Actually the country that gave the most aid after the Pakistan earthquake wasn’t a Christian country, it was Turkey, by a long long way. And after that’s it’s the USA, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
But regardless, do you not think that maybe the reason some Christian countries make very large donations is because those countries have more money to give? Sure the USA, the UK, Canada and such countries give very large amounts, but you don’t see much coming from the just as Christian countries of South America and sub-Saharan Africa do you? Is that because the Christians there are all heartless? Or is the more obvious answer that they don’t have the money or the resources to send much aid. And most Muslim countries are also very poor.
And Muslims do not believe disasters are a punishment for people’s sins, that’s a Hindu belief. We believe they are tests, for the person strucken with disaster, and also for the people around them (do they go to their aid? Or do nothing).
This is an old article but it shows the amounts given by the various countries. Note how some muslim organizations upped thier donations after a story ran on their stinginess.
rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/01/cc04b256-453b-4fed-a79b-0186b96ebf70.html
How much aid from muslim countries goes to non-muslim countries. Compare this to the aid the US gives to the Palestinians and the two mentioned disasters. US government gives $10bln a year. This is in addition to over $130 billion a year that individual US citizens and organizations give in forign aid. I am just wondering what is the record of muslim countries. It seems if Zakat is central to islam muslim countries should be more charitable, esp to non-muslims.
*An interview with Sheik Fawzan Al-Fawzan, a professor at the Al-Imam University where he says that these tsunami’s are Allah’s judgment for homosexuality and fornication. In an interview on MEMRI-TV (MIddle East Media Research Institute), the Sheik said this:
These great tragedies and collective punishments that are wiping out villages, towns, cities, and even entire countries, are Allah’s punishments of the people of these countries, even if they are Muslims.
Some of our forefathers said that if there is usury and fornication in a certain village, Allah permits its destruction. We know that at these resorts, which unfortunately exist in Islamic and other countries in South Asia, and especially at Christmas, fornication and sexual perversion of all kinds are rampant. The fact that it happened at this particular time is a sign from Allah. It happened at Christmas, when fornicators and corrupt people from all over the world come to commit fornication and sexual perversion. That’s when this tragedy took place, striking them all and destroyed everything. It turned the land into wasteland, where only the cries of the ravens are heard. I say this is a great sign and punishment on which Muslims should reflect.
All that’s left for us to do is to ask for forgiveness We must atone for our sins, and for the acts of the stupid people among us and improve our condition. We must fight fornication, homosexuality, usury, fight the corruption on the face of the earth, and the disregard of the lives of protected people.*
"Where are the Arabs?
One does not get an impression that Arabs are benevolent people. They have billions of dollars. But most monies go to build palaces and printing free Quran booklets. None goes into other worthy causes. Most of the destruction has happened in a Muslim country of Indonesia. Still a paltry sum has been promised by Arab Kingdoms. They should remember that all their oil wealth passes thru the narrow straits of Indonesia and Singapore. Indonesia’s lack of co-operation in movement of this commerce will jeopardize their wealth. "
saag.org/papers13/paper1215.html