The words disaster and calamity are mainly used to express events that negatively affect the whole or the majority of the society, such as epidemics, famine, and war.
Disasters can result in both significant material destruction and loss of life. Natural disasters; disrupt the order of life to which the individual is accustomed, limit, or even eliminate people’s ability to control, regulate and direct this order. Natural disasters also show the limitations of human power.
Allah has created life and death to reveal who will believe and will not believe and who will choose to do valuable and good deeds. [1] According to the choices he makes in the life of this world, a person will determine his situation in the hereafter.[2] The world and its contents are in a state of change, that is, becoming and deteriorating, as of their creation. Therefore, disasters, especially death, are among the realities of this world.
As stated in the Qur’an, people are warned from time to time by the punishments they face as individuals and the disasters that they will be affected by as a society. [3] For example, Communities that rejected the message of many prophets such as Lut, Hud, Salih, Shuayb, and Musa from the time of Prophet Noah (PBUH) and violated the rules set by Allah for society were destroyed by disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes [4], and drowning in the sea[5]. [6] It should also be added that in the Qur’an, it is stated that communities are not destroyed without committing any crime: “God will not change what is in a community until it changes what is in it.” [7] So Allah makes them taste some of what they have done so that they may return. Say: “Travel in the land and see what the end of the former ones was. Most of them were polytheists.” [8] “Every misfortune that befalls you is because of what you have done; After all, Allah forgives many.” [9]
It is out of the question for the communities to be punished for every wrong they do after they violate the laws related to nature and social life. God wants people to do the right thing by testing them in various ways, and when they show conscious persistence in their mistakes, he punishes them to encourage them to abandon their mistakes. The Qur’an expresses this situation: “We certainly sent envoys to nations before you. Then, we inflicted afflictions and diseases on them so that they might beg and invoke.” [10] It is also stated that people are not immediately punished for what they do: “If God were to punish people for what they did, he would not have left a single living thing on the ground; but He gives them respite until an appointed term. When their term is up (everyone will understand), Allah sees and knows His servants properly.” [11]
It is not correct to interpret every natural disaster as punishment. Some natural disasters occur within the framework of the rules of operation that Allah has placed in the order of life. It is possible to prevent or mitigate these disasters. The ecosystem is in balance. Disruption of this balance affects all people. In addition, nature has its limits, and if nature is not used sparingly, one day, it will become unable to meet the needs of living things.
According to the religion of Islam, there is goodness in everything that Allah has created. However, people interpret certain events as evil because they cannot perceive the whole. For example, the activation of volcanoes and the existence of hurricanes and tornadoes have many benefits for the order and functioning of the universe. However, if people do not build houses resistant to these natural events and make their house plans on the shores of the ocean and volcanoes without considering the possibility of these natural events, these events can turn into natural disasters for people.
As a result, it is an inevitable consequence of their existence that societies encounter some problems in worldly life. Allah has expressed this situation: “Indeed, with a little fear and hunger; we will test it with a decrease in wealth, lives, and fruits. Give good news to those who are patient! When a calamity befalls them, they say, “Verily, we belong to Allah and Him, we shall return.” For these are the bounties and mercy of their Lord, and these are the ones who have reached the right path.” [12]
[1] Mulk, 2.
[2] Yunus, 108.
[3] Anfal, 25.
[4] Ankabut, 40.
[5] Anfal, 54.
[6] Hajj, 42-44.
[7] Ra’d, 11.
[8] Room, 41-42.
[9] Shuraa, 30.
[10] An’am, 42.
[11] Fatir, 45.
[12] Baqarah, 155-157.