Monday 29 October 2012

Tropical Hurricane Storms in Islam : Sandy, Katrina, Mitch, Fifi and many more...

Mankind faces misery and suffering through natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, avalanches, floods, etc.  People of faith believe that these are a consequence of God's wrath or anger at humans who committed sins. Sometimes this type of reasoning is not valid because many times innocent and pious people also get killed or suffer. Only God (Allah) knows the true reason.     

HURRICANES IN THE QURAN
In Surah 77 (Mursalat) of the Qur'an we read:
1.  By the (Winds) Sent Forth (5863) one after another (to man's profit); (5864) 
2.  Which then blow violently in tempestuous Gusts (5865)  
3.  And scatter (things) far and wide;
4.  Then separate them one from another
5.  Then spread abroad a Message (5866)   

Abdullah Yusuf Ali believes this is a' highly mystical Surah. In note 5864 he writes, "Understanding the reference to Winds, we can see that they are powerful factors in the government of the physical world. 

(1)       They come gently as harbingers of the blessings of rain and fertility; but
(2)       they can come as violent tornadoes, uprooting and destroying;
(3)       they can scatter seeds far and wide, and
(4)       they can separate chaff from grain, or clear the air from epidemics; and
(5)       They literally carry sound, and therefore Messages, and metaphorically they are instrumental in making God's Revelation accessible to hearers, whether by way of justification or repentance for the Penitent, or warning for unrepentant Sinners. All these things point to the power and goodness of God, and we are asked to believe that His promise of Mercy and Justice in the Hereafter is indeed true."      

In another verse Surah Ar-Rum:46, the Qur'an says:
And among His Signs is this, that He sends the winds as glad tidings, giving you a taste of His Mercy (i.e. rain), and that the ships may sail at His Command, and that you may seek of His Bounty, in order that you may be thankful.

Yusuf Ali explains, "In the physical world, the winds 'not only cool and purify the air, and bring the blessings of rain, which fertilize the soil, but they help international commerce and intercourse among men through seaways and now by air-ways. Those who know how to take advantage of these blessings of God prosper and rejoice, while those who ignore or fail to understand these Signs perish in storms.  So in spiritual world: heralds of glad tidings were sent by God in the shape of apostles: those who profited by their Message prospered in spiritual gain and those who ignored or opposed the clear Signs perished spiritually."

SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION 
A hurricane is an area of low pressure that forms over oceans in tropical regions in either the North Atlantic Ocean or eastern North Pacific Ocean. When such a storm is developed in the western Pacific Ocean, then it is called a typhoon. The Indian subcontinent is devastated by storms developed in the Indian Ocean, which are known as cyclones. 

North Americans are familiar with hurricanes. Hurricane is a powerful, whirling storm that measures 320 to 480 kilometers (km) or 200 to 300 miles in diameter. The winds near the center of a hurricane blow at speeds of 119-km or 74 miles per hour or more. North Americans have witnessed widespread death and destruction caused by many hurricanes
Hurricanes develop from easterly waves. These long, narrow regions of low pressure occur in ocean winds called trade winds. Easterly waves wilt be converted into a tropical depression, with winds up to 50 km per hour or 31 miles per hour: then into a tropical storm, with winds of up to 119 km per hour or 74 miles per hour; and finally, into a hurricane. The center of the hurricane is called an eve which is a calm area.  Hurricane winds swirl around the eve. The eye of a hurricane measures about 32 km or 20 miles in diameter and has few winds or clouds. Storm clouds called wall clouds surround the eye. The strongest winds and heaviest rain of a hurricane occur within its wall clouds. 

HURRICANE SANDY 2012
We now face another hurricane, "Hurricane Sandy" which is just hours away...

In New York City, thousands of people have been ordered to leave their homes and evacuation shelters have been set up in 76 schools.
Public transport has been halted and the New York Stock Exchange closed.
Forecasters fear Sandy will become a super-storm when it collides with cold weather fronts from the west and north.
Sandy has already killed 60 people after sweeping through the Caribbean in the past week.


Hurricane map
Source: BBC 

Dua / Invocations when experiencing strong winds...

Allaahumma 'innee 'as'aluka khayrahaa, wa 'a'oothu bika min sharrihaa.
O Allah , I ask You for the good of it and seek refuge in You against its evil.
Reference: Abu Dawud 4/326, Ibn Majah 2/1228. See also Al-Albani, Sahih Ibn Mjjah2/305 


Allaahumma 'innee 'as'aluka kthayrahaa, wa khayra maa feehaa, wa khayra maa 'ursilat bihi wa a'oothu bika min sharrihaa, wa sharri maa feehaa, wa sharri maa 'ursilat bihi.
O Allah, I ask You for the good of it, for the good of what it contains , and for the good of what is sent with it . I seek refuge in You from the evil of it , from the evil of what it contains, and from the evil that is sent with it.
Reference: Muslim 2/616, Al-Bukhari 4/76.

Dua / Invocation for when it thunders 

Subhaanal-lathee yusabbihur-ra'du bihamdihi walmalaa'ikatu min kheefatihi.
Glory is to Him Whom thunder and angels glorify due to fear of Him.
Reference: Whenever Abdullah bin Zubair (RA) would hear thunder, he would abandon all conversation and say this supplication. See Al-Muwatta' 2/992. It was graded authentic by Al-Albani as a statement of Abdullah bin Zubayr only.


Source(s):

http://www.islamawareness.net/Dua/Fortress/

May Allah (God Almighty) protect all people there from Hurricane Sandy.... Please share your experiences here...

Medina: Saudis take a bulldozer to Islam's history


Authorities are building a mosque so big it will hold 1.6m people – but are demolishing irreplaceable monuments to do it

Three of the world’s oldest mosques are about to be destroyed as Saudi Arabia embarks on a multi-billion-pound expansion of Islam’s second holiest site. Work on the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, where the Prophet Mohamed is buried, will start once the annual Hajj pilgrimage ends next month. When complete, the development will turn the mosque into the world’s largest building, with the capacity for 1.6 million worshippers.


But concerns have been raised that the development will see key historic sites bulldozed. Anger is already growing at the kingdom’s apparent disdain for preserving the historical and archaeological heritage of the country’s holiest city, Mecca.  Most of the expansion of Masjid an-Nabawi will take place to the west of the existing mosque, which holds the tombs of Islam’s founder and two of his closest companions, Abu Bakr and Umar.

Just outside the western walls of the current compound are mosques dedicated to Abu Bakr and Umar, as well as the Masjid Ghamama, built to mark the spot where the Prophet is thought to have given his first prayers for the Eid festival. The Saudis have announced no plans to preserve or move the three mosques, which have existed since the seventh century and are covered by Ottoman-era structures, or to commission archaeological digs before they are pulled down, something that has caused considerable concern among the few academics who are willing to speak out in the deeply authoritarian kingdom.
“No one denies that Medina is in need of expansion, but it’s the way the authorities are going about it which is so worrying,” says Dr Irfan al-Alawi of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation. “There are ways they could expand which would either avoid or preserve the ancient Islamic sites but instead they want to knock it all down.” Dr Alawi has spent much of the past 10 years trying to highlight the destruction of early Islamic sites.

With cheap air travel and booming middle classes in populous Muslim countries within the developing world, both Mecca and Medina are struggling to cope with the 12 million pilgrims who visit each year – a number expected to grow to 17 million by 2025. The Saudi monarchy views itself as the sole authority to decide what should happen to the cradle of Islam. Although it has earmarked billions for an enormous expansion of both Mecca and Medina, it also sees the holy cities as lucrative for a country almost entirely reliant on its finite oil wealth.

Heritage campaigners and many locals have looked on aghast as the historic sections of Mecca and Medina have been bulldozed to make way for gleaming shopping malls, luxury hotels and enormous skyscrapers. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of the 1,000-year-old buildings in the two cities have been destroyed in the past 20 years.

In Mecca, the Masjid al-Haram, the holiest site in Islam and a place where all Muslims are supposed to be equal, is now overshadowed by the Jabal Omar complex, a development of skyscraper apartments, hotels and an enormous clock tower. To build it, the Saudi authorities destroyed the Ottoman era Ajyad Fortress and the hill it stood on. Other historic sites lost include the Prophet’s birthplace – now a library – and the house of his first wife, Khadijah, which was replaced with a public toilet block.

Neither the Saudi Embassy in London nor the Ministry for Foreign Affairs responded to requests for comment when The Independent contacted them this week. But the government has previously defended its expansion plans for the two holy cities as necessary. It insists it has also built large numbers of budget hotels for poorer pilgrims, though critics point out these are routinely placed many miles away from the holy sites.

Until recently, redevelopment in Medina has pressed ahead at a slightly less frenetic pace than in Mecca, although a number of early Islamic sites have still been lost. Of the seven ancient mosques built to commemorate the Battle of the Trench – a key moment in the development of Islam – only two remain. Ten years ago, a mosque which belonged to the Prophet’s grandson was dynamited. Pictures of the demolition that were secretly taken and smuggled out of the kingdom showed the religious police celebrating as the building collapsed.

The disregard for Islam’s early history is partly explained by the regime’s adoption of Wahabism, an austere and uncompromising interpretation of Islam that is vehemently opposed to anything which might encourage Muslims towards idol worship.

In most of the Muslim world, shrines have been built. Visits to graves are also commonplace. But Wahabism views such practices with disdain. The religious police go to enormous lengths to discourage people from praying at or visiting places closely connected to the time of the Prophet while powerful clerics work behind the scenes to promote the destruction of historic sites.

Dr Alawi fears that the redevelopment of the Masjid an-Nabawi is part of a wider drive to shift focus away from the place where Mohamed is buried. The spot that marks the Prophet’s tomb is covered by a famous green dome and forms the centrepiece of the current mosque. But under the new plans, it will become the east wing of a building eight times its current size with a new pulpit. There are also plans to demolish the prayer niche at the centre of mosque. The area forms part of the Riyadh al-Jannah (Garden of Paradise), a section of the mosque that the Prophet decreed especially holy..