Let my start off by saying that this is not meant to be a demeaning to any individual or their beliefs. It just a refutation of the common idea that God cannot exist or that God must be evil if He allows bad things to happen. I was inspired to write this article when a member of an online chat-room who I speak to presented the following idea:
with all the terrible conditions in the world, this must be a very miserable god
Many people share an opinion similar to this, and I understand why they do so. They see so many evil things going on in the world, and they wonder how a so-called merciful God allows this. It is not unreasonable to have these thoughts, but their reasoning is flawed due to them misunderstanding God's position and His actions. I shall first present why evil exists then I shall explain why God is entitled to allow it. This article will be from the Islamic perspective.
Why evil exists:
There are two main reasons why evil exists namely free-will and this life being a test. Free-will necessitates that evil is possible because beings with free-will can choose whether they want to be good or evil. If there was no free-will then it is possible that there would be no evil. But what would be the point of that - what would be the point of everyone being a robot. What would be the point of our creation? Free-will allows us to have a purpose. What is this purpose? In the Quran (the scripture of the Muslims), Allah (God) tells us:
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُو
But what do I mean when I say that life is a test? This means that Allah is testing us in this life. He puts us through trials to see whether we will keep on worshipping him and obeying His commands, or whether we will lose hope in Him and fall victim to the deception of Satan or get distracted by the pleasures of this worldly life. In truth, this world is only transitory. We are only in this life for a short while. The next life is eternal, and that is what we should be working towards. Some people will get more difficult tests, but if they persevere through the tests they will be honoured and rewarded more than the rest of us.
I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me.
[51:56, adh-dhāriāt]
Why Allah is entitled to allow suffering and pain:
The first reason and the most prominent one to people who follow logical reasoning is that He created us. Therefore, He can do with us what He wants. This might not make sense to you at first, but it will when you look at it analogically from the grand scale of things. Think of a man who writes a research-paper - can someone else dictate what he should do with that? No. He is the only one who is entitled to choose. If he wants to publish it he can. If he doesn't want to he doesn't have to. If he wants he can rip it to pieces and throw it in the trash can. It doesn't matter how much work he put into it. It is his work and he has the choice on how to use his intellectual-property. Another example is one of a carpenter who builds a bench. He is not obliged to sell it, and he can use it in any way he wants.
"Well," you may say, "those examples are of inanimate objects. Humans have emotions and feelings. How can God cause us to feel negative emotions?" The answer to this is that God has created our emotions and feelings so He can manipulate them as He likes. What I am saying now may seem very unfair to you. You may still have a negative perception of Allah. One of the names of Allah in the Quran is Al Hakeem (The All-Wise). This means that he knows what is good for us and what is not. There is a reason He is doing what he is doing which we are oblivious to. He knows our in's and out's more detailed than the carpenter knows his bench.
"But why," you may ask, "do they have to go through such harsh suffering? No one should have to go through that." You have to understand that Allah is the most just. His justice is in the favour of the good people. In the Atheistic mentality no matter how evil you are you will eventually die and suffer absolutely no consequences for your actions. This is a dystopian way of thinking because a person with an evil will can do as much evil as they want and not get punished. In fact, this way of thinking even implicitly encourages unstoppable pleasure-seeking as long as you don't get caught because that will allow you to live the best life possible. I'm not saying that Atheists think like this, but some might pursue this to a lesser degree. On the other hand, Allah says that He will punish evil people for their evil actions. On the day of judgement everyone will get their due rights from their oppressors. But what about the suffering not caused by people? What about suffering caused by disease and the like? It is reported:
حَدَّثَنَا عَمْرٌو النَّاقِدُ، حَدَّثَنَا يَزِيدُ بْنُ هَارُونَ، أَخْبَرَنَا حَمَّادُ بْنُ سَلَمَةَ، عَنْ ثَابِتٍ، الْبُنَانِيِّ عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " يُؤْتَى بِأَنْعَمِ أَهْلِ الدُّنْيَا مِنْ أَهْلِ النَّارِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَيُصْبَغُ فِي النَّارِ صَبْغَةً ثُمَّ يُقَالُ يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ هَلْ رَأَيْتَ خَيْرًا قَطُّ هَلْ مَرَّ بِكَ نَعِيمٌ قَطُّ فَيَقُولُ لاَ وَاللَّهِ يَا رَبِّ . وَيُؤْتَى بِأَشَدِّ النَّاسِ بُؤْسًا فِي الدُّنْيَا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ فَيُصْبَغُ صَبْغَةً فِي الْجَنَّةِ فَيُقَالُ لَهُ يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ هَلْ رَأَيْتَ بُؤْسًا قَطُّ هَلْ مَرَّ بِكَ شِدَّةٌ قَطُّ فَيَقُولُ لاَ وَاللَّهِ يَا رَبِّ مَا مَرَّ بِي بُؤُسٌ قَطُّ وَلاَ رَأَيْتُ شِدَّةً قَطُّ " .
This hadith (saying of the prophet Muhammad) demonstrates that for the pious believers who persevere in righteousness no matter what suffering they go through - their suffering will become insignificant and negligible in the next life. This hadith is one of the clear signs to me that the problem of suffering is not a problem as the Atheists make it out to be.
Anas ibn Malik reported that Allah's Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said that one amongst the denizens of Hell who had led a life of ease and plenty amongst the people of the world would be made to dip in Fire only once on the Day of Resurrection and then it would be said to him:
O, son of Adam, did you find any comfort, did you happen to get any material blessing? He would say: By Allah, no, my Lord. And then that person from amongst the persons of the world be brought who had led the most miserable life (in the world) from amongst the inmates of Paradise. and he would be made to dip once in Paradise and it would be said to him. O, son of Adam, did you face, any hardship? Or had any distress fallen to your lot? And he would say: By Allah, no, my Lord, never did I face any hardship or experience any distress.
[Sahih Muslim 2807, Book 52, Hadith 42]
We know what is good and what is evil based on what Allah tells us. He sets the law as to good and evil. Any man-made law has no basis. The discussion about morality is as complex as the one we are discussing now so I do not wish to go into it in this article. If you have transgressed against Allah's laws you still have a chance to change and ask for forgiveness before you die because when you die it is too late. I would like to add as a conclusionary note that if Allah did not exist it would be sensible to question all of this horrible evil going on. But Allah is a just, merciful, forgiving, wise God who exists and will give all of us what we deserve on the day of judgement not overlooking even a single minute thing.