>>12890237the above conclusion assumes some further hidden premises that are not directly mentioned. For instance, it assumes that:
1. If God is omnipotent(all powerful), then He can create any world He wants -
For example, a world where all human beings always do the right thing and do not fall into evil or suffering. However, this would mean that God would deprive us of the freedom to choose and compulsion is not a characteristic that God imposes on humans.
2. If God is good, then He prefers a world without evil.
The above two hidden premises assume a very Christian type of God (i.e. one that is just good and omnipotent) and secondly that God doesn't have any reason to permit evil and suffering in the world.
uslims do not believe that God is just good and omnipotent. "Sometimes we see the manifestation of the divine beauty, grace and forgiveness and sometimes we see manifestations of the divine rigour and wrath. This is one of the big differences between the Islamic understanding and for instance the Christian understanding. Christians will say God is love and will then have trouble explaining evil in the world. Muslims say Allah is the most beneficent, most merciful, the all loving and these attributes do predominate. And at the end, when good and evil are differentiated we will see the mercy predominates over the wrath. But Allah is also the overwhelming, the avenger, the judge – Muslims believe that the world is the endlessly subtle interaction of ninety nine names, that includes names of rigour as well as names of beauty".1
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
"How amazing is the case of the believer; there is good for him in everything, and this characteristic is exclusively for him alone. If he experiences something pleasant, he is thankful, and that is good for him; and if he comes across some adversity, he is patient, and that is good for him."
ANON, I was a lifelong smug satisfied atheist. It took a calamity to bring me Islam and hapiness.
