STOP BLAMING GOD for your own failings - Nurul on flood crisis

KUALA LUMPUR - PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar has admonished those who blame fate instead of human misconduct for the current flood crisis.

In her column in Sinar Harian today, the Lembah Pantai MP notes the religious rhetoric that some public figures have been using to explain the worst floods in recent memory. “It’s as if they are trying to avoid admitting responsibility for the devastation that has been wreaked on the earth’s face and blaming the Almighty for it,” she writes.

“It’s not that we don’t believe in takdir (fate), but perhaps we have erred in our tadbir (management),” she writes.

She reminds her Muslim readers that “the Beneficent” and “the Merciful” are the first attributes or names of God that they learnt as children and asks them to bear these in mind as they speculate on what caused the floods.

She quotes the 13th century sage Shams Tabrizi: “How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.”

The word translated as “blame” in Tabrizi’s saying can also mean “guilt”. Izzah appears to be saying that the authorities, administrators and managers can free themselves from guilt by taking responsibility for the destructive effects of the floods and studying and addressing the factors that may have caused them.

She calls for reflection on the possibility that the devastation is the result of mismanagement of drainage systems, the clogging of water channels and the “clear and flagrant rape of the environment by human beings motivated by greed”.

“It’s meaningless for us to say that the calamity is a punishment from the Lord of the Worlds when the power is within us to prevent it from recurring.” - FMT