If There Is God, Why Is There Evil? | The Problem of Evil!
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there's a question that atheists ask really often this question is so common that they constantly talk about it in Forums on social media in videos perhaps this is one of the most important pillars of disbelief on the other hand it can also confuse Muslims here's the question the diseases evils and calamities that happen to us why does God allow these bad things to happen if there's a Creator then he wouldn't have allowed such calamities to happen but is it really so first of all the existence of evil in the universe cannot be proved for the absence of a Creator why let me explain for example let's imagine a gallery or an art exhibition depending on their interests the people that are
visiting them may or may not like the works of art inside when someone who doesn't know anything about art sees a famous and valuable painting they might say this painting doesn't make any sense I only see irregular and chaotic lines here however for someone who knows about art that painting might have excellent qualities and have many meanings behind every every detail yes someone who doesn't understand art may not like the work but they cannot say this work doesn't have an artist just like that a person who's looking at the universe may find some calamities ugly or he might not like the diseases that are happening to him or he can be unable to understand the reases behind them but none of
these things can be a proof of the absence of God because even saying that there's ugliness indicates Aur so an atheist cannot claim the absence of God by pointing to the calamities then we can confidently say that this is not an issue about the absence of God and it cannot be used as a proof for it by the atheists but then what is the reason why human beings struggle with all these difficulties disasters and catastrophes let's have a look at this you can say if something is flawed or Not by looking at the purpose for which it was made if something works well in accordance with its purpose we can say it's of good quality it's nice it works perfectly but if it doesn't work as intended we say
that it's ugly and flawed for example the purpose of a library is to provide a quiet and peaceful environment for people to read or study now could someone who visits a library and doesn't like the silence say things like why is this place so quiet why is there no activity here no one is talking what a faulty and flawed design could he criticize it like that of course not because a library is supposed to be this way it's an environment that provides silence it's its purpose so the fact that the library is quiet indicates that it's a quality and a good library or imagine a gym someone is visiting there for the first time and sees that the people are tired and sweaty lying on the floor
exhausted could you say things like who is persecuting these people what a Pity what a cruel and flawed environment of course he couldn't because the purpose of this place is to make people physically improve themselves through struggle just like in these examples this universe is created to serve a certain purpose we can only understand whether the events in the universe are good or bad by looking at the purpose of the universe and only the creator of the universe can tell us this among the purposes of its creation recognizing in the names of Allah comes first our ultimate purpose is to be a good slave of Allah and in order to achieve this we have to truly know his names and attributes
first many other purposes can be counted as to why the universe was created in this way such as making progress by struggling with trials showing Allah our commitment by passing the tests of patience and so on if you look at the universe in light of these purposes then it's necessary to have troubles calamities and diseases for example if there were no diseases could we know the name of Allah as Shafi the Healer or the name arak the provider if there was no hunger if there was no tests of gratitude and patience could spiritual progress be achieved no then the universe and the events which we call calamities within the universe are necessary for Humanity's duty to get to know Allah and to
increase their rank through struggle therefore we cannot look at these events as flaws or evil things as towards eternity we need your support we are a charity organization that aims to spread the message of Islam to the entire World in eight languages with your support you can help people convert to Islam give up Haram start praying wear hijab learn to read the Quran and so on by donating just $1 a day you can have your share in all these Good Deeds inshallah donate to towards eternity and don't let this Ramadan pass without making a difference another point is that something is either beautiful in and of itself or it's beautiful in terms of its results and outcomes even many issues that we
think of as evil can bring many Beauties in terms of their results because everything is known and understood through its opposite for example if there was no cold the concept of heat couldn't be known it couldn't be understood without Darkness light cannot be known similarly the events that we describe as disorder evil and ugliness are actually matters that enable us to realize the order goodness and Beauty in the universe I mean think about it imag if there was no ugliness could we recognize beauty or could we speak of order where there was no Disorder so the existence of opposite Concepts is necessary to understand them a person who is constantly living in order and Beauty can no longer
understand the value of these things he cannot even notice them we can evaluate natural events such as earthquakes in this manner for example earthquakes can seem evil from the outside it's an event that shakes the Earth intensely and is considered to be a Calamity at face value they may be perceived as very harmful and bad but in fact the earthquakes tell us that there's actually order in the universe yes earthquakes remind people that the Earth does not Shake on vast majority of the time and make us realize that such an orderly and stable Earth is actually a blessing we may not be aware of this reality but when we look at the big picture and look at all the positive and seemingly negative
things that are happening in the universe we see that bad things happen very very rarely compared to good things just enough times to make us realize the opposite so so the abnormal events in the universe make people who are used to normal conditions realize that even the things that they think as normal are in fact blessings the thing that makes us notice the order is the disorder the thing that makes us the beauty beautiful is the ugliness of the ugly so even the matters that are assumed to be in a disorder are in fact beautiful and serve a purpose another point is that constant uninterrupted Beauty makes people forget about the Hereafter by making them heedless the beauty of this world
might intoxicate people for a person who forgets his duty in life and forgets about the Hereafter troubles are actually a warning and a wakeup call a reckless deluded person cannot be aware of why the events around him are happening and can make mistakes in understanding them at that point someone should wake him up to reality waking him up would be the greatest favor that can be done to him just like that the human being who was sent to this world to know Allah sometimes forgets his duty contrary to his mission he can become immersed in extremely insignificant things some days he falls into sin in such a way that he even forgets what it means to regret so in reality it's not evil that Allah
wakes him up from his heedless sinful state with calamities and diseases but it's pure mercy and Beauty because when you look at it whoever experiences a problem starts thinking more about the Hereafter compared to other people and he turns to worship so even from this point of view we should see calami is not as evil but as blessings to be thankful for as human beings we try to learn what is beneficial and what is harmful to us throughout our lives and most of the time we understand the logic of the events and the wisdom behind them later for example the slap of a mother to prevent her child from touching the stove heater is actually a blessing for him the child isn't aware of this yet he
can neither recognize the danger of the stove nor can he immediately understand the reason for the slap but when he understands the danger of the burning stove later on he realizes that the slab was actually a result of compassion an act of love so if you look at it from the point of view of Mercy in a real sense there's no ugliness and evil just like in these examples there may be some warnings that Allah sends our way sometimes we don't understand them you may think of them as bad things but in fact it's the opposite it's an act of pure Mercy sometimes it takes time for us to realize that just think about it knowing that even the slap of a mother has a wisdom a logical reason behind it how
can there be no mercy or purpose in a warning that is sent by Allah who showers human beings with so many blessings with his infinite love and care yes the human being is like a soldier on duty who is trying to understand the universe and get to know his creator think about the blessings of Allah and the fact that he created so many Beauties as the one who gives the feeling of compassion to all the mothers would Allah ever intent any harm to you in a real sense as the one who puts benefit in all things and manages everything with great wisdom would he ever create disorganized and useless matters sometimes we need to change our perspective and evalate things holistically and this issue is
certainly one of them
visiting them may or may not like the works of art inside when someone who doesn't know anything about art sees a famous and valuable painting they might say this painting doesn't make any sense I only see irregular and chaotic lines here however for someone who knows about art that painting might have excellent qualities and have many meanings behind every every detail yes someone who doesn't understand art may not like the work but they cannot say this work doesn't have an artist just like that a person who's looking at the universe may find some calamities ugly or he might not like the diseases that are happening to him or he can be unable to understand the reases behind them but none of
these things can be a proof of the absence of God because even saying that there's ugliness indicates Aur so an atheist cannot claim the absence of God by pointing to the calamities then we can confidently say that this is not an issue about the absence of God and it cannot be used as a proof for it by the atheists but then what is the reason why human beings struggle with all these difficulties disasters and catastrophes let's have a look at this you can say if something is flawed or Not by looking at the purpose for which it was made if something works well in accordance with its purpose we can say it's of good quality it's nice it works perfectly but if it doesn't work as intended we say
that it's ugly and flawed for example the purpose of a library is to provide a quiet and peaceful environment for people to read or study now could someone who visits a library and doesn't like the silence say things like why is this place so quiet why is there no activity here no one is talking what a faulty and flawed design could he criticize it like that of course not because a library is supposed to be this way it's an environment that provides silence it's its purpose so the fact that the library is quiet indicates that it's a quality and a good library or imagine a gym someone is visiting there for the first time and sees that the people are tired and sweaty lying on the floor
exhausted could you say things like who is persecuting these people what a Pity what a cruel and flawed environment of course he couldn't because the purpose of this place is to make people physically improve themselves through struggle just like in these examples this universe is created to serve a certain purpose we can only understand whether the events in the universe are good or bad by looking at the purpose of the universe and only the creator of the universe can tell us this among the purposes of its creation recognizing in the names of Allah comes first our ultimate purpose is to be a good slave of Allah and in order to achieve this we have to truly know his names and attributes
first many other purposes can be counted as to why the universe was created in this way such as making progress by struggling with trials showing Allah our commitment by passing the tests of patience and so on if you look at the universe in light of these purposes then it's necessary to have troubles calamities and diseases for example if there were no diseases could we know the name of Allah as Shafi the Healer or the name arak the provider if there was no hunger if there was no tests of gratitude and patience could spiritual progress be achieved no then the universe and the events which we call calamities within the universe are necessary for Humanity's duty to get to know Allah and to
increase their rank through struggle therefore we cannot look at these events as flaws or evil things as towards eternity we need your support we are a charity organization that aims to spread the message of Islam to the entire World in eight languages with your support you can help people convert to Islam give up Haram start praying wear hijab learn to read the Quran and so on by donating just $1 a day you can have your share in all these Good Deeds inshallah donate to towards eternity and don't let this Ramadan pass without making a difference another point is that something is either beautiful in and of itself or it's beautiful in terms of its results and outcomes even many issues that we
think of as evil can bring many Beauties in terms of their results because everything is known and understood through its opposite for example if there was no cold the concept of heat couldn't be known it couldn't be understood without Darkness light cannot be known similarly the events that we describe as disorder evil and ugliness are actually matters that enable us to realize the order goodness and Beauty in the universe I mean think about it imag if there was no ugliness could we recognize beauty or could we speak of order where there was no Disorder so the existence of opposite Concepts is necessary to understand them a person who is constantly living in order and Beauty can no longer
understand the value of these things he cannot even notice them we can evaluate natural events such as earthquakes in this manner for example earthquakes can seem evil from the outside it's an event that shakes the Earth intensely and is considered to be a Calamity at face value they may be perceived as very harmful and bad but in fact the earthquakes tell us that there's actually order in the universe yes earthquakes remind people that the Earth does not Shake on vast majority of the time and make us realize that such an orderly and stable Earth is actually a blessing we may not be aware of this reality but when we look at the big picture and look at all the positive and seemingly negative
things that are happening in the universe we see that bad things happen very very rarely compared to good things just enough times to make us realize the opposite so so the abnormal events in the universe make people who are used to normal conditions realize that even the things that they think as normal are in fact blessings the thing that makes us notice the order is the disorder the thing that makes us the beauty beautiful is the ugliness of the ugly so even the matters that are assumed to be in a disorder are in fact beautiful and serve a purpose another point is that constant uninterrupted Beauty makes people forget about the Hereafter by making them heedless the beauty of this world
might intoxicate people for a person who forgets his duty in life and forgets about the Hereafter troubles are actually a warning and a wakeup call a reckless deluded person cannot be aware of why the events around him are happening and can make mistakes in understanding them at that point someone should wake him up to reality waking him up would be the greatest favor that can be done to him just like that the human being who was sent to this world to know Allah sometimes forgets his duty contrary to his mission he can become immersed in extremely insignificant things some days he falls into sin in such a way that he even forgets what it means to regret so in reality it's not evil that Allah
wakes him up from his heedless sinful state with calamities and diseases but it's pure mercy and Beauty because when you look at it whoever experiences a problem starts thinking more about the Hereafter compared to other people and he turns to worship so even from this point of view we should see calami is not as evil but as blessings to be thankful for as human beings we try to learn what is beneficial and what is harmful to us throughout our lives and most of the time we understand the logic of the events and the wisdom behind them later for example the slap of a mother to prevent her child from touching the stove heater is actually a blessing for him the child isn't aware of this yet he
can neither recognize the danger of the stove nor can he immediately understand the reason for the slap but when he understands the danger of the burning stove later on he realizes that the slab was actually a result of compassion an act of love so if you look at it from the point of view of Mercy in a real sense there's no ugliness and evil just like in these examples there may be some warnings that Allah sends our way sometimes we don't understand them you may think of them as bad things but in fact it's the opposite it's an act of pure Mercy sometimes it takes time for us to realize that just think about it knowing that even the slap of a mother has a wisdom a logical reason behind it how
can there be no mercy or purpose in a warning that is sent by Allah who showers human beings with so many blessings with his infinite love and care yes the human being is like a soldier on duty who is trying to understand the universe and get to know his creator think about the blessings of Allah and the fact that he created so many Beauties as the one who gives the feeling of compassion to all the mothers would Allah ever intent any harm to you in a real sense as the one who puts benefit in all things and manages everything with great wisdom would he ever create disorganized and useless matters sometimes we need to change our perspective and evalate things holistically and this issue is
certainly one of them