The Problem of Evil (also known as the Epicurean Paradox) is the question: If God exists and is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good, then why does He allow evil or suffering to exist in the world?
This question comes from a series of misunderstandings about the nature of God, the world, and goodness itself. So, to answer the question, we need to discuss the underlying misunderstandings about the nature of the world, the nature of God, and the nature of humanity.
Why was the world created?
God says in the Quran several times that He created the world to test people between good and evil. ⟪He created death and life to test you as to which of you is best in deeds.⟫ (Quran 67:2)
The world was not created to be mankind’s final destination, either in pleasure or suffering. The true final destinations are Paradise and Hell, which will be decided by what each person chooses to do. ⟪And this worldly life is not but diversion and amusement. And indeed, the home of the Hereafter – that is the [eternal] life, if only they knew.⟫ (29:64)
When you understand this purpose of creation, then it is simple to understand why the world contains suffering and evil.
The world is a place where people are being tested through choices and temptations that can be evil and through difficult situations they need to be patient in, and God will ultimately judge them for their moral character in these situations and send them to where they deserve. ⟪And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient,⟫ (2:155)
The world seems huge and important to us while we live here because of our small perspective. But, it is in reality insignificant in the true grand scheme of things. On the Day of Judgement, people will ask one another, “How long did we live in the world?” They will conclude among themselves, “We lived only a day or part of a day.” (23:112-113)
It can be compared to a dream which seems very immersive, happy, sad, or terrifying while you are in it but you realize its insignificance when you wake up. As for us, we will wake up on the Day of Judgement.
One day, the Prophet (SAW) passed by a dead goat that was thrown by the path. He asked his companions, “Do you think the owners of this dead goat considered it insignificant?” They said, “Of course, that’s why they threw it away.” He said, “The world is more insignificant to God than this dead goat was to its owners.” (Sunan Tirmidhi)
What is good and evil?
There are two schools of thought among Muslims regarding the definition of good and evil:
- Good and evil are arbitrary designations without inherent value. The only reason we value them is because God created us to value them. So, in reality, true goodness is only what Allah does and commands, and true evil is only what Allah forbids.
- Good and evil are inherent concepts present in God’s knowledge and wisdom. God gave us humans some understanding of good and evil but our understanding is easily influenceable and corruptible.
People of the first view would argue the question “Why is there evil in the world?” is meaningless because evil is an arbitrary term. Why would humans get to decide something is evil and God should not do that thing? Rather, God does whatever He wants, and humans have no say in the matter. All of creation is only God’s property.
People of the second view would argue that evil is of two types:
- Human evil
- Natural evil
As for human evil, it exists because giving humans the choice between good and evil is the whole point of the world being created. This includes both on the individual level (will people fall into evil themselves) and on a societal level (will people stop others from committing evil?).
Someone might ask, “Couldn’t God create a world where the choices are only good?”
The answer is: Yes, he can. He already created creatures whose choices are only good: the angels. However, humans were specifically created to both have good and evil as options, because avoiding evil despite it being possible for you is a much higher status than avoiding evil because it is impossible for you.
As for natural evil, it does not exist in reality. Natural suffering exists, and natural suffering is always for a purpose and in exchange for a fair payment, so it can never be considered evil or purposeless.
As for the purpose, Allah causes people difficulty in life to remind them about death, the Day of Judgement, and the pain of Hell and to check their moral character and patience. Many people are heedless and do not think about the Day of Judgement until they are touched by suffering that reminds them of death.
God said ⟪We will let them taste the nearer pain before the greater pain, so that perhaps they repent.⟫ (32:21)
As for the exchange, difficulty and suffering is always in exchange of either past sins or future reward.
The Prophet (SAW) said, “A believer is not affected even by a thorn prick except that Allah raises him in rank and removes sin from him with that.” (Sahih Muslim)
Even the suffering of children and innocent people serves the purpose of requiring the people around them to help them while they will be compensated fairly on the Day of Judgement to their satisfaction.
Even the suffering of animals and the lifecycle of everything in the cosmos reminds people of death and the fact that they will return to their Master and answer for their actions. Everyone will be compensated on the Day of Judgement, even a hornless sheep that is hurt by a horned sheep will take its compensation. (Sahih Muslim)
Someone might say: Even if suffering is for a purpose and will be compensated, how can it be justified when no one consented to it?
First of all, you have no evidence creation did not consent to it.
God says ⟪He said to [the heavens] and the earth, “Come [obey me], willingly or forced.” They said, “We have come willingly.⟫ (41:11) and ⟪We offered the trust (of free will) to [all creatures in] the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to take it and feared it, but man decided to bear it.⟫ (33:72) and ⟪The seven heavens and the earth and whoever is in them exalt and praise God. There is not a single thing that does not exalt Him with praise, but you do not understand their way of exalting.⟫ (17:44)
The purpose here is not to use the verses as proof this did happen but to point out that there is no evidence it did not, so no argument can rest on the assumption it did not. Just because you do not have memory of something does not entail it did not happen.
Secondly, God is just and fair by giving due compensation to everyone, but God has no requirement to seek permission from His own creation. That is the height of arrogance.
Does God have to create the best possible world?
Muslims could respond to this question in different ways according to the two views discussed in the previous section.
If they take the view that good and evil are ultimately what God decides in whatever way He wishes, then there is no meaning to the question “best possible world.” Every world God creates is the best possible world because that is the world God decided to create. If the meaning of “best possible world,” is the world with the most pleasure and least suffering for human beings, then why would God be held to the likings of some His creation?
If they take the second view, that good and evil are inherent to the knowledge and wisdom of God, then the response is that God creates a just world. He is not required to create the best possible world in terms of human pleasure or suffering. Justice only means not causing suffering without purpose or exchange and not withholding deserved reward.
Since we explained before how all suffering in creation has a purpose and is appropriately compensated, there is no question of injustice in the world’s suffering even if the exact purpose is not clear to humans in their limited view.
However, God is not obligated and cannot be obligated to create maximal pleasure for humans. This is where the poorly defined epithet “all-good” becomes problematic. There is no description of God in Islamic scripture called “all-good.”
Rather, God is extremely merciful, ⟪[His] mercy encompasses all things⟫ (7:156), ⟪If you tried to count the favors of Allah, you would not be able to list them.⟫ (16:18), and ⟪He is the most merciful of those who are merciful.⟫ (12:64)
All of this entails that God gives countless blessings and vast mercy to people on earth, but none of it entails God has any obligation to give people maximal pleasure or zero suffering. In fact, this ask is entitlement and arrogance that does not befit any creation. The appropriate response to the vast amount of mercy God gives people is to be grateful for it, not to question why it is not even more than that.
Is the world all there is?
Even after the logical response is given to the Problem of Evil, many people still have an emotional problem, and it stems from two issues in their heart:
- Thinking existence is limited to the world
- Focusing on the negative over the positive
As for the first, the Islamic worldview does not limit itself to the world. A central tenet of Islam is that justice will be established on the Day of Judgement.
As such, people who do not understand this tenet of Islam are like children who hate school. They think the work and struggle they go through in school is worthless because they either do not know or do not fully internalize that there is a life after school where their education will help them succeed. Because they do not understand this life after school, their limited perspective just portrays to them that tests and assignments are useless work and suffering.
In the same way, people who don’t understand the Day of Judgement think existence is limited to worldly life, so because some people suffer and die without getting justice in the world, existence itself is unjust.
The Problem of Evil relies on this incomplete understanding of the world.
Is the world that evil?
As for the second issue, many people think anything good they get is their deserved right while anything bad they get is unjustified suffering. They also view it the same way when looking at other people. If they see a person suffering, they think it is unjustified for God to test them with that, but if they see a person with blessing or comfort, they think it is deserved and good. So, they focus on all the bad without gratitude for the good.
In reality, even people who suffer the most in the world are surrounded by the mercy of Allah. Even the water you drink, the air you breathe, the food you eat, the small minutes of peace or pleasure, and the opportunity to look at the beautiful creation of Allah are all mercy from God. God did not have to give us all of that. He could have created our life with no pleasure to speak of. However, He gives us all of this out of His care and mercy for us.
Then, some people ignore all the blessings they have and focus on the negatives of their life whether that is struggling at school or work or having problems with family or other things. However, if most people were asked to sell their two eyes for complete stability at work, they would not do it.
The hollowness and artificiality is also made clear by the fact that atheists generally come from the wealthiest countries in the world while those who are actually suffering in different parts of the world invariably tend to believe in God and be grateful to Him for even the small blessings they were given.
I don’t doubt that you wrote this in good faith, or that you find it convincing. It doesn’t answer the question it claims to answer , and at a few points, it commits you to things I suspect you don’t actually believe.
The Problem of Evil is the oldest and hardest question in the philosophy of religion, and no one who has understood it has ever treated it lightly. Augustine wrestled with it for decades. Aquinas gave it careful pages in the Summa. Leibniz wrote a whole book trying to answer it, and coined the word theodicy in the process. The Islamic tradition took it just as seriously: al-Ghazali, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, and Ibn Taymiyya all labored over divine wisdom and justice, and the centuries-long dispute between the Muʿtazila and the Ashʿarites, over whether human reason can know good and evil at all, turns on exactly this question. These were not small minds, and they did not think the matter closed. That is worth sitting with, because the surest sign that a person hasn’t yet grasped the Problem of Evil is the confidence that it can be settled in a few paragraphs. The ease is the tell. What follows is not written in that spirit, the argument deserves better, and so does anyone who feels its weight.
Begin with a single fact, and try to hold it steady in your mind. Somewhere, right now, a child is dying slowly and in terror, and no one is coming. She will teach no one a lesson, because no one will ever know. She will not be made stronger, because she will not survive. There is no witness to be moved, no soul to be improved, no story in which her last hours are a meaningful chapter. There is only the suffering, and then its end. And it is not only human: in some forest a fawn is burning to death in a fire no person will ever see , feeling everything, meaning nothing. This isn’t just a rhetoric. It is a description of the world as it actually is, many times over, every day.
That is the problem you set out to solve. Not the crude question of why there is any suffering at all , a question no serious person asks , but the far harder one: why there is suffering that appears, under the most honest inspection we can give it, to accomplish nothing. You never engaged this. You answered a simpler question, and declared the matter closed.
Although you are right in that I didn’t directly address animal suffering (or explicitly address children suffering, even if it is there in the subtext), what answers the question you’ve raised is exactly how you’ve raised it.
You have posed a hypothetical child, deeming that there is no witness or lesson to be learned, when the very fact that you’ve posed his existence means we’re witnesses to the existence of these children and know about them to extract lessons from them, even if not seeing them directly. Or perhaps more poignantly, posing this example arbitrarily positing the lack of lessons or witnesses assumes a materialist world with no spiritual beings to witness things.
You say she will not be made stronger because she won’t survive, but that assumes this world is all there is. In fact, the moment she leaves our world, she will be greeted by angels taking her soul and comforting her.
And even in her last moment, she will be comforted in ways you and I do not see.
So, it comes back to what I mentioned in the article: a lot of the problem of evil is people assuming their worldview is already true then becoming concerned why God would allow what they themselves created in their head to exist.
Maybe I should indeed write an article addressing children explicitly or animal suffering, but what I’ve written serves as a start to addressing what you mentioned.