EVIL AND ISLAM
Therefore, this study seeks to shed more light on the problem of evil in the world and in the light of its origin. Or better still the study will try to reconcile Gods fundamental characteristics namely omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, and apathy just to mention a few. The views of God from the point of view of Classical Theism and Dialectic Theism will also be considered. In addition, a reflection on various theological themes will be reviewed especially the one on Theodicy. In general, the main aim is to reflect on the understanding of evil and its causation and how it can be countered.
Logic and Evil
As indicated above evil is a very complicated issue and a very difficult task to explain. In fact, it becomes even more complicated when one applies certain principles of logic to it. Logic bases itself on inferences and statements in drawing its conclusions. Or better still by way of deduction andor induction conclusions derive necessarily from the premises and with mathematical certainty. In this regard, all judgments made by way of logical implication admits not any contradiction. This is one of the many reasons why the topic on evil is difficult to fathom especially in the light of logic. To elucidate more on this consider the following arguments.
God is Love and Goodness and by virtue of His omnipotence He ought to have created a perfect world. And, if God is Almighty and a transcendent God then He is able to maintain a perfect world free from evil. But, God is the sole creator of the world. From this argument confusion begins when one tries to reconcile imperfection and the omnipotence of the good Lord. Now, looking at the above arguments it is possible to construct logical arguments as follows
If God is omnipotent and transcendent, in addition, that than which nothing greater can be conceived as Anselm notes then He was able to create a perfect world free from evil. This is the first dimension of this argument. But, evidently evil is all over the world This is the second dimension of this argument. Therefore, it can be inferred that God is not omnipotent and that He was not able to create a world devoid of evil. To elucidate further on this argument consider it in its symbolic form as follows.
If M then N. If it is not the case N, therefore it can not be the case M.
Note that this is in principle because for any hypothetical argument to deny the consequent is to deny the antecedent. This illustration will be of importance for some themes in the rest of the chapters below. Nonetheless, this should not entertain any atheistic tendencies as logic is developed from the human mind. It lacks metaphysics and that is why classical theism is one of the preferred discourses in explaining the nature of God.
Classical Theism
As mentioned above, theologians and philosophers have done a lot of scholarly works in a bid to describe the nature and essence of God and above all the possibility for his existence. This quest dominated in the classical times and in fact shaped the theism system. Today, it is referred to as classical theism. Why one would support this system of thought is due to its theistic tendencies or better still, it appeals more because it confirms the existence of God. Theism simply involves indisputable belief that God exists. Islam, Christians or Judaists all fall in this category. Classical Theism is one and the same thing with Judaeo-Islamo-Christian.
From the argument above, it demonstrates why evil is a controversial issue. Clearly, it bases itself on the fundamental understanding of the qualities of God. In deed, they are very strong and transcendental qualities such that the human mind cannot comprehend. Anselm notes, God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived. Therefore, classical theism majorly mentions the following qualities omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, transcendence, and benevolence. The transcendence of God is derived from the fact that God is neither an intrinsic part of creation nor is creation an intrinsic part of God. God is not a spatio-temporal reality as he is beyond time and space. Corporeal objects such as a table, a chair or a human being are spatio-temporal realities since they occupy space and are contingent beings. Again, spatio-temporal particulars are sensible objects hence the human mind can grasp them through the use of the senses. God is not in this realm at all. He is incomprehensible as such. This is why questions as to whether God exists or is it possible to know what God is like are regarded pointless and with no sense.
Omnipotence is one of the major reasons why logicians regard the debate about God nonsensical. Omnipotence of God implies that God is able to do anything or better still, God can do everything and without limit. Empiricism has had serious problems with this fact since they base all their beliefs on the empirical verifiability of experience. The dictum that what is empirically possible is also logically possible makes things even more complicated, again as pertains to evil. So, theists have used Gods omnipresence to explain the problem of evil vis a vis the arguments advanced from the logical statements. Recall the arguments illustrated in the beginning of this study.
Omniscience refers to Gods ability to know everything. He is all-knowing. He goes beyond the normal epistemological status of knowledge especially characterized by wisdom or intelligence or intuition. He is everywhere every second, every minute and every hour as he is not limited by time and space.Cosmologically, this is impossible. Cosmology looks at two qualities of corporeal reality namely pluri-precence and impenetrability. That one person cannot be in different places and at the same time. True, this is absurd and impossible. Theists however, regard this as a possibility as far as God is concerned.
Lastly the other quality is that of benevolence. This actually, is the ground for the problem of evil. Reconciliation of Gods goodness and love with evil is totally a contradiction and a very complex theme to fathom. To reiterate, this is the main cause of atheistic tendencies and as such due the imperfections found in the world. This leads now to the next discussion in this study in addressing evil especially its origins, how it is understood in the contemporary world, and modalities used to counter it.
The problem of Evil
As indicated earlier God is the source of every thing that there is and that nothing can explain its origin from itself without referring to God as its source of existence. This simply means that everything is from God, the creator. This assertion does not exclude the problem of evil in that it also originates from God. God is the principal cause of evil and this is justifiably so by virtue of the principle of causality. However, evil is termed as physical evil, mental evil, and moral evil. Physical evil is when one is undergoing illness of body, lacks some parts of his body like the handicapped, natural disasters like tsunami, floods, hunger, and drought just to mention a few. Cases of insanity and mental retardedness , on the other hand, are examples of mental evil. Moral evil is characterized by concupiscence in man, for example, the inclination to sin. In fact, moral evil is believed to be the source of all evil in the world. Note that morality revolves in the world of humans therefore, you cannot attribute evil with animals or with trees or with buildings, name them. One cannot argue that this tree is evil or that table is evil it only makes sense when one says this man is evil or that girl is evil and so on and so forth.
Therefore man is believed to be the source of evil. From the discussions above, God created an orderly world but man disordered it. God willed that the world be good for man but out of mans sinfulness, pride and disobedience he disordered everything. To ease the struggle in explaining evil, it is therefore important to consider mans freedom as a gift from God. The aspect of freedom is actually the reconciliation between Evil and God with respect to man. That among the many things that god created He also willed that man be a free creature. In deed, God has endowed man with the gift of freedom embedded in his two faculties namely intellect and will. In this regard, it is easy to fathom why evil is as a result of mans activities.
Islam religion notes, that the fear of God and good character are the gate pass to paradise. However the mouth and the private parts are the gate pass into hell. Good and Evil are not concomitants. Even though the amount of evil overwhelms you, take refuge in God, and you will prosper. Self-inflicted punishment is also seen as an act of penance for the sins of the Muslims Community, who abandoned Husaynand his followers to their strategic fate on the days leading up to Ashura.
Conclusion
As you can see the problem of evil becomes a difficult task if some facts are not put into consideration. We have looked at the absurdity of the arguments about evil from convincing logical positions. From logic point of view, we cannot reconcile Gods transcendence and Goodness with evil. In deed, He seems to be the cause of evil again evil disproves his omnipotence and benevolence. The position of classical theism is good and I concur with it. The qualities of God are omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, transcendence and above all, benevolence. From experience, these qualities are evident since we experience God as so. However, to be able to believe in God we need divine help which is characterized by revelation. This is why logic cannot wholly determine ones thinking about God. We stated that logic is purely a product of the human mind. Faith comes in to aid the mind in its quest to know God. Therefore, to comprehend evil as per its origins and the rest, we need faith. Whenever a person is undergoing crisis in his belief in God in the case of the problems of evil, this is always a crisis of faith. Yes, she needs to address hisher faith.
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