Abracadabrah

I create as I speak

As Predicted

Below in my post about extremist Jewish bloggers making the point that Hurricane Katrina is God's justice for American pressure on Israel to go ahead with the Gaza expulsion, I stated that this was on par with Islamists claiming that the Hurricane was punishment for US actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. And as predicted, here is one such claim, couched in the wording of the Surat Al-R'ad ['The Thunder' chapter]. In it, the writer, Muhammad Yousef Al-Mlaifi, who is the director of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Endowment's research center proclaims Hurricane Katrina to be the workings of Allah:

"...As I watched the horrible sights of this wondrous storm, I was reminded of the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah [in the compilations] of Al-Bukhari and Abu Daoud. The Hadith says: 'The wind is of the wind of Allah, it comes from mercy or for the sake of torment. When you see it, do not curse it, [but rather] ask Allah for the good that is in it, and ask Allah for shelter from its evil.'

"When the satellite channels reported on the scope of the terrifying destruction in America [caused by] this wind, I was reminded of the words of [Prophet Muhammad]: 'The wind sends torment to one group of people, and sends mercy to others.' I do not think — and only Allah [really] knows — that this wind, which completely wiped out American cities in these days, is a wind of mercy and blessing. It is almost certain that this is a wind of torment and evil that Allah has sent to this American empire.
....
"Oh honored gentlemen, I began to read about these winds, and I was surprised to discover that the American websites that are translated [into Arabic] are talking about the fact that that the storm Katrina is the fifth equatorial storm to strike Florida this year... and that a large part of the U.S. is subject every year to many storms that extract [a price of] dead, and completely destroy property. I said, Allah be praised, until when will these successive catastrophes strike them?

"But before I went to sleep, I opened the Koran and began to read in Surat Al-R'ad ['The Thunder' chapter], and stopped at these words [of Allah]: 'The disaster will keep striking the unbelievers for what they have done, or it will strike areas close to their territory, until the promise of Allah comes to pass, for, verily, Allah will not fail in His promise.' [Koran 13:31]."

[Translated by MEMRI]

I'm only surprised it took so long for this to become public and posted to the web.

UPDATE: Chrenkoff has an entire posting devoted to Hurricane Exploitation quotations of a nasty political bent.

Previous post on this issue: Portrait of a Vengeful God and Allegations Most Foul

posted by Alcibiades @ 5:45 PM