Who Created Evil If There Is A God

			Welcome to another episode of our series The mailbag from the show.
		

			In today's mail, we have a really profound and deep question, a question that has plagued humanity
since the beginning of time. And the question is very simple. If there is a God who creates, then
did this God create evil if he didn't create it? Who else created it? In other words, did God create
evil or not? That's the simple question, did God create evil or not? And in response to this, I
start off with a prelude. And I say that this question, as I said, has plagued humanity from the
beginning of time, and every single religion has offered different responses to this question. And
in fact, even within religions, you've had various movements, within Judaism, within Christianity
		

			within Islam, within Hinduism, within Zoroastrianism, every single religion has tried to give
various responses to what we call an English that the issue of theodicy or the question of God and
evil, if there is a God, and if there is evil, what is the relationship between the two? That is a
very profound and deep question. Well, we as Muslims have a deep and profound response to this. And
that is as follows. First and foremost, we as Muslims do not believe that there is anything that is
pure evil, we do not believe in the existence of Ultimate Evil. Everything that God has created,
everything has some benefits, and some good, and some things have nothing but benefit and good. But
		

			there is nothing that comes from God. That is pure evil. And let me repeat that so that you
understand some of the matters that God reveals or sends down for example, the speech of God, God's
revelation, the messengers, they are good and pure in and of themselves, the book of God is nothing
but purity and good. There is no evil in this book, there is no there is no aspect of anything
negative from this book, the book is positive, believing in it is good, reciting it is good,
worshiping God through it is good, reading is good, everything is good about it. The book is the
revelation of God, it is the speech of God, there is nothing evil in it, God's creation, also, God's
		

			creation, usually has good, a little bit of harm as well. But this harm is not an intended harm. It
is a harm that comes about not because God created it to do harm, but because there is a lot of good
and then there's some harm also in there, and the harm leads to good, the harm that is present in
any aspect brings about good. For example, God says in the Quran, that drinking alcohol, we believe
as Muslims, that is a no, no, you don't do that. God says drinking alcohol has some good to it,
there's there's some positive, but there's also bad, and the bad outweighs the good, there's good in
it. That's why everybody loves to drink alcohol, there's some good in it. But there's negatives as
		

			well. And the negatives outweigh the positives in this case. So even alcohol is not pure evil,
there's some good that comes out of it. In fact, Satan or shavonne, he believes we call them in
Arabic, even the creation of Satan has some good, and Satan is in generally speaking, the embodiment
of evil, but still we believe as Muslims that there's some good out of it, what good is there, one
of the fact that you know that there is an enemy out there trying to harm you, trying to mislead
you, it makes you conscious, it makes it puts your guards up. The fact that you will enter Paradise
by not obeying Satan is good for you, it might not be good for Satan, but it's good for you. And so
		

			every element of the creation is either pure good, or there's good and bad. And so there is no such
thing as pure evil. Also, we come to another point, and that is that you will never be able to judge
what evil is completely, especially in the actions of God around you. When something happens.
tsunami wave happens, a thunderstorm happens and tremendous disaster, Hurricane tornado earthquake.
People will say why did this evil happen to us? And the response is, indeed some evil came out of
that nobody can deny. But there's also good that comes out of it. What is the good that comes out of
it? Well, mankind shows their true nature, in their sympathy and mercy. They they send money, they
		

			send food, they come together at times of distress, and a lot of good comes out of as well. Let me
ask you a simple question. If there were no people who were starving, how could you show your
generosity? If there was no evil? How could you show your good? And so there has to be some
negatives in order for you to bring the positives. There's another aspect as well, you can say okay,
fine. I understand that. When there's a tsunami wave, I can be generous to the people who are
affected and so God rewards me how
		

			About the people who suffered at that wave who lost a child, somebody who lost a daughter who lost a
parent, how about them, the response is very simple. You are judging negative and positive based
upon this world. And you're forgetting that there's something called the hereafter. And it is
possible that the rewards that a person gets in the hereafter for a problem that he or she suffers
is much more than if he didn't suffer that problem at all. In fact, we believe as Muslims, if you're
patient, and you put your trust in God, and you show your fortitude, your belief in God, we believe
that in the Hereafter, you would actually have wanted more problems, so that you could have shown
		

			your patience to get more rewards when you see the blessings of God. When you see how God has
rewarded you for your suffering, you will in fact, wish not in this world because none of us wishes
that and that's natural. But in the hereafter when it's all gone and done, when it's all been there,
and you see the rewards of God, you will actually wish that Oh, Why wasn't I tested more so that I
could be rewarded more, because you are rewarded much more than what you deserve. And that is also a
belief that we hold as Muslims. So you're judging evil based purely on this world, and there could
be good in it. Also, even forgetting that you after even in this for Let me ask ask you a frank
		

			question. How many times have you done something, and you were so sure that there was good in that
thing? And then within a week, a month, a year, you regretted your decision? And you said, Oh, man,
I shouldn't have done that. I was a big mistake that I did. How many times have Has that happened in
your own daily life? You thought something was good, and it turned out to be evil. Conversely, as
well, how many times something happened to you thought that was bad. But then in retrospect, in
hindsight, you're like, Oh, you know, that was actually better than happened. In other words, you
notice your own your own fallibility, you'll notice your own limited wisdom. When you experience
		

			your limited wisdom in your own daily life. Why don't you just give up that wisdom to God and you
say, you know what, God, You created me, you gave me everything that I have. You've taken me so far,
I put my trust in you that everything that happens is happens for the best. And that's exactly what
we believe as Muslims, nothing happens to you, except that it is for your own good, whether you
realize it or not in this world or the hereafter. So to respond to the question, indeed, everything
of the world, happens by the knowledge of God, and the Word of God, and God creates everything we
affirm that. But that doesn't mean that we ascribe evil to God, we don't ascribe evil to God, there
		

			is no such thing as pure evil. Rather, we say, Allah created everything, and portions of his
creation, some of his creation has good and bad, but even the bad in it, even the evil in it, it
leads to good, and it is necessary for this evil to exist in order to manifest the good. And so we
leave it at that, and we put our trust and our judgment. We don't judge God, we say a lot is the all
wise, we know for our experiences that our wisdom is limited. Indeed, God knows what is best, and he
is the most loving and the Most Merciful and the most wise, and we leave that to him. And we say,
Allah knows best, why everything is happening. It happens for what divine wisdom and decree and if
		

			you believe in God, and you put your trust in Him, then we have a firm commandment in the Quran,
that everything that happens happens for our own best whether we realize it or not. I hope that that
answers your question in a very basic love. And of course, there's so much more that can be said
about that. This brings us to the conclusion of this episode. I'll see you in for another question
in another episode of The mailbag on the deen show. Until then, I set on YT equal to low heat, we're
about to catch