Daily Times

The disastrous hurricane Sandy, the worst natural calamity of recent history, hit the East Coast of North America, and left deep scars not only on the landscape but also on the minds and memories of those who had been hit the worst and suffered the post-storm consequences too.

This natural calamity once again exposed the vulnerability of mankind as a whole against the mighty power of nature. It also proved the warnings about climatic change and rising temperatures because of indiscriminate industrialisation given by the former US vice president Al Gore through his documentary An Inconvenient Truth. The film implored the US and other industrial nations to minimise carbon emissions, being lethal to mother earth by depleting its Ozone layer, which may cause unwanted storms, snowfalls or prolonged famines.

The US government warned the public in advance regarding all the potential risks that the human brain and supporting equipment could possibly forecast and advised the coastal population to take all possible measures to avoid loss of life and collateral damage, illustrating the security measures, with storing of food and other stuff for weeks to come. The death toll, nonetheless, went to more than 150 and the collateral damage to around $ 20 billion.

This catastrophe, however, revealed the institutional strength, the state-of-the-art capability of the federal, state and city governments to face such a crisis and their capacity to manage and handle it peacefully without chaos and consternation. It also showed the collective character of American society to absorb such shocks and its aftermaths, which they would be facing for many months and even years to come.

After the storm subsided, people suffered with a remarkable patience, without electricity, heating, power, food for a week. Some reportedly waited at an average more than 20 hours in queues at gas stations to buy gasoline, without panic, without queue jumping or any kind of bickering or fights. People reportedly opened their homes for the neighbours in need; they served them and shared all available stuff during the critical moments.

Perseverance and resilience of the Americans is yet to be ascertained but the presidential election on October 6, 2012, with people behaving normally, proved that they had absorbed the shock of the hurricane, came out to vote and, surprisingly, the majority voted for Barack Obama, who stood beside them during the critical time. Americans on the East Coast also demonstrated socio-communal and interfaith harmony during the painful moments.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away a large number of people in the Muslim world prayed for the safety of the population targeted by the storm. However, a small number, unfortunately, is reported to have rejoiced on the loss and projected it to be the wrath of God Almighty for the political, economic and military policies of the USA. In particular, the emphasis was on the one American citizen for making the blasphemous movie about the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), thus revealing the intellectual bankruptcy prevailing in some segments of Muslim society.

Social media was inundated with surprising expressions from some Muslim clerics wherein they tried to portray enjoying special kind of relations and communication with God, as if God through Sandy hit the US on their behest for the so-called anti-Muslim policies. Looking at God as partisan, they naively attempted the shrinking and limiting the domain of God from being the God of the Universe to the God of Muslims (From Rab-ul-Aalmeen to Rab-ul-Muslimeen).

One wonders if we believe their version of Islam and if God had been (God forbid) biased in favour of Muslims and against people of other religions, particularly the US, then why did natural calamities/earthquakes and tsunamis hit Indonesia (the world’s largest Muslim country), Bangladesh (a Muslim majority country), Turkey, Iran (anti-America) and particularly Pakistan? The devastating Quetta earthquake on May 31, 1935 killed 60,000, windstorms on December 15, 1965 killed 10,000, the Hunza earthquake on December 28, 1974 killed 5,300 and floods in Hunza in June 1977 killed 10,354 and rendered one million homeless. The earthquake in Muzaffarabad Azad Kashmir (having a large number of madrassas) on October 8, 2005 killed 78,000 and displaced 2.5 million. And the floods in July/August 2010 damaged half of Pakistan and affected 20 million people. Interestingly, the USA and other western countries (non-Muslims), stood by Pakistan and provided a big chunk of relief support, including food, medicines, etc. Since 2009, just USAID has provided assistance worth $ 2.8 billion to Pakistan apart from other military support.

Such natural disasters have also hit Japan and other countries that do not have animosity with the Muslim world and have mild political stances. North Korea and Ethiopia, despite being anti-US, have been hit by prolonged famines.

The argument of such radically fossilised minds does not carry weight. In case it was the wrath of God over the blasphemous movie, Sandy would not have struck the East Coast, where no one had anything to do with it. The worst hit areas in Pennsylvania also include Muslim neighbourhoods with many mosques too. And if that storm was meant to punish the US, why did it also hit Cuba, a staunch anti-US country, and Canada with a large Muslim population? And what did the people of Bhopal in India do against Muslims, where hundreds of thousands were harmed by the leakage of lethal poisonous gas in the Union Carbide plant?

In case such Islamic clerics had a special influence on decision making with God, their hue and cry against the policies of Israel might have forced natural calamities to hit Israel; that did not happen and we see Israel has been safe from any major natural disaster so far.

We must express solidarity with all mankind without any consideration of faith, caste and creed and must pray that no natural calamity hits anywhere. In case a storm of Sandy’s potency was to strike Pakistan without mangrove cover and forests, the powerful winds and sea would have no resistance and might have literally razed the entire population of Gwadar, Pasni, Jewani, Ormara, Gaddani, Karachi, Thatta and Badin for lack of a warning system and rescue facilities, and human loss would have been many millions.

Muslim society must sit for an ijtehad in consultation with all sects and groups. It must come up with the collective wisdom, principals and norms of co-existence with people of other religions and faiths based on the learning of the holy books to ensure a sustainable world worth living in. It must play an active role to be an integral part of the international community, otherwise if we allow narrow-mindedness to grow further, we are bound to be further isolated and stuck in stagnancy, which thinking minds can ill afford. Let us hope sanity prevails over vanity.

The writer is a multilingual writer, researcher, peace activist, professional trainer in management, development, co-existence and conflicts, democracy and leadership/soft skills. He can be reached at nizambaloch@gmail.com