by Mr. Khushwant Singh

In the daily Hitavada, Nagpur dated 11.01.04

Every time there is an earthquake (Bhukamp or Zalzala) anywhere in the world, I question the existence of a just and almighty God. In the one we had in Iran a couple of weeks ago, the entire historic township of Bam was raised to the ground. It took place two hours past midnight when everyone was asleep indoors.

As roofs and walls caved in, they crushed upwards of 40,000 people to death and maimed thousands more, all Muslims. Ya Allah! Where are you? You spared no one, neither the old nor the young, neither the saintly (some died with rosaries in their hands) nor sinners neither believers nor agnostics nor atheist. How than can it be maintained that you are Rahman (Just) and Rahim (Merciful)? Almighty you may or may not be, but your might is not tempered with compassion (Karuna) nor Mercy (Dayaa) even towards those who swear by you. I would like God-believers to enlighten me and other doubters on the subject, but their answers must be in simple language which every one can understand and not consist of assertions for which they have no proof whatsoever.

I am pretty certain there will be no answers because there aren’t any. Believers who have open minds usually end up in throwing such questions back: “There must be someone or some power which created life and keeps it going in a certain predictable order.” I concede that there ought to be someone or some power behind the universe but we do not know, and ever been known who that someone or some power is. It is all a matter of conjecture.

But there is no basis for describing it as good, even-handed or benign because it is often bad, unfair and malign, as proved by the frequency of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons which spare no one and take an indiscriminate toll of lives. We fear them because we are humans, but do we need to worship that someone or some power which causes them?

The argument boils down to one point: either you have faith or you don’t. Most people need someone to pray to even if they know nothing about him or her. Prayer gives them peace of mind, creates self-confidence, self-esteem and a will to carry on. I have nothing against prayer provided it is directed to make oneself a better person or for the good of other people. Far too often it is used for worldly gain or do harm to others.

There is no argument against faith: either you have it or you don’t. If you have it, no reasoning against it will shake it. If you do not, nothing will shake your skepticism. The dilemma is nicely summed up by Robert Browning:

All we have gained by our belief: If a life of doubt diversified by faith: For our faith diversified by doubt: We call the chessboard white: We call it black.