Suffering and Evil according to Islam	Teacher's Tips: How can a good and loving God allow the innocent to suffer? This is what in Religious Studies is known as 'the problem of suffering'. This page looks at Islam's quite straightforward answer to this question: that suffering is part of the test of a Muslim's faith and that it comes from Shaytan and human pride. On a deeper level the problem of suffering is linked with the Islamic emphasis on predestination; that Allah has already determined/arranged your earthly or heavenly fate: "Allah leaves to stray whom He wills and guides whom He wills" (35:4). The question of how free this leaves humans to alter their own fate by good or evil actions and more importantly for this section, how a just God might predestine a number of people to hell, was much debated in the Middle Ages. For GCSE level you do not need to go into the matter this deeply, but this page will help with some inormation and links to get the interested reader grappling with this fascinating topic. Note that the root of sin is pride or arrogance in Islam. . Completely understanding the will of God is beyond human ability if it is beyond that of the angels. Note the Qur'anic teaching that Allah allows Shaytan to tempt people; He allows suffering. The frequently heard phrase, 'God makes us suffer because...' is therefore badly put. For some people the problem of suffering is partly resolved when they understand this difference. God may be aware of and able to stop suffering but does not create it, according to Islam, He allows it to happen. This is a key difference between Muslim and Christian descriptions of human nature and sin.
GCSE Questions: These are the sort of Questions you will have to answer: Section C, 1: Questions of Meaning. 9 b) How are religious beliefs about suffering and evil linked to beliefs about what happens after death? (10 Marks) c) "If there was no suffering in the world, there would be no need for religion!" How far do you agree with this statement? Give reasons to support your answer and show that you have thought about different points of view. (SEG RE Short Course 1998 Paper) 9 b) Explain why there is suffering in the world, according to the religion(s) you have studied. (9 Marks) c)"Any suffering is only what we deserve". How far do you agree? Show that you have thought about different points of view and give reasons to support your answer. Your arguments should refer to religious teachings and beliefs. (5 Marks) (SEG RE Short Course 1999 Paper) Question 2 b) Outline the response of Islam to the problem of evil. (6 Marks) (Edexcel GCSE R.S. Specimen questions) 19 Islam a) Describe Muslim beliefs about Shaytan (Iblis) (8 Marks) c) "If people suffer, it's usually their own fault." Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer, showing that you have thought about different points of view. (OCR, R.S. Philosophy & Ethics Paper 1, Specimen Paper) Qur'an: And surely, We created you (your father Adam) and then gave you shape (the noble shape of a human being), then We told the angels, “Prostrate to Adam”;, and they prostrated, except Iblis (Satan), he refused to be of those who prostrate. Allah said: “What prevented you Iblis, that you did not prostrate, when I commanded you?” Iblis said: “I am better than him (Adam), You created me from fire, and him You created from clay. Allah said: “O, Iblis, get down from this (Paradise), it is not for you to be arrogant here. Get out, for you are of those humiliated and disgraced.” (Quran 7,11-13) He (Satan) said, "My Lord, since You have willed that I go astray, I will surely entice them on earth; I will send them all astray. Except those among Your worshippers who are devoted absolutely to You alone." He (God) said, "This is a law that is inviolable: you have no power over my servants; you only have power over the strayers who follow you." [15:39-42] And when thy Lord said to the angels, 'I am setting in the earth a viceroy.' They said 'What, wilt Thou set therein one who will do corruption there, and shed blood, while We proclaim Thy praise and call Thee Holy?' He said, 'Assuredly I know that you know not.' {Surah 2 (al-Baqara), verse 28} Islamic Teaching : 1. Suffering is part of the Test: At the core of Qur'anic teaching is the belief that life itself is a test. We are given life, the created world and other people to care for. Islam guides people towards this goal. Allah allows Satan/Iblis to tempt us away from living a good and holy life according to Islam. Part of the test is not to be tempted by Satan. Those who resist and strive in the way/cause of Allah will be rewarded in the afterlife. 2. What about Satan/Shaytan/Iblis? At the creation of man, God ordered all his angels to bow down in obedience before Adam. Iblis refused, claiming he was a nobler being since he was created of fire, while man came only of clay. For this exhibition of pride and disobedience, God threw Iblis out of heaven. His punishment, however, was postponed until the Judgment Day, when he and his host will have to face the eternal fires of hell; until that time he is allowed to tempt all but true believers to evil. As his first demonic act, Iblis, referred to in this context as shaytan, entered the Garden of Eden and tempted Eve to eat of the tree of immortality, causing both Adam and Eve to forfeit paradise. Note that Iblis has long been a figure of discussion among Muslim scholars, who have been trying to explain the ambiguous identification of Iblis in the Qur`an as either angel or jinni, a contradiction in terms, as angels are created of light (nur) and are incapable of sin, while jinn are created of fire (nar) and can sin. Traditions on this point are numerous and conflicting: Iblis was simply a jinni who inappropriately found himself among the angels in heaven; he was an angel sent to Earth to do battle with the rebellious jinn who inhabited the Earth before man was created; Iblis was himself one of the terrestrial jinn captured by the angels during their attack and brought to heaven. (Courtesy of Encyclopaedia Britannica 2000) 3. Suffering Comes from Satan and Human Sin: Man’s condition in Islam The Quran states that evil was not yet present in the world at the moment of man's creation. God created man and commanded all angels to worship him. Satan (Iblis) opposed this command and only then was banished from heaven: And surely, We created you (your father Adam) and then gave you shape (the noble shape of a human being), then We told the angels, “Prostrate to Adam”;, and they prostrated, except Iblis (Satan), he refused to be of those who prostrate. Allah said: “What prevented you Iblis, that you did not prostrate, when I commanded you?” Iblis said: “I am better than him (Adam), You created me from fire, and him You created from clay. Allah said: “O, Iblis, get down from this (Paradise), it is not for you to be arrogant here. Get out, for you are of those humiliated and disgraced.” (Quran 7,11-13) After this episode Iblis planned to deceive man and make him disobedient to God, which he accomplished in a similar way to that described in the Biblical account (see Quran 7,20-21). However, in Islam there is no such thing as original sin. Although Adam and Eve sinned, they repented and were forgiven, so that their sin had no repercussions for the rest of human race. In his present condition, man is exhorted not to repeat the mistake of Adam, and also warned that the devil attempts to cheat him by all means (Quran 7,27). However, all people sin because of the passion to which they are subjected by Satan and because they are careless about the demands of the Quran. All sins and good deeds a man is performing are noted by two angels, that will present the records at the final judgment: Behold, two guardian angels appointed to learn [man’s doings] learn and note them, one sitting on the right and one on the left. Not a word does he utter but there is a sentinel by him, ready to note it. And the stupor of death will bring truth before his eyes, “This was the thing which you were trying to escape!” (Quran 50,17-19) 4. The Muslim's Response to the problem of Evil: Philosophy aside, Muslims also need to know what the Qur'anic position on the problem of evil is. The verses which probably contain the closest parallel to our discussion are in Surah 2. They occur before the sin of Adam and the expulsion from the Garden, in the form of a dialogue between God and the angels. And when thy Lord said to the angels, 'I am setting in the earth a viceroy.' They said 'What, wilt Thou set therein one who will do corruption there, and shed blood, while We proclaim Thy praise and call Thee Holy?' He said, 'Assuredly I know that you know not.' {Surah 2 (al-Baqara), verse 28} While the above talks only of moral evil (corruption and bloodshed), the fact is that this particular verse raises the question of evil and deals with it in an exceptionally direct manner. The answer given, significantly, is not an exercise in sophisticated reasoning. It is essentially just the thought that God's knowledge is greater than ours, with the implication that humans cannot fully understand the divine will. The simple solution to the problem of evil is to assert that evil ultimately allows a greater good, and that the human tool of logical understanding cannot explain this fact of reality. It hinges upon the incapability of comprehending absolute/divine truths on the part of the non-divine, which is at the core of the Qur'anic response above. The fact is that the Qur'an does not seem primarily interested in discussing philosophy, but in showing people how to live. It is only by realizing this that we can understand the core of the Qur'anic teaching. Adapted from an excellent essay at http://www.shobak.org/islam/reason.html 5. Was it Eve? The following extract is from a Muslim web site article with a feminist flavour. The article tries to explode the myth that it was all Eve (Hawa's) fault. The argument rests on the Qur'an's references to the first sin in Eden and on trying to prove some Hadith unreliable. (It makes an interesting read): This Old Testament myth is a widely circulated belief in the Islamic community despite the fact that Allah in the Qur'an stresses that it was Adam who was solely responsible for his mistake. In 20:115 it is stated: "We had already, beforehand, taken the convenant of Adam, but he forgot; and we found on his part no firm resolve." Verse 20:121-122 continues: "In result, they both ate of the tree...thus did Adam disobey His Lord, and fell into error. But his Lord chose for him (From His Grace): He turned to him, and gave him guidance." Therefore, there is nothing in Islamic doctrine or in the Qur'an which holds women responsible for Adam's expulsion from paradise or the consequent misery of humankind. However, misogyny (woman-hating) abounds in the pronouncements of many Islamic "scholars" and "imams." http://www.jannah.org/sisters/qaradawi.html 6. Qadar : Predestination in Islam The great Ibn Rushd pointed out the problem with reference to the following quotes from the Qur'an: For instance, He says, "After a misfortune has befallen you (you had already attained two equal advantages), do you say, whence comes this? Answer, This is from yourselves" [Qur'an 3.159]. In the next verse, He says, "And what happened unto you, on the day whereon the two armies met, was certainly by permission of the Lord" [Qur'an 3.160]. Of this kind also is the verse, "Whatever good befalls you, O man, it is from God; and whatever evil befalls you, it is from yourself" [Qur'an 4.81]; while the preceding verse says, "All is from God" [Qur'an 4.80]. From Ibn Rushd (Averroes) c.1190 C.E. Read the full text of his great work 'Kitab fasl al-maqal' at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1190averroes.html#Problem Third: Of Fate And Predestination In Islamic tradition, the tension between fate and moral responsibility has not been overlooked or ignored. The favorite solution is the concept of iktisab. The meaning of this concept is that although each individual action is foreordained, the individual still "acquires" or "merits" responsibility for it by identifying himself with it http://www.belmont.edu/Humanities/Philosophy/courses/GMC/EthicsGMCFate.html This doctrine of predestination does not however exclude all human responsibility. Theologians explain that man must by his own will "acquire" the actions which God has predestined for him (cf. Q. 29, 34, 89). "The future certainly pre-exists in the organic whole of God's creative life, but it pre-exists as an open possibility, not as a fixed order of events with definite outlines." (Dr Muhammed Iqbal) The first principle which Islam lays down in regard to Taqdir is that a human is neither completely the master of his fate nor is he bound to the blind law of predestination. So far as the sovereignty of Allah's Will is concerned, it is all-pervading and nothing falls outside its orbit. Not even a leaf, therefore, stirs without His Will. People are, therefore, completely subordinate to the overruling power of God, they cannot do anything unless God wills so. The idea that Allah has a foreknowledge of everything that He created and the events unfold themselves exactly according to it, does not imply that human beings have been completely deprived of the freedom of action. The foreknowledge of God is an acknowledged fact, but it should not be interpreted in the sense of predestination, for if we do so we shall have to conceive of eternity as a storehouse of ready-made events, from which they drop one by one like particles of sand in a glass hour. We should bear in mind that the idea of past, present and future is something relative and is conceived by the innate will of man. It is, however, a great now in the eye of the All-Seeing God. The whole expanse of eternity lies before Him in the shape of now. Knowledge is, therefore, an act of creative activity and not the mere reflection of it. When He decrees a thing it happens and He knows it before it happens. God in Islam is not, therefore, a prisoner of necessity. He is a free Creator. The concept of predestination in Islam, therefore, does not in any way mean helpless abandonment of oneself to otherwise unwelcome fate. It means rather co-operation with God, studying His will and bringing oneself into unison with His Planning Will. Abdul Hamid Siddiqui' notes on 'The Book of Destiny (Qadr)" of Sahih Muslim's collection of Hadith. Read the full text at: http://cwis.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/muslim/smtintro.html We do not use the word "fate" in Islam. The word "fate" means "the power that determines the outcome of events before they occur". Some people believe in fate as an independent and invisible power that controls their destinies. Such people are called "fatalists". A Muslim is not a fatalist . The mainstream Muslim position is that Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) has the knowledge of all things and He has the power over all things. Allah, however, has also granted freedom to human beings. Allah's power and foreknowledge do not mean that human beings have no freedom, nor does Human freedom negate Allah's power and foreknowledge. Human beings are free only as much as Allah has granted them the freedom. However, inspite of our human freedom we are still under the control of Allah and within His knowledge. Allah will judge us according to the freedom and responsibility that He gave us. He knows very well how much freedom we have and to what extent we are able to exercise our freedom, each one of us in our own circumstances. It is for this reason that we say that only Allah is the True and Final Judge. In the Qur'an He is called "Ahkam al-hakimin" (the best of all the judges). In the Qur'an Allah has spoken about His control and power as well as human freedom and responsibility. Both aspects are very clearly mentioned in the Qur'an. The best way to understand and interpret the Qur'an is to keep both of these aspect in mind. We should not emphasize our freedom at the expense of Allah's power and knowledge, nor should we speak about Allah's power and knowledge by negating and denying our own freedom and responsibility. http://www.pakistanlink.com/religion/97/re03-07-97.html Conclusions: