WHERE IS ALLAH?!
WHY IS HE NOT HELPING PALESTINE?
WHY IS HE NOT CRUSHING THE OPPRESSORS?
WHY IS HE LETTING INNOCENT CHILDREN DIE?
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Many people wonder where God is when children are being killed. It's very common to hear statements such as, "Where is God when Israel is bombing civilians in Gaza?" Or "If God really existed, He wouldn't let Boko Haram kidnap innocent girls."
The core issue in both of these statements is an assumption that God is to be held responsible when atrocities occur because, since He is All Powerful, He is the One Who should be able to stop them from happening before they do.
The problem with that though, is it implies that human beings who perpetrate those actions are not the ones who are in control of their decisions. It absolves responsibility as a human race and instead puts the onus of that responsibility on the Creator.
But there are 2 things we need to keep in mind:
1- God Created Us with Free Will.
We were created with the opportunity to make our own decisions. And the consequences of those decisions are ours alone.
When a person commits an atrocity against innocent civilians, that individual uses their God-given free will in a way which goes against everything He has taught. It is horrifying and unfathomable that someone could harm civilians.
But that action was carried out by choice of the perpetrator. And there are consequences for the perpetrator's actions. Which leads to point 2:
2- The Day of Judgment Exists for a Reason
We may not feel we see the perpetrator getting the punishment they deserve in this life. But that is one of the functions of the Day of Judgment; to fully hold people accountable for their actions.
Another function of the Day of Judgment is reward. Reward for all the pain that people have endured, the horrors that they witnessed, the loss they have experienced; this is where a person would be dipped just once into Paradise and then exclaim that they never experienced any type of hardship in their lives, or be dipped once into hell and exclaim that they have never experienced any luxury (as referenced in the book of Muslim).
--
We cannot always rationalize why horrible things happen in the world. For those who survive, maybe the people who suffer through hardship do so in order to create a better world because of their intimate understanding of pain. Maybe it makes them, as individuals, more resilient, maybe it brings them closer to God. But maybe they experience trauma to the degree that they do not know how to heal and can never again experience normalcy. It is difficult to comprehend hardship.
We can strive to see wisdom in each circumstance, or understand it logically, and sometimes that makes it easier for us to accept.
But at the end of the day, it goes back to one reality: A choice someone makes that affects the lives of others.
There are some people who choose to use their God-given free will in ways that destroy humanity and other forms of life and beauty, while others choose to use it to build.
The one question we should be asking ourselves is what we personally can do, to help make the world a better, safer, more just place.
We will be held account for what we do as well. Big acts of oppression are easy to call out. But what about when we cheat on an exam? When we say something messed up about someone? When we make life decisions that continue the horrendous supply and demand situations which oppress factory workers in developing countries or fuels human trafficking? Those are all consequences of our own decisions. And God watches and holds account for all things.
Make sure that while we're in disbelief at what some do to others, we do not fall into the same trap in other ways. Instead of fixating on why bad things happen to good people and demanding to know why God isn't stopping it, let's focus on how we can be good people who try our best to stop bad things from happening, invoking God to help us become beacons of light that make our world a better place.
WHY IS HE NOT HELPING PALESTINE?
WHY IS HE NOT CRUSHING THE OPPRESSORS?
WHY IS HE LETTING INNOCENT CHILDREN DIE?
- - - -
Many people wonder where God is when children are being killed. It's very common to hear statements such as, "Where is God when Israel is bombing civilians in Gaza?" Or "If God really existed, He wouldn't let Boko Haram kidnap innocent girls."
The core issue in both of these statements is an assumption that God is to be held responsible when atrocities occur because, since He is All Powerful, He is the One Who should be able to stop them from happening before they do.
The problem with that though, is it implies that human beings who perpetrate those actions are not the ones who are in control of their decisions. It absolves responsibility as a human race and instead puts the onus of that responsibility on the Creator.
But there are 2 things we need to keep in mind:
1- God Created Us with Free Will.
We were created with the opportunity to make our own decisions. And the consequences of those decisions are ours alone.
When a person commits an atrocity against innocent civilians, that individual uses their God-given free will in a way which goes against everything He has taught. It is horrifying and unfathomable that someone could harm civilians.
But that action was carried out by choice of the perpetrator. And there are consequences for the perpetrator's actions. Which leads to point 2:
2- The Day of Judgment Exists for a Reason
We may not feel we see the perpetrator getting the punishment they deserve in this life. But that is one of the functions of the Day of Judgment; to fully hold people accountable for their actions.
Another function of the Day of Judgment is reward. Reward for all the pain that people have endured, the horrors that they witnessed, the loss they have experienced; this is where a person would be dipped just once into Paradise and then exclaim that they never experienced any type of hardship in their lives, or be dipped once into hell and exclaim that they have never experienced any luxury (as referenced in the book of Muslim).
--
We cannot always rationalize why horrible things happen in the world. For those who survive, maybe the people who suffer through hardship do so in order to create a better world because of their intimate understanding of pain. Maybe it makes them, as individuals, more resilient, maybe it brings them closer to God. But maybe they experience trauma to the degree that they do not know how to heal and can never again experience normalcy. It is difficult to comprehend hardship.
We can strive to see wisdom in each circumstance, or understand it logically, and sometimes that makes it easier for us to accept.
But at the end of the day, it goes back to one reality: A choice someone makes that affects the lives of others.
There are some people who choose to use their God-given free will in ways that destroy humanity and other forms of life and beauty, while others choose to use it to build.
The one question we should be asking ourselves is what we personally can do, to help make the world a better, safer, more just place.
We will be held account for what we do as well. Big acts of oppression are easy to call out. But what about when we cheat on an exam? When we say something messed up about someone? When we make life decisions that continue the horrendous supply and demand situations which oppress factory workers in developing countries or fuels human trafficking? Those are all consequences of our own decisions. And God watches and holds account for all things.
Make sure that while we're in disbelief at what some do to others, we do not fall into the same trap in other ways. Instead of fixating on why bad things happen to good people and demanding to know why God isn't stopping it, let's focus on how we can be good people who try our best to stop bad things from happening, invoking God to help us become beacons of light that make our world a better place.
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