Theodicy in Islam

Hello lucasan2294,

I realize this reply is quite late. Maybe it will still be of help inshaa Allah (God willing):

In Islam we believe Allah is All Powerful and Most Wise. Nothing can happen without his permission.

We also believe Allah is the only Creator.

So how about evil?

A long time ago, before mankind was on earth the Angels (peace be upon them) asked Allah the following question when He told them that He was going to place humans on earth:

"...Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, while we glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify You." He (Allah) said: "I know that which you do not know." [Al Baqarah (chapter 2) verse 30 of the Qur'an]

Allah knew evil would happen but he also knew a lot of good would result from it.

As Muslims we believe that Allah only allows things to happen if the good that will come out of it will be greater than the evil.

Things that are 100% evil (meaning that no good will come out of it) go against the Mercy and Wisdom of Allah and can therefore not exist.

Now, some might say: where is the good in the Tsunami (for example) or in some other event that caused a lot of suffering? Muslims believe that good has come from it (or will) and just because we can't see it directly does not mean that it is not there.

In a chapter of the Qur'an (Al Kahf, number 18) the true story is related of Prophet Musa (Mozes) and Prophet Khidr (peace be upon them both).

In this story two actions are done by Prophet Khidr that shock Prophet Musa who had accompanied him.

One action was that he scuttled the boat in which they were transported. This boat belonged to some poor people who were kind enough to transport the two Prophets. The other action was that Prophet Khidr (peace be upon him) killed a boy who was playing.

Later Prophet Khidr informs Prophet Musa (peace be upon them both) about these seemingly evil events.

The boat was about to be seized by an evil king. Seeing the boat was damaged he did not want to take it. So this turned out to be good for the poor people.
As for the boy, he was going to grow up to be a really big problem for his righteous parents making their lives a nightmare.

As Khidr was a Prophet (peace be upon him) he did not do this of his own accord. It was knowledge that Allah had given him.

These two actions illustrate two types of events that can occur in people's lives that seem to be evil. In the first case after the event you can find out that it was a good thing after all (I'm sure everyone can find such examples in their lives). The second type of event will seem evil and you will probably not see any good directly related to it during your life but in the end we Muslims believe that Allah knows best and He only allows things to happen if there is also good in them. One more verse from the Qur'an to illustrate this:

"� and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know."
[Al Baqarah (chapter 2) verse 216 of the Qur'an]

I hope this gives you more insight into the Islamic view on why evil occurs.

Kind regards.



Edited by AbdullahM - 08 February 2015 at 3:25am