If suffering is for Paradise, then why do animals suffer?

[Alhamduillah]

For example, a person who is going through aggressive and spreading cancer, is told to remain patient, believe in Allah's promise, and God willing they will get Paradise when they pass away.

But if suffering, pain, and hardship is for the attainment of Paradise through patience, and prayer, and human beings are different than animals, then ultimately why do animals suffer from diseases, hardships etc.???????


Animals go through aggressive cancer, sicknesses, depressions, and starvation, loss of lives just like human beings do. They feel pain just like human beings do, and are abused just like some human beings can be. So why is that animals cannot get Paradise for their suffering but human beings can?

The Islamic belief is that animals get turned into dust in the Hereafter:

"Allaah will judge between His creation, jinn, humans and animals. On that Day the score will be settled between the hornless and the horned, until there are no outstanding issues left, then Allaah will say, ‘Be dust!' At the point the kaafir will say, ‘Would that I were dust!’”"

So when a human being gets cancer and is in severe pain he is told to Be patient and trust in Allah and Paradise will be the reward, but when an animal goes through severe painful cancer or disease, in the afterlife he is simply turned to dust and then nothing?

[Nur Student]

"Allaah will judge between His creation, jinn, humans and animals. On that Day the score will be settled between the hornless and the horned, until there are no outstanding issues left, then Allaah will say, ‘Be dust!' At the point the kaafir will say, ‘Would that I were dust!’”"

So when a human being gets cancer and is in severe pain he is told to Be patient and trust in Allah and Paradise will be the reward, but when an animal goes through severe painful cancer or disease, in the afterlife he is simply turned to dust and then nothing?

It is understood from sound narrations that the spirits of animals will live eternally, and that certain individual animals, like the Hudhud of Solomon (PUH) and his ants, Salih’s (PUH) she-camel, and the dog of the Companions of the Cave, will go to the eternal realm with both their spirits and their bodies,(1) and that each species will have a single body that may be utilized from time to time. This is also demanded by wisdom and reality, and mercy and dominicality.

Dipnot-1 Bursawi, Ruh al-Bayan, v, 226; Tafsir al-Qurtubi, i, 372.

But if suffering, pain, and hardship is for the attainment of Paradise through patience, and prayer, and human beings are different than animals, then ultimately why do animals suffer from diseases, hardships etc.???????

Let me rephrase your question again as Bediuzzaman Said Nursi puts it:

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
God does what He wishes, and decrees what He wills.

Q u e s t i o n : How can the solicitous nurturing, the purposeful and beneficial planning, the loving kindness of the names of All-Compassionate, All-Wise, and Loving, which are among the greatest of the divine names, be reconciled with death and non-existence, decline and separation, and disaster and hardship, which are awesome and terrible? Very well, man goes to eternal happiness so we can tolerate his passing down the road of death, but how about the delicate species of trees and plants, and the lovely flowers, which are all living creatures, and the animal species, which are worthy of existence, lovers of life, and desire permanent life? What compassion and kindness are there in their continuously without exception being annihilated, in their being swiftly dispatched to non-existence without being allowed to so much as open their eyes, in their being made to toil without so much as taking a breath, in their being changed by calamities with not one of them being left in peace, in their being killed without exception, in their dying with not one of them remaining, in their departing with none of them being gratified – what wisdom and purpose, what favor and mercy, are there in this?

T h e A n s w e r : Through five ‘Signs,’ which show the necessitating cause and reason, and five ‘Indications,’ which point out the aims and benefits, we shall try to look from afar at the mighty truth that solves this question, and is extremely broad, profound, and elevated.

FIRST SIGN

When making a precious garment, ornamented with jewels and embroidery, a skillful craftsman employs a poor man in return for a commensurate wage. In order to display his skill and art, he dresses the man in the garment, then measures and cuts it, and lengthens and shortens it; making the man sit down and stand up, he gives it various forms. Does the wretched man have the right to say to the craftsman: “Why are you meddling with this garment which makes me beautiful, altering and changing it? Why are you making me stand up and sit down, disturbing me and causing me trouble?”

In exactly the same way, in order to display the perfections of His art through the embroideries of His names, the All-Glorious Maker takes the essential nature of beings as a model, then He clothes them all and especially living creatures in the garment of a body bejeweled with senses, and inscribes it with the pen of divine decree and determining, thus displaying the manifestation of His names. In addition, He gives to each one of them a perfection, a pleasure, an effulgence, in a way suitable to it and as a wage.

Does anything have the right, then, to say to the All-Glorious Maker, who exemplifies the meaning of, “the Lord of All Dominion has free disposal over His realms as He wishes:” “You are giving me trouble and disturbing me.”? God forbid! Beings have no rights before the Necessarily Existent One, nor can they claim them. What falls to them is, by offering thanks and praise, to carry out what is required by the degree of existence He has given them. (...)

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[Ahmad H]

Paradise is not for those who suffer. Then that is like arguing that non-Believers can get Paradise by virtue of their suffering as well. Paradise and Hell are there as a result of good or bad deeds.

As for animals, they don't sin. Only human and jinn are said to be created in the Qur'an for the specific purpose of worshiping Allah. Animals are not included in that. If we realize our purpose, we get to be in Paradise with our Lord, if not, then we suffer in the Hereafter for some time.

To add to this, animals are said to only be resurrected for the purpose of bearing witness for or against the humans who did wrong to them or good to them. If someone doesn't treat an animal well, then they will suffer from that animal. It is said that this also happens during Barzakh.

If you still don't understand, then I can respond to any other questions you have.

[anisafatima]

Being patient in a tough job to perform but one who undergoes it without the feeling of distress and anxiety becomes liable for the divine reward in world and Day of Judgment. As suffering reduces the amount of sins and increases the chances of getting mercy of Almighty Allah (SWT).

[Abdullah101]

(Excuse me if this information is incorrect, but I remember reading this somewhere sometime ago)
It is true that in paradise you can have whatever your heart truly desires. If you're a homosexual and you become chaste and dedicated to the one True God during your worldly life, and don't fall into sin, in Heaven you can do homosexual actions (if your heart still desires it)

I know it's against what the Quran says (to keep a dog solely as a pet), but if I go to heaven, I would want my good old dog to be there with me. I grew up with my dog and we're awesome together. She is 13 years old now, I got her when I was 4 (as a baby)

[Nur Student]

If you're a homosexual and you become chaste and dedicated to the one True God during your worldly life, and don't fall into sin, in Heaven you can do homosexual actions (if your heart still desires it)

Brother,

There won't be any unlawful or unnatural desires in Paradise.

Best,

[Abdullah101]

Alright then! I thought so, I just remember reading that weird line somewhere.