December 21st, 2007 by Dr. Shabbir
A single question from our Sister Courtney Schatz has been broken down into several questions for simplicity. I realize, there is much room for improvement in the answer. So, kindly check back the answer in three days. Your thoughts will be much appreciated. - Shabbir
1) Why do the innocent suffer serious injuries, disabilities, chronic illness and even die young? Is not God Most Merciful?
2) When hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, snowstorms, blizzards, fatal epidemics, tornadoes, etc. strike the earth, where does God’s mercy disappear?
3) Does God punish people in this world as well?
4) If yes, then why do decent and innocent people suffer? Especially think of little kids.
5) What is the fault of children who are born handicapped? A child who is blind at birth is suffering for what sin that he/she has committed?
6) We see that some wonderful people drag through life in misery, poverty, and ill health.
7) On the contrary, it is also observed that real bad people with horrible moral character enjoy life until death.
ANSWERS BY DR. SHABBIR:
Respected readers,
This life-long student will try to answer these very intricate questions to the best of his ability.
I remember a few years ago Billy Graham, the most famous evangelist in America, was answering a question on TV. The brilliant Reverend Graham responded, “I really don’t know why God created evil.”
If this great mind knew the Quran, he would have an answer. God never creates evil. It is our use of things or situations that makes them good or evil.
113:1 Say, “I seek refuge with the Lord of the Rising Dawn.
113:2 From the evil aspects of created things.
For another interesting episode, let us consider the late Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, sent to the gallows in 1979. Most editorials in the Pakistani newspapers had stated that Mr. Bhutto had received his punishment in this world, and therefore he had gone to the next world absolutely sinless like a newborn child. Without incriminating Bhutto or anyone else, their conclusion was entirely wrong for lack of understanding of the concept of reward and punishment given in the Quran. To say it simply, every action of ours leaves an imprint on our “self”, commonly called “soul”.
Think about this scenario: Someone looks at a valuable item and decides in his heart to steal it. But right then, the owner shows up and the person cannot steal it. Nothing happened. Nothing happened? According to Divine laws, something did happen. The crime, call it sin or violation, has been imprinted on his “self”. The negative imprint will go with him to the next life.
“My friend! I will forgive the wrong you have done to me, but who will forgive the wrong you have committed against yourself?” - Friedrick Nietzsche
This simple example impresses upon us to have the right concepts about life and death, reward and punishment as well as justice and mercy. We know that the non-Quranic systems of life rampant in the world today are entirely imperfect. The Quran says in Surah Najm that every person will be responsible and be compensated for whatever he or she strives for. This Law will be operational in a Quranic society and absolutely unwavering in the Hereafter.
53:38 No laden one shall bear the load of another.
53:39 Every human being shall be responsible for, and compensated for, his labor.
53:40 His effort (and not the results) will be seen.
53:41 Then he will be fully rewarded for it.
53:42 To your Lord is the final destination.
THE PURPOSE OF CREATION:
The Quran tells us that the universe has been created for a definite purpose. Nothing happens haphazardly. The Law of Cause and Effect is always in operation. When we fail to understand a certain event, we call it “chance”.
“There is a coherent plan in the Universe, though I don’t know what it’s a plan for.” - British astronomer, author, Sir Fred Hoyle
6:73 And He is the One Who has created the heavens and earth with a definite Purpose.
23:115 Do you think that We have created you without purpose, and that you will not be brought back to Us?”
64:3 He created the heavens and earth in truth and with a Sublime purpose. …
[Life has a sublime purpose and keeps evolving like everything else in the Cosmos. So, the death of the human body is only a transition to a higher form of life for the human ‘self’]
As a general rule, the Purpose for humans is given in 67:2.
67:2 He has created death and life to let you go through diverse circumstances and, thus, distinguish for yourselves who would do better.
COMMUNITIES: DOES GOD PUNISH PEOPLE? God is not a tyrant. Human suffering is the natural consequence of violating His laws, individually or collectively.
7:96 If the people of the towns had believed in the Divine laws and run their system right, We would have opened for them blessings from the heaven and the earth. But they denied and what they earned with their deeds seized them.
7:97 Can the people of any community ever feel secure that Our requital will not come upon them at night, while they are asleep?
7:98 Or do the people of townships feel secure from the coming of Our requital upon them in the daytime while they play?
VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS: When we study the history of nations in the Quran, we find that they were annihilated for one single reason - violation of human rights. For example:
Prophet Noah’s people ridiculed and boycotted the weak and poor. They were unjust and rebellious people.
‘Aad used to grasp the vulnerable mercilessly. Although they had insight, they failed to establish an equitable, just system.
Thamud oppressed the weak and denied land resources, even water wells, to the poor. They ran a cruel feudal system and allowed nine leaders to go on with their tyranny.
Prophet Shoaib’s people deceived people in business dealings. Highway robbery had become their second nature.
Prophet Lot’s people, being homosexual, violated women’s rights and belittled them.
Pharaoh’s people enslaved the weak. They ran an unjust economic system and oppressed a large tribe, the Israelites.
Queen Sheba’s people had created massive social inequity where the poor kept becoming poorer. They ignored that all mankind were created equal.
THE HUMAN BEING HAS BEEN CREATED WEAK:
4:28 God wishes to lighten your burdens (with His guidance). For, the human being has been created weak.
So, we tend to see every calamity as horrible.
THE LAW OF VARIABLE AGE:
22:5 — Then We bring you forth as infants and carry you to maturity. While some of you die young, others live to the feeblest old age so that they know nothing after knowing much.
LIFE IS SHORT:
Life is a mix of sorrow and delight but the sojourn is brief and self-limiting even if we live to be centurions.
“Life is a venereal disease with one hundred percent mortality.” - Allama Inayatullah Khan Al-Mashriqi
23:112 He will ask, “What number of years did you spend on earth?”
23:113 They will say, “We stayed a day or part of a day. But ask those who keep count.”
So, we attach too much importance to death and tragedies.
“The habit of living indisposes us to dying.” Dr. A.N. Whitehead
LIFE OF THIS WORLD IS BUT A PASSING EXPERIENCE:
6:32 The life of this world is a play and a passing delight in comparison to the Eternal Life. The abode of the Hereafter is far better for those who live according to the Divine laws. Will you not use Reason?
“Let us respect the dead since they have experienced what we haven’t.” Bertrand Russell
NEW CREATION:
17:99 Do they not realize that God Who created the heavens and the earth, is Able to create them anew in their own likeness again? —-
56:60 We have decreed death among you. And there is nothing to prevent Us
56:61 From changing your forms and making you in a manner, and in an environment, that is (as yet) unknown to you.
So, human beings can look forward to a marvelous, incredibly more advanced eternal life.
DIVINE MERCY:
Being just a dust particle in the universe is not without honor since even that is a part of the Divine Plan. On that basis, we can reflect on the existence of the handicapped or disabled children.
HUMANS ARE SPECIAL:
17:70 Surely, We have conferred dignity on children of Adam (as a birth right, regardless of where the child is born), … And We have favored the humans far above a great many of Our creation.
OUR KNOWLEDGE IS LIMITED:
Since human knowledge is very limited, we encapsulate ourselves in the framework of time. Before God, there is eternal now. “Past”, “present”, and “future” are divisions of our own making.
THE INNOCENT VICTIMS:
If an innocent person gets injured, gravely sick, or dies, or if a little child suffers through his life, let us not be oblivious to the fact that such tragedies, although beyond our understanding, are not without Purpose. They are only doing their respect worthy, assigned role in the world, fulfilling some essential part of the Divine Plan. May God bless them and us!
Wassalam,
SA
SA