{"id":31960,"date":"2023-01-06T08:27:58","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T00:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/new-wp\/?p=31960"},"modified":"2025-10-03T03:46:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T03:46:45","slug":"of-landslides-and-floods-trial-or-wrath-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/of-landslides-and-floods-trial-or-wrath-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Landslides and Floods: Trial or Wrath of God?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Listen to this article<\/a><\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As this article is being written, the floods in the East Coast and the Batang Kali landslide search and rescue (SAR) operation, are still ongoing. Some people claim that this is a form of the wrath of God, while others say that it is a \u2018test\u201d or \u201ctrial\u201d from Him. When a disaster befalls onto oneself, one spontaneously says it is a \u201ctrial\u201d from God in order to test him, whether one is obedient to Him or not. But when it befalls on others, especially their enemies, then they would quickly point out that it is a \u201cwrath\u201d of God on those people. This is a clear misconception on the term \u201cwrath\u201d and \u201ctrial\u201d from the perspective of Islam. \u00a0There are several terms in Arabic that are used in relation to a disaster, or tribulation. The terms such as \u201cibtilaa<\/em>\u201d (bala\u2019),\u201cimtihan<\/em>\u201d (plural: mihan<\/em>), <\/em>\u201craziah<\/em>\u201d(plural:\u201crazaya<\/em>\u201d),\u201cfitnah<\/em>\u201d (pl.: fitan<\/em>) and the like often mean trials, tribulations, or tests from God to his servants, in a way we could say a \u201cpositive-kind\u201d of disaster. The opposite of these positive-kind of Arabic terms like \u201cuqubah<\/em>\u201d, \u201cazab<\/em>\u201d and \u201ciqab<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 which are to mean punishment or wrath of God. Even the word \u2018uqubah<\/em> (punishment) however, may not necessarily mean wrath of God, as we find in a Prophet\u2019s tradition where the word is used. Anas ibn Malik RA reported that the Messenger of Allah, (peace and blessings be upon him) said: \u201cIf Allah intends good for His servant, then He hastens punishment (\u2018uqubah) for him in this world. If Allah intends evil for His servant, then He withholds punishment (\u2018uqubah) for his sins until he appears on the Day of Resurrection.\u201d<\/em> (Sunan al-Tirmidh\u012b<\/em> 2396). Hence, the afore-mentioned terms are used interchangeably to mean tests and trials at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, an example of Qur\u2019anic verse on disaster or trial that Allah had inflicted on His servants is as follows: \u201cWe will certainly test you with a touch of fear and famine and loss of property, life, and crops. Give good news to those who patiently endure<\/em>\u201d (Surah al-Baqarah<\/em> verse 55). In the verse, Allah SWT specifically uses the word \u201ctest\u201d when He inflicts tribulations on Muslims, in particular, though it can also be applied to all mankind in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While in a Prophetic tradition, it was narrated from Abu Sa\u2019id al-Khudri and Abu Hurayrah RA that the Prophet (may peace be upon him) said, “No fatigue, nor disease, nor sorrow, nor sadness, nor hurt, nor distress befalls a Muslim, even if it were the prick he receives from a thorn, but that Allah expiates some of his sins for that.” <\/em> (Sahih al-Bukhari 5641, 5642). From the Prophetic tradition, whenever tribulations befall on a Muslim, it expiates some of his sins. Thus, in general, there is no clear distinction from various verses of the Quran or Prophetic traditions as to whether a certain disaster is a \u201ctest\u201d from God or a divine \u201cwrath\u201d. Some scholars opine that whether it is a test or wrath depends on the afflicted person\u2019s reception. If the person afflicted with the tribulations accept it readily, then it is a test, but if he was arrogantly indignant at it, then it is a wrath of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslim scholars, however, have identified some kind of pattern whether disasters are tests or a wrath of God, though this is mere observation and not necessarily true at all times. One of them is that the tribulation is usually temporary in order to test the Muslims, while wrath is usually more permanent. Test comes in the form of fear, hunger, lack of money or wealth, lack of  food, and others. In the Islamic history even the Prophets of God were inflicted with tribulations from God as a form of test from Him. Prophet Ibraham AS was cast into fire by Nimrod; Prophet Yusuf was imprisoned; Prophet Yunus in the fish stomach and many others. They were all tests rather than the wrath of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The wrath of God inflict sinners who consistently commit sins and are disobedient to God, in spite of reminders and warnings and the effect of the disaster is often permanent.  A classic example is in the case of the people of the Prophet Lut. The people of Prophet Lut practised sodomy and rejected the Prophet\u2019s warning. In the end, the people were destroyed by a dreadful disaster. God mentions the event in the Qur\u2019an in Surah al-Qamar<\/em> verses 33\u201336:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people of Lut rejected his warning. We sent against them a  violent Tornado with showers of stones, (which destroyed them), except Lut’s household: We delivered by early Dawn. As a grace from Us: thus do We reward those who give thanks. And (Lut) did warn them of Our Punishment, but they disputed about the Warning<\/em>. As a result of God\u2019s wrath, the city of Sodom was turned upside down. Sodom is located in the north of the Red Sea, in the area of the Dead Sea which stretches along the Israel-Jordan border. For further understanding on the issue on trials and tribulations, one may read works  by scholars like Sultan al-Ulama al-Izz ibn Abdul Salam (d.1262) who wrote a treatise of \u201cTrials and Tribulations: Its Blessings and Wisdoms\u201d (Arabic: Al-Fitan wa al-Balaya wa al-Mihan wa al-Razaya aw Fawa\u2019id al-Balwa wa al-Mihan<\/em>), and also by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziya.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As this article is being written, the floods in the East Coast and the Batang Kali landslide search and rescue (SAR) operation, are still ongoing. Some people claim that this is a form of the wrath of God,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[225,249],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-audio-articles","category-225","category-249","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31960"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81283,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31960\/revisions\/81283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}