#isolating themselves and committing themselves to the service of their own personal duties until they just fall over and die

[enthusiasticsobrietyabuse]

Bob Meehan - Times Advocate: Sunday, August 26, 1984

The story of a con man who helps kids kick drugs

Robert Meehan describes himself as a hippie, a rebel, a former heroin addict and a con man. There is no one better qualified, in his mind, to help teenagers get off drugs.

Meehan is the director of a Valley Center drug-rehabilitation program for young drug abusers called SLIC - Sober Live-In Center - Ranch. The former director of a major Houston-based drug rehabilitation program, Meehan has won high praise from clients and their parents, who have included comedians Carol Burnett and Tim Conway.

Despite that praise, however, Meehan's methods have attracted considerable controversy. He left the Houston Palmer Drug program in 1980, after television reports questioned the accuracy of the program's vaunted success rate and Meehan's possible conflict of interest in receiving a lucrative hospital consulting fee.

Meehan's problems did not end when he left Houston, however.

The county has declared SLIC Ranch to be in violation of zoning ordinances, and the state has threatened to close it down unless Meehan gets proper license to run a drug-treatment program. The county has also questioned SLIC's ties to a burgeoning self-help drug program called Freeway that has a satellite programs throughout San Diego County.

SLIC, which charges $4,000 a month and caters mainly to children of affluent parents, has also prompted concerns among drug-counseling professionals. Some worry that the cost of the program is excessive and that it relies heavily on non-professional counselors to provide treatment. They also express concern that Meehan could exert undue influence over his impressionable young charges.

Meehan established SLIC Ranch in 1981 as a privately-funded live-in center for young drug abusers requiring daily counseling to overcome their habits. Between 10 and 16 young people live in a rambling ranch-style house, supervised by Meehan and recovered drug-abusers who have gone through the SLIC program themselves.

While two professional psychologists are associated with the program, the emphasis is on former drug addicts and recovered alcoholics whose counseling approach is: "I've been there before." Meehan himself is a former heroin addict and recovered alcoholic.

Meehan, who wears his hair shoulder-length and sports tight designer jeans and a gold chain necklace, both dresses and acts hip - partly, he says, to gain the trust of his young clients.

"They say, 'Wow, look at this crazy old hippie,'" said Meehan, who does not care to modernize his image.

"I'm still a rebel. I'm still a hippie. I don't know how to change. I love the cause. I feel like I've got as righteous a cause as the Vietnam War."

Meehan said he can understand how parents bringing their kids to SLIC might be leery of him, given his appearance.

"I don't know if I'd trust me," he said, laughing. "But beneath this hair is a red neck. I'm a Republican. Voted for Reagan."

But when he talks about drugs, Meehan speaks in a voice that teenagers can understand.

"It's the Cheech-and-Chong generation," Meehan is fond of saying to his clients. "They're committing suicide on the installment plan."

Meehan often harps on the comedy team of Cheech and Chong, whose trademark is overindulgence in marijuana. In sharp contrast to some health professionals, Meehan regards marijuana as one of the most dangerous drugs used by teenagers.

"Marijuana is the most insidious chemical in society today," because it affects the mind, Meehan said. "I'd rather the kids were shooting heroin."

Meehan's message and his style often prompt adulation from the young people in his care.

"He has the answer to everything," said 16-year-old girl from La Jolla who said she was having trouble getting along with her mother, who had recently remarried. "He has love. It's like one big family. We work together and play together, and it's fun. And Bob's our big daddy."

Meehan, 41, the son of an Irish policeman, grew up in Baltimore. He said he started taking drugs at age 12.

He became an alcoholic and a heroin addict, spending four years in state and federal prisons for drug convictions. While in a Texas jail, Meehan was befriended by an Episcopalian priest. Upon his release he became the janitor for the Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church in Houston.

The priest urged Meehan to stay off drugs by counseling some of the local kids with drug problems of their own. Meehan said that at the time he was "a crazy kid with a 'hellatious' ego and visions of grandeur" and too flattered to turn down the offer.

The informal, self-help group began in 1972 with six members. It grew to become the Palmer Drug Abuse Program, which, according to Meehan, has had 30,000 participants. Meehan described it as "the most powerful drug program in the world."

It was closely modeled after the Alcoholics Anonymous program, with recovered abusers helping their peers.

Palmer garnered national publicity in the late 1970s, when actress Carol Burnett sent her daughter, Carrie Hamilton, there for treatment. Burnett was so impressed with her daughter's improvement that she and her husband accompanied Meehan on the "Phil Donahue Show" and other television shows to tout the program's success.

But Meehan's claims that his program had a cure rate of 75 percent to 80 percent attracted some sharp scrutiny.

In January 1980, CBS' "60 Minutes" TV program broadcast a piece on Palmer. According to a transcript of the broadcast, Meehan conceded under repeated questioning by Dan Rather that he did not have documentation to support his alleged success rate.

Rather also questioned Meehan's $50,000 annual consulting fee from a Houston hospital to which Palmer routinely sent young drug addicts for costly medical treatment. Meehan said during the interview that he saw no conflict of interest.

Meehan was also asked about his power to "persuade" some of the program's vulnerable young clients.

"I have that power," Meehan said. "I certainly do. I've been a con all my life. Just now I'm using it in a good way, see."

Following the "60 Minutes" piece, Meehan was asked to leave Palmer. In retrospect, Meehan now says, he could have prevented his firing by paying more attention to program details.

"I wasn't doing a damn thing wrong," he said. "I didn't mind the store. I was naive."

Meehan came to San Diego to work for Contemporary Health Inc., which was consulting with Center City Hospital, now Harborview Hospital, to establish a drug-abuse program. But his work for the hospital was short-lived.

"My methods are very unorthodox," Meehan said. "I was always fighting the staff."

While working for the hospital, however, Meehan helped establish a self-help counseling program called Freeway. It was modeled directly after Palmer and named after a rock music group formed at Palmer to entertain the kids in the program.

Freeway was started in 1982 by Jac Coupe, a former Palmer counselor, and by other Palmer employees who has left Texas after Meehan's departure. It now has centers in Coronado, Point Loma, Solana Beach and the newest one in Fallbrook.

The program, whose services are free, is funded in each community by local civic groups and churches. It is open to people 13 to 25 seeking help for drug and alcohol problems.

Participants are encouraged to attend weekly group-counseling sessions and to follow a 12-step program to achieve sobriety. Those who are severely addicted are referred for hospital treatment. In some cases, however, Freeway counselors conclude that a young person needs more intensive counseling - at SLIC Ranch.

Those who go to SLIC for a typical one-month stay range in age from 13 to 24, with the average age about 16. Most are psychologically - not physically - addicted to drugs. They have come to get free of dependence on marijuana, alcohol, speed and LSD.

Pat, a 19-year-old Rancho Santa Fe youth, realized he needed help when he mugged a woman to get money for his $600-a-week cocaine habit. John, a 21-year-old alcoholic from Clairemont, had tried a variety of alcohol treatment programs with no success.

SLIC participants live in a spacious ranch house, set among the oaks and hills of Valley Center, with a garden and pond-shaped swimming pool. They share bedrooms dormitory-style, with three or four to a room.

The participants are required to prepare their own meals to their own tastes, and there are no planned menus. Cereal and hot dogs are staples.

The rules prohibit drugs, alcohol, sex and violence. However, smoking, which is allowed, is prevalent.

"We don't care about cigarettes, diets and vitamin intake," Meehan said.

Participants spend most of their days in counseling. During their free time they are allowed to lounge by the pool and play rock music, much to the dismay of the neighbors. Occasional field trips are taken to Disneyland and other amusement centers.

SLIC residents are supervised by a staff of six, most former SLIC residents themselves. At least one staff person is on duty 24 hours a day.

One of the supervisors, Jackie Moors, 26 got off drugs a year ago after going through the SLIC program. Moors, who started doing drugs at age 10 and progressed until she was shooting up crystal methamphetamine, credits SLIC with turning her life around.

"The next stop would have been either jail or death" without SLIC, she said. The program worked, she said, because "people really cared about me." Her young son stays with her at the ranch.

Meehan said one goal of the center is to show residents "how to have more fun sober" than on drugs or alcohol.

Every weekday SLIC residents are transported by van to a rented house in Escondido, where they spend six hours in therapy and discussion.

The sessions are directed by Meehan and by Peter Sterman, a psychological assistant, who cannot practice without supervision of a licensed psychologist. His supervisor is Dr. Carl E. Morgan of San Diego.

In the evenings and on weekends, the residents are often taken to meetings of Freeway or Alcoholics Anonymous.

Last month the state notified Meehan that the center was operating without a license and threatened to close it down unless the center meets state standards required for a so-called residential-care license.

SLIC has been operating without a license because Meehan has successfully dodged the requirements, according to Tom Hersant, director of the San Diego office of the state's Community Care Licensing Division.

He told state officials that the ranch was operating not as a residential-care center providing therapy to live-in clients, but as a "boarding house," with the boarders receiving their counseling off the ranch in an Escondido house.

Meehan told the Times-Advocate that he attempted to avoid licensing to keep costs down.

Last month state investigators who has been suspicious of the arrangement finally confront SLIC officials.

"They told us, 'All right, already. We do provide therapy,'" Hersant said. "Suddenly now they're 'fessing up that they offer therapy."

State officials informed Meehan that a license would be needed.

To obtain a license the center would have to meet fire safety standards, provide a medical checkup for new clients to insure they are getting the appropriate treatment, and keep records evaluating the clients' progress. SLIC would no longer be allowed, as it does now, to mix clients younger than 18 with those older than 18.

Please see Ranch, page B2

Meehan has insisted that the licensing requirements are minor. He said he would comply, though he feels that the regulations would bring too much formality to the relaxed way he runs the program.

Not only must the ranch be licensed, but the counseling program run at the Escondido house must obtain a separate license to offer drug counseling. Once a facility is licensed, the state inspects it once a year to insure that standards are met.

Hersant said SLIC has agreed to apply for the two licenses. The licensing approval usually takes 90 days. If no licenses are obtained, he said, the state will move to shut SLIC down.

Meehan said he plans to meet the state requirements, but he dislikes the paperwork.

"I will comply to whatever extent I have to, to help young people," he said. "At the same time, I just want to do my thing."

Meehan said his problems with the state occurred because of negative publicity generated by the ranch's landlord, Clayton Blehm, an Escondido accountant. Blehm was sentenced in June to one year in jail for zoning violations at the Valley Center property that included adding illegal structures around the ranch. He is out on bail awaiting an appeal.

Blehm has also been cited by county zoning officials for allowing SLIC to move in without getting a major use permit - required to run a treatment center in a rural-residential area. The zoning investigations were prompted by complaints from neighbors, some of whom said that a drug treatment center did not belong in their quiet neighborhood and that they were repeatedly disturbed by loud music.

Last year SLIC and Freeway were the subject of an "informal investigation" by the county Division of Drug Programs. The investigation was prompted partly by complaints from a San Diego city schools official concerned that Freeway encouraged some young persons to stay away from school for one to three months to avoid their drug-using friends.

The report concluded that the complaint was the result of lack of communication between the school district and Freeway and that the two should work out an understanding.

The county investigation was also prompted by concerns about SLIC's relationship with Freeway.

"On the surface," the report said, "one might question the referral relationship, since both program directors hold a personal acquaintance that foes back to the Palmer Drug Abuse Program in Houston. However, DDP has no documentation information to suggest there is any impropriety or conflict of interest in the referral process."

Meehan said he has no break-down on where SLIC clients come from, but that many are referred by Freeway. He said SLIC and Freeway have no financial arrangements, because that would be unethical.

"There can't be," he said. "There's absolutely no financial arrangement either way."

Meehan urges all SLIC residents to attend Freeway counseling sessions after they leave the ranch. That is critical to staying sober, according to Meehan.

"If we can't hook a kid into Freeway," he said, "his chances are less than 60 percent of making it."

Some who go through the SLIC program are advised to live with "Freeway families" for several months, rather than with their own families. Meehan defended the practice for some clients, contending they would fall back into bad habits at home.

Asked whether continued reliance on Freeway would hurt a client's chances of becoming independent, Meehan said, "It's a very safe group of friends to have. I don't know if it's an unhealthy dependency."

According to Meehan, 90 percent of those who have gone through the SLIC program in the past 18 months have remained sober or off drugs after they left. He said that figure comes from undocumented reports from Freeway officials. "I hate statistics," he said.

Despite its concerns, the County Division of Drug programs concluded that there was "no documentable evidence" to prevent the county from recommending SLIC and Freeway as treatment centers.

At the time of the investigation, Meehan was serving the first year of a three-year term on the county's Advisory Committee on Drug Abuse. The 11-member volunteer committee helps county officials select drug-treatment programs to receive county money.

Freeway centers, which are privately funded, are generally located in affluent regions of the county.

"They're in the ones that can pay for it," Meehan said. "They have raised the money."

Parents in those communities can also afford to send their children to SLIC. The $4,000-a-month cost of attending SLIC has raised eyebrows among professional drug counselors.

By comparison, the county-funded McAllister Institute of Training and Education in El Cajon charges about $720 a month to treat women with drug problems.

Jessica Lewis, program director for Community Resources and Self-Help Inc., which has a county contract to treat drug abusers in San Diego, said the program has never referred anyone to SLIC. Lewis said her program's clients cannot afford Meehan's program.

"His target audience is kids from families that are financially successful," she said. "He's earning big bucks. More power to him. He has a mindset of big business and the heartset of helping people. I don't question his sincerity."

During his "60 Minutes" interview four years ago, Meehan said he was worth more than the $100,000 he was then making. He would not say in a recent interview how much he makes running SLIC.

Meehan, who lives in Rancho Bernardo, said that despite the $4,000-a-month per-person SLIC Ranch fee, he is not getting rich.

"Where that profit is, I haven't seen it yet," he said. "I make enough to pay my bills and save $100 a month."

Some health professionals were reluctant to speak candidly about Meehan's program. One noted that Meehan, because he sits on the county advisory committee, wields influence over the finances of many local treatment programs.

Nevertheless, some drug-treatment experts expressed reluctance to refer clients to SLIC because of its reliance on non-professional counselors. After sitting on a panel discussion with Meehan, Greg Baer, head nurse of the substance-abuse unit at Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in Chula Vista, he said he would not recommend Meehan's program for anyone.

"I just question his ability to be therapeutic," said Baer, whose program also treats adolescents for as much as $10,200 a month. "The people we deal with need a therapeutic approach from people who are knowledgeable... you need to have knowledge of what you're doing and not just go with a gut feeling."

Baer criticized SLIC's exclusion of the families of young drug abusers from its treatment program.

"If Johnny is going to return home, you have to discuss how this is going to be done... Otherwise you are doomed for failure," he said.

Some professional counselors said they worry about Meehan's influence over young people. Lewis said it is important for an organization such as SLIC, which treats emotionally-dependent people, to be accountable to a licensing or watchdog agency. Otherwise, she said, clients can be exploited.

"It's a pain in the neck," she said, "but I'm prepared to answer to those (licensing) people. There are enough people looking over our shoulder to make sure our clients are safe."

John Adam, a licensed psychologist in Coronado who has monitored SLIC Ranch and Freeway for more than a year, said he is concerned about the unorthodox nature of the counseling. Adam said the adulation that SLIC participants feel toward Meehan resembles hero worship.

"Any time you depend on the charisma of a leader, you fear that results will fade with time or distance from the guru," he said.

Meehan said he knows that he has tremendous influence on this young charges, but he tries to use that to good purposes.

"I'd like to think I'd become one of their local heroes instead of Cheech and Chong," he said.

But he acknowledged that his relationship with the clients could lead to problems.

"Yeah, it scares me," he said. "You get into a real guru (situation). This is where cults can begin."

"I have an advantage, though, because they're here only 30 days. I cut them loose emotionally when they leave here."

[militantwarriorsaint]

Something that makes me depressed about how ISIS atrocities

Reading about the war crimes that the Islamic State committed in Iraq, Syria and beyond like the attempted genocide against the Yazidi people, I discovered about other incidents that happened beforehand two centuries ago when reading about the captivity of Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam by Tipu Sultan

On arrival at Seringapatam the Christian captives were forced to embrace Islam. All those who complied were freed. Those who refused were tied to the feet of the elephants to be dragged and trampled on Tipu's orders.[81]

One English prisoner related that two risalas (regiments of soldiers) arrived daily in Seringapatam to select girls they could take as prizes to join their harems. Often when girls were seized, their young men would offer resistance and smash their dhoolies (palanquin). Officers would capture the attackers and administer five hundred strokes with whips and canes, from whose effects many men died.[84] Historian Lewin Bentham Bowring reports that, "Tipu demanded the surrender of the daughters of some of these Christians in order to have them placed in his seraglio, and that, on the refusal of their parents, the latter had their[84] noses, ears and upper lips cut off, and were paraded through the streets on asses, with their faces towards the tails of the animals."[85]

Such treatment of the Christians for refusals by the girls is also confirmed in the accounts of British officer James Scurry, who was held captive along with the Mangalorean Catholics.[86] In his book The Captivity, Sufferings, and Escape of James Scurry, who was Detained a Prisoner During Ten Years, in the Dominions of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib (1824), Scurry also reports that Tipu relented on his demand for captive girls, after one captive fell from her beast and expired on the spot through loss of blood.[86] About 200 young women, the prettiest and fairest, were selected for Tipu's seraglio. The rest of the women were distributed as wives to Muslim officers and favourites living there.[82] The future Christian progeny of these young girls and women were lost, and their descendants are fully Islamic as of today.[64]

As the food in the camp was sub-standard, Balthazar of Belthangadi, a Mangalorean Catholic nobleman, offered to make a chutney for the captured Mangalorean Catholics. This came to be known as the legendary "Balthazar Chutney" .[87] The jemadars, subedars, and havildars meted out more an ignominious punishment to those who refused to accept Islam, slitting off their ears and noses. They were seated on asses, paraded through the city, and thrown into the dungeons of Seringapatam.[81] Able-bodied young Christian men were drafted into the army after being circumcised and converted to Islam.[49]

The Barcoor Manuscript records, "On four occasions the young able-bodied Christian men were thus drafted for the Army. Some of them were appointed jemadars, subedars, and havildars. The Sircar supplied them with ghee, butter, curds, firewood, etc. One hundred men were formed into one company, four companies into a risala, four risalas into a sufedar, and four sufedars were placed under a bakshi. Out of every company twenty-five men were taken and circumcised at the end of every month. When the wounds were healed, another twenty-five were taken and circumcised, and so on, until the whole company was initiated into Islamism."[49]

British general Kirkpatrick arrives at a figure of 15,000 young men capable of bearing arms, formed into 30 risalas.[49] They were drafted into the Ahmedy Corps in 1785 and went on to serve in Tipu's campaigns against the Marathas, the Nizam, and the British during 1786 and 1787. Casualties were heavy and only a few survived captivity.[79]

Those who remained, such as the lame, the blind and the aged, employed themselves in cultivating the land and doing other manual work. Many were made to carry baskets filled with gobra (cowdung) for three days as a public warning to others. The stubborn Christians were given the most menial tasks, and made to work in the paddy fields. They were underfed, and immediately imprisoned for fighting. Completely isolated from any women, the idea was for the captive men to die of old age without creating any progeny.[88]

Tipu appointed some Christian captives to posts in his household. He made Salu (Salvadore) Pinto Deputy Vizier and Anthony Gagialgar(clockmaker) Saldanha House Chamberlain.[79] One of his most faithful servants, a Mangalorean Catholic named Manuel Mendes, saved Tipu's life in Travancore when he donned his master's robes and sat in his palanquin. Tipu escaped in the general panic whilst Mendes was captured and killed by the Nairs, who mistook him for Tipu.[89]

In 1783, the Kodavas erupted in revolt against Tipu and threw their forces out of Coorg. In 1785, he marched into Mercara the capital of Coorg and addressed them. He showed racial and religious bias by stating that the Kodavas were guilty of polyandry in a speech before a gathering of Kodavas. He mistook the patrilineal patriarchal Kodavas to be a sub-group of matriarchal Nairs.[90] He threatened that he would not revile or molest a single individual among them, but instead make Ahmadis (Muslims) out of the whole of them; transplanting them from their homeland in the Coorg to Seringapatam. This inflammatory speech with false accusations of polyandry and an open threat angered the Kodavas who thereafter hated Tipu and again revolted against him.[91]Tipu seized nearly 70,000 Hindus of Coorg along with their king, Dodda Vira-Rajendra, and held them captive at Seringapatam. They were also forcibly converted to Islam and received the same harsh treatment as the Mangalorean Catholics.[92] From 1786 until 1789, even the Nairs of Malabar were captured and deported to Seringapatam.[93]

Tipu's embassy visited the court of the French King Louis XVI in 1788. During the visit, Pope Clement XIV's representative conveyed the appeal to the embassy to allow the priests in Seringapatam.

By 1787, half of the Christians had perished through disease and starvation. Tipu attempted to preach to the remaining Christians in Canara, and took them into custody.[61] As the Christians settled down in Seringapatam, they slowly reorganised themselves with the elders forming a secret group named the "Council of Ten", to help keep their faith alive.[88] According to Balthazar of Belthangadi, in the "Council of Ten", the Christians met from time to time to deliberate on issues concerning the community. In 1789, Tipu came to know of the group through one of his officers and thereafter banned any political gathering of the Christians.[94]

The Christians, believing that this tribulation came upon them for their neglect of the Law of God and their religious duties, began to fervently read the Krista Purana, an epic poem on the life of Jesus Christ written by the English Jesuit Thomas Stephens (1549––1619). On discovering this, some Muslims destroyed the books, but the Christians constructed subterranean refuges in which to perform their religious devotions, read the books, and strengthen their faith.[82] According to Mr. Silva of Gangollim, a survivor of the captivity, if a person who had escaped from Seringapatam was found, the punishment ordered by Tipu was amputation of the ears, nose, feet and one hand.[95]

“Several thousand Christians in the dominion of Tipu Sultan had often in past years represented to him the discomfort attending the due exercise of their religion. He had hitherto paid no manner of regard to their supplications. Nevertheless, the present state of affairs in his extensive empire had inclined his heart to mercy and not to harshness. Wherefore he had dispatched these his trusty messengers who might convey the words of his mouth in all variety, begging the Governor and the Archbishop not to refuse every needful exertion towards succoring their brethren Christians according to the obligations of their religion. And he would as soon as might be convenient rebuild at his own expense the Churches that the fate decreed agents of destruction had levelled to the ground.” - Letter sent by Tipu to the Archbishop of Goa

Reports by Joachim Miranda and the Portuguese Government confirm that the Christians were forcibly circumcised and converted to Islam. These Christians then openly practised Islam.[96] Some writers hold the view that the Christians did not voluntary submit to these conversions.[97] Other Christian missionaries also appealed to the Roman Catholic Church to intervene on behalf of the captive Christians. A priest also wrote a letter to the Holy See to put pressure on Tipu to allow the priests.[98]

When Tipu's embassy visited the court of the French King Louis XVI in 1788, Pope Clement XIV's representative conveyed the appeal to the embassy. In the Third Anglo-Mysore War (1789––92), the British and their allies defeated Tipu. Desperate to break the alliance of powers surrounding him on all sides, Tipu sought to make peace with Portugal, the Marathas, and other powers.[98] According to Severine Silva, he consequently gave up the persecution of Christians, opened negotiations with the Portuguese Government and with the Archbishop of Goa, with a promise that he would stop molesting the Christians, further asserting that he would rebuild all destroyed churches at his own cost.[98]The Christians found their supervision relaxed and Tipu became more conciliatory in his attitude. The Christians now escaped from the camps of Seringapatam and gradually began to enter the neighbouring kingdoms of Coorg and Malabar.[98]

At this time many Christians performed daring feats to rescue captives from Seringapatnam and take them to places of safety.[98] A captive named Domingo Pinto (brother of Salvador Pinto, who rose to high rank in the services of Tipu), was particularly proficient in this. He rescued many people and took them secretly to Mangalore or Tellicherry. He proposed that those anxious to regain their liberty could be rescued on payment to him of a certain sum of money. He fixed the rescue price per captive at 8 hoons (Rs. 32) for a male, and 4 hoons (Rs. 16) for a female.[98]

In 1792, the King of Coorg, Dodda Vira-Rajendra, managed to escape from captivity at Seringapatnam, and, with the aid of the British armies under Lord Cornwallis, was able to regain Coorg for himself through the treaty of 1792 between the English, their allies and Tipu.[99] Anxious to repopulate a kingdom depopulated by Tipu, Dodda welcomed the fugitive Konkani Christians. As an inducement to remain permanently in his territory, he granted them several privileges, obtained a priest from Goa, and built a chapel for them.[99] After the relaxation of policies from 1792 onwards, the Christians began to resettle in Canara. Many Mangalorean Catholic students, who had studied for the priesthood in Goa returned to Mangalore.[99]

After considering the changed circumstances, the Archbishop of Goa, by a provision issued on 20 February 1795, appointed Minguel José Louis Mendes interim vicar of the four sub-districts of Mangalore, Barcoor, Onore and Moolki.[99] Some other priests also came to Canara with the new vicar. Those from Goa retained their old prejudices and could not accept the rule of Tipu, openly advocating rebellion against him, writing offensive letters and making offensive speeches. As a result, in 1797, the brief repite enjoyed by the Christians ceased and their persecution recommenced.[99]

All of this rings incomfortably close to the actions perpetrated by ISIS towards its victims, except directed towards the Yazidis rather than Christians. Heck, one could say Yazidis were treated even worse since they were not even “People of the Book” like Christians were, but it doesn’t change the fact that Tipu persecuted the Mangaloreans simply because they were of an different religion. Now the thing I really find most upsetting is the shameless attempts of ISIS and its sympathizers to claim that non-Muslims are well-treated by them. I’ve read many reports from captured ISIS wives bare-boldly saying that Yazidi girls were “well treated” even though reality proves the absolute contrary: we have uncovered mass graves of Yazidis murdered, there are sites circulating on the Gulf States showing Yazidi girls being sold for rich degenerates, countless reports and stuff like that. And there are people out there (misguided liberals or genuine Islamists likely paid off by Qatar) who defends them stating that all atrocities committed by ISIS were “Western propaganda”.

I wouldn’t be surprised if 10 years from now, there will be people who will whitewash their crimes and paint them in a more heroic light as righteous martyrs standing up against superpowers like the USA, Europe and Russia. Because I know for a fact that Tipu is venerated like a hero in India and Pakistan for standing up against the British and fighting for independence. Now don’t get me wrong. The British get a lot of shit and deservingly so for many things - specially how they colonialism was handled in India, but if there was one thing that they definitely did right was putting down Tipu like the animal that he was because if someone like him was alive today and did all the same shit we are seeing right now, he would not have been considered any different than Abu Bakr al-Baghadadi. 

[entilzhafiresong-blog]

Angst Questions Part 1

Entilzha’s answers to the first half of angst questions from @ lady-baratheon! You’ll probably pick up something new even if you know him well; shit I’ve been him 6 years and hadda think on a bunch.

1. What’s one experience your character had that made them very afraid?Entilzha's wife Valeria died giving birth to his 7 year old daughter Ysandre, whom had a stillborn twin turned wrong, resulting in the death of her mother. Entilzha has only Ysandre and desires a male heir to carry on the 11,000 year old Firesong bloodline, but has been hesitant to remarry largely because of another pregnancy. 

2. Does your character have a deep and/or dark secret? If so, what is it?

Well, I can't give them all out, but his magical addiction being at a much higher level than most blood elves is something he generally keeps to himself, as he sips triple-infused arcwine - hints. 

3. Have they ever lost a loved one? What happened to them, and are they the same as they were before they lost them?

Every Blood Elf over age 12 will answer this as "Yes", but Entilzha was more recently shaken by his wife's loss stated in question 1. The deaths of his parents and grandmother were never recovered, and uncertainty over their fate, whether or not they were risen as undead and continue to suffer, haunted him deeply for years and prompted him to go to Icecrown to face the scourge, fearing their unwilling service. No record of them existing as Forsaken or Death Knights  turned up, and when Entilzha was back in Ashal'Thalas, he received a sense of solace during a family ancestral ritual, that leads him to believe his parents and grandmother are not actively suffering. Their loss emphasized the sense of duty he was raised with to House Firesong and Quel'Thalas, though the loss of his wife Valeria is the most recent and deepest wound Entilzha carries, if he seldom speaking of it.

4. Has your character ever been hurt or betrayed by someone they thought they could depend on? What happened?

Yes, though the IC/OOC waters are murky and as I don't recognized powerplayed events, I consider that an OOC thing. The deepest sense of betrayal Entilzha encounters is Sin'dorei whom place the Horde before Silvermoon, elves he sees as traitors, or deeply misguided at best.

5. Would they ever turn on someone they just met in order to save themselves?

If they aren't of Highborne blood, without question. To clarify that I do not advocate real life racism, as Thalassian culture is very ethnocentric and xenophobic, and Entilzha is from a conservative region of that state; Ashal'Thalas is a coastal enclave only accessible by sea or portal, and though small (only around 2k elves live there, mostly woods), his family's lands suffered only minor damage in the invasion, and Entilzha would place his seven year old daughter, his duties to Ashal'Thalas and House Firesong, and vision of Quel'Thalas, as paramount to the life of one he views as of a lesser bloodline. 

If the person in question is Thalassian the waters get murkier, also Highborne and Nightborne but Entilzha hates seeing Sin'dorei and Quel'dorei die (especially when they kill each other), and would do anything possible to avoid this outcome, but at the end of the day if 2 people walk in a room, and only one is coming out, Ent has too much left to do and people whom need him for it to be anyone else, though he'd probably just make a portal for them both, and wouldn't casually dismiss the life of a non-elf as meaningless, but  it lacks the dilemma (Side Note: Thalassian culture is based on an extremely isolated and xenophobic culture, and I strive to roleplay that accurately. 

(I take issue with people who throw around the real life term "racist" in a video game where pretty much everything is divided by race; they are biologically distinct species, and it would be fundamentally wrong to play a 350 year old elf from a conservative part Quel'Thalas, a nation he seldom left until it was sacked, as a modern politically correct cosmopolitan person, is not true to lore. Please don't mix in real life racism. I feel like this is more an issue with ally side high elves (where sadly the RP is in a sorry state with some of the worst people I've ever met taking a Pandaren shit on lore), and more accepted as just the cultural fact is is on horde side, but as people IN ths game toss around the R word and people who don't even know what a Blood Elf is may read this, had to extra clarify there). 

6. Have they ever committed a crime, or something they felt was wrong? What was it?

Crime yes; during the Ghostlands Restoration effort, Entilzha recognized the need for druidic aid, and sought out the Cenarion Circle, although Quel'Thalas had chosen not to accept their aid. This was kept low key and there were a few Kaldorei among them which violates Quel'Thalas law, though Entilzha views not accepting help restoring the Ghostlands as morally justified. He's worked undercover which naturally violates the laws of those he was spying on, and as a noble has used the range of secrets, blackmail, extortion, and the occasional murder to protect House Firesong, though having survived a number of assassination attempts himself and learning of the nasty side to nobility from his father Xarian, Entilzha views acts necessary to safeguard House Firesong and his immediate family, his daughter Ysandre and sister Salandra at present, as the most necessary, followed by what is necessary to safeguard Quel'Thalas. 

He takes no joy in suffering, but somewhat of a Machiavellian view at least as pertains to his family and his people; there are situations he would sacrifice himself. And nobody said anything when I took those bottles of arcwine, so that's not stealing, right? 

7. If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would it be and why?

Entilzha despises those whom pit elf against elf, and holds a special hatred for orders and "leaders" whom increase division for personal power. There are a number of RP actors in Silvermoon Ent would not hesitate to kill, but they'd be replaced without their counterpart to drive the wedge; and the purge of Dalaran needs to be punished. 

Lore characters, Vereesa Windrunner and Jaina Proudmoore, and while I despise Jaina, I'd kill Vereesa because if the Silver Covenant collapses and the "exiled" High Elves lack leadership it ought make more return home as Ent desires. In terms of roleplayers, along those same lines, Silver Covenant leadership, namely Aeriyth Dawnsorrow. 

8. Does your character have any enemies? If so, who and why?

Lots. Entilzha  is vocal about opposing Silvermoon's membership in the horde, advocating reconciliation with the Quel'dorei, and restoring the Ghostlands as part of a return to full sovereignty. Given the state of the Ghostlands, this is not a priority for many in Quel'Thalas, and he considers Dominion of the Sun and others whom actively slay for the horde and widen the Sin''dorei-Quel'dorei gap for personal power as enemies of the highest order. His feelings about the equally extremist High Elven, pro-Alliance Highguard are similar, two halves each benefiting from the death of their kin, and two large and powerful enemies for one minor noble. Good thing Ent's good with wards and usually has guards. And snipers. Watch out. I mean it. 

9. Is the character a victim of abuse?

Not any more than any other Sin'dorei. His withdrawal from the loss of the Sunwell was especially bad due to his higher addiction level.

10. What were the character’s parents like? What was the affect the parents had on the character?

Entlzha's father Lord Xarian Firesong was a Magister as himself, in the tradition of House Firesong. While the Lordship of House Firesong is hereditary, the traditional leadership of Ashal'Thalas' Circle of Mages, which Xarian and most of Entilzha's Thalassian paternal ancestors held, is not, and must  be recognized through skill in the arcane. Entilzha's first century or so was extremely demanding with  full time schooling from age 7, until he was named a Magister of the Sunwell at 114. 

Xarian and Entilzha had little time together, and while the path of a leywalker is both of Entilzha's own choosing, the loss of the Sunwell, and advancements in his work, his tireless approach to the arcane and magical mysteries, was instilled by his father, as was the necessity to respect magic. Xarian enjoyed fishing, and it was one of the few things him and Entilzha, whom retains the hobby, did together, and Xarian spoke deeply of his sense of duty to the people of Ashal'Thalas, speaking of them as extended family with an obligation to protect, as well as the duty to maintain both House Firesong's ancient bloodline and governance of Ashal'Thalas, and to do what is necessary. Entilzha's style as Lord Arcanist heavily mimics his father whom was his earliest role model for both, and Xarian's deep sense of duty to his House and people and dedication to the arcane live on through Entilzha. 

Entilzha's mother, Ranger-Captain Ariella Firesong, bucked typical tradition in joining the Farstriders, and not taking the Sun Crown, the Matriarchal head of House Firesong and governess of the capital of Ashal'Thalas, Bal'adeni. Entilzha's grandmother, Sun Matriarch Sarenthia Firesong, held the crown until she was slain with Lord Xarian, whom were at the Sanctum of the Moon when the invasion struck. As a child, Entilzha was fascinated by his mother, whom made time for her son and daughter, but as a Farstrider, a Ranger-Lt. for most of Entilzha's life, she was away for long stretches, and as the sense of duty to House Firesong sunk into Entilzha, the sense that his mother was not fulfilling hers to gallivant in the forest while his grandmother had handled the endless diplomacy and noble politics for over four centuries by the time of her death.

Sarenthia pushed Entilzha's sister Salandra to be prepared for the Sun Crown, and while Salandra did much of the actual legwork by the time of the invasion, the crown was not passed until after, likely for political reasons, as the Sun Crown often is donned by a Lord's wife, and its unavailability would have dampened Entilzha's marriage prospects. By tradition, his mother would have passed the crown at Entilzha's wedding or upon the birth of his first child, though the division of powers in House Firesong grants substantial powers to the Sun Matriarch, powers a younger sister whom had prepared for centuries and held only briefly, may not be inclined to part with, and aside from death, the crown is passed only by will, and has been retained over convention in past situations. 

Entilzha has since given his mother much thought, and realized that she served House Firesong and Quel'Thalas in her own way. As he came to understand that the bond Rangers share with nature is as profound, perhaps even more than, his own arcane gifts, and that in pre-invasion Quel'Thalas, Ariella had no reason to believe Salandra would not grow up to succeed her, and do so likely far better than a woman who yearned to be outdoors, not at endless balls and formal affairs. 

Salandra was more than prepared for the crown, as her current strength shows, and Ariella serving as a Farstrider meant much to the Emberstriders, the Rangers of Ashal'Thalas, whom generally serve a period among the Farstriders before returning to guard Ashal'Thalas, as the central defensive force of the pre-invasion era, were often overpowered by the towering Dal'felo "Firestar" Tower, and the accolade which went to the magi of Ashal'Thalas, while the narrow sea border with the Amani peninsula was kept safe by the Rangers. After his parents death, Entilzha read one her mother's diary, and her connection to the the Emberstriders meant much to her and to them. 

Ariella is the parent Entilzha was most concerned about, as she fell near Sylvanas, as he was hold, and what became of her any many of her rangers is well known. He's since ruled out her existence as a Dark Ranger, and with ancestral guidance, has a sense she's at peace, though looking back at his mother, and at the balance between arcane and nature Thas'alah maintained, very much wishes he could speak with her, as he saw her little in the decades prior to the invasion. 

11. What are your character’s coping mechanisms?

Spellweaving. Entilzha will poke at leylines and experiment with runes and formations for days on end to keep himself busy. He focuses in leylines, wards, illusions, and portals, each aspects of the arcane that are mercilessly unforgiving, and demand full concentration, pushing aside what was there. Reading can fill such a role, though not as effectively as the meditation Entilzha requires several hours per day to maintain inner harmony with his high arcane levels. 

He smokes thistle from a hookah and may consume more arcwine than is the norm if under much stress, but recognizing his arcane addiction tries to avoid that route, since assuming the Lordship while Entilzha was only briefly married before Valeria fell, he has had at least one consort in the Dal'felo Spire more often than not. 

Though if something is bothering Entilzha, the best recipe is the company of the few elves he truly trusts, his guard captain Israai, Jandissa, scribe and consort, and Morgane Devaux, a Nightborne arcanist Entilzha met during the Suramar Campaign, helping her escape from her Felborne-turned brother, and regain her family regalia. Morgane is older than Entilzha by much; she was born in Zin-Azshari and while her beauty and intellect fascinates him, he doesn't view Morgane in a romantic light, but she's come to be his closest and most trusted friend, likely the first elf he'd go to. 

12. Do they like to suffer? Like to see other people suffering?

Entilzha says quite plainly that to suffer is to be Sin'dorei, accepting such as the shared sacrifice of his people. The enemies mentioned previously, and some others Entilzha would shed no tears seeing suffer, though as retribution for their deeds he views as evil or unjust; Entilzha does not enjoy suffering, received or given, and when he's handed down death sentences, only three occasions, he's used an overpowered spell to kill them virtually instantly each time. He will however do what is needed to make a captive share what he needs to know. Lord Firesong is proficient at mental probes, but such is an imperfect art, and torturing captive foes, last practiced on any scale when House Firesong took captives early in the Iron Horde invasion, deeply confused and seeking answers. He got his answers, but as a means to an end. 

13. What does it take to make your character cry?

Entilzha last cried when his wife Valeria died, doing so as he held her dying hand. He typically hides his emotions, especially those that may be perceived as weakness, having learned from his father that a Lord cannot appear weak or he will be weak, is more likely to react to sadness either via anger or isolation. He would certainly cry if his seven year old daughter Ysandre died, though in such a tragedy would likely appear stoic and only further hardened in public, perhaps expressing such deep feelings in private.

14. What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?

I'm not sure if this is a flaw or just a preference, and may well stem from the only true love he'd had, having known and grown close to Valeria while she mended House Firesong's wounded in the Ghostlands Campaign, he grew comfortable having her at his side, completed, and struggles with relationships that involve prolonged periods of time apart. Since Valeria, Entilzha would not involve himself to another without a time commitment, if not on the level of Valeria, though being in a relationship and alone most nights, Entilzha finds disheartening, a sign of rejection if indefinite. He understands duty well, and can certainly love someone whose time is limited, as his own is, but Entilzha would never claim being a Magister more important than one he wanted to marry; they occupy two entirely different spheres, and as a relationship awakens the feelings of loss Entilzha went through with Valeria, he found attempting a relationship with a Farstrider and then an Argent cleric, both elegant Sin'dorei, but with so little time, his sense of rejection grew stronger. This has impacted Entilzha but I am not sure if it's good or bad, as he wants someone who will be there for himself and his daughter, doesn't require that they be with him all the time, but that a partner share the sense of priority he does. Entilzha doesn't view wanting someone whom makes being an active part of his life and Ysandre's as a negative, but intimacy reopens wounds from Valeria, wounds loneliness does not comfort. 

15. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared?

Entilzha's biggest fear is losing his daughter Ysandre, followed by the possibility he will never love another close to as he did Valeria. Pragmatically, he fears the Undercity, with their population slowing going insane, plague weapons. He had feared that the culture of Quel'Thalas would erode from such unprecedented and prolonged contact with "savage" races, but sees the Sin'dorei maintaining their pride, and does believe they will be free of the horde while he lives.

[thetruthseekerway]

The Pandemic: Punishment or Blessing?

New Post has been published on https://www.truth-seeker.info/quran-science-2/the-pandemic-punishment-or-blessing/

The Pandemic: Punishment or Blessing?

By T. O. Shanavas

The Pandemic: Punishment or Blessing?

All Muslims accept that God is al-Kareem (The Most Generous). Muslims learned in madrasa that the Omni-Benevolent God is the source of all generosity.

But I never had an internally consistent satisfactory answer to my impasse over theodicy (the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil), as well as the existence of the free will within Qadr of Allah (God knows everything and has already decided everything that will happen).

Muslim scholars have tried to circumvent the quandary as follows: Allah exists outside of time and space, beyond the cosmic veil in the Unseen. By contrast, we human beings can only conceive of realities within the framework of time and space.

Divine providence, or predestination, is a reality that exists beyond time and space, which means we are simply incapable of conceiving it with our limited rational faculties. Then, how do we, Muslims, respond to someone or a Muslim college student using same logic to vindicate polytheism and denies Tawhid (The Unification of oneness of God)? Coronavirus and social isolation gave me time to reflect on the topic and the coronavirus experience gave me the answer.

Allah created the earth and the universe. God offered Heavens and Mountains to take the responsibility of its care. But they refused, but later mankind accepted it. The dialogue between God and heavens, mountains and the plenum of gases enlightens us that as in the case of the animal kingdom these inanimate creatures also have self, consciousness, and subjectivity. The inanimate creations communicate with God in their own language that human does not understand.

God directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, “Come [into being], willingly or by compulsion.” They said, “We have come willingly.” (Qur’an 41:11) The seven heavens and the earth and whatever is in them exalt Him. And there is not a thing except that it exalts [Allah] by His praise, but you do not understand their [way of] exalting. Indeed, He is ever Forbearing and Forgiving” (Qur’an 17:34).

“We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it;- He was indeed unjust and foolish;” (Qur’an 33:72). God instructed man also : “And do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading corruption.” (Qur’an, 2:60), and elsewhere: “And do not desire corruption in the land. Indeed, God does not like corruptors.” (Qur’an 28:77)

The world has changed since then. Arrogant man self-glorified himself as the invincible lord of the world and assumes that everything on the earth is his personal property that can be used, abused, or wasted. All knowing God notices man’s dereliction of his duties by polluting the earth, the air, oceans, cutting down forests, and destroying the habitat of other communities of His creatures to satisfy man’s greed. The consequences of human ravages on the earth many?

For example:

100,000 citizens die every year in America alone from air pollution. Then, add up all the life lost in the rest of world (https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2019-04-08/100-000-americans-die-from-air-pollution-study-finds).

Climate change and pollution resulted from the self-indulgent human exploitation of the natural wealth apportioned for the entire divine creatures are responsible for a staggering extinctions 318 animal species to date that we know of (https://theecologist.org/2019/oct/04/rising-pollution-endangering-species).

Globally, 100,000 marine mammals die every year as a result of plastic pollution (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Ocean_Factsheet_Pollution.pdf).

Bees are the foundation for many sources of food, fruits, nuts, coffee, vegetable, etc., Honeybees are already under siege. Colony Collapse Disorder kills an alarming number of bees each year linked to some pesticides. If bee goes into extinction, the fruits, vegetable and grains will disappear from markets (https://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/pollution-and-honeybees).

There are many more human inflicted mayhem on the ecosystem to list here. Muslims accept and speak frequently of the universe as a classroom and a testing ground for the adjudication of the sincerity of our faith in God. But few Muslims ever talk about God’s amazing immaculate organization of the universe. I believe that an understanding of the flawless configuration of the universe is extremely important to make a spiritual sense out of the coronavirus pandemic, the human ravage on the environment, the mass migration of refugees, etc. under the watch of Omni-Benevolent God.

God created the universe as a testing ground for his creatures while saving the Jannah for the righteous: ”And We shall assuredly try you until We know those of you who struggle and are steadfast, and try your tidings” (Qur’an 47:31). Allah is flawless in His process of creation and its products so that whatever He created have the potentiality to do what He indented them to execute.

A perfect machine functions by itself without its inventor’s constant intervention. Then only it is perfect and so says God: “Thou seest the mountains and thinkest them firmly fixed: but they shall pass away as the clouds pass away: (such is) the artistry of Allah, who disposes of all things in perfect order: for he is well acquainted with all that ye do.” (Qur’an 27:88).

At the inception of the creation, God built a self-regulating system that we call the universe. He created it with paradisaical precision so that it would do all its duties and function. As revealed in the Quran, the universe and its animate as well as inanimate components, whether it is micro or macro, are living beings that have assigned duties and responsibilities (Qur’an 41:12}

“…He assigned to each heaven its duty and command..”). God endowed the universe with a faculty to monitor its components. This incredible machine acts and reacts, gives and takes, rewards and retributes etc. It knows what God wants to happen in every micro and macro situation as well as in every nook and corner. It executes what God programmed to happen in every situation without God’s constant attention. It is a perfect laboratory machine to evaluate and finally judge man, as Khalifa on the earth.

There is another marvelous wisdom behind the creation of this self-regulating universe. By the genesis of this incredible self-regulating universe, God took Himself off the equation to become “the best judge of all judges” (“Is not Allah the most just of judges?” Qur’an 95:8) so that no creatures including man can implicate Allah for their sin as predestination. Such an understanding of the universe as a flawless machine or computer perfectly merges with the Qur’anic concept of Omniscient Omni-Benevolent Compassionate God in a world with mankind with free will.

This video demonstrates God’s immaculate creation better.

The video illustrates a very small sampling of “الْحَكِيمُ (All Wise) in Action.” We named its activities as the Economy of Nature.

So, God, being the programmer of universe, knows everything and what will happen for every action and its reaction. This is what’s meant by Qadr of Allah . Still in the same universe, God can respond to our prayers without violating His established laws of the universe:

“Your Lord has said, ‘Call upon Me and I will answer you. Surely those who wax too proud to do Me service shall enter Gehenna utterly abject.’” (Quran 40:60).

Another characteristic of the world, that we live in, is the amazing harmony of our free will with the omniscience of the Almighty. Human experiences are linked to time and space. In order to integrate God’s Omniscience with man’s experience of the past, the present, and the future, God created time with an elastic property. God enlightened us on this relative characteristic of time long time before Albert Einstein did (“…but lo! A day is like one thousand years of what you reckon.” Qur’an 22:47).

So, time can shrink even to a freezing halt as in the case of God or expand for the rest of creations depending on its space, speed of motion, gravity, etc. So, our experiences of the past, the present, the future are only a present event happening concurrently for God who is outside time and space. Thereby, in this self-regulating world there is freedom, free will, randomness for mankind without the infringement of God’s omniscience.

We, the human species, take extraordinary measures in extraordinary situations. For example, for the greater good, we, as a nation, lockdown our nation leaving millions of our compatriots, living on paycheck to paycheck, without a source of income for daily living and lifesaving medicines. So, I am thinking aloud here whether coronavirus is an extraordinary response to an extraordinary event by the internally programmed corrective action against greedy heedless mankind polluting the earth, air, and water (“…when some evil afflicts them because of what their (own) hands have sent forth, behold they are in despair!..” Quran 36:37 & “Indeed, Allah does not wrong the people at all, but it is the people who are wronging themselves.” Quran 10:44).

What happens when the universe deploys coronavirus? The earth is showing signs of returning to its original pristine state in a short 4-6 weeks’ time.

Satellite animation shows air pollution in China and Italy clearing amid coronavirus lockdowns (https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/health/us-pollution-satellite-coronavirus-scn-trnd/index.html).

A few Muslims, Christians, and Jews called out the pandemic as a divine punishment against those who differ with them in faith. But I see a God acting as the God of the entire universe not as a God of man only. Is the pandemic a divine blessing for the entire ecosystem of the earth along with lessons as well as a warning to the greedy extravagant heedless humankind for their dereliction of duties as Khalifa?

The laws of the economy of nature are working as it is programmed by God for the welfare of entire creations, not just for man alone. Coronavirus brought tragedy for humankind. Even hugging and kissing became a weapon. But coronavirus delivered also the signs of the abatement of pollution as a result of national lockdowns and the return of life such as dolphins in Italian waterfront, etc. The current pandemic made the earth little more habitable for all other forms of life as a result of abatement of the pollution. Hedonistic hunters are not killing freely roaming wild animals for their selfish fun and joy.

Within the natural economy of the earth, if the current lockdown continues nature will save many millions from the premature deaths around the world with the abatement of pollution. Many species of animals will have a rebirth as a result of the decreasing environmental pollution. The lockdowns cut down the violent deaths. 313 people die from gun violence every day in the US. Marked decrease in travel in lockdown is saving life. 1,000 people die per day from automobile accidents in the US. That does not include the people crippled from accidents. Future generations can breathe and drink untainted air and water if man if mankind learns from it. In the big picture more life saved, more habitat reinstated, a little less global warming and pollution of the earth, air, and water.

Bill Gates pointed out few other blessings that coronavirus brought us. Nothing with standing of the cultural, financial, religious difference the pandemic taught us that humanity is one. The affliction in one is an affliction on the entire humanity. It brought families back together and taught the importance family in our life.

It reminds us that we can be patient. It showed us that “and man is created weak.” (Quran 4:28)

Now read the following verses in the background of the divinely programmed self-regulating system of the universe. Then we can discern the harmony of the presence of evil in the Omni-Benevolent God created world, and motivate all of us to act dutifully, justly, ethically and empathically to the rest of God’s creatures. We are being tested and simultaneously are being warned by coronavirus calamity that we are not necessary for the purity of air, water, the earth and sky.

God demands from us to cease our abuse and wasting of worldly resources and the “corruption of the earth.”

“Verily, We shall put you to test with some fear, and hunger, and with some loss of wealth, lives, and offspring. And (O Muhammad) convey good tidings to those who are patient, who say, when inflicted by hardship, “Verily we are of God and verily to Him shall we return;” upon them is the blessings of Allah and His mercy.” (Qur’an 2:155)

Yes, men and women around the world including me hate and fear coronavirus. It is a tragedy for human species. While coronavirus snatches away thousands of beautiful lives, the decline in pollution, the restoration of natural habitats like dolphins returning to Italian coastline, millions of lives saved from the decrease of pollution, etc. are the good things.

The contradictory concurrent happenings are referred in this verse “…perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not”; (Qur’an 2:216).

In the big picture Allah is the Omni-Benevolent Lord of the Worlds where man is one among many zillions of creatures. The existence of evil in our amazing self-regulating universe is not incompatible with Omni-Benevolent Lord. The emergence of evil and calamities are the end results of the interactions among the animate and inanimate components of the universe.

The prospect of the emergence of evil is built into the structure of the universe in order to make the universe a testing ground. The emergence of an evil rests with the creatures and the application of their free will as we have seen in the case of human selfish squandering the natural resources by deforesting and polluting natural habitats of flora and fauna. Another example of the emergence of pandemic tragedy in US from human activity is Trump’s downplay of impending threat of coronavirus for his political expediency.

So, evil is not from God as He stated in verses 10:44 & 36:37. Let me quote the verse again here:

(“…when some evil afflicts them because of what their (own) hands have sent forth, behold they are in despair!” Qur’an 36:37 & “Indeed, Allah does not wrong the people at all, but it is the people who are wronging themselves.” (Qur’an 10:44).

God’s self-regulating system of the universe looks for the most goodness for the most creations. Man, God’s Khalifa, can join in this struggle or be the victim.

It is not too late for man to repent and rectify his greedy mindset. And seek God’s forgiveness and mercy: Say, ‘O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.” (Qur’an 39:53)”

———–

O. Shanavas is a native of Kerala, India and is now based in the USA. He is the author of “Islamic Theory of evolution of Evolution the Missing Link between Darwin and The Origin of Species.” Co-author of the book, And God Said, “Let There Be Evolution!” Reconciling the Book of Genesis, The Qur’an, And the Theory of Evolution. Edited by Prof. Charles M. Wynn and Prof. Arthur W. Wiggins.