Recently my 8 year old has been reading the newspaper and talking amongst her friend about the recent flood catastrophe so one day she asks: “Why has Allah made so many poor people die in the flood? They didn’t do anything wrong.” Honestly, I am at a loss of words to this question but this is a question that is perhaps being pondered over globally whether any creed or cast? God is Omnipotent. Then how come Pakistanis are undergoing a series of misfortune? Mid 2010 has witnessed several tribulations for Pakistanis: The powerful Cyclone Phet that hit in June, then the Air Blue Crash taking innocent lives of 152 passengers, then the recent calamity of the flood that is spreading. These disasters seem endless as we head towards the end of the year.

The question arises: Is God angry with the Pakistanis and hence we as a nation are being punished? But why and what about the innocent ones like Sher Muhammad who says: Amongst other things he had lost were hundred and twenty bags of maize. “That’s all I had. I have lost everything, my cattle and my orchard of apples that was ready for harvest. But I am grateful to Allah that we are alive.” (Dawn: When water became malevolent: Ismail Khan, Thursday, 19 Aug, 2010). Sher Muhammad seems like a grateful servant of Allah yet he is enveloped in this affliction. One may wonder.
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