Social decay, Pandemics and Punishment

Social decay, Pandemics and Punishment

Various ummah in the past had earned Allah's displeasure due to their misdeeds. They completely perished as a result of their continual indulgence in immoral activities. Amidst those divine punishments, virtuous tribes remained under the shadow of blessings of Allah, and were protected from the divine apocalypse. In this regard, some verses of the Holy Quran lend validity of such discriminate affliction on the human beings. In the Surah Hood, the Holy Quran says that when the commandments of Allah were conveyed to Hazrat Hud (A.S) and his followers, Allah's blessings were bestowed on them, and they accepted Islam, and eventually got rid of Allah's inflictions. On other occasion, the Surah Hood clearly puts it that Hazrat Saleh's (A.S) followers after having embraced Islam, were salvaged and protected from the imminent doomsday. Likewise, there are many verses that explain Allah's persecution befalling those who deviate from the righteous path and Allah's blessing upon those who remain undeterred in their faith. 

There is no iota of doubt that Allah (SWT) loves human beings seventy times more than that of their mothers. Indeed! He is the guardian of all human beings. He always adores such a person who obeys the divine commandments by heart. The category of virtuous persons fulfilling "the rights of people" (Huqooq-ul-Ibad) and "the rights of Allah" (Huqooq-ul-Allah) occupies a unique status in the eyes of the creator. It is really unthinkable that such a worthy group of people may fall victim to Allah's wrath. It is beyond imagination that severe torment could be meted out to the superior creation of Allah. Surely, Allah (SWT) is the most merciful, and chastisement does not owe to one of the attributes of Allah.

Now, this begs a question as to why Allah (SWT) punishes his creation. In this day and age, many Muslims across the world appear to have misconstrued every crisis as a punishment. According to them, every adversity brings itself Allah's wrath because of the widespread obscenity, music culture,  social degradation, etc. Given the prevalent crisis of the pandemic virus, a common perception has been injected into the masses of Islamic countries that the crisis has befallen us owing to rampant vulgarity rooted in our society. Dishonesty, manipulated inflation, immorality might have landed us in this quagmire. They claim that it is the collective misdeeds that have invited Allah's anguish upon us. But their justifications give rise to another questions: Can the plight of persecuted masses of Palestine and Myanmar be attributed towards the creator's wrath? Is the worst humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged zones such as Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan just because of the obscenity and immorality? No, absolutely not! If it were so, the concept of the Day of Resurrection stands purposeless. If people were to hand over the punishment of misdeeds in this mortal world, there would be no need to hold them accountable in the hereafter. Therefore, it is utterly wrong to label any crisis with the pretext of Allah's displeasure. In fact, it is the ignorance that drives them to opt for this notion.      

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The era of Hazrat Khalid Bin Waleed (R.A) is considered one of the golden and peaceful eras of recorded history. During his rule, a pandemic had broken out claiming almost twenty-five thousand lives including a couple of companions of the caliph. So, we cannot imply that the pandemic turned into the calamity just because there had been ubiquitous obscenity at that time.

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Regrettably, the ignorance and insensibility is rife in Pakistan. Given the implications of COVID-19, it is perceived that our very own deeds are responsible for the crisis, and it is the curse that Almighty Allah has imposed on us for our immoral acts. Recently, some sections of the clergy continue to have reinforced this notion by claiming it the result of the creator's displeasure. As a matter of fact, our acts have nothing to do with the natural calamity. Again, if such pandemics and disasters were repercussions of nations' actions, believe me according to the said hypothesis, the European nations would have been under severe wrath of the Creator owing to their vulgar lifestyle, and Muslim countries, now engulfed in many crises, would have experienced relative peace and progress. 

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The bottom line is that disasters and pandemics are the real test of Mankind. Their recurrence is the reminder of the fact that He is the omnipotent. In fact, they become a means of getting further close to the Almighty Allah. The people get to know their Lord closely. Despite living in the era of science and technology, mankind seems helpless before this pandemic. Sooner or later, the vaccine for the said pandemic might be invented in the near future, but one cannot simply ignore the fact that, Indeed, He is all-powerful.

Authored by: Naeem Abbas