Mosques stand defiant by invisible 'Hand of God'

Mosques stand defiant by invisible 'Hand of God'

Victor Tjahjadi, Agence France-Presse, Banda Aceh

In Indonesia's tsunami wastelands on the northern tip of Sumatra
island, little remains of whole towns lost to the colossal forces
that came thundering in from the ocean.

But across these battered shores, dozens of mosques still
stand, their minarets glinting defiantly in the sun -- a
phenomenon survivors in the deeply Islamic region credit as much
to divine intervention as robust architecture.

"God's invisible hands prevents the mosque's destruction,"
said Mukhlis Khaeran, who saw the sea sweep away his home village
of Baet outside the northern Sumatran city of Banda Aceh, but
leave the neighborhood mosque relatively intact.

"He punishes us for our greed and arrogance but He will
protect his house," Khaeran told AFP, his arms covered with
injuries sustained in the disaster that killed at least
100,000????? people around the north Sumatran province of Aceh.

Mosques are an everyday sight in most of Indonesia, but
especially in Aceh, credited with the being one of Islam's main
gateways into the archipelago of islands which now forms the
world's largest Muslim-populated country.

Despite a long-lasting independence struggle, Aceh, parts of
which are under traditional Islamic sharia law, has remained a
Muslim heartland for Indonesia, which mostly practices a very
relaxed interpretation of the faith.

Spiritual beliefs in Aceh and around the Indian Ocean were
tested to the limit on Dec. 26 when an epic earthquake sent
towers of water crashing ashore, obliterating virtually
everything in their path.

But while some spoke of "God's wrath", hundreds turned to
their mosques, in panic for shelter from the advancing tides and
later for spiritual comfort in a time of desperate need.

In the village of Kaju, also outside Banda Aceh, hundreds of
homes were annihilated while the local mosque suffered only a few
cracks in the walls.

"There is a saying among Acehnese that a mosque is God's house
and no one can destroy it but God Himself," said Ismail Ishak,
42, who was digging rubble from his crumbled house while
searching for seven of his relatives.

In Pasi Lhok, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of the north
Aceh town of Sigli, 100 frightened people sheltering inside their
mosque were spared while almost every house in the surrounding
five villages was pulverized, according to chief cleric Teungku
Kaoy Ali.

In Meulaboh, a town on Aceh's western coast less than 150
kilometers from the quake epicenter which bore the full force of
the tsunami, leaving at least 10,000 dead, mosques stand sentinel
over a vanished town center.

Banda Aceh resident Achyar said when he saw the waves pounding
in from the sea, his first instinct was to turn and run for the
nearest mosque.

"I climbed the mosque tower and hung on to an electric wire
until water receded," he said. "Many of my friends, many of them
ethnic Chinese, died because they climbed to the second floor of
their shops and were trapped there," he said.

Another, less divine, explanation for the survival of the
mosques is that many are built much more sturdily than most of
the other structures in the towns and cities of Aceh.

However one mosque in Sigli was made only of wood but still
survived unscathed despite all the other buildings around it
being destroyed.

Banda Aceh's grand Baiturrahman mosque suffered partial damage
from the quake and tsunami, but proved invaluable to the city's
survivors in the minutes, hours and days that followed the
cataclysm.

For many it became a rallying place to search for missing
friends or relatives, a makeshift hospital to treat the injured
and a morgue to collect the dead.

With much of Banda Aceh likely to remain in ruins for months,
residents were quick to repay their debt to their cherished
religious buildings, working swiftly to ensure the Baiturrahman
mosque was one of the first places restored.

On Sunday, some 300 survivors gathered for their first prayers
since their five-times daily ritual was halted -- a major step on
the long road back to normality in Aceh.