By Maryah Damlaj
Are we born evil? Why is there so much
suffering in the world? If God is All-Loving and All-Compassionate as people
say, then why did God create evil beings?
These questions and many
others are frequently being asked; surprisingly, by some believers themselves.
There is no religion that tries to disprove that God is All-Caring, All-Loving,
and Subtly Kind. Then, why is there so much evil that encompasses every region
in this world? Since God is Good, He would then create everything good. Yet,
it’s strange how satan, referred to as the ultimate evil by some people, is
created by Allah Himself. In that sense, one would feel there is a logical
contradiction between the good attributes of Allah and the presence of evil,
which is why this is referred to as the logical problem.
Allah is perfect good. He
alone is the Absolute good. He indeed created everything good! “Does He who created not know, while He is the
Subtle, the Acquainted?” (Qur’an 67:14) There is absolutely no evil whatsoever.
Evil is merely the absence of goodness. Allah has not given the devil
the power to forcibly misguide man. He can only whisper man to do evil acts. However,
it is man who has the free will who
decides to misuse his discretion and surrender to his/her desires and
sentiments.
Also, for morality to be
achieved, no one should be forced to do good. Therefore, Allah, the Utterly
Just, would simply give people the free choice or the free will to decide upon
their actions. Superficially, the problem of evil sounds evil, but
philosophically it can prove the existence of God.
Furthermore,
for someone to claim there is evil, he/she would judge the act subjectively. There
is no objectivity in his argument. These are purely probabilistic judgments
because humans have morally insufficient reasons to label an action as being
evil or good. An act might seem to be evil in the short-term;
yet, genuinely good in the long-term. The same applies vice versa. The problem
here is that we don’t have enough knowledge or even enough resources to make
judgments regarding what is considered evil or what is considered
good.
Anyway, if
the situation was still perceived as unfair from a man’s limited scope, that
person, if patient, will be compensated in the Afterlife for that claimed unfair
treatment. So even if someone experienced torments in this life, he would still
be rewarded.
Don’t be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good! The satan collapses, feels defeat, humiliation,
and jealous when he sees the son of Adam as in prostration (sujood).
This is because it reminds him when he refused to prostrate to Adam (peace be
upon him) when Allah commanded him. If
that is so, then one of the tactics to avoid evil and to become closer to
Allah, the All-Good, is through prostrating or performing sujood: “Prostrate
in adoration and bring yourself close (to Allah)" (Qur’an 96:19).
Therefore, prayers will liberate us from satan; hence, liberating us from evil.
This is one of the reasons why the first thing which will be judged among a
man's deeds on the Day of Resurrection is Prayer.
It is through prayers, that we can
liberate ourselves from evil. We should try as much as possible to reject the
beautified temptations that the devil tries to create for us and return to the
All-Loving, the All-Caring God Who loves us even more than our dear mothers.
