natural disasters are occurring nearly five times as often now as they were in the 1970s, according to a 2014 report by the World Meteorological Organization. Both developed and developing countries are bearing the burden of repeated floods, droughts, and temperature extremes.
Are we, humanity, innocent in all of this? In the Qur’an, God says: “Evil has appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of men have earned, that He [God] may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they may return” (30:41).
This passage from the Qur’an points toward a truth that scientists have been articulating as well: 97 percent of climate scientists agree that climate warming trends over the past century are very likely (scientific language for “quite certainly”) due to human activities, and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position....
