The preacher at the main mosque in tsunami-devastated Banda Aceh, Indonesia says the Dec. 26 catastrophe might have been punishment from Allah for "forgetting him and his teachings."
Preaching at the first Friday prayers since the tsunami, Din Syamsuddin, the head of Indonesia's Council of Clerics, told about 2,000 worshippers they may be responsible for the disaster, which killed more than 100,000 on the island of Sumatra, according to the Associated Press.
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"Allah will not love us without also testing our love for him," he said. "Maybe this disaster was because we have forgotten him and his teachings and failed to implement [Islamic] Shariah law."
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In Banda Aceh, a center of radical Islam, as many as 40,000 people are feared dead in a city of about 400,000.
The Muslim cleric preached at the centuries-old Baituraman mosque, among the many that has functioned as a morgue, refugee camp or emergency health clinic.
About 800,000 Indonesians need emergency aid, according to the United Nations.
"We Muslims are gathered here today to show the country and the world that we still exist," Syamsuddin said. "We are sad and we are in mourning, but Allah tells us to be optimistic."
