If God is All Loving, Why Does He Allow Evil and Suffering?

One of the most common questions raised by those who are yet to be guided is this: If there is a God, why is there so much suffering and evil on this earth? They listen to us talk about how God is Al-Wadood – The Most Loving and raise the same issue: If He is so loving, why would He cause so much pain and sorrow? How come there is so much injustice and oppression?

We have all encountered suffering in one way or the another. We might be facing illness, financial difficulties, anxiety, challenging relationships, unemployment, or be caring for a sick or ageing loved one. Whatever struggles we face, the question of suffering is one of the hardest of all and one of the biggest barriers to faith in God.

There are no easy or straightforward answers to these questions.

The answers to these questions lie in the perspective we take. To be able to understand why there is suffering and pain and evil, we must have a firm belief in God and the hereafter because without that belief none of the suffering actually makes any sense.

This is a temporary world and everything here has a time limit. Neither the good things in life are forever nor are the bad things eternal. During the short time that we exist in the world we are constantly being tested. Those who pass the test will find an eternal world that is perfect and permanent; those who fail the test will have to face the consequences of their actions. When we view the world with this mindset, we understand that suffering in this life can be a test for some people, and because it is a test, through that suffering some people may be rewarded. This reward may take place either in this life or in the hereafter.

God does not cause us to ensure hardships without meaning. Adversity can be a cause for some people to be guided and to change their way to become good people. For them, the hardship was a blessing that led them to change their ways and be guided.

For others, suffering can be a way in which God punishes them in this world for their actions.

As humans we don’t have the divine wisdom to be able to understand why each individual is experiencing suffering in their lives. We can only speak in generalities.

The fact that we feel uncomfortable when we see suffering and pain is in itself a proof of God’s existence. We are able to recognise good and evil because God gave us the ability to recognise this. It doesn’t come from ourselves. Our knowledge of good and evil comes from a transcendent being. In everything that God has created there is some good and perhaps some evil. Every harm that God has caused will have some underlying benefit whether we see it or not. Whatever God wills, the good will eventually outweigh the evil.

For example, let’s take the trait of generosity. We all aim to be generous and teach out children to be generous. But how do we demonstrate generosity if there is no one to be generous upon? We are generous with our wealth towards those who have less than us. If we all had equal amounts of wealth there would be no opportunity to be generous and charitable.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) assured his companions that in hardships we often find God. Until things get shaken up, we are often complacent. In the story of the Creation of Adam, the angels asked God why He was creating a fallible creature when He already had perfect beings in the form of angels. In response he told them I know what you don’t know.

They said, “Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we exalt You with praise and declare Your perfection?”2 He [Allāh] said, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know.” [Quran 2:30]

This is the foundational belief we need, to be able to understand the suffering. A human intellect is very limited. It is only God who has perfect knowledge of all things.

We need God to fill in the vast gaps in our knowledge and understanding because He alone ahas infinite knowledge and wisdom. He has the most perfect plan. He knows the future. We do not.

We, human beings, need to come to terms that we cannot understand when something small doesn’t go our way, but we trust God and the wisdom that He has. In the same way, we need to trust God’s wisdom when something major happens that we don’t understand.  Whatever the calamity, we need to have the basic belief that God knows what we don’t know, and we need to be comfortable with that. We need to be okay with not knowing what God knows.

We need to have the trust in God that He has a perfect plan, an ultimate plan that we are not privy to and that we don’t understand but that we trust Him and His ability to make everything work out in the end. We trust God that everyone who has experienced suffering in some form will be compensated either in this life or rewarded in the hereafter.

Some questions in life don’t come with straightforward answers. In this life, we might never really understand why some things have happened. But God offers us comfort and invites us to take our complaints to Him.

And your Lord says, “Call upon Me; I will respond to you.” [Quran 30:60]

He asks us to come to Him, to talk to Him, to ask Him for ease. Whatever our suffering, we have a choice: we can choose to go through it by ourselves, or we can choose to seek God’s help and understanding in facing our hardships.

What will you choose?