Islamic Studiesunit 1.7

By Abida Mohammed10S

Evil and suffering and belief in Allah

There are two main types of evil:• Natural evil • Moral evil

Natural evil

Natural evil are things that cause suffering but have nothing to do with humans

Moral evil

Moral evil are actions done by humans to cause suffering.

Everyone experiences things in life that cause them to suffer, from stubbing your toe to watching a loved one die. This appears to be part of life. Many people link suffering and evil together, suffering is what happens after an act of evil.Some people would say that the evidence of evil and suffering is the strongest argument against the existence of Allah. It can be outlined in this way.

Allah is omnibenevolent, omnipotent, omniscient !

• if Allah is omniscient he would know how to remove the causes of suffering.

• If Allah is benevolent he would not want people to suffer and would remove the causes of suffering

• If Allah is omnipotent he would be able to remove the causes of suffering.

Therefore as suffering and evil do exist EITHER Allah is not omnibenevolent, omnipotent, omniscient or Allah does not exist.

Summary

• All people suffer in various different ways.• Moral evil and natural evil are present in

the world • The presence of evil and suffering in the

world causes some people to doubt Allah’s existence.