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.