Shakiel Humayun – Not a Problem of Evil 6th Sermon
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the concept of suffering and evil on earth, which is a natural part of life. They emphasize the importance of seeking forgiveness and acknowledging evil in order to manage it. The speaker also provides two strateges: understanding the purpose of suffering and knowing the purpose of pain and suffering. The focus is on finding a balanced world view and being willing to bear the burden of suffering.
AI: Summary ©
An atheist
celebrity,
who's a comedian and a magician,
witnessed
his mother become sick
and then endure
a lot of suffering
before she died.
His father also passed away
and he endured
this pain
that his parents
were never never able
to his to see his children.
This pain,
this suffering,
he thought,
how could it be
that there is a God who is merciful,
a God who is all powerful,
who allows something like this to happen,
who allows suffering on this earth.
So he used the premise
of the existence of suffering on this earth
as a reason to deny God's existence.
And he said, I sought
comfort
in the idea
So he sought comfort in the idea
that believing
that this suffering and pain that his mother
went through
is random
was more comfortable
for him rather than believing that there was
a God
who could have stopped that suffering but didn't.
That there is a God who is so
merciful but yet allowed that suffering to continue.
This is known as the problem of evil
where people have struggled
with how could evil and pain and suffering
exist on this earth while
acknowledging and believing that there is a God
who is loving, kind and merciful.
Islam
turns this on its head.
Allah subhanahu
that there is no calamity, no disaster, no
suffering, no pain
that befalls you
except by the will of Allah.
Except by the permission
of Allah.
So in Islam we don't
disassociate
God's will with whatever happens on the earth.
But the question that we should be asking
is that
if God is merciful,
if God is kind,
if he is all powerful,
why is suffering allowed to exist on this
earth?
And that answer
is in the Quran
where Allah subhan'ah
said,
Where Allah says that we test you
with evil
and good
as a trial.
So the reason
why evil and suffering and pain exist
on this earth in our lives
is because it's part of our test.
And so evil is built into the test
of this life.
If we were to imagine a life
of all good,
all joy,
all pleasure,
no suffering,
no pain, that would not make a test.
It's a true test if there is suffering
and pain and and then we are tested
in how we deal and react to that.
As far as a world or a life
of all good, all pleasure, all luxury,
that's a place called paradise
and obviously, paradise is not a place
of a trial
or test.
Falling under this category,
there are some who's also struggled with the
concept of sin
as sins are evil.
And so, some
in dealing with sin
believe that
for sin to be remedied because it's evil
on earth, it has to be solved somehow.
That God himself became creation
and came to this earth
and then was crucified
and there had to be a blood sacrifice
to pay for all these sins
because sins
to them
are a problem to this degree.
Again, Islam turns this on its head.
The prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam said
The prophet said
every single
son of Adam,
every single human being
is a sinner.
Islam
acknowledges
the human nature of man,
the human nature to make mistakes,
the human nature
to sin.
And the best of the sinners
are those who repent a lot.
So Islam does not require us to be
angels, to be sinless.
It is expected that we will sin
and the remedy of this sin
is to seek
Allah's forgiveness.
As the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
demonstrated this extent
of this human nature.
He said,
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
if you
would not sin
and then seek Allah's forgiveness
such that he would forgive you,
he would do away with you and bring
a people
who would send
and seek Allah's forgiveness.
And Allah would forgive them.
Then he continued.
He said,
and if you were to sin
in the amount that would reach the heavens
and then you would repent, Allah would forgive
you.
So in Islam,
sins have a very easy way to be
remedied.
First, we acknowledge that it's part of a
of our nature.
And it's impossible to be like angels.
And the remedy is to seek Allah subhanahu's
forgiveness.
This is not to say
that evil is okay,
sins are okay.
We understand in Islam
the role
of
The great role of enjoying good and forbidding
evil.
We understand the role of in Islam which
is
which which part of it is to avoid
sins. So no one is saying that evil
is okay, sins are not a problem.
What islam tells us
is
how to understand
evil,
how to understand sins,
and how to deal and remedy evil and
sins in a comprehensive
world view.
A world view that is balanced because Allah
has revealed
because Allah has revealed the book and the
scales.
And the scales which keep
all things balanced without any extremism
in belief
or actions.
I must say it's exciting
to see every week our
infant and growing community,
growing week by week. May Allah
bless us all and it's always a pleasure
to see all your beautiful
faces and new faces every week.
Why
do people
why are there people willing
to go through pain and suffering
for an operation or a surgery?
Why are there so many women willing
to go through, perhaps,
hours
of labor pain in pregnancy?
Why? Why the pain? Why the suffering?
A person goes to an operation or surgery
and is willing to endure the pain because
there is a purpose
for that pain and suffering.
A woman
is willing to go through
and feel the pangs of childbirth because there's
a purpose for that pain and suffering.
Once that newborn baby is born,
it's as if that 8 hours or 5
hours or 12 hours
of pain and suffering and labor did not
exist anymore. Once she sees that baby's face,
it disappears.
We're willing to go through it because it
has a purpose.
There's a reason
behind it. Allah's in the Quran talks about
a town
where he sent 3 messengers and they were
disbelieving in these 3 messengers.
Then all of a sudden,
from the farthest part of the city, a
man comes
dashing
and tells the people believe in these 3
messengers.
He's advising them
and he says,
I have believed in your creator, so listen.
Listen to these messengers.
This is the verse 25.
He's alive.
He's speaking.
Verse 26.
Verse 26 says,
it was said to him enter Jannah.
Wait a minute.
Verse 25, he's alive speaking to the people
telling them to believe in the messengers.
Verse 26, he's on the other side.
He's being told to enter paradise.
What happened?
There's no other verse in between 2526.
We go to the tafsir.
In the tafsir ibn Mas'ud says when he
was calling
the people
to believe in the messengers,
a crowd came to him
and stomped
on him and trampled him
non stop until his bone came out of
his back.
This pain,
this suffering,
this torture
simply because he was telling the people to
believe in the messengers.
But Allah does not mention it in the
Quran because when it was said to him,
when it was said enter paradise,
he says,
Oh, I wish my people would know.
He still carry for his people.
I wish my people would know how my
Lord has forgiven me
and how he has made me
amongst the honored.
I wish my people would know the pleasure,
the joy, the luxury,
the happiness that I am
experiencing
now.
It's that experience of joy and pleasure
that makes the torture and suffering
disappear as if it never existed.
And so it's no there's no need to
mention it. So Allah subhan'ana does not mention
that between verse 25
26.
So how do we deal
with pain and suffering?
There's 2 steps
which Allah has guided us to.
The first step is to understand that this
pain I'm going through, this suffering that I'm
going through has a purpose.
And that's the first part where Allah says,
those who are stricken with calamities, they say
I know that this has a purpose. This
suffering is a purpose
for Allah.
He's put he has put me in a
test. That's the first thing.
Once I recognize it's a test, automatically the
suffering starts to reduce.
What's the second part?
And unto him we are returning.
If I am suffering, I know that I'm
gonna go back to Allah. This is not
the end of everything. There is the other
side.
And if I know that for every pain
and suffering, I will be rewarded
immensely,
automatically this suffering starts to reduce
to the point the prophet said,
even the prick of a thorn, if that
gave you a pinch,
a little pain, you'll be rewarded for that
suffering.
And this is what Allah again lays out
this formula, this 2 step
formula. And we test them with evil
and good as a trial. This is the
first step. Know that your suffering has a
purpose. It's a test.
What's the next one? Allah continues.
And to us you will return. There is
the other side. So when we look at
the big picture,
when we look at the full equation,
when we look at all
the pieces of the puzzle,
we understand how to deal
with pain and suffering and why there was
pain and suffering in this life.
So there's no comfort in knowing that pain
and suffering is random.
There's no comfort in knowing in in in
not knowing the purpose of pain and suffering.
But there's comfort in knowing the purpose of
pain and suffering.
There's comfort in knowing that this suffering will
be a reason for me to get immense
blessings, immense rewards to the point that I
will not even think or mention
about this suffering just like a mother when
she sees her newborn child, or just like
that man who was trampled on and then
saw pleasure and never even mentioned the torture.
Ask Allah
to make us amongst those
who understand the purpose of our test in
this life.