Look, listen and understand - Dr A Q Khan - Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Source : http://thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=37540&Cat=9

The earthquake in Japan had a magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale and the tsunami caused tides of more than 10 metres high. We saw buildings, ships, busses, trucks, cars being swept away. These horrible scenes brought to mind the unambiguous warnings given by the Almighty. In Surah Zilzal we read: “When the earth is shaken in its convulsion and the earth throws up her burden and human beings cry in distress what is the matter with her, on that day will she declare her tidings, for that your Lord will have given her inspiration. On that day will you proceed in companies sorted out to be shown the deeds that they had done. Then shall anyone who has done an atom’s weight of good see it, and anyone who has done an atom’s weight of evil will see it.”

In Surah Qariah, the Almighty said: “The day of noise and clamour...is a day (the Doomsday) wheron men will be like moths scattered about, and the mountains will be like carded wool. Then he who has done good deeds will go to Paradise, but he who has done wrong deeds will have his home in the bottomless pit (Hell). And what will explain to you what this is? It is a fire blazing fiercely.”

Now see, listen and understand how, in simple and unambiguous words, the Almighty has warned wrongdoers: “Think not that Allah does not heed the deeds of those who do wrong. He but gives them respite against a day when their eyes will fixedly stare in horror. They run forward with necks outstretched. Their heads uplifted, their gaze returning towards them and their hearts a gaping void.... Mighty indeed were the plots which they made but their plots were well within the sight of Allah, even though they were such as to shake the hills.” (Surah Ibrahim.) Allah Almighty has already warned about those who perished due to earthquakes and floods in these words: “Never did We destroy a population that had not a term decreed and assigned beforehand. Neither can a people anticipate its term, nor delay it.” (Surah Hijr.)

Recent calamities should be seen in the context of the following edicts of the Almighty: “Is it not a warning to such men to call to mind? How many generations before them We destroyed in whose deserted and haunted places they now move? Verily in this are signs for men endowed with understanding.” (Surah Taha) “How many (countless) generations before them have we destroyed? Can’t you find a single one of them (now) or hear so much as a whisper of them?” (Surah Maryam.) “As to those before them, not one of these populations which we destroyed believed. Will these people now believe?” (Surah Ambiyaa.)

In Surah Aaraf the Almighty has reminded us of His punishment to non-believers as follows: “How many towns have We destroyed for their sins? Our punishment took them of a sudden by night or while they slept for their afternoon rest. When Our punishment took them, no cry did they utter but this: ‘Indeed, we did wrong.’ “ Also in Surah Aaraf: “Did the people of the towns feel secure against the coming of our wrath by night while they were asleep? Or else did they feel secure against the coming in broad daylight while they played about (carefree)? Did they then feel secure against the plan of Allah? But no one can feel secure from the plan of Allah except those doomed to ruin.” “To those who inherit the earth in succession to its previous possessors, is it not a guiding (lesson) that if We so willed, We could punish them (too) for their sins, and seal up their hearts so that they could not hear?”

In Surah Ankabut we have been warned: “And remember also the Aad and Thamud people clearly will appear to you from (the traces) of their buildings (their fate): the evil one made their deeds alluring to them and kept them back from the right path, though they were gifted with intelligence and skill. And remember also Qarun, Pharaoh and Haman: there came to them Moses with clear signs but they behaved with insolence on the earth, yet they could not overreach Us.” In Surah Tur, the Almighty warned: “By the Mount and the Book inscribed on fine parchment, by the much frequented House, by the elevated canopy and by the swelling sea, verily your Lord’s chastisement shall come to pass. No one can avert that on the Day when heaven will convulse in a great convulsion and the mountains shall fly about.” “On the day when they shall be thrust into Hell with a violent thrust and shall be told ‘this is the Hell which you used to give the lie to. Go now and burn in it.’ “

In the olden days, when modern communication was non-existent and many people could not receive the messages of the prophets, Almighty Allah gave them the benefit of ignorance and saved them from punishment. Under the present circumstances, with information accessible to all, people have no reason for “not knowing” and it is no longer a valid excuse. Surah Kahf reads: “And surely We have explained matters to people in the Quran in diverse ways, using all manner of parables. But man is exceedingly contentious. What is it that prevented the people from believing when the guidance came to them (from Allah and His Prophets) and from asking for forgiveness from their Lord except that they would like to be treated as the nations of yore, or that they would like to see the scourge come upon them face to face?”

The recent calamities are a result of ignoring and discarding the edicts of Allah, who treats all God-fearing people and wrongdoers equally without discrimination. Hence the punishment meted out to both (so-called) Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Even a senior official of the Japanese ruling party said that it was a chastisement from the Almighty.



Email: ali4drkhan@gmail.com

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