GOD IS GOOD,

THEN WHY DOES EVIL EXIST?

The world is an arena of trials and tribulations. We’ve all heard it numerous times: ‘Why do bad things happen to us or to the people we love?’ After all, we have all been affected in some way by the harsh realities of life. Every one of us have encountered some form of grief, whether it be a personal experience or hearing of someone else’s suffering. The stories are endless.

Human suffering is widespread and real and so is evil as a force in the world. So how do we deal with it? The way some people deal with it is by mocking God or denying that a loving God can exist with so much evil in the world.

The problem with this reaction is that the evil and suffering that affects us continues to cause us pain and nothing changes after we blame God or deny His existence.

So how do we really deal with it?

Before we dwell into the subject any deeper, let us come to common terms that, we recognize things through their opposites. For example, we do not know what sweet is unless we knew what sour is. We would not know the left unless we knew the right. Similarly, up would mean nothing without down or pass without fail. The validity of each is known by it's opposite. Likewise, we would only know or appreciate good by knowing it's opposite, i.e. evil!

Life is a Test

The Islamic position concerning life’s trials and tribulations is one that is extremely empowering. Calamities, disasters, and tragedies — all forms of suffering and hardship—are viewed as Divinely-planned tests. This temporary life in this world is not meant to be one giant party, rather, we have been created with a noble purpose — to worship God.

“He Created death and life in order to test which of you is best in deeds. He is the The-Almighty, All-Forgiving.” (The Qur’an, Chapter 67:2)

Tests are an inevitable part of this purpose. They are actually seen as a sign of God’s love. Since God is perfectly good, He wants every single one of us to believe and as a result to experience eternal bliss with Him in paradise. God makes it clear that He prefers belief for us all: “And He does not approve for His servants disbelief.”

This clearly shows that God does not want anyone to go to hell. However, if He were to enforce that and send everyone to paradise, then a gross violation of justice would take place; God would be treating Hitler and Jesus (peace be upon him) as the same!! Is that fair?? Even our human courts would not do so, let alone God's court.

Trials are Divine mechanism to ensure that the truly deserving one’s who enter the final abode of the Eternal Bliss in the Hereafter, do so based on merit by conscious choice. These tests serve as a reminder of our greater purpose, as a means of purification, and, ultimately, as a way to draw closer to God Almighty. In fact,

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “When God loves a servant, He tests him”

It is designed to test our conduct, which acts as a mechanism to cultivate virtue, so as to ensure our moral and spiritual growth. For example, how can we become courageous if there are no dangers to be confronted? How can we be compassionate if no one is in need of it? How can we develop patience if we do not experience things that test our patience?

The beauty of Islam is that God Almighty, who knows us better than we know ourselves, has already empowered us with guidelines to endure these trials through irrefutable guidance in form of scriptures and messengers, to respond in a manner that is pleasing to Him. God says:

“God does not burden any soul with more than it can bear.” (The Qur’an, Chapter 2, Verse 286)

However, if we cannot overcome these trials after having tried our best, God’s mercy and justice will ensure that we are recompensed in the best way, either in this life or in the eternal life that awaits us.

The Qur’an (the final unchanged guarded testament of God Almighty) uses profound stories and narratives to change our paradigm about evil and suffering. Take, for instance, passage from Chapter 18 of the Quran – verses 65-82, the story of the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) and a man he meets on his travels, known as Khidr.

The parable provides key lessons and spiritual insights.

1. The first lesson is that in order to understand God’s will, one has to be humble.

2. The second lesson is that patience is required to emotionally and psychologically deal with the suffering and evil in the world.

3. Another lesson is that God’s wisdom is unbounded and complete, whereas we have limited wisdom and knowledge. Another way of putting it is that God has the totality of wisdom and knowledge; we just have its particulars, he has the picture we just have a pixel. We see things from the perspective of our fragmentary viewpoint.

We have Limitations

There are so many examples in our lives where we admit to our intellectual inferiority. We rationally submit to realities that we cannot understand on a regular basis. For example, when we visit the dentist for a decayed tooth extraction, he prepares us to first accept a stinging injection to our gums with a horrific long needle before the actual extraction! But, the end (decayed tooth coming out) is known to him by using the means (needle) which may not be very pleasant to many. We assume and entrust the dentist as he is an authority. Many a times, we even take medicines a doctor prescribes without any second thought or question them as they know what we don't.

God is The All- Wise, and His names and attributes are perfect, it follows that there is wisdom behind everything that He does—even if we do not know or understand that wisdom. Many of us do not understand how diseases work, but just because we do not understand something does not undermine its existence.

So the argument above is weak on assumption that if God is all powerful and all good, but restricting His qualities to just these conventions but He is also All Wise and All Knowing (along with many more attributes), so the problem above now, no longer exists.

Our purpose is worship

In Islamic perspective, the primary purpose of life is not to enjoy a transitory sense of happiness; rather, it is to achieve a deep internal peace through knowing and worshiping God. Worship is a comprehensive term in Islam, anything good that we do for the sake of God is worship, whether that is reflecting about creation, giving charity, fasting, smiling, searching for medical cures or even thinking good thoughts about God and excusing people’s mistakes, all these are considered worship if they are done for the sake of God.

This fulfilment of the Divine purpose will result in everlasting bliss and true happiness. So, if this is our primary purpose, all other aspects of human experience are secondary.

Consider someone who has never experienced any suffering or pain, but experiences pleasure all the time. This person, by virtue of his state of ease, has forgotten God and therefore failed to do what he was been created to do. Compare this person with someone whose experiences of hardship and pain have led him to God, and fulfilled his purpose in life. From the perspective of the Islamic spiritual tradition, the one whose suffering has led him to God is better than the one who has never suffered and whose pleasures have led him away from God.

Detachment from the world

A fundamental principle concerning this world is that we must not attach ourselves to the temporary nature of this world. This world is full of temptations and attractions, place of limitations, loss, suffering, desires, ego, excessiveness and evil. Suffering shows us how truly low this worldly life is, thereby facilitating our detachment from it to draw closer to God Almighty.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “Love of this world is the root of all evil.”

The greatest evil according to Islam is denying and associating partners with God Almighty; therefore detachment from the world is necessary to reach the ultimate spiritual goal of nearness to God, and subsequently paradise.

The Qur’an makes it very clear that this world is a deceiving enjoyment:

“Know that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion and adornment and boasting to one another and competition in increase of wealth and children—like the example of a rain whose [resulting] plant growth pleases the tillers; then it dries and you see it turned yellow; then it becomes [scattered] debris.” (The Qur'an, Chapter 57, Verse 20)

Conclusion

The ‘problem’ of evil and suffering is not a problem for the believer, as evil and sufferings are understood as functions of God’s profound wisdom, perfection and goodness. The spiritual teachings of Islam create a sense of hope, patience and tranquillity. The logical implications of atheism is that one is plunged into a hopeless state and does not have any answers to why evil and suffering exist. This ignorance is mostly due to an egocentrism that makes them fail in their ability to see things from another perspective.

Life on earth cannot ever be a flawless paradise:

this state can only be earned by those who pass the test of this ephemeral worldly existence.