Blowing of Wind: A Sign from Allah

Syed Sharfuddin

Every year before the start of summer, strong winds blow over the mountains and plains of southern Turkey that faces the Mediterranean. It is the sea which links Turkey to the land of past prophets and their nations who lived in Egypt and adjoining lands all the way to the Red Sea on one side and the mighty Nile on the other, linking two great continents of Asia and Africa.

This April during the corona lockdown, I experienced this wind in Antalya, once a land of the Byzantine Kingdom. The wind blew around about 15 knots. It was not strong enough to level down trees but also not too weak to give the branches any tranquillity to stand in peace. It was, however, strong enough to keep people at home, especially those who take to walking or riding on a bike for exercise. But the wind became more noticeable indoors because it made strange hissing sounds trying to make way inside through crevasses of closed windows and doors. Another important feature of this wind was its perpetual continuation. As I write this on Sunday morning, 11 April 202I, I can distinctly recall this starting on Friday evening and continuing with the same gusto with no sign of quietening down after 36 hours.

Being a natural feature, this wind reminded me how nature can also be hostile and a source of destruction.

We often take nature for granted and have no hesitation exploring it endlessly for our greed and advantage. But we forget that earthquakes, explosions, floods, fire and strong winds have caused havoc on earth and destroyed life and property. In the holy Quran, Allah Subhanuhu wa Taala mentions the destruction of the oppressor nation of Aad through strong winds which continued to blow for seven nights and eight days:

وَأَمَّا عَادٌ فَأُهْلِكُوا بِرِيحٍ صَرْصَرٍ عَاتِيَةٍ . سَخَّرَهَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَبْعَ لَيَالٍ وَثَمَانِيَةَ أَيَّامٍ حُسُومًا فَتَرَى الْقَوْمَ فِيهَا صَرْعَى كَأَنَّهُمْ أَعْجَازُ نَخْلٍ خَاوِيَةٍ
[Surah 69, Al-Haaqa, Verses 7&8].

Translation: “As for the Aad people, they were destroyed by a furious and bitter wind which Allah unleashed on them non stop for seven nights and eight days, so that you would have seen this nation lying dead like trunks of uprooted palm trees”.

These are all signs of Allah. No one can escape from His reach nor resist it. Humans sit at the top of the pyramid of life. Together with every living thing outside them or within them human beings are surrounded by Allah’s army. May Allah protect us from His wrath in this life and the hereafter, which will be much greater for the rebels, the unjust, the corrupt and violators of peace.
Ameen and Assalamoalaikum.