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From WikiIslam

Muslims claim miracles when mosques are left standing in natural disasters. This is not true since many times mosques have been destroyed in natural disasters and non-muslim structures have been left standing.

Golcuk mosque in Turkey; 1999 earthquake more info on earthquake

In this picture of the Earthquake in Turkey, this mosque along with a few more buildings are unaffected while most of the buildings around it are destroyed. The Islamic sites write:

"It is indeed a miracle from Allah(swt), a miracle of this century. A camera lens captures a miracle from Allah(swt), if we were to realize it we would flee unto Allah(swt) and repent to him. Look how the town was totally destroyed and most of the buildings were leveled with the surface of the earth, especially around the mosque, except for the mosque which was not harmed at all, and a building across the street from the mosque, the side facing the mosque is totally unharmed yet the rest of the sides of the building were damaged, because had it collapsed it would have fallen on the masjid's extension. If one were to guess, before the earthquake, what in that town would be damaged it would of course be the masjid's Minaret. It's tall thin weak based structure is an indication that any earth movement will force it to collapse but no! Everything was destroyed but that! SUBHAN ALLAH!"

This is a picture of another site destroyed by Earthquake.

First of all we should realize that those buildings in the above picture that are completely erased were knocked down deliberately by excavators and bulldozers because obviously they suffered some severe damages in the earthquake, representing a peril to the people. The reason the buildings surrounding these mosques were destroyed is because of the shady construction and has nothing to do with God. Important public buildings like mosques and churches usually are contracted to the best Architects and Engineers, they are built better and they last longer than ordinary buildings that are built by unscrupulous profit seeking contractors who cut the corners and are there for the quick buck, especially in third world countries where there is no authority to inspect the building codes in the moments of construction or overlook the deficiencies if paid little bribe. In other natural disasters churches and mosques are also damaged. Earthquakes demolish only buildings that are not built properly and make no distinction whether these buildings are holy places or brothels. Therefore, well-built buildings survive natural disasters over time. Mosques are built with, in effect, public financing, which enables the use of better construction methods and materials. (For example, the Indonesian tsunami of 2004 did not destroy mosques built by the Dutch using public funds and high-quality construction.) So, in natural disaster-prone regions, it is only logical to expect mosques to survive, as the poorly-built mosques were destroyed long ago.

The houses that surrounded these mosques belonged to Muslims. Why did Allah destroy them?

If this was intentionally done by a god, do you really want to worship such a god that destroys the houses of so many innocent people and kills them so ruthlessly while saving a mosque? Is really this Allah a psychopath? Is Allah also a terrorist? Seems that in their desperate attempt to find miracles and attribute them to Allah, Muslims incriminate him more than proving his greatness.

[edit] Mosques left unharmed by natural disasters

Mosque in Indonesia after the Tsunami

Same mosque in Turkey from another angle

[edit] Mosques damaged in natural disasters

Fathur Rahman mosque destroyed by a powerful earthquake in Solok, West Sumatra, Indonesia, Friday, March 9, 2007 more info.	Mosque damaged in Pakistan's earthquake of 2006	Damaged mosque in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, 2006	Pakistani earthquake survivors pray in front of the ruins of a mosque ahead of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha (2006)
Unidentified mosque damaged in Earthquake

See also:

• Anau Mosque - destroyed in 1948 by a catastrophic earthquake
• Dome of the Rock Mosque Damaged in Quake
• Fatih Mosque in Turkey was repeated damaged by earthquakes. From Wikipedia

The original mosque was badly damaged in the 1509 earthquake, after that it was repaired, but was then damaged again by earthquakes in 1557 and 1754 and repaired yet again. It was then completely destroyed by an earthquake on 22 May 1766 when the main dome was collapsed and the walls were irreparably damaged.

[edit] Non-muslim structures left unharmed in natural disasters

House left standing during Hurricane Ike (also see related picture here)

Similiar Incidents:

• Earthquake in May 1951 at Jucuapa, El Salvador: "The only structure left standing, although badly damaged, was a partially unfinished market building" source

[edit] Conclusion

Nature is indiscriminate about what it damages during natural disasters.