Natural disasters have recently hit Indonesia in various places. Every event on earth, including floods, landslides and earthquakes, is a provision from Allah, not punishment. Humans who believe in Allah must respond to natural disasters wisely. At least, there are many lessons that we can learn from this disaster.
The first lesson is that natural disasters that occur are by the provisions of Allah SWT. We may grieve and feel sorry for the events that occurred. However, as Muslims, we should not be too sad, so we forget the activities we need to do. With natural disasters, Muslims must be motivated to improve the piety system.
We must believe that earthquakes are proof of Allah’s power. In other words, the existence of an earthquake shows that humans are very powerless to deal with earthquake disasters. Therefore, there is no protection from earthquakes other than from Allah.
The next lesson is that earthquakes are not a punishment from Allah. This should be a guideline to prioritize helping each other during calamities, such as natural disasters.
Building a sense of humanity is far more critical now, including not overestimating those affected by the disaster. Do not let parties say that the people affected by the disaster are part of the doom. Never mention that they are a group of people being punished by Allah.
The arrival of disaster should not be mentioned as doom. The various natural disasters come from Allah as a warning or sign of His power.
The earthquake victims are generally pious, so people are not qualified to form opinions as if natural disasters were a punishment from Allah. The lesson that we must take, even though this disaster comes from Allah, but do not easily conclude it is doom.
All we should do is pray for one another, not put each other down and blame others as if we were genuinely holy. We must realize that humans are sinful beings. It is not a wise thing for disaster victims to receive such reproaches. Islam is a good religion which guides its people constantly to do good.
(*Rafani Achyar, General Secretary of West Java MUI, summarized from various sources)
