Are Wildfires a Punishment from Allah? | Imam Tom Weekly

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Are Wildfires a Punishment from Allah? | Imam Tom Weekly

Are the wildfires in California a punishment from Allah? As Muslims, how should we uphold our own responsibility as caretakers of the earth? How can we get involved in civic conversations?

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This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.

Fear and concern is growing tonight as flames light up the Los Angeles hillside. With the California fire still raging, it's something that obviously is on a lot of people's minds. We've seen mosques burn to the ground, a lot of people's homes have burned to the ground.

And it's a terrible tragedy. Now, there's a lot of different dimensions to this, and it's important to go over some of them because, you know, you get people that want to jump in and say this is Allah's punishment and, you know, there's individuals who might have done certain

things in the past that we might get very, very happy and gleeful at their downfall. And there might be some degrees to which that's valid, but I think in being well-rounded

about it and being mature about it, we have to recognize holistically all the different dimensions to that. So, one of them, I mean, is something that I have not seen a lot of people talk about, at least in mainstream circles, which is unecological nature with which we build housing in America.

I know that's not a very popular topic, but there are ecosystems in the country where forest fire is a natural part of the cycle where the ground regenerates. Being from southern New Jersey,

the Pine Barrens are like that. I know there's places up in Oregon like that. I know a lot of places in California are like that. And many Native Americans in different areas like this,

they actually practiced controlled burning because that was just part of the natural cycle. Now, what happens is with the way that we do urban planning, we just continuously sprawl and expand

and sprawl and expand and sprawl and expand. And you've got people building houses and leveling earth, leveling, you know, land from trees and everything to build homes in places that those

fires are part of the natural cycles. And we do things to try to keep those fires at bay, but it seems that the more we try to keep those fires at bay, they just get bigger and bigger and

more dramatic. Maybe we delay it for a little bit, but it comes back around again. Allah's creation is undefeated. This is just a structural thing. And I think that it is important that we talk

about the structural elements as well as the individual elements that we need an intelligent and respectful philosophy when it comes to where we build our homes and how we build our homes.

And I think that as Muslims, as people who are supposed to be conscientious of nature and the sunnah of Allah, nature's cycles that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has put in the creation,

I think that's something that would be wonderful. We don't think in the enlightenment tradition that we are masters over nature and we torture nature for its secrets and we just are here to dominate

nature and that's not going to work. We don't believe in that. So I would like to see Muslims actually contribute to this contribution of sustainable housing and intelligent urban design.

And I don't see a lot of people talking about that. So I hope that we can add something to that conversation. The other aspect is that, okay, anything that happens can be a punishment from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It can also be a test from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's both at the same time

and you're not safe from it, right? So even in a place like in the East Coast, like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, this year there was a water shortage and this is a place where it doesn't often have

risk of forest fires, but there were wildfires and there was a risk because things had gotten so dry. So don't ever think that you're safe. Don't gloat to the point where you think,

oh, you know, these rich Hollywood snobs are finally losing their third vacation home. It's like, even if you're right, the same thing can happen to you. And there are statements of the salaf saying that, you know, we've never criticized somebody with a certain flaw, except that we've

seen it come back around and happen to us. Or as they say, what goes around comes around. So just know that. Just be careful. Just be careful with that. The other dimension to it is that we have a

responsibility to ensure that our municipalities and our governments are spending resources wisely. There's a lot of talk going on about the L.A. fire department and budget cuts and things that

were taken, money that was missing or mismanagement. Now, I know just from studying the numbers over this past 12 to 14 months that most Muslims aren't involved in civic engagement and they're not

looking into city government and they don't really know who's on their city council or what they do or things like that. Well, if righteous, God-fearing people don't pay attention to this stuff and make sure that corruption and graft doesn't happen, then what do you think is going to happen? You're

going to see all sorts of nonsense in the government at the local level, at the state level, at the federal level. So I do believe that Muslims need to take more initiative when it comes to being

involved in these conversations to demand better and to try to keep elected officials accountable and to push policies that make sense for everybody. We as Muslims are supposed to contribute to

society. We believe that we have something special. We believe that Allah gave us something special and it would be selfish if we didn't share that with other people. And that is not just about

tawheed, it's not just about the Quran, it's not just about the messengership of the Prophet (ﷺ). It's also about the content of that guidance when it comes to how to live justly, how to live

rightly, how to exist in a space that's deferent and respectful to your creator and also taking full measure to be just to the people and the plants and the trees and the ecosystem

around you. That's part of our responsibility. And the final thing is that everything's an opportunity. You know, right now whenever there is a need, whenever there is a calamity, if Muslims

are on the ground helping, then that is something that is part of da'wah as well. Even if they're evil celebrities? Yes, even if they're evil celebrities. By the way, people are losing their homes that are

normal people that are not just evil celebrities. But I'm saying even if we're all just evil celebrities losing their third vacation homes in Beverly Hills or Hollywood, then even then,

if Muslims get involved to try to alleviate the situation or to help out, then this is da'wah.

And sometimes it's when people are most vulnerable that they are most open to seeing a new framework and a new way of life and considering making a change for themselves.

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