Why Calamities
Befall Man
Wise is the one who considers calamities as a warning of nature rather than senseless evil. One who interprets them as nature’s alarm system will humble himself before the Lord and mend his ways in the hope of inhabiting Paradise.
The guard blows a whistle when a train is about to leave a station. This whistle aims to warn people of the train’s impending departure so that anyone still on the platform can come and take his seat on the train. However, there are two ways of looking at this whistle. If it is considered just noise, then it will have no meaning. However, if it is considered an alarm, it fits into place and takes on its proper meaning.
The same is true of natural disasters. They, too, can be looked at from two different angles. Our planet is afflicted by drought, earthquakes, hurricanes, global warming, pandemics, and other calamities. However, some philosophers look at these disasters individually and see no point in them. So, they attach to them the label “problem of evil.”
Prophets, however, look at the same events from a different angle. They look at them as a source of admonition and instruction. Looking at it in this way, natural disasters become intensely meaningful. They become nature’s warning system, telling us what will come on Doomsday.
God’s prophets have explained these events as a small preview of the great calamity that will befall man on the Day of Resurrection. They remind us that we are all heading for a bad day—one in which God will appear in all His power and glory. Every mortal man will be brought before Him in a destitute and helpless state. Man will want to flee, but there will be nowhere for him to take refuge. He will cry out for help, but there will be no one to come to his rescue. The events that happen on a small scale in this world will occur on a grand scale when God raises man from the dead. These calamities are a reminder of what will befall us on that day. Then, the veil will be entirely lifted, and reality exposed in complete form. In this world, it is partially lifted when some calamity afflicts us so we can gain a glimpse of reality before its total manifestation.
Wise is the one who considers such calamities as a warning of nature rather than a senseless evil. One who interprets them as nature’s alarm system will humble himself before the Lord and mend his ways. If they are looked at as a sign of the evil of nature, on the other hand, then they will only induce confusion and contumacy. Moreover, there is a difference between these two forms of mentality. The former leads one towards Heaven, while the latter brings one closer to Hellfire.
