So this question deals with the very, very difficult topic of theodicy
Theodicy is explaining the existence of evil.
Theodicy is a perennial problem.
It goes back to the very beginning of time,
and there are thousands and thousands of philosophers
and theologians that have attempted to answer this question.
Why is there pain and suffering and evil in this world?
In a nutshell, there's no simple answer.
That is that is going to appease a person in two or three minutes.
In a nutshell, those who end up denying God
because they don't understand evil, which is the default of modern atheism,
neither they end up solving the problem of evil,
nor do they have questions to the bigger
problems of life, which is why are we here and what is the purpose of life?
In other words, this question is primarily
the stepping stone for the rejection of God. Right.
Number one reason why? You know,
people like Sam Harris and Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins
and the number one reason why they're atheists, the number one reason is
they give you a long list of the problems in this world.
The children that are suffering the tsunami waves, this and that,
and they say, how could a God allow this?
The response to this is twofold in rejecting God.
Neither did you solve the problem. You still have evil. Right.
And then number two, you have created an infinitely longer
list of problems that you have no answers to.
And that is life itself and the meaning of life
and the purpose of life and who created us and how did we get here?
Whereas what we are positing is that we begin with the paradigm of humility.
When Allah announced that he's creating Adam and Adam was not like the angels.
Adam had a sense of free will.
Even the angels questioned. Why would you do that, O Allah?
Why would you create a creation that's going to kill and cause evil
and cause bloodshed?
Even the angels asked the basically the same question, why?
What's the wisdom
and Allah (swt) did not attempt to rationalize to the angels,
even though the angels are better than us and smarter than us .
Yet Allah did not rationalize.
He didn't philosophize.
Why are there human beings that are going to be creating evil on this earth?
Allah (swt) simply said, you're going to have to trust me.
I know things you will never understand [اني أعلم ما لا تعلمون]
So we begin to answer this question with a sense of humility.
We might not be able to understand the wisdom of Allah (swt)
And then once we begin with that humility, are there wisdoms that are mentioned?
Yes, there are. And I have many, many that are mentioned.
I'll just mention one of them, or two or three of them, and then stop.
Number one, we firmly believe that the potentiality to attain
good from any evil situation is more and outweighs the evil itself.
The potentiality for good outweighs the actual evil.
Number two, Allah does not love the evil, but a love loves the good
that is generated from the evil.
Number three, there is indeed a hereafter.
And if you're not going
to take the hereafter into account, you will never understand that child
that was suffering, the pain that was happening
to the parents, the tsunami waves, everything.
There are blessings that come from that in the next life.
Now, could Allah (swt) have done it differently?
Yes, he could if he chose not to. I can't question Allah's wisdom.
Neither can you. It's not for me to do that.
There's a verse in the Koran. He is not questioned for what he does.
Rather, they will be questioned for what they do.
[لَا يُسْأَلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْأَلُونَ]
And then the final point that I'll mention.
Then again, listen to my lectures.
The non theist, the atheist.
Essentially, listen to this
carefully demands heaven without doing anything.
Listen to me carefully.
The non-theist is irritated
that he hasn't been handed heaven on a silver platter
because the world that he's positing actually does exist .
The world without suffering.
The world without pain. The world of eternal life.
The world of bliss. It exists we call it Jannah
And in order to get to Jannah, we firmly believe there is a stepping stone.
And that stepping
stone is showing how you deal with the pain and suffering of this world.
You want that place of no pain and suffering.
Then live this world with dignity,
with faith, and you shall get that world that you desire.
But these people.
They're frustrated and irritated that Allah created them
and then didn't just hand Jannah to them on a silver platter
and Allah says in the Quran
that did you think Jannah would come to you for free?
Do you think you're going to get this blessing for no reason? No.
Allah created us with a wisdom and purpose in mind.
If we live this life the way that he wants, then we shall live
with inner peace in this world and with eternal bliss in the hereafter.