The existence of evil was one of the most prominent challenges for philosophers and theologians, and questions related to the existence of evil are re-asked, especially in times of tribulations, disasters and major transformations that plague the familiar or constants, so what is meant by evil? And why was his existence considered a dilemma? How was it historically researched? What are the problems with the problem of evil?

In this article, I will try to answer these questions very intensively, to reach a brief answer to this problem by presenting 3 central concepts that help us understand the problem of the existence of evil.

First: The concept of evil

Benefiting from some of the ideas of the philosopher Avicenna, it is possible to distinguish in the concept of evil between two levels:

  • The first level is related to the duality of existence and nothingness: evil is nothingness, good is existence, and the origin of things is good, evil only affects people or individuals at specific times, while species are preserved (such as preserving the human type, for example), but linking evil to nothingness raises two issues:
  • That nothingness degrees, not all loss or non-evil, as non-existent may be necessary or beneficial unnecessary or luxurious, but evil is true of the necessary and beneficial is necessary only without perfection or secondary, blindness and congenital deformities, for example, means the loss of the thing to perfection, which depends on its existence, and then related to the loss of what is necessary and therefore called evil. Science and crafts, for example, are not called evil, even if they are lacking.
  • Evil may relate to things that exist in reality, but these assets are "not evil in themselves but in presentation," because each of these acts described as evil—whether natural or human—is good for the perpetrator, and evil for the other.

    • It follows from this that evil is either "the lack of essence or the lack of goodness of the essence", so the question revolves around the perfection of man with his various mental, psychological and physical powers.

    • The second level relates to the fold of pleasure and pain:

    Good and perfection are linked to pleasure or what is a means to it, and evil is associated with pain and what is a means to it, and pain, although it occurs for painful causes, it is related to an accidental matter, that is, the painful is not painful in itself, but compared to the sufferer, and the pain may be justified in view of the greater good than it is to be collected, and the payment of the painful and the collection of the appropriate is a quest towards the acquisition of existential perfection of the perceiver.


    It follows from this that evil applies to a specific circle of imperfections and needs, which is to deprive the existing of its necessary perfection.

    Evil is divided into 3 types: natural evils that occur in the universe, human evils may be called moral evils, because they emanate from the free will of man, and metaphysical evils related to the deficiency involved in the nature of assets, evil - on this - is linked to the divine will and the management of the world, and therefore it is inseparable from its metaphysical and religious significance, and the problem of evil cannot be solved according to a positive or natural perspective only, but we must evoke the horizontal (physical) and vertical (metaphysical) dimensions in solving it if we borrow Some of Taha Abdel Rahman's vocabulary.

    Second: Diagnosing the problem of the existence of evil

    Philosophers and theologians in the past faced questions related to the existence of evil, and the problem of the existence of evil is summarized in 3 points, which I formulate in the following three questions:

    • Why is there evil?
    • And how does it come from the one who is absolutely good?
    • Where is God from these evils in the world?

    – Why is there evil?

    This question looks for causes, causes and judgment, which is what the philosophical mind and the verbal mind are preoccupied with, but it must be clarified that the general question about the reason for the existence of evil may come out of trying to understand and interpret to another pattern of thinking, which is the inference of the existence of evil on the denial of the maker or the denial of the existence of God Almighty, and then the question here comes out about the meaning of seeking knowledge to denunciation in order to mention suspicions.

    However, this should not prevent it from being dealt with seriously with more rationality and thoughtfulness, especially when such questions come from the modern young generation, who need convincing answers that respect their questions and way of thinking.

    Philosophers have formed the existence of evil, whether in cosmic nature or in human nature, so the emanation of evil from man (or moral evil) is not consistent with the idea of being a moral being, so how can a rational and responsible being cause pain to himself or others? This problem relates to the human will and assumes that there is a contradiction between man's free and moral will and the emanation of evil, which necessitates the search for an explanation.

    As for natural evil or attributable to a higher power, it gives rise to a contradiction of another kind, for how can the one who has the benevolent and supreme will produce evil from him? This is a discussion about the attributes and will of God.

    As for theologians, they have faced questions and problems related to the interpretation of the actions of God Almighty in the universe on the one hand and the actions of man on the other, and this is related to the ideas of divine justice, assignment, freedom of man and his responsibility for his actions, and belief in destiny, good and evil, and I will explain later the investigations related to the problem of evil from theology.

    – How does evil come from the one who is absolutely good?

    This question implies the existence of an internal logical contradiction between the goodness of God Almighty (with His Most Beautiful Attributes) on the one hand and the existence of evil in the world on the other, as good does not produce evil as before.

    – Where is God from these evils in the world such as wars, famines, disasters and injustice?

    This question raises a verbal and ethical problem: if God is good and exists, why does he not intervene to remove evil, since his knowledge surrounds assets and his power is universal.

    This problem has prompted some of them to make the existence of evil evidence of the denial of the existence of God Almighty, arguing that the existence of something without its supplies is not possible, if God exists, it is necessary to remove evil with his ability and knowledge surrounding and his benevolent will, and if God was really good, he would not have accepted this injustice and intervene to support the oppressed, and therefore the existence of evil necessitates the absence of God.

    In fact, the above three questions can be relegated to two central problems:

    • The first problem is related to human perceptions of God Almighty or the image of God Almighty in our minds, and is the source of this image purely mental or legitimate, especially since we are talking here about metaphysical issues related to the world of the unseen, and can we subject the image of God Almighty to the laws of man and his norms in standards and evaluations? Is God Almighty obligated to do anything, let alone be subject to the laws and corrections of the human mind? Here the big problem arises in comparing God to His creation or the Creator's analogy with the creature, which would eliminate the differences between them.
    • The other problem relates to our perceptions of man himself and his position in this universe, is he a ruler or a ruler? Is it a creator or a creature?

    Third: The problem of evil in historical debates

    The problem of evil historically led to the emergence of a number of ideas and beliefs that I tried to overcome in one way or another, and even led some of them to deny the existence of the maker in the past, and from those beliefs - for example - that dualism said that there are two gods to get rid of the problem of evil, a god for good and another for evil in order to overcome that contradiction referred to earlier.

    Christianity said the idea of original sin, which is the root of evils, and in Islam the Mu'tazila went to say that the servants create their actions, and thus they thought that they had solved the problem of human evils, and the Ash'aris went to the fact that God is the creator of everything, but the servants acquire their actions, so they distinguished between creation and gain (the ineffective act), to prove the causality and influence of God alone.

    In fact, the problem of evil is a modern formulation of a number of old questions, as they have been historically examined from different entrances, most notably 4 issues as follows:

  • Improvement and ugliness: The duality of good and ugly is the same as the duality of good and evil, and it examines the major moral calendars and the source of their determination.
  • The reasons for the laws or reasons for the assignment that try to answer the question: Why did God cost us when he knows that some of us will disbelieve and then be tortured? It is a question related to the proof of the maker on the one hand, and for this Judge Abdul-Jabbar Al-Mu'tazili said, "For ignorance in the face of the assignment, the atheist gradation to the negation of the manufacturer", and is related to the proof of prophecies and the wisdom of sending messengers on the other hand. The answer that prevailed among the general scholars and built on the idea of the purposes of Sharia later, but it is a requirement of human freedom and choice that God Almighty shows His servants the ways of good and evil {messengers missionaries and warnings so that people do not have an argument against God after the messengers}.
  • Pain Section: Judge Abdul-Jabbar Al-Mu'tazili said, "For ignorance of the face of pain and ugliness went astray many people, and some of them thought that the pain is all ugly and the refuge is all good, so they said with actors: an actor for refuge and an actor for pain."
  • Related to the problem of evil is also the research on the creation of verbs and the search for the meanings and requirements of divine names and attributes such as the Merciful, the Mighty, and the Avenger.

    • These investigations explain that the problem of evil is related to different scientific fields, some of which discuss theoretical aspects related to perceptions about God, the universe and man, such as theology and philosophy, especially the philosophy of religion, and some of them discuss practical aspects related to human behavior towards evil, such as jurisprudence (prayer, supplication and charity in times of affliction, calamities and disasters) and mysticism (such as research in virtues, repentance, and the places of patience and satisfaction).

    Fourth: The problem of evil and the concepts governing its understanding

    The problems boil down to the three previous questions – through which the problem of evil was diagnosed: Why does evil exist? And how does it come from the one who is absolutely good? And where is God from these evils?- In 6 things I summarize as follows:

  • The three previous questions assume that the existence of evil is absolute, and that it is devoid of meaning and interests, they assert that there is no wisdom from the existence of partial evil, although this is not possible, because man is not qualified to take note of the overall picture, and therefore his knowledge was deficient and surrounded only by part of the picture, and therefore it is possible to distinguish at least theoretically between pure evil and justified evil that involves interests (medication necessitating pain, justice that leads to retribution, etc.), it is evil from On the other hand and good on the other hand, or sides, hence the evils do not purify.
  • The above three questions assume that the existence of God depends only on the existence of good, and this leads to reparation and the negation of human freedom, so what about man's free will, which requires the possibility of doing evil and choosing it and then its existence as well? {Her immorality and piety inspired her}.
  • The previous questions neglect that what moves man is not only philosophical and mental thinking, but also emotion that leads to indignation and who puts us in the face of the issues of virtues and vices of the human soul, the problem of evil is not a philosophical or intellectual problem only, there is a psychological and emotional dimension hidden behind some questions about evil, especially by those who touched evil, and such must embrace and left him not to be discussed philosophically. Evil is torn}, {And if evil touched him, he was hopeless}, {And if harm touched you, those who call him astray except him}, {And if evil touched him, he has a broad supplication), {But if he is afflicted by it, he is destined for his livelihood, so my Lord says Ahnan}, {And of the people who worship Allah on 0 letters, if he is afflicted with good, be assured of it, and if he is afflicted by fitna and turn against his face, he loses this world and the hereafter}.
  • The previous questions ignore the metaphysical and faith dimension, faith in destiny is good and evil is one of the pillars of faith in God Almighty, and faith in resurrection and reward solves many of these problems, so the problem of evil according to the previous three questions centered on the scales of life only the world, and assumed that success, pleasure and real happiness are only in this worldly world, and the Qur'an has constantly tried to refute that and draw attention to the fact that real life and real happiness are in the other world, because the world is a house of affliction and testing and not a house of survival, And the bliss residing there.
  • Evil is the opposite of good, and against it things are differentiated, the existence of evil is necessary to highlight and realize good itself, and the realization of good and evil together is necessary to seek to complete and strive for self-fulfillment, and this completes the idea of choice, responsibility and reward, and these principles are what made man honored and morally being.
  • The previous three questions revolve around man's blame of God for the evils that befall man, while man bears responsibility for the bulk of those evils in the world, {and what calamity befell you, so what your hands have gained, and many are pardoned}, {The first time a calamity befell you, you have become like it, you said that I am this one, say it is from yourselves}, and for this we said that evils are natural (such as disasters, earthquakes, and the like) and human (issued by the action of the chosen man), and even in nature, the actions of man In the universe, it causes at least some of them (environmental ethics examines human responsibility for corruption and climate change, for example).

    • In order to understand the dilemma of evil from an Islamic perspective, it is necessary to take note of 3 major concepts in my opinion, namely:

  • Judge Abdul-Jabbar Al-Mu'tazili, for example, explained that the pains may be for the taxpayer and may be for the non-taxpayer, the pains that the taxpayer improves to have a compensation (reward), and to be considered (i.e. taking the lesson), whether this consideration is for the sufferer himself or for others or for him and for all others, but the pains It can be cited here with the hadith "to lead rights to its people on the Day of Resurrection, so that the sheep is led by the sheep of the peers" (Narrated by Muslim), and the Sunnis have gone to the fact that God is the creator of everything and effective for what he wants, and this is a reflection of his knowledge, ability and absolute will. The creator of evil is evil, evil is its effect not its characteristic, as Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya said, and then the evil does not exist initially and intentionally, natural evil is not intended by creation, because it has a rule and justifications and involves beneficial goods.
  • The concept of affliction and teleological existence, God Almighty created varieties of creation: a category that is forced to good, which is the angels, and a category that is forced to evil, which is Satan, and a category that has no good or evil like beasts, and a class that combines good and evil, which is man. And honoring man but occurred for the sake that he has the ability to choose, and therefore the life itself and the assignment but occurred for a major goal is affliction, which is a central concept in the Qur'an and Islamic heritage {and we blame you with evil and good fitna and to us you will return}, {who created death and life to blame you for the best work}, {and let us give you some fear and hunger and lack of money, souls and fruits and the good tidings of the patient}.Within this overall concept of affliction we can include the purpose of the assignment, which is the reclamation of man, compensation and retribution People vary based on their actions and choices, and affliction is also a way of moral education, because it is a true test of man and a test of his virtues, especially the virtues of patience and thanksgiving in the face of evils and calamities.
  • The concept of human freedom and responsibility, which reflects God's honor for man as above, and decides the ideas of responsibility and retribution, which are two of the pillars of any moral theory {whoever does an atom weight for good sees it, and whoever does an atom weight for evil sees it}, and God knows best.