Good and Evil

“In the name of God, the beneficent, the merciful”

Good and Evil

Imam Sadiq (A) in a tradition said: “Among the things that God revealed to Prophet Moses (A) in the Torah was: “I am God, no one is worthy to be worshiped except Me.  I created the creatures and I created goodness and implemented it by the hand of whoever I wanted, blessed is the one, who I did goodness with him to others. I am God, no one is worthy to worship except Me, I created the creatures, and I created the evil and implemented it by the hand of whoever I wanted. Woe to the one, who I did it with him to others””.

Explanation of Hadith

There is no god but Me, that is, no one is effective except me (أَنِّي أَنَا اللَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنَا)

One of its manifestations is the good and the evil that implements by everyone. It is up to Me, neither he is independent in his goodness nor independent in his evil. Rather, it is given from God!!

So now that good and evil are sourced from God, should man be careless? No, blessed is the one that good is bestowed, and unfortunate is the one who evil is bestowed.

God who bestowed good on someone is not without a reason, but He had a reason and vice versa. Good and evil are in the hands of God, and you are not innocent in the middle, the good that occurs with you to others is rewarded and vice versa.

Note: Creatures are not different for God. God carries out good or evil (for his creatures) based on their essence. Some people’s essence necessity is good and looking for good but for others their essence necessity is bad and looking for bad.

For example, a person goes to a doctor and the doctor gives him the medicine. At first, we see that the doctor gives him medicine but in reality, doctor gives the medicine according to patient’s condition. There is a reason why the doctor gives the patient special medicine.

The essence of people is in God’s knowledge, some accept good, and some accept evil, and God bestows good or bad on them based on their essence and God implements goodness or evil by them in the Universe. There is no different for rain where to drop. It drops everywhere, but in some soil, it grows beautiful flowers and other grows weed (Persian poem). The truths of individuals in God’s knowledge are called “Fixed truths” (A’yan Thabitah). 

So, it is not without any reason that God bestows good and evil on someone.

In the story of Prophet Salih (A), in which people said why revelation was revealed to him instead of us!! 

“Tomorrow they will come to know who is the liar, the insolent one!” (Al-Qamar:26)

They were very skilled people to carved stones in mountains. God showed them a very clear miracle. He brought out a big pregnant camel from a mountain. This was requested by the people themselves because based on their skills, they knew that it is not possible for such a thing to happens.

“And to Thamud (people, We sent) their brother Salih. He said: “O my people! Worship Allah! You have no other god but Him. Indeed, there has come to you a clear sign from your Lord. This she-camel of Allah is a sign unto you; so, you leave her to graze in Allah’s earth, and touch her not with harm, lest a painful torment should seize you” (Al-A’raf:72).

God wants to show who is a liar and who is the trustworthy of God. He divided the water between the camel (and her child) and the people, and they did not observe the law and killed her. And after three days, the torment came upon them.

“The Messenger of Allah said to them: ‘(This is) the she camel of Allah, let her drink’ (13) But they belied him, and hamstrung her. So, their Lord crushed them for their sin and leveled it (their village)” (As-Shams:13-14).

In Qur’anic stories, God wants to say why goodness comes to some people, because God knows better than us and God knows the guided better and knows better who to nominate as prophet.

Now, if evil is done by someone and he sins. The solution is to humiliate and repentance so that God will forgive. When our parents “Adam and Eve” were expelled from heaven said: “Both replied: Lord, We have harmed ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we shall surely be among the lost” (Al-A’raf:23).

They attributed evil to themselves, and God forgave them. But Satan said: “Lord! Because you have misled me, I will certainly make for them (all ugly deeds) on earth seem most fair (so that it will be easy for them to commit ugliness), and I will certainly mislead everyone” (Al-Hijr:39).

Ibn Arabi said, Satan said to God, “You did not want me to prostrate on Adam. If you wanted, I would prostrate. “God said: “When you did not prostrate, were you aware of this?”. Satan said: “No”. God said: “I will punish you because you did not submit to my providence”.

The fact that some people are poor, or sick is all based on reason and wisdom.

Narration: A person who commits a sin will not be written in his book until 7 hours. If he seeks forgiveness, he will be forgiven. And it is not for anyone to say that we sin and then repent. The brothers of Prophet Joseph (A) said the same thing, but they did not succeed in repenting for forty years.

All praise is to God to the extent that He deserves it.

Muhammad Mahdi Me’marian