Does God punish sinners with disasters?

The tragic accident in a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, which killed 301 workers deep underground, has led to various discussions in Turkey. Most of these have been on practical issues such as lack of safety, poor technology, and “the culture of negligence,” as I call it. (Why, for example, do most Turkish drivers find bizarre ways to avoid fastening their seatbelts? It is the culture of negligence.)

Yet there are also some who tried to carry the discussion to a theological level. One conservative writer argued in his column that the disaster might have been punishment from God for the gross violations of law and ethics in Turkey. The argument was picked up on Twitter by some conservatives, who were, apparently, angry at the corruption and authoritarianism they see in the government.

Those conservatives in question were maybe right in their outrage at certain misdeeds in Turkey, but I believe they were wrong to interpret the Soma disaster as a divine punishment for those sins. And since the broader issue of whether God really punishes sinners by earthly disasters is relevant for the whole Muslim world, let me elaborate a bit on why.

First of all, if we assume that God is punishing sinners with horrible accidents in mines, earthquakes, floods or any other disaster, we are depicting a God who is not very just. Because in all such tragedies, lots of innocent people, including children, die or suffer. But justice is one of the fundamental attributes of God, according to both Islam and other monotheistic religions. How could we then envision that justness when we suggest that 301 poor workers in Soma, and their families, paid for the misdeeds of their rulers?

Second, when we interpret any...