Why does allah make us suffer

A compassionate doctor may cauterize the sick person, searing him with fire over and over again, in order to remove the foul elements that sabotaged his natural state of health.

And if he believes that amputating the limb is better for the sick person, he severs it, causing the most severe pain. When an intelligent person reflects on the laws of Allah the Blessed and Exalted , His destined decree in this world, and His reward and punishment in the hereafter, he finds them perfectly suitable, appropriate, and interconnected. This is because it is all sourced in perfect knowledge, impeccable wisdom, and overarching mercy.

His Wisdom the Glorified determined that happiness, pleasure, and comfort are not reached except by the bridge of difficulty and fatigue, and that they are not accessed except through the gates of hardship, patience, and enduring difficulties.

For that reason, He surrounded Paradise with hardships and Hellfire with temptations. Therefore, He did not remove him from it, except to readmit him to it a more perfect admission. Only God knows the disparity between the first entrance and the second. What great disparity exists between the pleasure and comfort of the believers in Paradise after enduring what preceded it, and their pleasure had they been created inside it.

What great disparity exists between the joy of someone He relieved after affliction, and enriched after poverty, and guided after being astray, and collected his heart after its dispersal, and the joy of someone who did not taste those bitter pains. But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you.

If evil were absolute, the creation would be destroyed, and if pure good existed, then the trial of life would end and thinking would cease. With the cessation of thinking would be the absence of wisdom, and once choices vanish, then discernment will also vanish and the scholar will become incapable of verifying, deliberating, and learning. No knowledge would exist at that point, nor would investigating remain possible, nor would harm be repelled, nor would benefit be secured, nor would patience through difficulty and thanks through blessings exist, nor disparity in eloquence, nor competition in ranks.

The joy of triumph and glory of conquering would be lost, and no righteous person on earth would find the gratification of being righteous, nor would any wrong person find the humiliation of being wrong, nor would anyone with conviction taste the coolness of certainty, nor would anyone in doubt be plagued with distress and haunted by the unknown. People would no longer hope nor be consumed by ambitions, their souls would be stripped of all purpose, their minds of all their fruits, and all things would lose their value and due right.

For that reason, a Muslim does not find himself in a theological dilemma or a hopeless void when confronting the problem of evil. Instead, he finds optimism in life, and sees it as a brief opportunity-filled phase of his greater existence. Lewis, Complete C. Stephen T. Davis Edinburgh: John Knox Press, , p. Islamic Civilization.

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This paper is essentially a summary and translation of Dr. The Immovable Boulder. There have been two major schools among theists when it comes to the problem of evil. The first camp—which, according to Timothy J. In other words, they correctly point out the logical problem with arguing that the existence of evil is proof for atheism. What Makes Evil a Problem? In his Future of an Illusion Sigmund Freud argues that human beings created the concept of God because of their fragility and weakness.

Although he did not believe in God, Freud understands that hardships make human beings search for a transcendental power. The role of pain in fostering the right relationship between Allah and His creatures was so crucial that even prophets were reminded of their need to their Lord through pain:.

Pain and suffering not only restore our relationship with God, they are also helpful in restoring our relations with others who are living in harder conditions. Passing through painful experiences, we start to empathize with those who suffer and get closer to them even though we were unconcerned about them before. Consider the example of a earthquake that caused thousands of causalities in Turkey, and a less destructive but still strong earthquake that hit Athens a few months later.

Historically, relations between Turkey and Greece have been tense, even to the brink of a war. The earthquakes forced Greek and Turkish NGOs and states to set aside their animosities and organize joint rescue operations. The existence of suffering in the world might also, ironically, give us an idea of the afterlife.

If there were no pain and suffering in the world, or if the biggest pain we witnessed in the world was a mosquito bite, we would not be able to grasp what hell would be like. There are verses in the Quran that seem to support this idea. According to the Quran, when people experience the afterlife, they liken it to their experiences in the world.

And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Finally, as Hick states, a world without pain and suffering would be absurd on many grounds. In such a world working would be meaningless, since no one would experience hunger in a suffering-free world.

And in a world without suffering, natural laws would not work properly. Gravity, for instance, would stop working when someone decides to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff.

In such a world where natural laws keep changing, science would not be possible. Some Marxists criticize Islam and other Abrahamic religions for perpetuating the justification for human suffering, creating false consciousness and spreading exploitation in the world. But, Islam does not teach believers to tolerate the power holders or oppressors who make people suffer. Believers are not expected to submit to oppressive power holders; on the contrary, God wants the oppressed to replace the oppressor:.

Indeed, Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and made its people into factions, oppressing a sector among them, slaughtering their [newborn] sons and keeping their females alive. Indeed, he was of the corrupters.

And We wanted to confer favor upon those who were oppressed in the land and make them leaders and make them inheritors. Besides, in the Quran ; Muslims are also reminded that the solution to social problems is to change those conditions instead of merely asking and waiting for divine help. And, the Quran does not praise this-worldly asceticism. On the contrary, Muslims are asked to seek happiness in both this world and the next So, while the Quran asks Muslims to submit to God and be grateful to him no matter what the conditions are, it does not glorify suffering as some eastern religions do.

However, these possible reasons for the existence of suffering deal only with the intellectual aspect of the problem. We all see that there are more people who are healthy than those who are sick.

There are more that eat well than those who starve. There are more that lead decent life than those who commit crimes. Goodness is the rule and evil is the exception. Virtue is the norm and sin is the aberration. Generally trees bear fruits, the flowers bloom, the winds move smoothly. But then the question is why does Allah allow these exceptions to the rules?

Only Allah knows fully His Will. We finite beings cannot grasp fully His infinite Will and Wisdom. He runs His universe the way He deems fit. We must submit and surrender to His Will. There are several points that we should keep in our mind to understand this issue: 1. First of all, Allah did not make this world a permanent world. This is a temporary world and everything here has a time limit. When its times comes it will die, come to an end and finish. Neither the good things of this world are forever, nor the bad things eternal.

We are here for a short time and we are being tested. Those who will pass this test will find an eternal world that is perfect and permanent. Those who will fail this test shall see the evil consequences of their sins and corruption. Allah has placed a physical law and a moral law in this universe. My illness prevents me from feeling happiness or joy most of the time, but who cares if I was happy or sad in if I am a better person because of it now?

I would choose a meaningful and beautiful life over a happy life any day. The answers on Hawramani. You can view Ikram Hawramani's credentials on the about page.

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