When Children Suffer
Hamza Yusuf
I would like to write a follow up to a question someone wrote in response to a quote I posted on Facebook a few days ago. The question was regarding how God could allow the rape of a seven-year-old girl. First of all, I would request that people not be so harsh with those who have valid questions. Some Muslims are too quick to attack and condemn Muslims with doubts or troubles and actually drive them further away from Islam. I have been guilty of this myself and sorely regret being too harsh with a Saudi youth in Jeddah once who was on the verge of apostasy. At that moment, I responded as I did because I felt so troubled that someone so close to the Haram Sharif could be in that state; however, in retrospect, I realized I probably made the situation even worse. I pray for him to this day.
In Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky poses this modern question of the suffering children on the tongue of Ivan to Alyosha and uses it as a proof that he can no longer believe in God or rather the God who could create such a world. To his credit, Dostoevsky gives this argument the best rendering that can be found. He did not set up a straw man to knock him down; rather, he dealt with it head on.
Many young Muslims in the West and in other areas connected online are now exposed to such questions. The ancients were far too present with the divine aspect of the world to ever question God about the world, as God is the one who questions us. While theology and theodicy are long and arduous courses to take to really delve into and tackle such human problems, we still need reasonable lay approaches to help our fellow Muslims and others who are seeking answers to pressing problems.
I want to look at a hadith that elucidates further the response I gave to the question that was posted on Facebook. The Prophet, God bless and grant him peace, said, “Whoever prays our prayer, faces our qibla, and eats our halal meat is a Muslim who has God’s protection and then the protection of God’s Messenger. So do not betray God in His protection” (la takhfiru ‘llaha fi dhimmatihi). The word dhimmah has several meanings, including, “care, custody, protection, covenant of protection, compact, responsibility, answerableness, liability, inviolability, security, and conscience.” The Arabs say, “‘ala dhimmati,” meaning, “upon my word of honor.” According to this hadith, God has placed His protection over certain things – in the case of this particular hadith, Muslims, but more generally, according to the Qur’an, many other hadith, and Islamic law, His creation in the world. Hence, trees, wells, rivers, oceans, air, soil, food, animals, and most importantly people, irrespective of faith, color, or creed have God’s protection. However, God has made the human being the divine custodian of this protection. The verb khafara – yakhfuru, a variant of which is used in the hadith, means, “To watch over, to protect.” Changing the present tense form from yakhfuru to yakhfiru, as is done in the hadith, changes the meaning to, “to betray.” Hence, the protection can easily be betrayed by a slip from top to bottom, from fathah dropping down to a kasrah.
The above-mentioned hadith does not exclude people of other faiths. Those who are not Muslim, which includes people of all other faiths and not just the Abrahamic ones according to the Maliki and Hanafi schools, are people of covenant in Muslims lands, as was Ottoman practice for centuries; hence, they are called, “the covenantal people of protection” (ahl dhimmah). Included also in this category are nations that have treaties with Muslim nations and peoples in non-Muslim lands in which Muslims are living safely. In other words, all these people are in God’s and His Messenger’s protection. This is why, on the Day of Judgment, the Prophet, God bless and grant him peace, is the advocate of a person of covenant who was betrayed by Muslims against the Muslims who betrayed him.
Of all God’s creatures, it is children who warrant the greatest protection due to their helplessness and innocence, which is why the punishment for violating them is severe. The Prophet, God bless and grant him peace, loved children and honored them on many occasions, such as calling them by honorific epithets or patting young ones on the head, leaving the scent of musk upon them for the rest of the day. In fact, the Prophet, God bless and grant him peace, visited one child whose pet had died in order to offer condolences and cheer him up. The Prophet, God bless and grant him peace, also cursed those who mistreated animals and told of a person punished in the hellfire for torturing a cat; contrariwise, he told of a prostitute forgiven for giving water to a dog dying of thirst.
Terrible crimes perpetrated against children are also a sign that we not only have freewill but, according to our creed, that God is not obliged to intervene when we use it to break covenants of God’s protection and violate the inviolable. Imam al-Laqqaniy says in his Jawharah,
“The claim of the Rationalists that God must only allow benefit is a lie;
Have they not seen the suffering of children in the world?”
Finally, increasing incidents of such violations are a sign of the end of time, as the Prophet, God bless and grant him peace, said, “The time is coming when little children will be lusted after like you today have natural desires.” The ability to break this covenant of protection is called freewill. The rights and protection that God has given humans is to be upheld and honored by each of us. If anyone betrays that trust, then, in this world, the government has the authority and right to redress the wrong. In redressing the wrong, wholeness is restored, and healing can take place. If this does not occur, the victim must remember: there is a day when the divine redresser will right every wrong, heal every wound, fulfill every vow, and remove for all eternity the scars of this world that were unjustly inflicted by those who betrayed God’s protection.
Dana Posted on 07/29/2012
I was had some questions regarding the same subject but not about children… about the blood in Syria. I am a witness of all this blood b/c of my work as a humanitarian worker with UNHCR.
One sentence rocked my world: “The ability to break this covenant of protection is called freewill.”
Although I am fully aware of the freewill and that it is the meaning of being a human… i still can be moved when I see it by others’ words… May Allah lighten your heart more and more Sheik Hamza so you lighen ours more and more.
Kamal Posted on 07/25/2012
Ya Sheikh,
Your reply is the best I among the ones I have heard from Christians and Muslims. Alleviating/preventing suffering is OUR job, as God’s vice regents upon earth. “Inni jaayelun fil Arde Khalifah”. However, there are 3 questions begging an answer:
1. Does God have the POWER to stop extreme cases of torture inflicted on innocent children, such as……(I will not go into details but I am sure you and your readers would be aware of several such cases).
2. If he has the power, why doesn’t he?
3. What about suffering in the animal world, ,such as the carrion crow or the cat inflict upon their victims?
If you could please answer these questions who has struggled to find true faith his whole life, and snow an old man.
ilyas Posted on 05/31/2012
asallamualaikum…inshallah we will see,know and understand our nature..mohammad the key to understanding ahud…to know our lord through the illusion we call “reality”..we all have a taste the mercy..but only the ones who seperate allah from creation will be the successfull in tasting the eternal mercy.(ibraheem).though we think we have authority over the earth,one day we will realise who is the one who owns authority and we will realise the gift we had and how we betrayed it..there is one path.the path that jesus was sent to show us along with the helpers,and the path that moses was sent to show us.how to save ourselves from our selves.evry breath we take we cross these paths and with every breath we can fall back into being opressors and declare ourselves as righteous.may allah swt make us muslims realise that the phisical outward world of illusion(reality as we call it) and the internal world of spirituality(the ghaib) are linked and all of this is allready in every single one of us.(quran)may allah swt open our eyes to the reality.allah is the only reality.
Vardha Ismail Posted on 05/29/2012
Do not confuse the punishment of God with the persecution of men.
Mohammed Farhan Zafar Posted on 05/27/2012
Salaam alaikum,
Theological issues of this sort has been discussed and debated from centuries, and it is also difficult for scholars to explain its wisdom to common people and especially those without strong faith. Thanks to Allah for making Sheikh Hamza Yusuf a guide and inspiration in these difficult times, where people only debate about Fiqh and immensely overlook the learning Islamic theology or Allah’s relationship with humans, May Allah bless our Sheikh.
I can assert that not only does the Islamic theology has the best explanation as to what causes suffering but also it offers the best consolation and pacification to those who are wronged. In this same context some Verses of Quran shed more light on human suffering
” …,no burden do we place on any soul but that which it can bear;…” Quran 6:152
” The Angels said” will you place there one who will make mischief and shed blood while we sing your praises and glorify your name?, Allah said “I know what you know not”. Quran 2:30
And if we do not place our trust in Allah and do not realize the essence of His attributes we shall ever be troubled by our understanding of the world. Allah can, in an instant turn misery into happiness, life into death, suffering to bliss. The rationalist’s base their opinion about this world without the consideration of the hereafter and the absolute Powers of God and hence cannot comprehend the presence of evil and virtues together or accept divine Justice.
A person remains in suffering as long as he is able to remember what he has been through; once that memory is lost he is pure like an infant. Allah is the provider of peace in this world and the hereafter he can replace our memories and make us forget and revive us as he revives the dead land back to life. And he promises eternal bliss in exchange of the sufferings we endure patiently with gratitude.
Sexual Abuse of children can be prevented by vigilant parents; they can ensure the safety of their children by not being careless. May Allah give patience to the victims and their families and strengthen their faith. And May Allah protect the innocent souls from the evil of our societies.
“This Place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real.
Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing
at what you thought was your grief”-Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
Tamoor Posted on 05/23/2012
To the person who said “If God does not deserve censure for not intervening to stop evil, then he also doesn’t deserve praise for when he DOES intervene” I disagree completely. The Shaikh’s reply was good mashallah. Keep in mind this is a blog post so it’s impossible to cover the breadth of Islamic philosophy on this matter.
Allah will repair wrongs done by misuse of human free will without exception on the day of judgement. Those who suffered the most will find it easier to enter Jannah which, with the first step, will make them forget of any of their previous sufferings with their first step into it. The contrary is true for the evil doers.
If Allah chooses to display some of that justice ahead of time in this life, then be thankful and say alhamdulilah. If he wants you to wait until the Day of Judgement, then say alhamdulilah then. Either way it will come so there is no contradiction, just a lack of patience on your part. This life is finite, the next is infinite and in math when you divide a finite number, no matter how large, by infinity it is reduced to zero. Because it is nothing compared to infinity.
Suzan Posted on 05/21/2012
Alsalamu ‘alaikum
Thank you Shiekh Hamza for everything you write and say. Jazaka ALLAHU kola khayrin.
The topic of child abuse always makes me so emotional. Therefore, I am requesting from all of us to pray for all of the children in this world.
My country of birthand youth, Egypt, is going through, in my humble opinion, a deformation of Sunnah ALLAH Sobhanahu wa Ta’alah and Rasuluh (SAAWS). This deformation will mostly affect the women and children of the poor, especially the girls. The Leading Party(s)is/are already forcing the mutilation/butchery of girls, by circumcision, in the poorest an uneducated areas. And soon it will become “The Law”. {This information was provided to me by a personal friend who is a journalist in Egypt and whom I trust)
May ALLAH elevate their suffering and that of all who is innocent.
The Presidential Elections are in 2 days. Please pray for a Leader who fears ALLAH Sobhanhu AND is knowlegable in His Sunnah and Shari’ah.
Nisrein Posted on 05/19/2012
Evil is not just in physical actions, evil is also in intentions. Talking about raping a child is evil as if it is the worst thing to be done is not true, the core of it is forcing somebody who is helpless to go through a very hard painful experience against his well, However, how times a day do we do this to others by intentions and not necessarily by obtrusive behavior. My point is before we go and ask about how others do things, we need to be very clear about what do we do, and Islam was about the intentions, and that is why we are rewarded if we decided to do something bad and we do not go on doing it, we do not continue the intention into behavior. We need to stop condemning others and start judging ourselves first.
Sarmad Posted on 05/17/2012
Baraka kah fiik Shaykh.
Also I would like to point out that I read a long article a year ago by Shaykh Nuh Keller on the subject of evil in the world and why Allah allows it. A friend sent it to me, so I am not sure if it is available on the Net.
Was-salam
Rabia in Canada Posted on 05/10/2012
While I read I feel that I had to make a comment. One of the greatest ‘evils’ of the current day is the break down of the family unit, both nuclear and extended. I do believe that this is the catalyst of many of the things we read and hear of that make us gasp in horror. Take that situation and place on top of it the fact that many are non-religious (don’t believe in God) and others are what I call weekend warriors (show up to socialize at a place of worship yet disregard it the rest of the week.) When you have these major fractures in society it can only set up the whole for failure. There is also the elements of extreme poverty and lack of education. Huge factors in having people go down the wrong path. Finally, there is the mental illness concern. I work with the most at risk populations and due to drug use, isolation and medical reasons there is a huge mental health crisis surrounding us. But it is a disability that does not appear to us until a horrible act has taken place. Many people that victimize another are sick. I always tell the people that I work with that when you have cancer everyone visits and brings you a cake but when you are having a mental breakdown you are shunned. It is important that those of us that are well protect not only the innocents (children etc) but we are there to support those that many see as the undesirables to ensure that they are helped and to ensure they do not hurt others. Both sides need protection in my humble opinion. And as for the person who victimized the child in question so brutally – I am sure with indepth investigation into his background he has been a victim of abuse as a child himself. It does not in any way excuse his behavior but at the very least can open our hearts to understand the ‘whys’ not just the ‘hows’.
And for the experience you had with the young man in Jeddah – I very much understand how you felt. Having embraced Islam 14 years ago Alhamdulliah I found myself making huge spiritual strides once I realized all Muslims at birth weren’t perfect. It was hard – sort of like realizing Santa was real. An experience in my own growth. :)
Jacki Posted on 05/09/2012
Mashallah, so good of you to address an issue raised by a Facebook reader. I think there should be much more of this. So many people have questions that could best be addressed comprehensively from our learned scholars, just like this. My question is about the timely topic of gay rights / gay marriage in this country and the appropriate stance Muslims should take when voting on this issue. I would love if you would elaborate on this for all of us, inshallah.
saleem Posted on 05/09/2012
Assalamualaikum,
Thank you Shaikh Hamza Yusuf. The point which is to be further clarified is if Human life is a test, what type of test a child undergoes when the child suffer and die in his/her childhood?
Please teach uson this topic.
Imran Zeb Posted on 05/09/2012
Sir,
I was born with OA Albinism and as a resultant an eye condition termed nystagmus. Subsequently my eyes shake uncontrollably and the absence of pigment makes things rather more awkward. As a child I attended mosque, as many of my peers. My inability to see clearly did not lead to sympathy or aid but I was often beaten by the Imam. This had a traumatic affect on me and how I viewed Islam for many years. I would often ask myself why God had given me condition and in my youthful ignorance felt God was unfair(May God forgive me). Within our local community I found the manifestation of Islam to be ugly;girls were treated like second class citizen expected to kowtow every whim of their husband, Non Muslims were viewed and spoken of in vile terms. The result being that I was almost at the same stage as the youth you mentioned. People are leaving Islam because Muslims are making Islam seem like something awful, harsh and ugly.
God is All Merciful and yet in not fulfilling our part of the agreement when we profess our Declaration of Faith we suffer the ramifications. The modern European notion of God which lacks a wrath element leads many thus to lead to atheism as the issue of theodicy proves overly problematic particular within an education system which is designed to undermine and mock religion tradition.
Sir, I may have said this within a prior post but I came back to Islam by Allah’s ‘rehma’[ in that he allowed me to know you and your work.I am eternally grateful to you. I thus pray for your success in both this world and the next. Several friends around me have also become Muslim.
We collectively need to ‘step our game up’ in how we portray Islam and I do not mean that in any duplicitous manner. Islam is a religion of integrity, honesty and mercy. Once we can practice what we preach we may find even greater mercy from God.
Imran(Shanghai)
–
zahra nouman Posted on 05/09/2012
May Allah bless you with Health and more eman….thank for these power full words….JazakAllah
Passed Pawn Posted on 05/09/2012
This is hardly a satisfactory reply. Let me point out why.
“God is not obliged to intervene when we use it to break covenants of God’s protection and violate the inviolable”
If God does not deserve censure for not intervening to stop evil, then he also doesn’t deserve praise for when he DOES intervene.
” increasing incidents of such violations are a sign of the end of time”
This is an unsubstantiated claim. There were no such statistics in older times.
Lastly, while you seem to be justifiably angry at the instance of a 7 year old girl getting raped, you seem to forget that your prophet married a 7 year old girl too.
J Posted on 05/12/2012
Passed Pawn:
May Allah forgive you for your ignorance and guide you to the straight path.
Before making a statement attempting to disprove someone’s position, you should really understand the topic you are speaking on. In this case, it is evident that you have no knowledge of Islamic theology and therefore your argument is premised on an inappropriate understanding of God and what “evil” is.
Moreover, your final statement regarding the Prophet (SAW) clearly indicates that you have limited knowledge of pre-modern social norms and are attempting to assess the past through the lens of modern social mores.
It is completely acceptable to question the Shaykh’s position, however by stating that he is wrong and that you are correct you are arrogating to yourself a knowledge you clearly do not possess.
Ahmed Aweis Posted on 05/30/2012
Assalaamu alaikum
This is response to “passed pawn”
My dear brother please do not insult our sheikh, of you do not agree with his answer go to someone who who will answer the question to satisfy your ego,
Walaahi I swear to my life that you may not find a western scholar who is more knowledgable then sheikh hamza.
So please I request you to be polite and curties in this forum as the sheikh spends his precious hectic time to make sure it is beneficial to every one not just the Muslims.
May allah give preserve you sheikh and give you a long and healthy life
Nisa Posted on 05/08/2012
Excellent write-up ya Sheikh ma sha Allah. May Allah increase you in knowledge that you may impart on us. The hadith you quoted – “Whoever prays our prayer, faces our qibla, and eats our halal meat is a Muslim who has God’s protection and then the protection of God’s Messenger. So do not betray God in His protection” – speaks volumes about why all these vices are happening and are allowed to happen. People are quick to point a finger at God but fail to reflect that in fact, these sayye’a are brought about by our own deeds. May Allah guide us all and protect the little ones.
MM Posted on 05/08/2012
Assalam alaikum,
Thank you for writing your thoughts on this topic. I have two questions – (maybe you could refer me to other scholars who have written in depth on these)
1) About obligations from Allah SWT – Are there ever any? Also, in terms of theodicy, do the different schools of Islam have different perspectives on the suffering of victims?
2) How are the obligations of Allah (if any) different for people as a nation versus individuals?
May Allah SWT Bless you and your family and friends.
MM
Mabrouka Al-Tajoury Posted on 05/08/2012
Assalamualkum Wa Rahmut Allah,
Mash’Allah, a powerful answer. Truly, jaz’zak Allah’hu khayur for sharing dear brother. May Allah further reward you with the correct and righteous answers to every question – ameen.
Unfortunately, there have been many individuals who leave their faith because they question God in blaming him for not doing anything to the weak, the oppressed, the poor etc. It’s not that they don’t believe in God, they do, but they are in doubt of Him. In a social network, there is a group named, ‘I Hate God’. Most of their reasons of this unreasonable hate is due to the notion that, ‘if there is a God, then why doesn’t He help’. Even the one’s with strong faith begin to doubt.
Firstly, this life is a test and the questions we receive are the obstacles we confront. God, the most merciful, NEVER afflicts anyone with more than they can bear for God does not like oppression on Himself and therefore, dislikes any oppression on others be it Muslim or non-Muslim, human or animal. Secondly, there are those who might ask what about the people who are dieing of hunger, the people who are being murdered daily in wars, the tortured, the oppressed, the one’s in pain, the one’s who cheat on others, the thieves, etc.
Firstly, know one thing that God.. NEVER oppresses anyone. Like the meaning of His name, He is the Equal one. Oppression is unfortunately a needed word in the dictionary because it’s being used by many. Oppression is ”man-made”. Poverty is man-made, wars are man-made, murdering, torturing, kidnapping, harassing, bullying, are all man-made. And according to Islam, if the victim does not receive their rightful justice then on Judgement Day God will give it them. On judgement Day, merciful God orders the oppressor to keep silent and allows the oppressed to speak and will bless the oppressed with victory. In addition, like what shaykh Hamza Yusuf has beautifully mentioned that, Prophet Muhammed, peace and blessings be upon Him, will be against the Muslim who oppressed anyone, be they Muslim or non-Muslim; human or animal. Every action HAS a consequence.
May Allah guide us ALL away any type of oppressing and guide us in helping the oppressed. May we never be of the oppressors or the oppressed but of the righteous doers – ameen ya Rab ya kareem.
From a Libyan sister.
Assalamualakum Wa Rahmut Allah.
]PEACE[
Rahila Razvi Posted on 05/08/2012
La illaha illalah! For me, the message here is to remember the beauty of gentility practised by our Prophet PBUH, even when a righteous indignation gets in the way of having rahma/compassionate love. Indeed, children are precious.
Mohamed Khafif Posted on 05/08/2012
May Allah protect you and your family
faisal zaman Posted on 05/08/2012
…………and if humans had not been given free will then sharia would not have prescribed punishments form crime that we as humans commit out of our free will ……..there is hardly any thing else in creation that breaks its natural boundaries except for human beings
Raef Mootassem Posted on 05/08/2012
Salaam Alaykum brother Hamza.
Once I attended a lecture of yours in Qatar. A couples of years ago, I met you in a Raleigh event. You gave me your email but when I tried to write to you, it returns invalid email.
This topic of pain and destiny has captured me through my entire life. The topic of Free Will and Predestination though a complex topic had been discussed for thousands of years by millions of people. I was fascinated by the topic since an early age. Decades later I find myself able to write a book on how to reconcile the Free Will and Predestined Fate using Logic and technology.
I wanted to send you the draft for your review but your email I had did not work.
If you are interested to read what I have to say send me an email I can send you the copy.
The draft is in final revision.
I should be able to publish this year In Sha’ Allah.
May God give the blessings in this life and the Hereafter.
steven zhou Posted on 05/08/2012
Catholic academic Benjamin Wiker wrote in a relevant essay (‘The Problem of Evil”) that there really is no such thing as “evil” without God. Atheists like Richard Dawkins write that worldly phenomena should not be labelled as either “good” or “evil”–that there is only “indifference” in the world. It does not take deep reflection to recognize the instability of such an assertion (for example, is it wrong to label 9/11 as “evil”?). The designation of human misery as solely the end point of a series of material processes is the equivalent of giving up the notion of “evil” altogether. True, most people agree that a boy scout helping a 90 yr old across the street is “good”, and that the Rwandan genocide was “evil”, but there’s a lot of gray area in between (ie.abortion, corporate enterprises, taxes, armies, etc.). How does one (1) categorize these phenomena in moral terms, and (2) standardize these terms categorically without divine guidance? This isn’t to say that atheists or agnostics cannot tell right from wrong and good from evil (for all have fitrah), but the world is too complicated a place to relay onto humankind the task of providing a standardized rubric of recognizing evil. The person who asked the question about 7 yr olds being raped should talk to a lawyer about how difficult this task is.
Monis Posted on 05/08/2012
Isnt it convenient to say that such troubling matters have been left in our own hands, yet nothing is allowed except by his permission alone? What is the point of dua if you have ownership over destiny and Allah swt has washed his hands clean of any type of intervention? What is the point of a God at all then other than to cast the ocerwheming majority of his creations into the fire?
Mahmoud Posted on 05/08/2012
Thank you Sheikh Hamza for this wonderful article. I really would like to read more of this, keep up the writing. :)
Hossam Posted on 05/08/2012
Thank you for your response Imam Hamza. I study Philosophy, and I am well acquainted with arguments against Allah (S). Fortunately, Allah has made my Iman strong and these arguments against Allah are, to me, sophomoric and myopic. Many Muslims from the eastern part of the world (and most of them here as well), especially the Arab world, India Pakistan, etc., are all studying the sciences and are completely unaware of these types of arguments that come from the humanities. Since these countries, in my opinion, look down on fields like Political Science, Philosophy, History, Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, etc., they have virtually no training in them. So when they are confronted with these ideas, they do not know how to handle them at all – and many times, feel overwhelmed by its apparent truth validity.
I am glad someone such as yourself, Imam Hamza, has the qualifications and the training to be able to confront these specious and myopic attacks against Allah (S). Every day I realize how much we are losing scholars by the day and not many people are around to handle these things anymore. May Allah (S) preserve you and sustain you, and reward you for your struggles. Salaam ‘Alaykum.
Hassan Mahfooz Posted on 05/08/2012
JazakAllah khair for bringing up this issue. More issues like this should be addressed by Muslim intellectuals like you. Muslim youth are falling prey to issues like Darwinian evolution, authenticity of hadith for understanding Islam etc. Please try to address these issues in the future.
May Allah reward you for your efforts.
Tony Bish Posted on 05/08/2012
JazzakAllah khair for this much needed post Shaykh Hamza,
“The problem of evil” is not a new question, but it is often the uncomfortable one. Arguably why so many will respond to it rather quickly with harsh and/or incoherent answers. A response that unfortunately most of us have been on both ends of at some point in our lives.
I pray that you and your family are in best health and spirits, and I pray that your post will reach the hearts of those intended and indeed all those who are struggling with this very question,
Asalaamu alaykum wa RahmatAllahi wa Barakatahu.
-Yusuf Anthony
Kia Posted on 05/08/2012
Good explanation of dhimmi and concept of protection, but I don’t see where it answers the question of why God would want/allow evil to occur. Dr. Jackson did a good job of addressing this question from the view point of why God would allow slavery to occur to blacks in his book “Islam and the problem of Black Suffering.” The answer, from a classical theological point of view, was basically that God has an Irada Sharia’, and an Irada Kawniya (Preferential Will, and Ontological Will) and the two do not have to always be in line with one another. God can ‘allow’ (ontological will) something evil to happen, but not want (preferential will) it. If I want to know what God’s ontological will is, I just have to look at the events that occur in life – and those can be ‘evil’ or ‘good’ things. If I want to know what his preference is (what God actually ‘wants’) I have to open up the Quran. And in Quran, we read that God only ‘wants’ (yurid) good for humanity. There are several verses that talk about this, for example “God does not want wrong for his servants,” “God wants ease for you, not hardship,” “God wants to turn turn towards you (in accepting repentance” and so on. Why God would allow evil to occur when He does not want other than good has to be understood not through a lack of power on his part, but through infinite wisdom that is sometimes beyond our understanding. This is the essence of faith, and why God says we will be asked about what we did, but He is not asked about what He does.
faten sayyed Posted on 05/08/2012
dear sheikh hamza yusuf,
thought provoking article with so much deep meaning. I think that everyone in this one world that we live in together is responsible for his actions and responsible for that trust relationship between him and people, and between him and god. and subhana allah when a person break that trust between him and people, it`s like the trust between him and god is gone. some of our actions that done in non-awareness in this world may lead to severe damage in society, and all of this because of our heedlessness. from the other side, and i noticed it in muslim community, that when people admit a mistake, there are few of people who understand him and talk to him in very peaceful way. at this, as muslims, as humans, we should learn how not to push people away from us, and instead of taking them away from religion by their mistakes, we should close them back again to islam, and that`s only if we want to be humane, then how about to be a muslims.
may allah grant you and reward you sheikh hamza for all your good deeds. and may allah accept your deeds and grant you heaven with the beloved one. ameen
by the way, I still waiting in patience your third lecture of “how to read a book” .
blessed,
faten sayyed (jordan)
Traveller in this dunya Posted on 05/08/2012
Assalaamu Alaikum, I am not sure whether I think the answer is sufficient or ever will be to anyone that is a parent of the child that God forbid has to go through this. I suppose for a Muslim it depends on our trust with God and whether in this dunya justice is done. May Allah protect all children inshaAllah, ameen. It is always a blessing to read what Imam Hamza has to say or write, may Allah continue to bless Imam Hamza’e eloquent ways in both manners and speech, ameen.
Khadijah Posted on 05/08/2012
BismilLah,
Assalaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,
Dear Shaykh Hamza,
May Allah forever protect you and bless you and your family. May He reward and elevate you for your latest post and for your humility, as described in your first paragraph. May He help us all with the difficulties such as that we are faced with daily. Indeed the lay muslim so often needs to hear good guidance. Sometimes, as was once mentioned in one of your lessons, they may be seeking meaning. We are indeed approaching the end of time, where everything is being stretched to such a state. I pray that your words are taken in good form, and we are continued to be blessed to read them. I pray for peace and blessings upon our prophet pbuh and his family and companions, the prophets before him and their trusted family and companions. May God help that young man you met at the Kaba and may He help us all in our understanding, efforts and endeavours for His sake and for His pleasure. Dear Shaykh Hamza, may Allah bless you for those who have been helped by you, and through learning from you, and through you love Allah and his Prophet even more, and continue to go out in the world to do good. Al-Asr.
Wasalaam from myself and family.
taz Posted on 05/08/2012
Mashallah a delightful answer, Allah Most High bestow Shaykh Hamza with more deeper wisdom and eloquence to correct the wrong to righteousness.
Sara Posted on 05/08/2012
Assalam Alaikum,
Thank you for this beautiful article written with great eloquence and truth.
Not so long ago, I came across the case of Omar Khadr, the Canadian child who has spent his youth in Guantanamo Bay from age 15-26. You may or may not be aware of his case, I don’t know. I shall not get into the details regarding Omar on the comment forum here; however, I do request you to go through the following links to learn about Omar a little:
http://freeomarakhadr.wordpress.com/ (fact sheet written for journalists who label Omar as a ”terrorist”)
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/category/omar-khadr/ (Andy Worthington has dedicated himself to writing about all the detainees, released and unreleased, in Guantanamo Bay)
“You Don’t Like the Truth: 4 Days in Guantanamo” is a documentary that revolves around Omar’s interrogation video that was mistakenly released by Canadian Intelligence to the Supreme Court. I first saw it by catching the last ten minutes, and I was crushed. Watching a child being mentally tortured, crying for his mother and quite literally observing his hopes of release crushed was deeply agonizing. Alhamdulillah, many people reacted to this video and there have been some awareness campaigns in the past for Omar — but not enough.
Omar is a beautiful young boy who is respected by fellow detainees, his lawyers, and even the guards in Guantanamo. Needless to say, he was the necessary “red herring”, so to speak, to victimize Muslims further. The case is complicated but the works of very hard-working journalists and lawyers have exposed much of the truth. End of the day, we have found Omar is innocent.
Hypothetically speaking, even if he was guilty, he was still dealt with illegally. Years of abuse, torture and withholding of civil rights from a child puts the blame entirely on the American govt. I listen to your lecture, “The Rights and Responsibilities of Marriage” quite regularly, and in it, you have dedicated a section to the “rights of children” given to them by God. I think of this often when I read or write about Omar, about how violently those rights have been abused by man.
I am part of a small group of concerned citizens who are doing much to raise awareness on Omar’s case. Sadly, I have found my Muslim fellow men and women typically do not like to voice their concerns. If they take any interest, they do it very inconspicuously. I understand they do not want to be persecuted by the American govt and live in fear. But I have discovered the lack of concern shown by Muslims generally regarding what is happening to the men and women in Guantanamo, Bagram, Abu Ghraib etc is quite astounding.
Your article is called “When Children Suffer” and it was inspired by a question someone posted to you regarding this topic. When I read the title of your piece, I first thought of Omar. I have been your student, Sheikh Hamza, for over ten years, via the lectures I have listened to, books I read, online classes I attended, and I’ve been blessed to attend your lectures in Jeddah and Toronto (ISNA) three times. I am so grateful to God for your works, the path He has taken you on, and for your beautiful family because I am sure they play a great part in your works/persona, particularly your parents.
My request to you is to speak or write about the silence of the Muslims regarding their brothers and sisters, including Omar, — and their families — who need support, and to be remembered. I thank you for taking the time to read my comment that stretched longer than I intended.
Yours sincerely,
Sara Naqwi
Muhammad Sami Posted on 05/08/2012
SA sayyida
I still don’t get the answer, what’s the hikma behind all this happening?
Sevda Posted on 05/08/2012
Dear Shaykh Hamza,
Your posts continue to inspire and to delight; this one being without exception. Your elucidation of the word dhimmah: its connotations and implications is enlightening. Like any term, it has not been immune to being miscomprehended and applied, and you refreshingly broaden perspectives, which is a much-needed antidote to the constant narrowing-down of thought and its necessary manifestations: intolerance and worse still, injustice.
How one treats those subject to her/it’s care (applies to individuals as much as it does to governments) speaks to to their true nature. Hence the argument that the test of real democracy is how it is seen to (and in fact does) treat the marginalised, the minorities and the downtrodden. And as you demonstrate, how one treats a child is perhaps one of the clearest mirrors in which we see reflections of our inner selves. As Muslims, we must be vigilant in its application to those to whom we owe a duty of care, as you firmly demonstrate: where we are reminded that the “Prophet, God bless and grant him peace, is the advocate of a person of covenant who was betrayed by Muslims against the Muslims who betrayed him.”
May Allah, Most Gracious, continue to Preserve you and yours and grant you a long and healthy life.
Yours,
Sevda
MH Posted on 05/08/2012
salam sheikh,
a great response. we need people who can interface actual Islam with the lay world (both muslim and non-muslim). May Allah erase our doubts and give us emaan. ameen
Mahmoud Khattab Posted on 05/08/2012
Shaykh Hamza, Assalamu Alaykum,
greetings
I had my years of atheism and doubt, only then I truly discovered the spirituality of Islam and the truth in it. For some reason, I’ve been mostly thinking of your lecture “How to Read a Book” and how I could apply this on the culture of Islam and reading the Qur’an, because Jahili-Arabic was the pinnacle of Arabic language, so it would be un-wise to read Shakespeare with today’s average English. My question is, is it the same in regards to Qur’an and Hadith? Could hell/fire and heaven have different meanings than we perceive of today as fire burning our physical bodies?
Thank you for reading my post and I hope one day we could meet in Egypt/Cairo.
Fi re’ayat Allah
Taha Al-Gailani Posted on 05/08/2012
Dear Sheikh Hamza,
I think if Allah SWT intervened and prevented every wrong doing, soon enough man kind would be obliged to stop making wrong doings in the same way a baby would stop touching a stove as its hand gets burnt twice. Accordingly, life loses its purpose which is differentiating between good and bad. Moreover, our faith would not be put to test. Life “El Donya” will seize to be “Dar Ebtelaa”.
Thank you and God bless you.
Taha
Muna H. Bilgrami Posted on 05/08/2012
Thank you for this elucidation. The confusions we entertain about the issue of free will versus God’s control lie in the degree and range of how we define them, plus the background context against which stories of how differing free wills intersect. This has ramifications on the notions we have of God’s mercy and justice. And all of this cannot be made sense of without reference to the Akhirah, which is, after all, ‘khayrun wa abqa’.
Prince Posted on 05/08/2012
Mashaallah! Whatta nice post.
Allah is All-Just, All-Wise.
Suleiman Arabiat Posted on 05/08/2012
Assalamu Alaykom,
My dear Sheikh, a strong explanation of an issue that I have personally dealt with, first with myself, then with others. Yet if I may add to the premises of your argument, that the same questioners want to live under the blessings of being “free willed” beings, and use that free will in everything, yet then hold Allah accountable for what they think are his actions, and this was my argument premises. The free will given by Allah to the humans through the gift of intellect is what’s driving these “choices”. Thus the questionining itself becomes invalid when faced with being “free”, and adding to that freedom, many signposts and directories of goodness in the words of the prophets in every spoken tongue.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts in the usual intellectual form, and for allowing us to share ours with you.
Best Regards,
Dina Younis Posted on 05/08/2012
Thank you for a most informative answer. This question is asked so often. What about illness and disease? Jazak Allah kheir Sheikh Hamza, Baraka Allah feek.
AbdulRaheem Posted on 05/08/2012
Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu,
I agree completely. One thing my Teacher taught me regarding this topic is that this world is most definitely not Paradise (which, when people asked how they’re doing respond, “You know, another day in Paradise”, I reply smiling, “This better not be Paradise, because if it is we’re in trouble”) and therefore good and bad things are both going to occur here. If this were Paradise in the Hereafter, then sure, there would be no evil and no wrong committed. But this is the World, the dunya, the Here, the testing grounds for piety and devotion to God that will determine our places in the Next Life.
I think a main point you summed up Teacher is that this is a world of freewill, and as human beings we have the ability to either uphold or upend not only God’s covenant of protection with our fellow human beings but the entire moral construct He has revealed to us through the Prophets (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon them all). This is a world of good and bad, right and wrong, true and false, and He has given us the ability as “rational animals” to choose between the two, while promising to take us to account for every deed, big or small.
May Allah elevate this ummah to the level of peace and security on the terrible Day of Sorting Out and help us all enter Jannah with an easy reckoning. May He forgive us for our sins and change our bad deeds into good deeds through our internalization of taqwa, iman, ihsan, and islam, with their accompanying outward manifestations. May He accept these from us, may He grant us the intercession of the Prophet (Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) on the terrifying Day of Standing, and may He admit us to the company of the Righteous, the Truth-tellers, the Martyrs, the Sahaba, the Prophets, and He Himself in the highest stations of Jannah. Ameen.
Wassalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu
Fremontstan Posted on 05/08/2012
Jazakallah khair shaykh Hamza for teaching us with so much wisdow in a time trials and tribulations.
J Posted on 05/07/2012
Mash’Allah. I pray that God continues to bless you and your family in this life and in the next.
To be honest, I was surprised that you had responded to the questioner on your facebook page. When I read the question I thought it was merely a rhetorical attempt by the questioner to present evidence for the belief that God does not exist (as it is usually a tactic employed by atheists). However, after reading the questioner’s response to your reply I realized that I was mistaken and God willing your insights may have provided guidance for him. This taught me an important lesson. I thank you for that.
Shaykh Hamza you are truly a gift to the English speaking Muslim community. I have listened to hundreds of hours of your lectures and have learned so much from you over the years. You will never truly know, at least not in this life, the impact you have had on me and I’m sure many others. Almost every time a whisper of doubt enters my mind about something I read in a hadith or a passage in the Qur’an or even an event that is noted in the Seera, I always seem to find the answer in one of your lectures shortly after having the thought. It is truly something remarkable. Subhan’Allah.
Again I must thank you for all that you do.