WHERE ON EARTH IS GOD?

With little understanding of the causes or remedies for the plague, the the terrified residents of Europe and the Middle East, Christian and Muslim, sometimes turned to very different religious explanations.

“…Almighty God, king of heaven, who is lord of the living and the dead and holds all things n His hand, looked down from on high upon the entire human race and saw it sinking and sliding into all kinds of wickedness…Unable to bear any longer so many abominations and horrors, He called out the the Earth: “What are you doing, Earth, held captive by gangs of worthless men, defiled by their sordid sins? Are you totally helpless? What are you doing?…And after mortals had thus been warned, the quivering spear of the Almighty, in the form of the plague, was sent down to infect the whole human race, aiming its cruel darts everywhere.”

- Gabriele de Mussis, History of the Plague (1348). Aberth, Source 23

“This plague is for the Muslims a martyrdom and a reward, and for the disbelievers a punishment and a rebuke. When the Muslim endures misfortune, then patience is his worship. It has been established by our Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, that the plague-stricken are martyrs. This noble tradition is true and assures martyrdom. And this secret should be pleasing to the true believer…I take refuge in God from the yoke of the plague. Its high explosion has burst into all countries and was an examiner of astonishing things. Its sudden attacks perplex the people.”

- Abū Hafs Umar Ibn Al-Wardī (1348). Aberth, Source 29