Fathwa, - Is this relief effort thing a new issue in Islam? I have not read anywhere where the believers

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Question:
Is this relief effort thing a new issue in Islam? I have not read anywhere where the believers did this sort of thing after Allah destroyed the wicked.
Answer:
As-Salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah:
Many authentic hadiths link earthquakes with the signs of the end of times together with mass killings, both caused by the spread of sin and wickedness, especially the abandonment of zakat and trusts, the practice of usury (riba), impiety to parents, winebibbing, loudness in mosques, evil leaders, and insults against the earlier Muslims.
However, this does not mean that all earthquakes and mass-murder victims are necessarily wicked or even most of them.
The Prophet said, upon him blessings and peace: There will be a tremor (rajfa) in my Community in which shall perish ten thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand, and which Allah Most High shall make an admonishment for the Godfearing, a mercy for the Believers, and a punishment for the disbelievers.? Narrated by Ibn `Asakir in Tarikh Dimashq and Ibn al-Sakan in Ma`rifat al-Sahaba.
Ibn `Asakir also narrated that Allah Most High said: I shall cause a tremor in the best of night, whatever disbeliever dies in it will be because his term of life has reached him, and whatever Believer dies in it will be for him martyrdom (shahada).
Anas asked our Mother `A'isha about earthquakes: Is it a punishment? She replied: A mercy and a blessing and an admonishment for the Believers and an exemplary punishment and wrath and bane on the disbelievers. Ibn Abi al-Dunya narrated it in al-`Uqubat and al-Hakim in the Mustadrak.
Yet the Believers are also meant to be rebuked by such terrible events. There was an earthquake in al-Kufa in the time of Ibn Mas'ud whereupon he said: O people! Your Lord is rebuking you, so do what He is commanding you ? Al-Tabari narrated it in his Tafsir.
Ibn Mas`ud also said: We the Companions of Muhammad (upon him blessings and peace) were shown signs of blessings, while you all are shown only signs of terror. Al-Darimi narrated it in his Musnad.
Hence both the congregational Kusuf prayer and individual voluntary prayers should be prayed in such an event, much du'a and dhikr raised*, and almsgiving including freeing slaves as narrated from `Ali, Ibn`Abbas, `A'isha, Ibn Mas`ud, and Samura ibn Jundub Abu Dawud, Ibn Abi Shayba/s Musannaf, al-Shafi'I's Umm and al-Muzani's Mukhtasar, and al-Bayhaqi in his Sunan.
(*) Especially tasbih, takbir, and salat on the Prophet upon him
blessings and peace [al-Suyuti].
The righteous caliph `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz ordered such a prayer in his time as well as massive alms-giving.
Source for all of the above: Imam al-Suyuti, Kashf al-Salsala `an Wasf al-Zalzala.
As for questioning whether "this relief effort thing" is Islamic or "not find[ing] in the Quran any prophet rushing in relief efforts after Allah destroy the people", then how about the Seal of Prophets? {intense concern and mercy for the Believers} ? as Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka have majority Muslim populations ? and the verses that state that the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, loved even for the unbelievers to be guided to the point of almost killing himself (bakhi`un nafsak) trying?
And what about the countless earthquakes, some of them huge disasters taking the lives of countless Muslims and leaving even more homeless and destitute, that shook the Haramayn, Cairo, Damascus, al-Kufa, Basra, Baghdad, Yemen, and various parts of North Africa over the centuries? I doubt you would care to vent such outlandish opinions in their societies after such devastating events take place because I am afraid they might consider you a "hidden apostate" (zindiq) or a devil for it. Or perhaps it sits well with you that the humane disbelievers who get busy with relief efforts for the Muslims in Bam and Turkey and Indonesia should be more merciful in the final analysis than the unnatural (after your refashioning) Believers for themselves? A truly devilish perversion of the Qur'anic aya indeed!
As for claiming that Allah Most High may only destroy the wicked, it means He also is obligated to reward the good; neither is true. Allah most High Himself said that if He wished He could place even `Isa and his Mother, upon them peace, in Hellfire without injustice on His Part for He is the Creator and Owner of His creation. His goodness to us is out of His bounty while His severity is out of His justice.
As for ourselves we are not commanded to bear judgment on what we have no idea of. If we are sure that all of the victims of the flood are clear-cut sinners of the worst rank, like the people of Lut upon him peace, then perhaps we might wash our hands of any pity but such is not the case. It is enough that there are children among the survivors for us to be stirred to help -- unless of course our "hearts were hardened and became as rocks, or worse than rocks, for hardness" (2:74).




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