ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Discursive Theology Volume 1 Lesson 25: Evil and the Justice of God In religious texts, it is asserted that God has created the realm of nature for the benefits of humanity, as God says in the Holy Qur’an, thus: ﴿ هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الأرْضِ جَمِيعًا ﴾ “It is He who created for you all that is in the earth.” [^1] In this regard, this objection is put forth: natural evils, i.e.

undesirable events such as earthquake, flood, typhoon, volcanic eruption, and the like; predator and biting animals; plagues; and viruses go against man’s interests and bring harm to him. If man’s exploitation of nature were concomitant with the justice and wisdom of God, why did He create nature as associated with evils? If nature’s association with evils is inevitable, it follows that serving the interests of man should be considered the philosophy behind the creation of nature.

General Welfare and Public Good This objection is caused by a partial outlook on events, observation of limited individual losses, and overlooking of the general welfare and public good although rationally public interests and benefits prevail over personal and particular interests. On this basis, gains and losses in the realm of nature must be considered as a whole and the general objectives and interests must be gauged. With this outlook, the problem will be solved.

Regarding death which can be regarded as the most painful occurrence and the most prominent manifestation of evil, Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn said: “If we reflect well on this undesirable phenomenon, it will become clear that it is beneficial to the person who dies as well as to the others.

Its benefit for the one who dies is that he will become free from the life in this world which is replete with miseries and afflictions, and its benefit for the others is that had there been no death; uncontrollable population explosion would have made life’s arena narrow and human living impossible.

“In a tradition ( ḥadīth ) reported from Imām al-Ṣādiq ( ‘a ), it is said that some of the previous communities asked their prophet to petition to God the removal of death from them.[^2] The said prophet petitioned so and God granted it and took death away from them.

As a result, their generations multiplied and the usual flow of their lives was suspended because each person had to attend only to the needs of their ageing parents and grandparents and had no opportunity to perform any constructive work.