and Corporate Media Won’t Defeat Trump

      Nancy Pelosi Could Get Us All Killed

      Tax Revelations and Corporate Media Won’t Defeat Trump

      ‘Fortress Mentality’ Among U.S. Leaders Has Trapped Us in a Cycle…

      Progressives Must Fight With -- and In -- the Democratic Party

      Grassroots Organizing Should Dump Biden and Clear the Path for a…

      Corporate Media Are Focusing on Race -- and Dodging Class

      Biden Refuses to Mention the Worsening Dangers of Nuclear War. Media…

  • Platform
    • Hanukkah Lights

      Hanukkah is not hypocrisy

      The Washington Post

      “Preemptive war could risk millions of casualties. But….”

      When they shout: "We strongly condemn…"

      68

      Why Iran won’t attack Israel

      Is One Iraqi’s Self-Hatred Newsworthy?

  • Poetry
    • Literature
  • Shop
    • Cart
    • My account
  • Support
    • Donation Confirmation
  • Write for us
Home Perspectives Tsunami, Nature and Perception of God
  • Perspectives

Tsunami, Nature and Perception of God

By
Mirza A. Beg
-
January 27, 2005
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
WhatsApp
Linkedin
ReddIt
Email
Print
Tumblr
Telegram
Mix
VK
Digg
LINE
Viber
Naver

    The enormous loss of lives and destruction by the Tsunami inevitably raises the question, why? Why do such disasters take place? The scientific answer is reasonably simple. The theological answer is complex and depends upon our own spirituality and understanding of religion.

    Scientifically, the Tsunami was generated by a powerful earthquake of magnitude 9 (Richter scale) in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Sumatra. It was caused by the subduction (Sliding under) of the Indian-Australian plate under the Burma Plate. This is the largest quake in the last 40 years and the fourth largest in the last 100 years. All of these quakes took place at subduction zones, Kamchatka peninsula (1952), Alaska (1957), Chile (1960), and Alaska again (1964).

    In mid 1960s Earth Science was revolutionized by the discovery of the plate tectonics, a mechanism that helps explain the formation of mountains and oceans. The Earth’s crust is divided into tectonic "Plates" that slowly move on a conveyor-belt-like circulation of the material below the Earth’s crust. When the plates collide they help mountains to rise and the forces cause major earthquakes. The plates are estimated to have been in motion for at least 3.5 billion years, of 4.5 billion years of Earth’s history. The major earthquake zones are known. The research is at the threshold of being able to predict quakes and warn people about impending disasters.

    In richer countries with better facilities for prediction and evacuation, people suffer less. In poorer countries with undeveloped infrastructure and inadequate building designs, they suffer more. It does not follow that God loves the rich more than the poor.

    If people were not involved, as in cases of many Tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean, it would not even be called a disaster. Such mind-boggling force of nature would have been termed grand, awe-inspiring and even beautiful.

    It is the theological answer that eludes us. God by definition is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. Therefore God knows past, present and future – the laws of nature are God’s design and the universe is God’s creation.

    Death is a part of the life cycle. We have trouble comprehending the "untimely" death and suffering of innocent people, particularly children. I do not know the answer.

    As a Muslim the only way I can even attempt to fathom it is in terms of the ultimate divine justice that takes into account all the facets of an individual life: the span of life, the gifts and handicaps the person was born with.

    The monotheistic religions rationalize the sufferings of this world with the rewards in the afterlife – heaven. The Hindu, Buddhist and other Eastern religious traditions, explain the joys and sufferings of this life with the doctrine of "Karma" – the rewards or punishments from the actions of previous lives determine the next birth.

    Religions help seekers on the path towards spirituality. When troubled, we turn to God for solace and inner peace. As we learn more through science, we realize how little we know. The paradox is that each Human life is a mini universe of interactions and memories, yet it is so insignificant in the expanse of the Universe.

    The Universe appears even more awe-inspiring with our advancing knowledge. Even the definition of the Universe tests the confines of human language. According to the String theory, there may be many universes. New words are being coined for the super Universe.

    According to Doug Ray, a friend, "The problem is our inability to grasp simultaneously the value of human life and its insignificance. I can’t create human life; I should not destroy or diminish it. It is a thing of great value, a gift of God. At the same time, there are many things worth dying for, and to place too much value on my life is a mistake in perspective and probably sinful."

    Some see the natural disasters as God’s anger. Anger at whom? Innocent babies as well. Limitations of human language and thought precludes them from perceiving the all encompassing grandeur of God, beyond description. Misunderstanding the allegorical language of scriptures, people often perceive God in their own inadequate images and assign to God their frailties: love, hate, jealousy and anger as we are wont to do to other humans.

    Humans are capable of intense love and hatred. We can give our lives for our children, friends and causes. We can kill for the same reasons. It is the perfect justice that eludes us. God is perfect justice.

    As a Muslim, I read Quran’s allusion to the referred stories as allegorical and rely on Surah 3, ayah 7. When I see the beauty in nature and am thankful for being able to perceive it; when I see injustice and find the courage to stand up against it; when I learn new secrets of nature and find order in what once was considered chaos; my respect for the intelligence that made it possible is deepened.

    • TAGS
    • about
    • according
    • account
    • actions
    • advancing
    • afterlife
    • again
    • against
    • anger
    • answer
    • attempt
    • australian
    • babies
    • beautiful
    • beauty
    • being
    • better
    • beyond
    • billion
    • birth
    • buddhist
    • building
    • Burma
    • called
    • cause
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Pinterest
    WhatsApp
    Linkedin
    ReddIt
    Email
    Print
    Tumblr
    Telegram
    Mix
    VK
    Digg
    LINE
    Viber
    Naver
      Previous articleSeven Things That Make Me Angry
      Next articleAcquiescence to Bush Agenda Will Forever Be Held Against America
      Mirza A. Beg

      Mirza A. Beg, a free-lance writer, contributed this article to Media Monitors Network (MMN) from Alabama, USA.

      RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

      Jerusalem Israel Palestine Dome of The Rock Golden Dome

      The Abraham Accords undermined much-needed peace with Palestinians

      World Map

      Global disturbing disparities

      Globe Algeria Niger Mali Africa

      There is always a price to pay for befriending the Zionists

      Google Search

      MMN @ Google Play Store MMN @ Amazon Appstore

      MMN @ TwitterMMN @ FacebookMMN Feed

      EDITOR PICKS

      Progressives Must Fight With -- and In -- the Democratic Party

      Steps Left for Electing Progressives and Defeating Republicans in the Midterms

      August 31, 2022
      Tax Revelations and Corporate Media Won’t Defeat Trump

      Nancy Pelosi Could Get Us All Killed

      August 1, 2022
      Tax Revelations and Corporate Media Won’t Defeat Trump

      ‘Fortress Mentality’ Among U.S. Leaders Has Trapped Us in a Cycle...

      July 25, 2022

      POPULAR POSTS

      167

      The Origin of Freemasonry: The Crusaders & Templars

      April 23, 2003

      Sharon to Peres: We Control America

      November 20, 2001
      Qibla - Kaaba

      Direction of Al-Qiblah

      February 23, 2003

      POPULAR CATEGORY

      • Perspectives13563
      • News6679
      • World5871
      • Asia4830
      • Columns1370
      • Africa922
      • Articles786
      • Australasia608
      • Health598
      ABOUT US
      Media Monitors Network (MMN) is a non-profit, non-partial and non-political platform for those serious Media Contributors and Observers who crave to know and like to help to prevail the whole truth about current affairs, any disputed issue or any controversial issue by their voluntary contributions with logic, reason and rationality.
      Contact us: [email protected]
      FOLLOW US
      • About MMN
      • Disclaimer
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms and Conditions
      • Contact
      Copyright © 2000 - MMN International Inc. All rights reserved.
      Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
      All other brands, logos, and product names are registered
      trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
      ResponsiveVoice-NonCommercial licensed under 95x15
      MORE STORIES
      ‘A great victory’: Odesa mayor reacts to UNESCO Heritage List inclusion

      ‘A great victory’: Odesa mayor reacts to UNESCO Heritage List inclusion

      January 30, 2023
      OIC General Secretariat Strongly Condemns the Treacherous Attack against the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Tehran

      OIC General Secretariat Strongly Condemns the Treacherous Attack against the Embassy...

      January 28, 2023