Retracted Article: A Spiritual View to the Huge Earthquake in Türkiye

Abstract

The shaking of the earth is a common phenomenon that has been experienced by humans from the earliest of times.[1] The Dead Sea Transform fault system, also sometimes referred to as the Dead Sea Rift, is a series of faults that run from the Maras Triple Junction (a junction with the East Anatolian Fault in southeastern Türkiye) to the Northern end of the Red Sea Rift (just offshore of the Southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula).[2] Throughout history, many large earthquakes have occurred in the Dead Sea Transform fault system. In the 1800s before Christ, the earthquake, which is stated in the Quran[3] [4] as punishment for the people of Lut (Lot)[5] for their denial and immorality, probably took place in the Dead Sea Rift region.[6] Maghreb (Northwest African region), Egypt, Antakya (Antioch), Damascus (Dimaşk), Mosul, Homs (Hims), and whole Al-Jazira region were affected by the earthquake that occurred on November 24, 847 with an estimated magnitude of 7.0. In that earthquake, 20,000 people in Antakya and 50,000 people in Mosul died.[6] Lastly, on February 6, 2023 at 04:17 a.m. Türkiye time, a massive earthquake struck Southern Türkiye and Syria with a magnitude of Mw 7.7. An unusually strong Mw 7.6 aftershock as well as hundreds of smaller aftershocks occurred at 01:24 p.m. Türkiye time after the mainshock. Very heavy damage and tens of thousands of deaths occurred. Herein, we discussed earthquake from the Islamic perspective to attract attention to the spiritual dimension of the earthquake.