What is the origin of Evil in Islam?
Re: Origin of Evil
As God created everything in the Universe, is it safe to say or think that "evil" also originated from God?
Re: Origin of Evil
No way Islaam does not encourage evil rather it attacks evil. It tells us to seek refuge from the Shaytaan who is Pure Evil.
Mans Mind becomes evil due to his weakness.
Re: Origin of Evil
Sura 114 (Men)
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[114:1] Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of the men.
[114:2] "The King of the men.
[114:3] "The God of the men.
[114:4] "From the mischief of slinking prompter
[114:5] "Who whisper in the hearts of men.
[114:6] "Both jinn and men."
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[quote]
[16:98] When you read the Quran, you shall seek refuge in GOD from Satan the rejected.
[16:99] He has no power over those who believe and trust in their Lord.
[16:100] His power is limited to those who choose him as their master, those who choose him as their god.
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[RIGHT]***explaination later]*
[/RIGHT]
Re: Origin of Evil
Evil is what Evil does....
Exactly what are you trying to get at? Of course everything is created by God. He did create Shaitan....Shaitan digressed to being evil on his on volition.
Re: Origin of Evil
The will to rebel was of the shaitan. It of the Will of Allah (swt) to let it happen or to come to effect.
Will of Allah (swt) is the Ultimate Will and no will can take place without Allah (swt) letting it happen.
Islam doesn’t believe in Dualism - that is Good and Evil forces ‘fighting each other as rivals’.
In Islam there is only ONE POWER - Allah (swt).
Evil is there because of absence of **Goodness **just as darkness is there because of absence of LIGHT.
Re: Origin of Evil
Interesting...
Re: Origin of Evil
Evil is there because of absence of Goodness **just as darkness is there because of absence of **LIGHT.
so in a sense, evil is the absence of good...
hmm..
Re: Origin of Evil
What I am trying to say is; God created Shaitan (this we agree), God created everything in this universe (we agree).
"but when Shaitan digressed to being evil" where the original evil idea came from...in Shaitan's mind.
The way I see it the Evil was already there, Can Shaitan or anybody think of an idea by themselves if has not been created on the first place. Ideas like this or rather the whole idealogy cannot just come to shaitan's mind if it was never created by the creator.
Or is it the case where God created good and bad both at the same time and gave us and shaitan the choice to choose were we go from there.....
Re: Origin of Evil
Ibn Sadique, please elaborate little bit more.
Are you saying that darkness is just like a "concept" as it is not there by itself physically, but the light is absent.
Is Shaitan or Evil just a concept?
Re: Origin of Evil
shaitan is a jinn, and humans and jinns have been given the choice of doing good or bad on their own free will....
shaitaan chose to disobey Allah and hence is used as an icon of evil, but he is not the cause of evil....
any evil a jinn or human does, he himself is responsible for it....
shaitaan only inspires the person to do bad deeds but cannot force anyone to do wrong....
and shaitaan cannot be seen in any sense as an equal rival to Allah....
he is a normal jinn who has been given the freedom to go around and try to mislead jinns and humans, and many other jinns as well as humans help him do the same....
Re: Origin of Evil
evil is absence of one’s desire to deny oneself from light: the guidance of Allah, his Creator.
If anyone does wrong, it does wrong to its ownself, and if anyone does good, it does good to its ownself. If anyone desires to be good, then Allah’s guidance is always there, and His help is extended to those that strives in His path, seeking good pleasure in His soothing mercy.
Evil is parable to oppressing one’s own soul. It’s also the rejection of Allah, and indulgence in rebellion. But, one must remember that nothing in this world can ever frustrate the plans of Allah. For each soul, there’s a term appointed. Neither, anyone can bring it closer, nor delay it by a single second. Even the rejectors of Faith will not have the penalty approach them, despite their wishes. It’s only when Allah alone wishes that any thing can happen, be it as miniscule as motion of a single atom.
Re: Origin of Evil
Rejection & disobedience of Allah is the root and beginning of all evil. Shaitan instigated this path by rejecting the commandment of Allah. Allah gave him respite for the term about which only Allah has firm knowledge.
Allah has given insaan and jinns a limited free-will. We can follow on the footsteps of shaitan by following our own desires, and lusts. OR we can choose to submit ourselves to the will and plans of our Creator. If we decide to choose the latter; the mercy, guidance and sustenance of Allah comes. And it comes to those that patiently persevere..and constantly guard themselves against evil.
Re: Origin of Evil
Maybe my wordings are a bit wrong, let me try to explain in other words.
Darkness is not a ‘concept’ but a ‘condition’.
We all know that Iblis (shaitan) was not evil to begin with. He let the haughtiness within him get the better of him. So shaitan was not always evil to begin with. Shaitan chose to rid himself of goodness resulting in being evil.
If Allah (swt) had Willed, He could have not let the haughtiness of the shaitan get the better of him.
You must know that Allah (swt) has complete Fore-Knowledge of everything and every action even before it happens.
So Allah (swt) knew beforehand that the shaitan will rebel and create a fitnah in the world. He let it happen.
Evilness is created by Allah and does not ‘exist’ as rival to Allah (swt)
Maybe the following article can help a bit:
All good is from God and the evil associated with us is from our own soul. Evil is produced by the lack of fulfillment of an essential ingredient or condition for good to be created. Humans through the misuse of their will cause this and the consequence is evil. The creation of evil or allowing evil to happen is not evil, but choosing evil is. God does not choose evil, we do. He allows it because He has granted us freedom of choice.
For example, a child might ask his father to carry him on his shoulders and take him into the rain. Although his father warns him that he will get wet and sick, the child insists. If his father takes him into the rain and the child starts complaining, he would deserve to be rebuked for not heeding his father. Similarly, we choose a great portion of what we do in life and consequences flow from those choices.
**Since no other being other than God can have creative powers, it follows that God creates both good and evil. **However, evil is created as a consequence of man’s misuse of his independent will. If God did not create evil as a consequence of man’s misuse of his independent will, we could not talk about freedom of choice and being a human being. Responsibility and accountability come with the freedom of choice.
Re: Origin of Evil
thanx, informative reply.
i still have some questions;
All good is from God and the evil associated with us is from our own soul. Evil is produced by the lack of fulfillment of an essential ingredient or condition for good to be created. Humans through the misuse of their will cause this and the consequence is evil. The creation of evil or allowing evil to happen is not evil, but choosing evil is. God does not choose evil, we do. He allows it because He has granted us freedom of choice.
IMHO if I let evil happen which I could have stopped from the beginning, I will by default become the party of the wrong doing.
[quote]
For example, a child might ask his father to carry him on his shoulders and take him into the rain. Although his father warns him that he will get wet and sick, the child insists. If his father takes him into the rain and the child starts complaining, he would deserve to be rebuked for not heeding his father. Similarly, we choose a great portion of what we do in life and consequences flow from those choices.
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if I was the father of this child in your example, I will not take the child anywhere close to danger wether he likes it or not. (As long as he is under my protection).
once he grows up then he has a free will to do whatever he like.
Re: Origin of Evil
Not really. Allah (swt) has given Mankind this worldly life as a trial. He has sent thousands of Messengers to the Mankind over the years encouraging doing good and avoiding doing evil.
He has instilled in human psychic to recognise ‘evil’ such as: Setting partners to Allah (swt), Jealousy, oppressing others, avarice, miserliness etc. etc………..
Similarly He has instilled in human psychic to recognise ‘good’ such as: Worshipping God Alone, Charity, doing good to others, visiting the sick etc. etc…………
He has then given Mankind enough intelligence what is good and bad.
Ultimately, we must remember the words of Allah in the Qur’an: “He cannot be questioned for what He does but they will be questioned.” [Sûrah al-Anbiyâ’: 23]
There are facts that you have to keep in mind;
Allah (swt) is the Creator of everything and nothing exists without His Will.
He sets the Rules. He has set the questions and He also has provided the answers.
Nothing is created by Allah (swt) without purpose. Evil sorts out the good from the bad.
Maybe this example of father/child is not appropriate.
Tell me who you hold responsible:
A smoker who keeps on smoking [despite all the cigarette packets carry the health warnings] gets the dreaded disease.
A person who screws up his life taking drugs even though all know that the end is not good.
Try reading the following as it may help:
**Who is the Creator of Good and Evil? **
The question remains that has one and the same creator created both good and evil? If two different deities had created these, existence of more than one God will be inevitable. If Allah is the Creator of both; how can the all-good God be the Creator of evil? The discussion in the preceding sections makes it clear that evil is created through the misuse of man’s faculty of free will.
Man can use this power for good as well as for evil. This universe is based on natural laws that are all good. But the knowledge of these laws ie: science can be applied for mankind’s benefits as well as for its destruction. A knife can be used for peeling fruits and vegetables as well as for killing people.
It has been left to man’s discretion to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes or for destruction. If he wants to use this power for destruction and tyranny, he has the liberty and freedom to do so. It would then be a blatant misuse of power gifted by the Almighty.
The freedom of will is a great blessing granted by the Almighty. This freedom places man above animals and crowns him with the viceregency of the Almighty.
It cannot be argued that the evil springing out of the misuse of this freedom could be the creation of Allah. He is all-Good. By foolish misuse of this freedom, man assumes the responsibility for the creation of evil.
Try this too.
Re: Origin of Evil
i still have some questions;
IMHO if I let evil happen which I could have stopped from the beginning, I will by default become the party of the wrong doing.
If that was to happen, then there would be no concept of free will or humans for that matter. we'd all be angels rather than human beings, because angels can do no wrong and hence cannot be held accountable for their deeds. The purpose God set us on this earth for would no longer be there and neither would the concept of heaven and hell. Hence the free will is what actually differentiates us from angels and is a neccesary requirement if we are to be held responsible for our actions later on.
[quote]
if I was the father of this child in your example, I will not take the child anywhere close to danger wether he likes it or not. (As long as he is under my protection).
once he grows up then he has a free will to do whatever he like.
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That is the concept for all creation of God that has free will. Once they attain maturity, the road they take is upto them.
Re: Origin of Evil
What would be the purpose of creating the Universe if God only allowed Good to happen? And wouldn't the absence of Evil show a weakness of God? If God so wanted He would make us robots and make us worship Him day and night. But He gave us a choice. We can commit to good or bad but it's upto Him to allow it to happen!
Re: Origin of Evil
So are you agreeing to me that All the good and All the evil comes from the same source?