Efforts continue in morocco and libya, we hope to discuss what islam says about Natural Disasters and how as muslims we can respond when nature lashes out. The muslim world has dealt with its fair share of Natural Disasters over the years, but few would have expected to see the sheer scope of devastation caused by a week of horror across north africa. In early september. Morocco was hit by huge earthquake which destroyed a huge area and killed thousands of people in mere moments. Its gods will. I was in the kitchen with my daughterinlaw while both my husband and my son were sleeping. When the roof fell on them, they were killed, trapped under the rubble and nobody could save them. It was gods will. Almost straight after, in violent storms battered libya. The heavy rains caused severe floods, which aided in the collapse of two dams. An entire city, durna, was overrun. Thousands again died in the raging waters, with some claiming the death doll could reach as high as 20,000. My entire neighborhoods houses had collapsed, we couldnt find anyone alive. God predetermines and he did what he wanted. This is very good misfortune. Shortly after wildfires burned their way through a region in algeria, creating new fears of another costly disaster in the area. Despite these hardships and the immense trauma caused to the victims, muslims understand that these are tests of faith and endurance, natural part of life in the dunya. Its during these times of desperation that muslims turn to allah for guidance and salvation. The question of why is uncontrollable Natural Disasters happen has been asked many times by scholars and philosophers over the centuries. Islam provides answers to these questions providing a source of comfort to the muslims were tested in this unfortunate way. Joining us today to talk about islam and Natural Disasters, we have two esteemed guests. With me in the studio is brother Ahmed Hossain from the Muslim Advocacy Group impac uk, which proactively camp against islamophobia in the west, and joining us on skype, im honored to have dr. Shamila islamzulfiqar, lady of many talents, but joining us today in her capacity as humanitarian activist, who will be deployed to libya with action for humanity international. To you both, dr. Shamila, if i can actually start with your experience first, you know weve seen the Media Coverage of the recent disasters, but what is it like for those affected on the ground . I know that youve just come back from algeria, what the latest . And thank you for having me. Um, i was three hours away from where the fires in algeria were raging, and in reality, um, everywhere else in algeria is functioning as normal, the government is trying to um deal with it as Natural Disaster, and they have contingency plans for these things, there was a of fires back in july in algeria where i think around 30 odd people died, um, and so they learning from whats happened there, when you see it in the media, i suppose the Media Coverage gives you very sized version of what the reality is on the ground, um, for those that are affected, their whole life, their very exis, if we take for example the floods as you reportly said, whole neighborhoods have been washed away and theyve and we we the estimates are coming for you, around 2000 people that have died, neighborhoods are buried that under the the homes of their owners, you know, its the mass graveyards and that that now stand where once there were bustling communities, hustling bustling communities, and so aside from you, the issue Emergency Needs of food and water behind are going to need massive amounts of Psychosocial Support um with the ptsd that is inevitably going to come from a tragedy of this magnitude. Um, you know, the the personal trauma, the collective trauma of the community, um, and as as First Response teams when we go out to these places, we we also have to sound, but what the reality is like on the ground that um, many, many a time we sat with our right holders and weve cried with them because youre dealing with more grief, yes, um, and and you cant send a cyborg into these cases, there needs to be people. That have empty that can validate the raw grief that survivors are going through. Thank you for that. Um, i was actually talking to brother ahmed about algeria, and um, weve said that theres very little uh coverage on it. Brother, ahmad, does politics have an impact on how much attention is actually given to one disaster over another . We youve been flooded with images of morocco and libya. What about algeria . Yeah, without doubt. Mean the short answer that to that is narrative control. What is being said, why is it being said . So for example. Were be, we are being told that these floods that raged through derna, um, the the nearby one that was flooded, uh, were told that a couple of dams collapsed, weve been told that bridges have been swept away, roads are blocked, what were not told is or the question which isnt really being asked is, you know, why isnt there a central Civil Authority in libya that is capable of maintaining dams that is capable of looking out for bridges and clearing away roads, they dont even have the capacity. At the moment for a central weather warning system, which would have obviously put uh these maintenance orders uh out in the first place, thats the question that needs to be asked, what has happened in libya in recenters which would have undermined their capacity, and then with Natural Disasters, as doctor mentioned, um, empathy is needed, sympathy is needed, people need to understand that these are human beings who are being affected, and its very easy to do that for Natural Disasters, but what about . Manmade disasters, what about the manmade disaster that destroyed libya in the first place, why isnt empathy, sympathy and so on asked for in that situation, and i would argue further, the manmade disaster that we call israel that destroys many lives every single day, why arent we allowed to show sympathy and empathy in those times . Its about narrative control. Ansant, thank you so much for that. Dr. Shimela, if i can actually ask you the same question, in your numerous emergency human. Missions including convoys to countries often on opposition to nato members at one time or another, like syria, gazza, palestine, pakistan, yemen, afghanistan, bosnia, lebanon and bangladesh amongst others, you know, over the years, has politics had a reallife impact on the relief available to families on the ground . Look, theres no doubt that policies in Different Countries affect the infrastructure and the. To deal with humanitarian crisis on these kinds of scales. Um, this time last year in september, we were um, i was head of mission for the the the Emergency Response team that went out to pakistan, and that was very a very similar situation, a damburst, and i mean it was a massive percentage of the country that was underwater, many lives were lost, and the impact, the Lasting Impact of that was actually because of the amount of crops that. Failed that year, this is a disaster that is going to continue um not just from the initial insult injury, but for for many years to come, um, and were still dealing with sustainability point of view, a charity thats gone, not just for the initial phase, but to be there for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of country, um, and and yes, these are things that politics will always be there, these things will always have people to deal with, as humanitarian aid workers, politics any of um, any of the country that we deploy to, because we are there to provide humanitarian assistant needs it, regardless of their background, so your question, yes, theres no doubt that policies affect those on the ground and the infrastructure, that country to rebuild itself, earlier this week we spoke to sheikh ladak, an islamic scholar who explained exactly what the quran says Natural Disasters and how islamic thinkers explain the issue of pain and challenges for believers in estonia. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. The quran lays out. Various Different Reasons for the divine purposes of the signs of god of which include Natural Disasters, be they earthquakes or tsunamis or tornados or whatever that may be. We have to remember that every ayah, every sign of god is ultimately for the purpose of proving god, reminding us of gods existence, helping us to understand our place within the universe itself. The ultimate. Reason here is that when these earthquakes occur or any Natural Disaster occurs, we remember god almighty, and we submit to god almighty whatever stage of our life or thinking we may be in. So for example, one of the reasons the quran mentions that the earthquake is for the purpose of reminding us of the extent of the quake that will occur with the day judgement. For example, the quran in chapter 22 verse 1. Says, the quaking of the hour of judgment is truly a grievous thing, so this purpose points us back towards the day of judgment, or for example, another reason the quran mentions for the purpose of these natural events is to remember that all of these actually are belonging to god and are part of the forces of god, so for example again within the quran. Chapter number 48, verse number seven, god says, to allah, to god alone belongs the forces of the heavens and the earth, so this is counted as amongst them, or for example, to help us remind us our place within the system, that we are not secure with these Natural Disasters that death could take us any one moment, again in the quran chapter 67. Divine arc or the divine purpose behind the ayat of god, which include Natural Disasters or natural occurrences, it would be unwise and unjust of us to be able to assume the mind of god. Briefly, god in the quran sets out that these events predate human existence, and we also realize that there is not only the will of god involved, there is the system that god has created or his. Sun, his divine laws, so when god sets up a system of creation that includes natural events, then we cannot necessarily say that event has been triggered by god as revenge for something, any less or any more than we can say that this is part of the system of god in terms of the way he sets out his creation. We also have a third reason as to why these events occur in that the entirety of the universe is conscious. God thinking and responding to our own behaviors, so if we harm the planet, is very possible for the planet to defend itself and respond back to us. These things are also mentioned within the quran. Well, brother ahmed, if i can actually ask you to to build on what the doctor was saying, you know, about the building of infrastructures, we know in the past that when people have actually tried to send resources abroad, you know to build schools and and hospitals and such, they have been suspected of financially supporting and aiding extremism, why this justification, why block this type of work . So never take a label at face value when people are being labeled, extremists, islamists, etc. Etc. You got to ask whos putting these labels on and whos benefiting from labeling muslims who are helping other muslims, whos benefiting from that, and also whos benefiting from uh allowing these, you know, these muslims who need help the most, whos benefiting uh from bocking them. From getting help and um most clear example um in uh the most clear individual recent example if you look is for example our brother moasenbeg um who wanted to do something very simple straightforward to help out few households in syria and he ran his uh his visit and his aid past officials first and yet when he came back he was hassled he was detained um he was denied his day in court and so on and if we look at deeper examples like iraq or even going as far back as vietnam, we see situations where aid is controlled, manipulated, diverted and so on, by hostile governments, the the sanctions on iraq, the the san on vietnam, these were put in place, again, it was about narrative control, it was about manipulating entire governments, so dont take these labels at face value, because theres someone who benefits from that narrative control. Elaborate more though for me on the who does benefit, how do they benefit . You know, financially, is it like the war machine thats being fueled, are peoples pockets getting ligned with you know that kind of hate narrative thats being promoted in the media . For sure there are um war prophering is an ageold uh phenomena that that has been recognized since uh since even before you know modern wars um Smedley Butler wrote about the uh war is racket and this is coming from someone who was a highly decorated soldier um he then wrote after his lifes work was done he said that why was i bleeding my life away on these fields across the world it was for the world prophet is so its you know not not a conspiracy or anything um and thats its not just you know the profit from war itself again as i was saying there are those who benefit from the narrative politicians gen and benefiting when it comes to election times when it comes to uh winning government contract or the ears of gr times when it comes to uh winning government contract or the ears of government officials and so on yes absolutely well said um and sister shamila the media only seems to cover big events, you know, how frequently is the help of charities like yours needed . You know, what kind of work do Disaster Relief charities conduct in these situations . Um, so action for humanity, we um utilize the expertise that weve built over the last 12 years in dealing with the syrian war, and we apply the knowledge and skills to the emergency that unfolds before us, um, any one time, millions of people on the planet are in dire need of support. Um and thats to survive and to thrive. Um, i work with this charity in particular because the longterm sability of humanitarian intervention and the impact of supporting communities to help themselves up, because often, its its like the concept of giving man fish, um, hell eat for a day, but whereas um teaching him to fish ensures that his community, um, the communitys longevity and the ability eat for life. So in answer to your question theres always going to be need and we always try to um answer the call in the best way we can, and that has to be with excellent every setting, you know, rasulullah said, the most beloved of people to allah are those that are most beneficial the people, and i found that this charity is vehicle where we are able to reach as many people as possible, i mean even as a medical doctor in my career, as a medic, i will reach. 20, 30, 40 people a day, in the work that were doing currently, we were supporting millions and its something um that im very, very passionate about and i think the donor has to be very careful about how and what is happening with their donation . You know, there are scientific studies that im sure youre also aware of that um talk about the effect of prayer physically on peoples bodies. You know the power of prayer we know as muslim. Has a massive effect not only on ourselves but on others, do you find that thats the same when you are um deployed out into disaster zones . Oh, absolutely, i think if we are aiming, i suppose give out humanitarian aid, it must be with ansan and with excellence, and that starts with the right intention right the beginning, um, and and ill just give you insight of what organizations like. Um action for humanity will do, so those that are um quite established and have dealt with, they have expertise of over 12 years, over decade of dealing with conflict uh and disaster areas, um, theres three, usually three phases to any emergency, the very first phase phase will be the emergency, the rescue um and you know making sure that people have the immediate needs, so water, food, shelter, depending on um, you know, the. The environment that they they are left with, and then the second phase is sadly, one of the saddest phases is the is when it moves from an emergency phase to a recovery phase, so retrieval of bodies, setting up and strengthening camp facilities, and the third stage is usually longterm solutions, so reconstruction, rehabilitation, and this is on this phase that Many Charities dont stick around for, and thats for one or two reasons, either they have dont have the capacity to do so. They only had the capacity to um be there for the emergency phase, give out food, water, food, food packs, shelter, etc. , or they dont have the will to do so, and thats sadly more worrying, because they feel. This is not a visually Important Campaign anymore for the public eye. Now, as i said, we should always do things with san and with excellence, with the right intention in the first place that youre going to support a impurish group of people, and you want to be there for the long run, not just there for the initial phase where youve racked up the money for an Emergency Campaign at the beginning, yes, but youre not there to see it through. For long term, thank you so much for that, dr. Shimela, actually brother, ahmad, if i could ask you the same question, um, do you have any advice for you know muslim brothers and sisters who would like to help those affected, you know, how do they differentiate which campaigns to put their money towards and which to . So um, i agree with everything that um, the doctor said, but i would also add a sort of another layer to it, which is that prevention is better than cure, um, we shouldnt be. Just thinking about helping the orphaned child, the desperate mother, etc. Etc. After theyve lost everything. We should also be asking the institutions, the individuals, those in power, etc. , why are they not protecting or offering their own assistance at that time as well, and that is the much harder thing to do, because this means uh, you know, reform a fundamental level, and it also means longterm thinking, long term. Campaigning and so on, but this is what islam is for. Islam wasnt here to just make us feel better about doing a good deed today . You know, when were told in surah alhadid to lend allah beautiful loan, where we are not told that were going to be, you know, were were conditioned to thing in terms of the akhir, in terms of life after death, were not looking for instant gratification, instant sense of selfrightteousness, when were told a in a hadith thats collected in both Sahih Bukhari and muslim that the muslim owes charity uh every single day that the sun is up, whether its helping a man onto his horse or removing an obstacle from the road, we are being conditioned day by day to serve, that is the state of being for a muslim, we exist as muslims to serve, and we need to manifest that to the highest level, not just in terms of heres something terrible that someones told me about, im going to react and help, no, we have to as a community fundamentally be a community that serves. That means addressing the problems at the root, and that is leadership, that is uh the leaders who are not serving the community, theyre not serving the muslim community, and those who try to damage a communitys capability, like you, looking at libya, there were those who destroyed a nations capacity to serve, they are the ones that you know, we we should be opposing, thats the long and short of it, id say, thank you, thank you so much, brother, ahmad, okay, well thats all that we have time. For today, thank you to all of our guests and thank you at home for watching, join us again next week for another edition of i on islam, assalam. Ya que solo tu puedes dar la vida de la muerte. Bir saniye hemen arayacaglm. Together, we have shown that when europe is bold and united, it gets things done. 95 Million People in the eu are threatened by poverty, there is a broken Energy Market while the energy and Arms Industries are making record profits. 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