The Real Reason Allah Allows Evil & Suffering ( Explained)

The Real Reason Allah Allows Evil & Suffering

Not everything is as it looks to you. Not everything is as it seems. Behind every test, behind every death, behind every sunk ship, there is a hidden blessing that is only known to Allah.

You only have a small piece of the puzzle, but Allah has the whole picture. You only have a little microscope, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has the zoomed out. Allah knows everything.

Allah knows the wisdom, the good behind it. But you can only, in that moment, feel the pain of that situation. Don't look up and blame it on Allah. Where is Allah in this situation? How could this happen? Behind every difficulty, Allah has decreed some ease.

The Danger of a Little Knowledge

Every one of us in our lives, we have happy moments and we have sad moments. In our happy moments — when we stand on the day of your graduation, the day you receive an offer for a job, the day you get married, the day you have a child — in each of these moments, most of us stand there and, to some extent, we take the credit for the good that has happened.

We say, Alhamdulillah, I studied hard. Alhamdulillah, I worked hard. Alhamdulillah, I found the right spouse. We attribute always the good to ourselves.

And we all have sad days, difficult days. Someone loses a family member. Someone struggles with illness. Someone struggles with some loss. You fail an exam. Get rejected for a job interview. A child passes away in his mother's womb. And when these things happen, we say, Allah decreed it. We say, this bad stuff, this is from Allah. But when we have the good stuff, we say it's from ourselves.

Long time ago, somebody said, knowledge is power. But knowledge is also dangerous. A little knowledge is extremely dangerous. Because when you think you know something, but you don't know it, this can cause more harm than good.

Many of us, we want to seek knowledge. We hear about all the virtues of seeking knowledge. The fish in the sea seek forgiveness for the seeker of knowledge. And knowledge has so many virtues. And knowledge will reach us to paradise. But the dangerous thing is that knowledge can take us to the hellfire.

Knowledge of the Quran can take us to the hellfire. Knowledge of the Prophet ﷺ can take us to the hellfire. How, you might ask. How is it possible that knowledge can take me to the hellfire? It can because knowledge is deceiving.

The Prophet ﷺ informs us that the first person to be thrown into the hellfire is somebody who used to say, I am a Qari. I am a reciter of the Quran. Because he did it to be called, to be known, to be perceived as a reciter. He did it for the fame, for the name, for the glam, for the glory. And the second person to be thrown in the fire would be someone who was a scholar, a knowledgeable person. But he did it to be recognized, to be seen. And he — or she — will claim on the Day of Judgment, O Allah, I did it for your sake. But did he or she really do it for the sake of Allah? All will be unearthed on that day. All will be exposed on that day.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1905)

Often Allah blames the people of previous scriptures, Ahlul Kitab. He says, did you guys not have all the knowledge in the world? You studied the book so closely with so much detail. But you became jealous. You became arrogant. You backbited one another. You edited the book, the source code. You twisted the interpretation. You changed some of the rulings. All of those things that you did — it doesn't matter how much you learn if you don't put it into practice. This is the danger of knowledge.

The Crisis of Information

Today we have an unfortunate generation. We have two problems today. The first is the crisis of information. Everyone can find out any piece of information on the internet with a few taps of their fingers.

There was a time when if you wanted to narrate a hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari, you would have to travel 600 miles to Bukhara, find one of his narrators al-Firabri, sit with him for two weeks and copy the whole book cover to cover, get permission from him to narrate from it, go back to your land. Now you can find one hadith and you can say it. Until then, you had no idea what was in this hadith book. It was blocked. It was classified. It was elite. It was not for everyone. Now anyone can access anything. They say information is powerful, but it is also extremely dangerous. Now you have the wrong people quoting the right sources for the wrong reasons.

Knowledge is sought. You have to seek it, search for it. It's not going to be brought to you. You have to sweat for it. How many times in the last ten years somebody has asked me, Ustadh Hisham, I want to learn Arabic. I want to memorize the Quran. I said, look, do this — go to this website, sign up to this course, Furqan College, go sign up, go do this. Three years later, they come: Ustadh Hisham, how do I learn Arabic? I traveled three years, I came back and you're still standing in the same spot. Knowledge is not for you. Stick to mechanics or whatever else you were doing. That's not for you then.

The Story of Musa and Khidr

The Prophet Musa alayhis salam is asked: who is the most knowledgeable person on this earth? And he claims it is he — I am the Prophet of Allah after all. And he is then told by Allah: no, there is a man more knowledgeable than you, but you have to travel long distances to find him — because knowledge should never come easy. Knowledge is sought. You have to seek it, search for it. It's not going to be brought to you. You have to sweat for it.

Musa alayhis salam says: I am so determined to find this man, this knowledgeable man. I'm going to find this point, the meeting point of the two seas where I'm supposed to meet this man. Either I'll find him or a hundred years can pass. I don't care. I will travel as long as I need. I will sweat. This is a person who's going to get the knowledge that he needs because he's willing to sweat for it.

The vast majority of scholars say that Khidr is not a prophet or a messenger, but he was a man Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala inspired and gave some special and unique knowledge to.

The Three Events

Between Khidr and Musa, Musa witnesses three events in front of this man, Khidr.

They step onto a boat and Khidr creates a hole in the boat and it sinks. They come across a young man and Khidr kills the young man. They come across a family — they ask this family, can we please stay with you? Can we sleep over here? They say, no, no way. And then Khidr goes, he finds a wall that was damaged and he repairs the wall. He keeps it upright. And underneath this wall there is inheritance money for two orphans, two young boys, young men who lost their father.

These three events make zero sense for Musa alayhis salam. In the moment he observes them, he gets angry — because the personality of Musa alayhis salam is that he cannot witness any injustice. He cannot watch with his hands tied. He's going to say something about it. He's going to do something about it. Of course, this had landed him in trouble many years before he fled to Madyan.

Musa alayhis salam witnesses something. He says: what's going on, man? Khidr says: listen, relax, calm down. Didn't I tell you you need patience if you want to be with me? This happens three times. After the third time, he says: listen, me and you, we don't click. You need to go your way. I need to go my way.

The Wisdom Behind Each Event

After the three events, Khidr begins to tell Musa alayhis salam what happened and, more importantly, the wisdom behind why they happened.

That boat that I sunk — it was because there is a king who was seizing all boats. So if I made this boat defective, he's not going to take it. It was for their good that I sunk the boat.

That young man who was killed — that young man was a criminal mastermind in the making. That young man was a serial killer in the making and he had given his parents so much pain and so much trauma and so much difficulty. The ending of his life was relieving for them and they were grateful for it.

And that wall which I repaired, despite nobody being nice to me in that family and me doing them a favor — I did that because underneath that wall was inheritance for two orphan boys and Allah wanted to reward their father for his righteousness.

The Pattern: "I Wanted, We Wanted, Allah Wanted"

There is something very small in this story — a small detail — but it tells you the whole lesson. When Khidr talks about the boat, he says: I wanted to sink the boat. When he talks about the young man that was killed, he says: we wanted for this young man to be replaced with a better young man for his parents. When he talks about the wall that was repaired, he says: Allah wanted.

I wanted. We wanted. Allah wanted. Why is he changing? We know ultimately Allah decides everything — but why is he changing his words here depending on which story he's telling?

When he's talking about the boat, the sinking of that boat was bad for everyone. Everyone who saw it said: what are you doing, man? This is a terrible thing, Khidr. It's a tragedy. So he attributed the bad thing to himself. He said: I did it — because people perceive it as something evil. He said: I did the evil, not Allah.

The young boy that died — this young man who was a future criminal, a serial killer, terrible for his parents, creating so much sorrow for them — when he died, his parents were relieved. So one group was happy and other people were watching and thinking: what's this? How could you kill this young man? Because some group was happy and some group was upset, Khidr says: we did it. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did the good part, and the bad part — that's attributed to us.

We come to the repairing of the wall. When you knock on someone's door and you say, hey, can you give me some breakfast? They say: get out. I don't want to look at your face. You're not going to go and mow their lawn — you might go and slash their tires. Khidr goes, he says: can you please look after me? I'm hungry. They say: get out of my face. He goes and repairs the wall for them. SubhanAllah. Someone did bad to him. Someone rejected him and he still did them a favor. This is beautiful. This is so amazing. Everyone who saw this deed said: wow, this is such a great deed. And he said: Allah did it, not me.

What's the pattern? When something negative happens, he attributes it to himself. When something positive happens, something worth celebration, he attributes it to Allah. Why? All of it is from Allah — yes, it is all from Allah. But Allah never wills evil for the sake of evil. Behind everything that looks evil, there is something good.

The Hidden Gift Behind Every Calamity

How many a calamity, how often a trial, a difficulty — behind it is hidden some kind of a gift from Allah. How many times? Behind every child that passes in Palestine, behind every mother who wails over her dead son, brother, husband in Palestine, behind every destroyed building, there is a hidden gift from Allah. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. We don't know the answer. So we are like Musa, getting impatient. Why is this happening? I want this to stop. So much evil, so much destruction. And Khidr is telling us: relax, you don't know the whole story. The evil bit you see — that's us. Allah, behind this, has some good wisdom.

The good — always attribute to Allah. The evil — you take responsibility for it. Allah doesn't will evil. He is not pleased with evil. Because behind everything that looks bad to you, there is some gift from Allah. That is the lesson of this story.

Why Young Muslims Leave Islam

So many people in my experience in the last seven years — especially in my experience talking to young Muslims who want to leave Islam, or who are on the edge of leaving Islam, or who have already left — the vast majority of them say Allah does not exist. Not because of any argument or any logic, but because they went through something terrible in their lives and they feel: if something so terrible happened to me, how can Allah be good?

They need to read the story of Musa and Khidr and they need to realize — just like Musa alayhis salam realized — not everything is as it looks to you. Not everything is as it seems. Behind every test, behind every death, behind every sunk ship, there is a hidden blessing that is only known to Allah.

You only have a small piece of the puzzle, but Allah has the whole picture. You only have a little microscope, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has the zoomed out. Allah knows everything. Allah knows the wisdom, the good behind it. But in that moment, you feel the pain of that bad situation. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Don't look up and blame it on Allah. Where is Allah in this situation? How could this happen?

Conclusion: Be Content with Allah's Decree

Behind every difficulty, Allah has decreed some ease. But we need to have the lens of Khidr. We need to have the patience of Khidr. We need to wait until the day we realize the explanation. Otherwise, in impatience, we blame Allah. We get angry with Him. We become resentful.

All of this leads us to one thing: be content with what Allah has given you. Be content and pleased with what He has decided. Who is the best of planners but Him? Who is the best one to decree but Him?