Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Blaming God?

Poor dear God is in trouble in Malaysia, and to be precise, at the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah school in Keramat, KL.








The school principal said t'was God's will that 23 people were killed in a fire at the school and 21 of them were children ranging from 7 to 17 years old.

How could God be so cruel, and that's not my verdict. Reiterating, it was the tahfiz school principal who declared the 23 deaths were god's will, though to be fair he did not say god has been cruel.

Malaysiakini reported:

Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali visited the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school in Kuala Lumpur this morning, where a fire claimed the lives of 21 children.

Speaking to those at the scene, the wife of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad fought back tears as she expressed frustration over the lack of responsibility for the pre-dawn blaze.

"What I'm angry at, is that those responsible are getting away saying this is God's will.

"(They say) these children died as martyrs
...But this is not the way."

Mind, God was not blamed during the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 where hundreds of thousands especially Indonesians perished.




The miserly Gulf Arab nations didn’t want to cough up some cash for the victims, including their Muslim brethren in Aceh, so they claimed (from their mosque pulpits) those victims were evil sinners.

Yes, the Kuwaiti Parliament heard one of its members, Walid Tabtabai, claiming that Allah sent the tsunami to punish the immoral and unjust. In other words, a case of azab-e-Ilahi or the wrath of God for the sins of those who were hit.

The poor Aceh-ese farmers and fishermen immoral and unjust?

Or as Tarek Fatah said “What sick mind could come up with this description? The Kuwaitis and Saudi Islamists lecturing the world about morality is an outrage."

"Or is it that in the eyes of most Kuwaitis and Saudis, the dead belonged to the despised underclass who live as fourth class citizens in the Gulf States. Dark skinned Indian, Sri Lankan, Indonesian; truck drivers, cooks and maids; all children of a lesser God in the eyes of these Islamists of the Gulf.”

I admit I was so pissed off I dashed off a letter to Malaysiakini titled Asian victims Children of a Lesser God.

But when Katrina hit New Orleans, Kuwait who offered the tsunami victims two lousy US millions (which it subsequently and grudgingly increased after much criticism from its own press) straightaway gave US$500 million to the Americans – in the latter case, no evil sinner was discovered in the good ole USA.


Tragedies shouldn't be compared but the conduct of the Gulf Arabs overruled such nicety. Max no of victims in an affluent nation in Katrina's wake was estimated max 10,000 dead (though to date, only 1000 thousand have been confirmed), while the tsunami victims numbered approximately 450,000 dead with several millions homeless in a large number of poor countries ranging from SE Asia to the East coast of Africa.

Obviously to the Kuwaiti parliamentarian, mullahs and government, the American victims were less immoral and less unjust than Indonesians or Sri Lankans, and therefore more deserving and more needy of their generous donations.

Nor was God blamed during the Holocaust where 6 million Jews and (the Israelis don't like this 2nd part being mentioned as they want copyrights reserved of being Holocaust victims) 6 million gypsies and various races were also murdered, though today regarding the Holocaust there are some questioning whether God was asleep.




But hasn't it been convenient for some irresponsible people to dismissed the deaths of 21 children to "God's will" or to devastating floods in Kelantan?

Poor God, doesn't he have a say?

We non-Muslims will protect His Holy Name.

5 comments:

  1. When tragic events occur, Muslims often ascribe it to Qadar, or divine destiny. For many, it is a way to come to terms with their grief.

    It is a wrong understanding to deem it as blaming God.

    Far from it, being able to come to terms with it is a great act of Faith and love for God.

    I think you are projecting your atheistic views in a very negative way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. so, in your view, the tahfiz school principal was right, that it was god's will those 21 kids became martyrs, and their deaths had nothing to do with the school's non-compliance with fire regulations or non-approval as yet of occupation?

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    2. The tahfiz school principal is just trying to evade responsibility...that is his temporal responsibility, nothing directly to do with religion.

      My earlier post was more on the subject of "This is God's Will" , a kind of fatalism, which you will often hear in reaction to tragic events, from Muslims and devout Christians as well.

      With Buddhists and Hindus you may hear that such and such occurred because of Karma, don't blame yourself or something like that.

      Delete
  2. In contributing donations to Katrina victims, the Kuwaitis were trying to curry favour with the Americans.
    The same way Najib, who has been squeezing the government budget left and right , has been currying favour with Donald Trump to Make America Great Again.

    MAS currently has a dozen long-haul aircraft on mothballs, that it can't find buyers to sell off to. 777's that it wants offload due to their association with MAS two greatest tragedies. And it A380 fleet that it can't fill up with passengers. MAS is now focusing on short and medium-haul flights in Asia.

    Suddenly its going to buy 787 Dreamliners - primarily long-haul champions ? "Its purely a commercial decision by MAS" is a cock-and-bull story.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thus, the repeat of bolihland's continuous money wasting saga of 阿斗#2.

    Perhaps, MAS has to be sold & indirectly managed by 'outsider' as the case of 阿斗#1.

    That will be a great letdown of the ketuanan ego, wet dream of the group, plays out by their own elites!

    ReplyDelete