Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to Mr. Muhammad Yousef Al-Mlaifi's article, "Kuwaiti: 'The terrorist Katrina' is a soldier of Allah'," of Thursday, September 1, 2005. I find it interesting that Mr. Al-Mlaifi sees no irony in his words. If calamity is the expression of Allah's wrath, it would appear that Allah is far angrier with the Middle East than he is with the West.
For just a moment, let's assume that Mr. Al-Mlaifi's "wrath of Allah" theory is correct, that calamities are expressions of Allah's wrath, and then let's do some very rough math. In the United States we have suffered two serious calamities this century: 9-11 and Katrina. About 2,000 innocent lives were taken in 9-11.
As of September 1, fewer than 500 people have been counted as lost in Katrina. Tragically, some of the people of the Gulf Coast who died and will die were innocent and helpless (the aged, young, and sick).
It will be found, however, than many died simply because did not heed the clear and early warning to evacuate. So, the death toll will arguably have more to do with the foolishness of men than with the wrath of Allah.
In stark contrast to the 2,500 to 4,000 American lives lost in the two great American calamities of this century, between 24,000 and 27,700 CIVILIANS have (tragically) been killed in Iraq since the start of the war. And this number does not include the 500 Shiite Muslim pilgrims who recently were trampled to death on the bridge in Baghdad. In contrast, 1,882 American soldiers have been killed.
Using Mr. Al-Mlaifi's “logic,” even when we ignore the fact that two Islamic regimes have been toppled in this century and just compare the number of Arab dead to the number of American dead, we'd have to conclude that Allah must be deeply angry at the Arab world and just a little bit angry at the West.
Of course, we mustn’t forget that if calamity is a sign of Allah’s anger, it follows that prosperity is a sign of his approval. When we compare the prosperity of the West against the relative squalor of much of the Middle East, it doesn’t take much thought to realize who Allah favors.
Finally, even though his theory is laughable, Mr. Al-Mlaifi — of Kuwait — should take heed: Allah does not smile upon the kafir, the ungrateful (Surah XXII: 19-23).
Leonard Porrello
San Diego,California
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