The message in trials
Media reports generally indicate poor responses from government especially in caring for the welfare of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the states hit by the catastrophe. Adults, including pregnant women as well as children in Jigawa state, for example, were sleeping on bare floor at the Junior Arabic School in Ringim, which serves as a […]
Media reports generally indicate poor responses from government especially in caring for the welfare of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the states hit by the catastrophe. Adults, including pregnant women as well as children in Jigawa state, for example, were sleeping on bare floor at the Junior Arabic School in Ringim, which serves as a camp for the IDPs. While Sokoto state is building houses for victims of flood, Jigawa provided plots of land to households displaced by floods. The turning of deaf ears by Nigerian authorities to warnings by the Cameroonian government when the water in her dams reached unprecedented level is one irresponsible action that is condemnable.
Flood, like inferno, though a natural disaster could be artificial if safety warnings against its occurrence were consciously unheeded. It is trial when a disaster occurs naturally; and nemesis when disaster is the result of man’s refusal to obey divine injunctions or failure to comply with conventional laws of interacting with nature (human and material).
While trial and nemesis could both stand for afflictions suffered by one or a group of persons; each within the semantic context of their Qur’anic implications has a meaning that distinguishes it from the other. The synonyms of “trials” in this scriptural sense of the word include test, ordeal, burden, hardship, tribulation and woe. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 21:35 ‘…And we test you by evil and by good by way of trial. To Us must ye return”. Nemesis on the other hand denotes punishment, doom and retribution. Allah (SWT) affirms in Qur’an 42:30 “Whatever misfortune happens to you, (it) is because of the things your hands have wrought; and for many (of them) He grants forgiveness”.
As part of their punishment, some nations were destroyed in the past for the sins which today have become hobbies among men and women. Allah (SWT) states 29:40 “Each of them we seized for his crime: of them against some we sent a violent tornado (with showers of stones); some we caught by a (mighty) blast; some we caused the earth to swallow up; and some we drowned (in the waters); it was not Allah who injured (and oppressed) them but they wronged themselves”.
Prophets and messengers of Allah including the Ulul-Azm among them also went through trials in their lifetimes. Allah (SWT) mentions in Qur’an 2:155 “Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods and lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere”. When calamity befalls a believer, Islam nonetheless encourages the afflicted to hold-on to his/her faith and to recite Qur’an 2:156 “…To Allah we belong and to Him is our return”.
Trials are not restricted to a particular class of people. Neither do trials have any respect for faith, gender nor age. Whether natural or man-induced, trials have purposes. Allah (SWT) has reasons for every disaster that comes the way of man. Apart from establishing people’s sincerity in their faith, trials provide opportunity for the afflicted to assess and strengthen the existing spiritual relationship between him and his creator. Trials are also meant to purge the filthy parts of faith. That which purifies our heart is, therefore, a trial.
Whether as trial of our faith or as nemesis for our sins, the flood that ravaged parts of the country has an implied message not only to perceived “sinners” but also to acclaimed “infallibles” or the pious among us. The message is a call on Nigerians to collectively come back to God with a deep sense of remorse; to repent in the case of perceived sinners, and to reaffirm submission to Allah’s Will in the case of the infallibles and the pious. As we sincerely do this, Allah (SWT) could increase us in faith if the disaster were a form of trial; or forgive us if it were nemesis for our ungodly actions. In any case, Islam exhorts believers never to lose hope in their desire for Allah’s mercy. We therefore have cause, in spite of our shortcomings, to believe that the flood in many parts of Nigeria is only but a natural phenomenon.
It is in the news that the federal government has disbursed billions of naira to states affected by flood. We call on governors and other public officers whose schedules include the management of public funds to fear Allah (SWT) in handling these funds. May Allah (SWT) guide them against using the flood victims’ funds to “flood” their pockets for Sallah and Christmas celebrations that are both by the corner, amin.