Islamic response to the problem of evil and suffering
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 getting angry with 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 God exists. So how do we really deal with it?
Islam's Response
Islam has an answer that can help us deal with our pain in a way that is emotionally satisfying.
The Qur'an uses profound stories and narratives to change our paradigm about evil and suffering. Take, for instance, the story of the Prophet Moses and a man he meets on his travels, known as Khidr.
The story (from Surah Al-Kahf, Chapter 18 of the Qur'an, verses 65-82) describes how Moses followed Khidr to learn from him, but Khidr warned Moses he wouldn't be able to be patient. Khidr then performed three seemingly evil actions: he damaged a boat belonging to poor fishermen, killed a young boy, and repaired a wall in a town that had refused them hospitality. Each time Moses questioned and objected to these actions.
At the end, Khidr explained the divine wisdom behind his actions: the boat was damaged to protect it from a king who was seizing every serviceable boat by force; the boy was killed because he would have grown up to trouble his believing parents, and God would give them a better child; and the wall was repaired because it hid treasure belonging to two orphans, and God wanted them to grow up and find it.
This story provides key lessons and spiritual insights:
The first lesson is that in order to understand God's will, one has to be humble. The spiritual status of Moses is very high according to the Qur'an, he is the most mentioned person in the Quran yet he approached Khidr with humility.
The second lesson is that patience is required to emotionally and psychologically deal with the suffering and evil in the world.
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.
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 doctor we assume that the doctor is an authority. We trust the doctor's diagnosis on this basis. We even take the medicine the doctor prescribes without any second thought.
God is The-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.
The story of Moses and Khidr also deals with an ancient argument against God. The argument goes: if God is all powerful and all good then there should be no evil in the world. However, these two qualities are not the only qualities God has. He is also the wise and all knowing, and has access to wisdom that we don't have. The argument only works if God is only all powerful and all good, but this is simply not true.
Our Purpose is Worship
The primary purpose of life in Islam is not to enjoy a transitory sense of happiness; rather, it is to achieve a deep internal peace through knowing and worshipping 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.
This fulfilment of the Divine purpose will result in everlasting bliss and true happiness. So, if this is our primary purpose, 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 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 second person is better off.