format_quote Originally Posted by
APL
Hello everyone, I think this is a fundamental question and I'm surprised it has not been asked in the context of Islam. If Allah exists, why do bad things happen to good people? There are people who are intelligent and successful but do not believe in Islam while there are hard-working believers who suffer for no discernible reason.
Now I can foresee some of the answers to this question, so I'll try to post what I think some people will say.
Some people might say that bad things are a "test" for people. Bad things happen to good people as a way for Allah to test someone's faith. The test may actually help the person, though he or she may not know it, and the person may be rewarded for their difficulties in the afterlife. However, this argument has been used in MANY religions I have come across. Many religions say that hardships are a test of faith, so what makes Islam different? If Islam has the same answer to the same fundamental question, then there's no reason for someone to be Muslim instead of Christian or Jewish.
Other people might say that bad things happen because a person has been bad. However, I stress that this person in question has been, by all accounts, good, to the best of his or her ability. The person may be kind, compassionate, hard-working, pious, and an all-around good person, so why lay hardship on him or her? There are more corrupt, detestable people in the world who live their lives without ever suffering such hardship.
What about that person's goals and dreams and desires? Let us say that this good person has a good goal. This good person wants to help the poor people who suffer, and wants to do so by obtaining a job to best help the poor. The job may be to be a doctor to help the poor and sick, or an engineer, to build better living conditions for the poor. With such good intentions and goals, why should the person face hardship when another person may want to become a doctor or engineer just for the money?
I hope the good people of this forum can provide a rational, clear, descriptive answer to this question. It will not only help me, but I think it will help many people in embracing Islam.
Asalaamu Alaikum, Brother firstly you or i are not in a position to judge the life of others. Be they poor, rich, handsome or ugly. We do not know what they go through on a daily basis. It maybe that a rich man although may look happy to you on the outiside but we know nothing about what turmoil or anguish he is going through in his life. You may look at a poor man but is may be completly content and happy with his life even more than the rich man.
Why are suicide rates in the west so much higher than anywhere else in the world? Even though the west has all of the riches in the world. Simply because people are not happy or content with their lives even though they may have wealth. Just a couple of months ago in the UK in London this millionnaire committed suicide. His family was asked his story and his mother said that he lived a normal life until he won a lot of money on th lottery. After that he bought himself a huge house and lived in it partying all of the time with his friends and he lived a life of indulgence. She mentioned sadly that out of the blue he just took his own life. When it was asked of her why her son did such a thing she said that if he did'nt win the lottery then he would still be alive today. When he won the lottery he bought whatever he wanted and he lived the high life but he was never happy. He died in a huge house all alone out of misery.
I also remember watching a documentary of a celebrity property developer who went to the slums of Bombay. He was astounded when he went there and what he had experienced. He said in a place of such poverty you would have thought that you would see people who would be miserable and depressed but they are so happy. He kept saying why are they so happy? He just could'nt understand why they were so much happier than people in the west. In the end he accepted that although these people may be the poorest people on earth but they were content and happy because they had family and friends around them and they had just about enough to survive and that was enough for them. That changed his whole perception of life because it taught him that money does not by happiness but happiness and contentment comes from other things like family, religion, feeling a sense of belonging etc.
Therefore you should never "judge" another and say just because he is rich he is happy or he is poor he is unhappy because you could not be more wrong. You do not know anything about a persons life and what they are going through and what they have experienced etc. We cannot look at another person and say they are happy even though we may always see them smile because what a person is truly going through we would never know. What is hidden inside is not necessery going to be reflected in the exterior of a person.
So accept the fact that you cannot judge who is happy or unhappy for that is something we are not aware of. We can only judge our own lives. Wealth and riches although they may bring some ease in a persons life certainly do not bring about satsifaction, contentment and happiness for it may be that a poor man has a much richer and fulfilling life than a rich man who although has all the riches in the world may live an empty existence.
So we are clear now that you can only judge your own life not the life of others. You also judged how some people are given easy or hard tests but again how can you truly know what kind of tests a person goes through throughout their lives?
A person does not just go through one or two tests in their lifetime but one goes through many tests all throughout ones life. A person may have a simple test one day and somewhere down the line get hit by a very hard test.
We all go through a varying degree of tests in our life. It doesn't mean that we are given one or two simple or hard tests. You or i will never know what kind of tests a person will go through in our lives. People do not always advertise their tests. If we were to know the kind of tests people are going through i promise we would all be shocked and think how would we ever have guessed that person is going through whay they are going through.
So my brother do not judge the life of others by what you see on the exteriour or what you hear about from others as you and i do not know how happy or sad they are throughout their lives and you and i do not know what kind of tests they will go through throughout their lives. You will only ever truly know about a fraction of a persons life and what they have been through as whatever is in the heart is hidden from us so again do not judge the life of others.
What you see on the outside is notnecesserily what is reflected on what a person is feeling on the inside. Wealth does not bring happiness nor does beauty or health. A person who is poor, ugly or ill maybe much happier and content in their life than a person who is rich, A ugly person may have more contentment, happiness and peace in their heart than a person who is beautiful. An ill person may feel more contentment and happiness than a person who has health.
It maybe that a wealthy person loses their wealth. Or a healthy person loses their health. Or a beautiful person loses their beauty. We do not know what we have until its gone. None of these things cause lifelong happiness and so you or i cannot judge happiness or sadness in ones life based on these things.
You need to ask yourself what is the purpose of my life? Is it to live, work, marry have kids and die? No of course not and if you are Muslim then you would know that is not the answer. We are only created for one purpose and that is to worship Allah. Along our journey in life we will be tested. So in effect we are in a test ground. So obviously on a test ground we are going to be tested. Maybe right now you are being tested more than me. But maybe tomorrow or next week a bigger test may come to me and your test maybe eased. Life is full of varying degree of tests.
If you have an important exam then will you pass if you don't revise? The simple fact is that if you don't work hard and make the effort then you will fail. Therefore you will have to work very hard to pass your exams. Sameway we are in an examination but the only difference is it can end at any second as we are not aware when our exam will come to an end. So just like an examination there will be easier and harder tests. So if we want to pass we need to put the effort in and that applies to anything in life. You have to work hard to get what you want. Sameway if you want Paradise then you have to work for it.
But let me ask you something. our life is on average 70 years. Lets say your 30. You have on average 40 years left in this life. Now if you devote 40 years of your life to Allah then you will gain eternity of bliss in return. Is that fair?
40 years worship= Eternity in Paradise
That is very unfair. Why should we be given eternity of bliss in Paradise for only 40 to 50 years of devotion? That doesn't seem fair to me that we should be given so much for such little devotion. That is being too generous but Allah is the most generous. For just 40 - 50 years of suffering and patience he will give eternity of bliss in Paradise. That is like a few seconds compared to eternity.
Now if a person suffered more and was patient relying on Allah, invested more into the hereafter as in worshipping and pleased Allah and another person just did minimal as in prayed, fasted and kept away from major sin etc then is it fair that they both go to the same Paradise? Of course not and that is because there are many different levels of Paradise depending on how much one put into the hereafter and pleasing Allah. The more suffering one endures with patience and the more one invests into the hereafter the higher the rank of that person will be in Paradise. The difference between one Paradise to another is like this earth and when you look up at the night sky and the star that you see far far away.
So everyone will get what they are entitled to according to their situation and what they went through in life . That is something we cannot know or judge. Only Allah has that knolwedge for he is the best of all judges and Ais most just and true justice will ONLY happen in the next world.
Therefore we are getting SO much more in return for our short life in this world yet we still complain? In the hereafter the currency will be good deeds not money or gold. Once we see our deeds we will wish we went through so much more suffering and endured it for the pleasure of Allah just so that we can gain more good deeds.
So the Reward of going through difficult trials and hardships is so much more than the suffering that oen would have gone through!
Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah Allah's Messenger (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) said, "On the Day of Resurrection, when people who have suffered affliction are given their reward, those who are healthy will wish their skins had been cut to pieces with scissors when they were in the world."
(Al-Tirmidhi #1570)
We will wish we had invested so much more just so that could have had more good deeds. We will wish we were taken back to the earth so that we can live this life again just so that we can live a life pleasing Allah and doing good deeds but we will not be able to as this is our ONLY chance. We must NOT waste this one chance we have.
Shaythan is always trying to deter us from the right path and one of the ways he tries this is by telling us how unfair Allah is when in reality what we will get in return for our devotion and patience is WAY TOO MUCH than we deserve. It is a bit like your manager giving you a million pounds a day for the current job you are doing. The simple fact is will get MUCH more than we can ever comprehend for the little good we would have done in this world.
If we think deeply about the favours Allah has done for us for will never be able to comprehend his favours because they are too numerous. What is required of us is so little in return for what we will get inshallah. So let us realise that Allah has given us too too much for us to ever even think of thinking of him as being unfair. He created us so knows what is best for us.
And Allah knows best in all matters