Making Sense
of Misfortune
I lost two brothers ages 14 and 15 to
a car accident when I was 12 and within
five years, overwhelmed with his grief
my father had a sudden death on a tennis
court. Without a tsunami our family
was reduced from five to two, with all
the males gone. Needless to say this
pain that rains from the sky has been
an enigma to me and deaths of any kind
make me relive my grief. The condolers
sounded trite, for all they had to say
was that it was God’s will and that
we should be patient. Sure enough thought
I, His Will it may be, though that really
did nothing to alleviate my suffering.
And where, pray, may I buy this commodity
called “patience”? Those earlier years
were arduous for it was hard to make
sense of so much tragedy.
Years of despondent reflection and reading
anything that spoke of death, fate,
predestination or the afterlife have
finally given me a modicum of acceptance
and, I think, understanding. Many news
stories and articles try to talk about
the religious perspective of the recent
tsunami and one writer for the Friday
feature in Dawn gave a completely secular
interpretation of it all being due to
tectonic shifts. “Indeed We have created
Man into toil and struggle” (Al-Balad
90:4) says the Qur’an and perhaps scarred
by my losses I agree entirely. Life
is really one overrated proposition.
By Muslim belief the Hereafter is greatly
superior to this life and according
to one Hadith when we get there we will
wish that we had asked for all reward
in the afterlife rather than this ephemeral
one which will also seem a total of
us having lived a couple of days.
I have always felt that it is really
not the death of the one that dies,
but the one that lives on. The dearly
departed are released from the toil
of this life for a serenity that we
cannot imagine. In published data about
NDEs or near death experiences in which
people have had cardiac arrests but
were resuscitated, the next world is
reported to be one of incredible peace
and pleasure. The refrain in all these
NDE reports is that the subject did
not want to return to this world but
was told that their time had not yet
come so they had to.
What gives credibility to these reports
is the amazing concordance in all of
them describing a tunnel with a light
at the end of it, seeing predeceased
relatives and experiencing an enveloping
tranquility. The suffering of the survivors
is usually intense and seemingly endless.
The multifarious struggles: financial,
logistic, emotional and spiritual. And
the invariable “why me” question, for
which no answers come then. “Do they
not then earnestly seek to understand
the Qur’an or are their hearts locked
up?” (Qur’an: Muhammad 47:24) is only
one of the many verses in the Qur’an
that exhort us to think and reflect
on nature and events .
“Not a leaf falls without His knowledge”
(Qur’an, An’am 6:59) and other verses
like "No calamity befalls on the earth
or in yourselves but is inscribed in
the Book of Decrees (Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz),
before We bring it into existence. Verily,
that is easy for Allah" (Qur’an Al-Hadid
57:22) are evidence against events happening
randomly or due to tectonic shifts or
weather related phenomena. A Muslim’s
belief is complete only after his acknowledgment
of God, all the prophets, the angels,
the books, the Day of Judgment and qadaa
wa qadar or fate and predestination.
Belief in fate and predestination does
not in any way release us from responsibility
of our actions.
The fact that God has full knowledge
of all that will be does not reduce
us to a robot-like state. Shaykh Fadlallah
Haeri explains well in his book Decree
and Destiny that there was the advent
of the Jabbariyya who believed that
all was determined by God and Man was
powerless, and the Qaddarriya who believed
that nothing was predetermined and Man
was able to control his destiny. Shaykh
Haeri states that the reality actually
lies somewhere between those two extremes.
In the Covenant of Alast or the Primordial
Oath in which God asked all souls that
would ever be created who their lord
was (“alasto berabbakum”) Man was inculcated
with the ability to distinguish right
from wrong.
Islam is also a wholly deeds-based religion,
with the concept of the scales on the
Day of Judgment, good outweighs the
bad you go to heaven, the converse and
so sorry, hell for you “ and there shall
they reside forever” (Qur’an, Baqarah
2:81). “And know that your possessions
and your progeny are but a trial, and
it is with Allah that lies your highest
reward” (Qur’an Anfaal, 8:28). This
verse speaks of how Man will be tested
and the Qur’an speaks also of punishment
in this world as well as the next.
I spent many years trying to figure
out how one could tell whether an unfortunate
incident was a test or a punishment.
At the inception with the moral compass
given to us at the time of the Primordial
Oath, we are able to distinguish right
from wrong and thus tell whether our
record has been good, bad or ugly. In
less clear situations, it was Shaykh
Abdul Qadir Jilani’s book Futuhul Ghayb
or Revelations of the Unseen that gave
me my answer. He says that it is a punishment
if the person complains all the time
and is bitter, a test if the person
tolerates it with patience and for spiritual
elevation if the misfortune is borne
with cheerfulness.
On August 19, 1999 a powerful earthquake
killed 6000 people in Turkey. The day
prior to it the Turkish government had
passed a law that would jail any person
caught teaching their children the Qur’an
within their home. True to the refrain
in the Qur’an, the revelation in the
Qur’an is only for those who reflect.
In the town of Golcuk buildings that
were constructed recently were destroyed
but a mosque and its minaret built a
century earlier stood unscathed. The
building next to it was also standing
for had it fallen it would have likely
damaged the mosque.
It is easy to give bland scientific
explanations for natural disasters.
And yet if one was to reflect and realize
that there is nothing that occurs without
a reason, a whole lot could be learned
from life and events. And we would be
a step closer to our Maker, knowing
whom, or gnosis, should be our raison
d’etre. In the recent tsunami the province
of Aceh in Indonesia was essentially
wiped out. And yet in many affected
areas in Indonesia dozens of mosques
stand untouched amidst the rubble around
them.
Secular interpretations say that mosques
were better constructed and so escaped
damage. However, according to an article
by a non-Muslim journalist in the town
of Sigli a mosque made of wood stands
whilst surrounding structures have been
destroyed. (Mosque in Golcuk Turkey
after 1999 earthquake) (Banda Aceh’s
Grand Baiturrahman Mosque amidst razed
buildings) Whilst rebellious incidents
such as the legislation in Turkey just
prior to the earthquake have not been
reported from Indonesia, it seems to
be a matter of whether or not one is
able to appreciate the concept of cause
and effect that is mentioned in the
Qur’an.
Our bad deeds as cause and ravaging
disasters as effect, with the House
of God bearing silent somber testimony
to His ire. On the happier side a great
test for the survivors who lost entire
families with an unscathed mosque as
though saying that He tests us with
our money and our children and those
that bear with patience and fortitude
earn a great station of closeness with
Him and lasting bliss in the Hereafter.
(Mahjabeen Islam is a physician practicing
in Toledo Ohio. Her email address is
mahjabeenislam@hotmail.com)
