Pakistan and New Orleans Victims: Is God angry with them? 

An Interactive Op Ed 

By Hassan El-Najjar

Al-Jazeerah, October 10, 2005

Tim House (as written in the email address) wrote:

The Muslim people is now facing the wrath of the one and true God, the God of Abraham. The God of Abraham is now showing his dissatisfaction.

There is more to come.

It started with the earthquake of last December and now in Pakistan. Get right with the one and only true God, or face destruction.

Muslims, I say to you find Jesus and let him help you.

Your false God is weak and can do nothing for you but give you pain.

The Editor of Al-Jazeerah replies:

Dear Tim,

Your letter shows lack of basic knowledge about Islam and Muslims. It's been published here with this reply to educate you and anyone else about Islam. It represents a category of people who rush to explain natural disasters as punishment to victims, who are usually innocent and poor people.

Allah is the name of God as He described Himself in the Holy Qur'an. You can also find it in the Bible as ilah. The definite article in Arabic is Al. Thus, Allah means the God. Allah is the same God who created the universe and sent his messengers to guide humanity. He is the One who created Adam, and sent messages to humanity through Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Muhammed, Peace of God be upon all of them. Islam is the religion of God, revealed to humanity since the beginning. All these messengers of God and their righteous followers are considered Muslims.

For Muslims, Jesus Christ is a great messenger of God, who was created by a miracle of God, without a father. He healed the sick by touching and messaging them. He even brought some dead people back to life with power from God. He and his mother, Virgin Mary, are glorified by Muslims more than you can imagine. Just read Chapters III & IXX of the Holy Qur’an.

For Muslims, Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He is alive in Heavens, waiting for permission from God to return to Earth. When he returns, Muslims will be on his side against the anti-Christ and his followers.

With regard to natural disasters, are you saying also that people of New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, who were killed or devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, worship the false God because they were victims of natural disasters? They are Christians. Aren’t they?

If you are influenced by the war to write what you wrote, then think again about wars and conflicts in general. You'll find that wars have nothing to do with religion. Think about all the 20th century wars, including WWI, WWIi, Korea, Vietnam, 1991 Gulf War, and the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They were and are launched for control over resources, territories, and people.

Muslims know Jesus very well. He is the Prince of Peace. Peace was the essence of his message to humanity:

Finally, Tim, the three countries which were all hit by the earthquake (Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan) are all allies to the US.