EN.MUHAMMADIYAH.OR.ID, YOGYAKARTA – In Islam, calamities that befall believers can serve different purposes. They may be a warning against wrongdoing, a means of expiating sins, or a path to attaining honor in the sight of Allah. Muslims should therefore be careful not to judge others based on the calamities they experience.
This was explained by Qaem Aulassyahied, a member of the Muhammadiyah Central Board’s Council for Religious Opinion and Reform, at the Islamic Center of Ahmad Dahlan University (IC UAD) on Sunday (18/10).
Qaem explained that a person’s faith is tested through various circumstances in life. Allah seeks to reveal which of His servants can demonstrate their faith through the best of deeds.
“Allah does not measure a person’s faith solely through verbal declarations or what is in the heart. There must also be proof, evidence of the excellence of the faith they have professed before Allah,” he said.
According to Qaem, the stronger a person’s faith and taqwa, the greater the likelihood that they will face difficult trials. The prophets faced the most severe trials, followed by the righteous.
Three Possible Purposes of Calamities
Qaem outlined three possible functions of calamities that Muslims should understand.
First, a calamity may serve as a warning against human wrongdoing. He referred to Surah Ar-Rum, verse 41. The verse explains that corruption on land and at sea has emerged because of what people’s hands have done.
The verse reminds people that human actions can cause destruction whose consequences eventually return to them. Excessive logging, for example, can increase the risk of floods and landslides. Environmentally destructive exploitation of natural resources can also worsen climate conditions and threaten communities’ livelihoods.
“Destruction occurs on land and at sea, and its cause is human behavior,” he said.
Second, a calamity may serve as a means of expiating the sins of believers who did not directly cause it. Qaem cited communities affected by forest fires and haze, even though they were not responsible for starting the fires.
He referred to a hadith narrated by al-Bukhari, which explains that fatigue, sorrow, illness, anxiety, and even a thorn that pricks a Muslim can become means through which Allah erases some of their sins.
Third, a calamity resulting in death may, under certain circumstances, become a path to the honor of martyrdom for a Muslim. Qaem cited hadiths narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim concerning several categories of people who attain the status of martyrs, including those who die in an epidemic, drown, or are killed by collapsing structures.
Avoid Judging Disaster Victims
Qaem stressed that this understanding is important to prevent Muslims from hastily concluding that people struck by disasters are being punished for their sins.
He recalled the Aceh tsunami, which some people once attributed to the alleged sinful behavior of the local population. According to Qaem, condemning disaster victims with such accusations is inconsistent with Islamic teachings.
“How can we say that believers who suffer calamities are being punished by Allah? The Qur’an teaches that, for the followers of Prophet Muhammad, a calamity may be a warning, an expression of mercy, or a means of erasing sins. Some calamities may even become a path to Paradise,” he said.
Qaem urged Muslims to reconsider how they view calamities. In his view, any assessment of a disaster must take its circumstances and causes into account rather than immediately attributing it to the sins of those affected.
