The Problem of “Evil”

In the Name of God the Beneficent the Merciful

The Problem of ”Evil”

The problem of ”Evil” and God’s justice is something that has been discussed by our philosophers and mystics (‘Urefa) through many centuries. Even long before the three big monotheistic religions emerge this was discussed by the ancient Greeks. This is a problem which is not simple to grasp, but through some contemplation reality can be reached. Otherwise one needs to acknowledge ones weakness and honestly pray to the Merciful,
O God! Increase my knowledge! (20:114)

We shall by the help of God try to take a glance upon how Islam tries to answer this problem through summarize our different scholars’ (‘Ulema) theories in a flowing text.

What is Evilness?

One of the arguments used against the Divine Justice is the widespread evilness in our world. If God created all, why did He then create evilness as well?
But the truth is that evilness in reality does not exist and hence is not created. To fully grasp this an analogy can be made with the sun. The sun is the source of all light an within it no shades exist. The further away from the sun you go, the weaker the light becomes as well as more shadows appear. The shadows in themselves are not created, what really is meant by a shadow is a place where there is little or no light.
Only God is absolute perfect without any defects. The sun is the similitude of His perfect goodness, while His creation is all those objects distanced from perfection but who strive after it (such as man).
As they are not perfect and distanced from the Divine sun, their existence has some defects which are called shadows, where some or no sunrays reach. The essence of evilness is non-existence, a “shade”, where little or no light is present. Like the sun which lacks any shadow, any trace of evilness is absent in God’s light, but what is created is not absolutely perfect and has a shady side where evilness might appear. This is what is meant with the verse,
…”Everything (good and evil) is from God.”…(4:78)

Evilness is relative

Evilness is also relative and is defined differently from person to person. Usually evilness means that it puts to death something living. For example in the eyes of the sheep the wolf is evil, while the wolf only struggles for its survival. The snake’s poison might be seen as something evil for the bitten one while it is only a defence mechanism for the snake itself.
Thus evilness is a relative matter where what is good and what is evil varies from case to case.

Why not a Perfect World?

One can ask oneself why God did not create world where even this relative evil was not present. To answer this one can divine good and evil into five worlds which would be:

1/ A world consisting of only good where no there is no evil, such as the angelic world.
2/ The entire world consists of only evil and you can not find any goodness (which is an impossibility,
as explained before, where evilness is non-existent and hence can not be created, just as the only light can be created while the shadow is a by-product.
3/ A world consisting of more evil then good, but this would not be logical and there would be no end for it.
4/ A world with as much good as evil, but this is not rational either and without any cause.
5/ A world with more goodness then evil in a way that the nature and the different elements interact with each other where some looks to be harmful and then everything reaches an end. Does the creation sound reasonable with this description? Does God have to ignore a lot of good for the lack of little evil or provide lots of good despite a little evil? Certainly, if God fails to create lots of good for the lack of little evil, the third theory would come true which is not reasonable?
Because, to ignore lots of good is the same as ignoring lots of evil; and to ignore little evil is he same as ignoring little good. And as has been said before it isn’t reasonable to accept extreme goodness or evilness.
Therefore the only logical is a world with lots of good and little evil.

Satan

The story of Satan can be justified in the same way. Satan is seen as good because he exists, but he is seen as evil because he is the source of misguidance and usually the cause to the errors of man. As explained earlier, his evilness is relative and depends upon how you see the whole thing (compare with the wolf and the sheep or the snake’s venom). Still his good aspects exceed his evil ones. He test man, challenges her, strengthens her faith and trains her soul. A similitude can be made with a bacterium. Without bacteria the immune defence of man and her resistance would be weak which would result in her being a victim for many diseases and her lifespan would decrease significantly. Bacteria helps strengthen man’s body and make her resistant. In the same way Satan strengthens the soul and will of man.

A delicate Gnostic (Irfani) point

Within gnosis, spirituality and mysticism (Irfan) Satan is seen as a guarding dog that guards outside the house of God. Each time a stranger or intruder approaches he barks and does not the person come close. But if it’s a friend of God who approaches he keeps silent and the person can calmly step into the proximity of God. As Satan himself says in the glorious Quran,
[Iblis] said, “By Your Glory, I shall seduce all of them except Your sincere (mukhlesin) servants among them” (38:82-83).

That is how all Awliya, friends of God, prophets, pure servants etc. are free from sin and infallible as they are sincere in their love, worship and devotion to God so Satan has no authority over them and they can peacefully step into the house of God and enjoy His intimacy.

Last Word

A part of evilness emanates from us and our choices. It is our fault which turns God’s blessings into evilness. A knife could be used to make a delicious dinner and satisfy the hunger of some servants of God, but at the same time could be used to kill them. This is what causes the most problems that fills the world today, as described in the holy Quran in the following words,
Whatever good visits you, it is from God; whatever evil visits you is from yourself. (4:79)

May God save man from her ego where she in her weakness tries to blame others for her own mistakes instead of opening her eyes and realize the infinite mercy that streams from the Merciful, waiting to sweep away her mistake in an eternal console where He fills her with His generous forgiveness, and may His love forever pour upon the saviour of humanity, the perfect, the master of creation, Muhammad(S) and his pure family(A).

All praise is to God and to Him we return.