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The Destruction of Great
Cities
The ruin of great cities spoken of in this
hadith brings to mind the destruction that
now arises from war and natural disasters.
In addition to these, recently developed
nuclear weapons, aircraft, bombs, missiles,
and other weapons have caused untold destruction.
These weapons have brought about a level
of destruction heretofore unknown. Indeed,
the great cities targeted are most affected
by this destruction.
The incomparable destruction of the Second
World War is an example of this. The atom
bomb completely destroyed the Japanese cities
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a result of
heavy bombing, European capitals and other
important cities were devastated. The
Encyclopedia Britannica states that:
The
resulting devastation had turned much of
Europe into a Moonscape: cities laid waste
or consumed by firestorms, the countryside
charred and blackened, roads pitted with
shell holes or bomb craters, railways out
of action, bridges destroyed or truncated,
harbors filled with sunken, listing ships.
"Berlin," said General Lucius D. Clay, the
deputy military governor in the U.S. zone
of postwar Germany, "was like a city of
the dead."8
In short, this unprecedented level of destruction
conforms entirely to that described in the
hadith of the Prophet (may God bless him
and grant him peace).
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Approximately
100,000 people died in Hiroshima
in the immediate aftermath of
the atomic bombing and subsequent
months. Three days after this
event, another atomic bomb dropped
on Nagasaki killed another 40,000
people. While bombs killed people,
they also wiped out a great
area of settlement. Those who
survived suffered, as would
their offspring, from genetic
and physiological damage due
to radiation.
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8.
Britannica Encyclopedia 2000: "The Blast
of World War II."
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