Tsunami Reactions (8) - Sheik Al-Munajjid: Earthquake Punishment for Sex Tourism on New Year's Eve, Drunkenness on Christmas

The following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi cleric Muhammad Al-Munajjid:

Al-Munajjid: This earthquake occured in the ocean and the waves traveled at a speed of 700-1000 kilometers per hour and their height reached more than ten meters in the air. This earthquake was extraordinary in that it hit both ocean and land – that is, it quaked the ocean and it continued to quake the land. "Perversion has appeared in the land and the sea on account of what the hands of men have wrought." That is to say, they were punished for this.

With this earthquake, Allah also struck non-Muslim peoples and sinners, who used to sprawl all over the beaches and in the pubs overflowing with wine, shamefully naked, as well as those who came for "sex tourism" on New Year's Eve, on these forbidden holidays, their holidays. Allah struck them on their holidays, and reservations were cancelled and vacations were ruined, and they returned to their countries in their bathing suits, dragging the tail of disappointment between their legs. For some it was a punishment and for others it was a trial.

They were drunk at night, during the Christmas celebrations, drunk in their pubs, and in the morning the flood came and swept them away – more than 10,000 tourists.

This woman from Indonesia, who was caught with her child on the roof of a mosque – when the water rose, she hoisted her baby over her head, until the water came up to her neck. Then she prayed to Allah until the water receded, and she and her baby were saved. Mosques were the only place where people found refuge. There were areas where only the mosques remained standing; everything was destroyed except for the mosques. This was noted by some reporters for foreign news agencies, like the BBC, who said: "Look! Only the mosque (remains)! Everything else is gone." There is a moral in this: How Allah protected His homes, while (other) structures were gone, but the people in the mosques (were saved). Some tried to explain this by saying: "Perhaps the mosques were better built and sturdier," but others replied: "This mosque is built of wood. Why did it survive?" Look how stupidity makes people explain everything as natural phenomena. Some said: "The problem was the lack of (warning) devices. If there had been…" What would have happened then?! Are there devices capable of protecting one from God's torments!?