AP: Rescued Tsunami Victim Thanks Allah

[truthpusher]

(note: this is more of a story than a 'breaking news item'. It was however released today by the AP and is a new news report. In the cacophony of media on the Tsunami, this story stands out as rare, only because it talks about Muslim's and their faith in a positive light, I thought it was worth sharing)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1046-2005Jan11.html

Rescued Tsunami Victim Thanks Allah

By VIJAY JOSHI

The Associated Press

Tuesday, January 11, 2005; 2:07 PM

KLANG, Malaysia -

(snip)

That morning, when the ground began to shake, Ari was on a scaffolding, hammering nails into a plank, part of a crew building a beach home in Aceh Jaya town about 150 miles from the Indonesian provincial capital Banda Aceh. Frightened, the crew moved away from the house and squatted in the sand.

"Then the waves started coming," Ari said.

(snip)

As the tsunami receded, it pulled him under and sucked him out to sea. Swimming desperately, Ari could see the hills of Aceh receding fast.

(snip)

"I was not prepared to die," he said. And so he prayed: "Allah I seek your forgiveness and I seek your help for myself and my parents" and my girlfriend, he said again and again in the Malay language, spoken in Malaysia and Indonesia. "Please give me life. Please give me life."

(snip)

He'd been drifting for seven days when he spotted a large, unmanned raft with a hut on it. Abandoning the sinking fishing boat, he swam to the raft and found a gallon bottle of water to slake his thirst. Coconuts were still plentiful in the sea.

more:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1046-2005Jan11.html

[Ian David]

1. The Onion did a fake story along similar lines

It told of the heroic efforts to rescue coal miners, and interspesed the story with quotes from people "thanking Jesus," apparently oblivious to the hundreds of people who worked non-stop, risking their lives to save them.

This is typical of all faiths.

Just like those "republicans" who hate the same liberals from the blue states that pay for their schools, roads, hospitals, welfare, and disaster assistance.

[Zynx]

2. Actually, if I was this guy, I would thank God too

He probably should have been dead, oh, about twenty times over. 99.9999% of everyone else that got swept away was.

It's not quite the same as the people who are saved in the coal mine in the Onion example.

[XemaSab]

3. Seriously

You're out in the middle of the ocean, and all of a sudden you see a raft with a hut and a big jug of water????

The most buoyant things I've ever seen at sea were a pallot and a dead, bloated seal.

[Downtown Hound]

4. I guess he didn't get one of those bibles from the religious right

that they've been sending, because I'm sure if he had he would have realized that it was his misguided faith that was responsible for the tsunami. :eyes:

[Trajan]

5. I see it in a more silly light ......

Much like every other faith ...

Imagine for a moment: praising a 'god' for actively protecting you when 'he/she/it' destroys over 150,000 other human beings .... Are we to assume the others were 'chosen' to suffer a horrible death ? ... How can you have one and not the other ? ...

Indeed ... 'Thanks' for rescuing ME, Lord .... too bad for those other guys ....

Im sorry: The skeptic in me see's this as shallow egoism ... Typical of worldy faiths ....

[DemoTex]

6. As he well should have! He prayed to Allah during his ordeal. Faith.

Why not thank Allah (or God, or Jesus)? His living 15 days is inspirational to me. Allah is not. But it matters not. His strong faith might have saved him, where my weak faith and cynicism would have driven me to madness and into the water with the sharks. Faith is a strange thing. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's execution by a Nazi firing squad, in the very last days of Hitler's Reich, comes to mind.


Bonhoeffer

Never mock faith.

[biftonnorton]

7. Allah Just Missed Smiting Him

He said He thinks this guy's a jerk.

[DemoTex]

8. "He" might think you are the jerk .. "He" might not.

Who knows? Actually, who cares about a true believer's faith-based comments if they come way short of proselytizing? I don't. The proselytizing Christians drive me nuts. Radical Jews give me the willies. Screaming Muslims are scary as all of our hells. Strident atheists are a pain in the ass too.

But a Christian or Jew or Muslim who says "praise God" or "Allah" as part of their personal faith, in some cases, inspires me. It does not necessarily inspire me toward their "God" or "Jesus" or "Allah," but it inspires me to develop a more spiritual side to my very secular and hedonistic self. And I am bad to the bone (ask Skittles).

[biftonnorton]

9. Allah Told Me, Personally,

about this guy. He's a little embarrassed about he miss, but says he'll tie up all loose ends later. Allah says, "Hey," to you, by the way. ;)

[DemoTex]

10. Tell Allah "hey BIG DUDE!" for me.

What I truly believe in is covering all the bases. Just in case Jesus was wrong.