The Problem of Evil from a non-Christian perspective
How does Islam address the Problem of Evil differently? With hundreds of people dying everyday, and with the increasingly violent world we live in, many people wonder why God lets this happen. Why does God let people be killed under his name, if he is the all-powerful, good and wise god that theists claim him to be. The ancient problem of Evil that Hume reintroduces in his book Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion goes like this: Is God willing to prevent evil, yet he is not able to do so? If so, he is not all-powerful. Is God able to prevent evil in the world, but he is not willing to do so? Then he is not all-good. Finally, if God is both willing and able to prevent evil, why is there …show more content…
The omnipotence of God is stressed as one of His most important characteristics - as the Arabic phrase goes, "Ma sha' Allah" (what God wills). In the Middle East, that phrase can be seen all the time - it gets used on car windows. You will always be reminded by this fact driving around the narrow mountain roads in Egypt. It is a nice illustration of deterministic theology. Evil does still exist in Islam, but in a different way - it lacks the insidiousness with which it is portrayed in Christian tradition. Because Islam misses the concept of Christ's redemption, and instead understands humanity to have had more or less the same relationship to God throughout history, giving no significance to the revelation of Muhammad over those of Moses or Jesus, sin and therefore evil is a mere byproduct of free will instead of a disease that infected all of mankind with one bite of an apple. Thus, evil becomes a temporary condition, more often understood as something people do, rather than something people …show more content…
The two other criteria are that it cannot be an explicitly forbidden action, nor can it distract you from doing the religious obligations. And therefore, any action done in the name of God is worshipping him. God also acknowledges that he tests human by allowing suffering and evil in the world. He says:
"The One Who created death and life, so that He may put you to test, to find out which of you is best in deeds: He is the Powerful, the Forgiving”
The story of Moses and Khidr is unique to the Quran. It is a long story where God asks Moses to follow Khidr in order to gain more wisdom, but He asks Moses not to question anything that Khidr does. Along their journey, Khidr keeps doing things that seem unfair, or even evil, but Moses has no patience and keeps questioning them. In the end Khidr explains the significance of all his actions and, God, through Khidr, tells Moses:
"Many acts which seem to be evil, malicious or somber, actually are
How does Islam address the Problem of Evil differently? With hundreds of people dying everyday, and with the increasingly violent world we live in, many people wonder why God lets this happen. Why does God let people be killed under his name, if he is the all-powerful, good and wise god that theists claim him to be. The ancient problem of Evil that Hume reintroduces in his book Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion goes like this: Is God willing to prevent evil, yet he is not able to do so? If so, he is not all-powerful. Is God able to prevent evil in the world, but he is not willing to do so? Then he is not all-good. Finally, if God is both willing and able to prevent evil, why is there …show more content…
The omnipotence of God is stressed as one of His most important characteristics - as the Arabic phrase goes, "Ma sha' Allah" (what God wills). In the Middle East, that phrase can be seen all the time - it gets used on car windows. You will always be reminded by this fact driving around the narrow mountain roads in Egypt. It is a nice illustration of deterministic theology. Evil does still exist in Islam, but in a different way - it lacks the insidiousness with which it is portrayed in Christian tradition. Because Islam misses the concept of Christ's redemption, and instead understands humanity to have had more or less the same relationship to God throughout history, giving no significance to the revelation of Muhammad over those of Moses or Jesus, sin and therefore evil is a mere byproduct of free will instead of a disease that infected all of mankind with one bite of an apple. Thus, evil becomes a temporary condition, more often understood as something people do, rather than something people …show more content…
The two other criteria are that it cannot be an explicitly forbidden action, nor can it distract you from doing the religious obligations. And therefore, any action done in the name of God is worshipping him. God also acknowledges that he tests human by allowing suffering and evil in the world. He says:
"The One Who created death and life, so that He may put you to test, to find out which of you is best in deeds: He is the Powerful, the Forgiving”
The story of Moses and Khidr is unique to the Quran. It is a long story where God asks Moses to follow Khidr in order to gain more wisdom, but He asks Moses not to question anything that Khidr does. Along their journey, Khidr keeps doing things that seem unfair, or even evil, but Moses has no patience and keeps questioning them. In the end Khidr explains the significance of all his actions and, God, through Khidr, tells Moses:
"Many acts which seem to be evil, malicious or somber, actually are