Reason Why People May Be More Afraid of
Hurricane Irma Than They Are of the
God of Hurricane Irma
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)
It seems to me there is a good reason why so many people are fearful of the Wrath and Fury of Hurricane Irma than they may be of the Wrath and Punishment of God Almighty, the God of Hurricane Irma, and of all other hurricanes.
And the God of all things in all the worlds.
Rabbul Aalameen!
It seems to me it is a question of Iman -- what Muslims would call Belief and what Christians perhaps would refer to as Faith.
The difference between Belief and Faith is roughly like this: Belief generally has a firm foundation of rationality, data, science and analysis -- at least up to a point.
Faith, on the other hand, is generally opposed to all those things. It is more or less an Either-Or Thing. That means you either have it, or you don't. That is the end of the story.
But Iman or Faith in what? First of all, in something the Qur'an calls Ghayib: The Unseen.
And at the top of the list of that Unseen (Ghayib) is: God Almighty.
Nobody has seen him. Nobody has spoken to him, even though the Qur'an says God spoke to Musa, Alahis Salam.
Wa Kallamallahu Musa Takleemaa!
So, believing in God -- or having Faith in God -- comes down to being such an individual and unique and almost uncertain and unpredictable affair. And the strength or weakness, or the very nature of that Belief or Faith, most likely varies from person to person.
And this Iman -- or Faith -- fluctuates from time to time as Hadith Sharif points out:
Al-Imaanu Yazdaadu wa Yanqus!
And then there is the Belief in what you see -- things visible to the naked eye as it were.
We have seen hurricanes before. And we know what they look like and what thy can do.
We know all about what hurricanes like Andrew or Katrina can do and have done.
It is a matter, not of Belief or Faith, but of present and immediate reality.
And experience.
It is all eye-witness account. According to the Qur'an it is the realm of Ash-Shahaadah. The world of the Here-and-Now.
The visible, measurable world of the senses. Of common, shared Human Experience.
And then there is another level of Faith or Belief. And that has to do with the Messengers.
Messengers of God, who bring news of God and his Rahmat on the one hand and of his Wrath and Punishment on the other hand.
Now, that varies too. How many people really believe in God's Messengers and the Message that they say they brought from God?
Christians very conveniently abolished the entire Message of Moses and Jesus, Alaihimas Salaam -- the Law or the Shari'ah that is -- and replaced it with the ceremonial eating of the Divine Flesh and drinking of the Divine Blood of Jesus, Alaihis Salaam, in the ritual that they call Communion and Eucharist.
As for Muslims who claim they believe in the Messengers of God, one sometimes is forced to wonder how real is that claim. Or how solid or firm is it.
The Hadith Sharif defines Iman as something that takes roots inside one's heart and then it is confirmed and validated through one's deeds and actions and behavior. Now, if you apply that standard to Muslims, I am afraid, the going gets pretty tough.
In contrast to Messengers of God, everyone I presume believes in Messengers of Science -- the Meteorologists.
Now, meteorology is one of the most sophisticated of sciences on God's earth. And yet by its very nature, considering how many different, uncertain and fast-moving variables it has to deal with, meteorology is also one of the most inexact sciences.
Still, the fact is meteorology perhaps has as many hits as it has misses. On a daily basis, things still pretty much turn out as the Messengers of the Science of Meteorology say they will.
Rain and clouds and sunshine and snow and winds come and go as if taking their cue from the these people: the Messengers of the Science of Meteorology.
This is our Everyday Observation. And we live by it and we organize our worldly affairs based on it.
At the same time, we have some equally powerful tools in our hands about the Messengers of God, especially about God's Last and Final Messenger, Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.
The Qur'an on the one hand and the Hadith on the other hand.
But most people in the world are unfamiliar with them.
And, sadly, it seems to me that would include most Muslims as well.
First, it seems, most Muslims have no knowledge or understanding, either of the Qur'an or of the Hadith.
Second, it is an open question how weak or strong is the Faith or Belief of the Muslims in what they know or understand of the Qur'an and the Hadith.
And there is yet another player on the scene: The Mercenary Messengers of Make Believe. By that I mean the Media of Mass Communication.
Media are supposed to exist to inform us. And they do -- up to a point. And in their own way.
But primarily they exist to make money.
That is what the mass media are, and that is what they do. Many of them are mega-businesses and conglomerates and their primary function is to rake up money.
Less than 10 media companies, and fewer than 200 media executives, control what the world of over 7,000,000,000 (seven billion) people will see, hear and feel.
And possibly Believe or have Faith in.
When it comes to Hurricane Irma and its Wrath and Fury, these media pound on our senses and saturate them with not only vague or abstract or distant information, but with concrete and real and immediate images about what is going on right now and what is going to happen in future.
And this pounding and this barrage of information and images from the media is no less incessant and ceaseless than that of a hurricane.
Why then do I call the media the Messengers of Make Believe? That is because the world of the media has increasingly become not one of hard reality and fact but of whatever the media, in their quest for money, could piece together in a hurry or, in many cases, even in the hot pursuit of their political, religious, social, economic and personal agendas and priorities.
