Existence of Evil is Due to Man, not to Absence of God, as Atheists Claim, Said AIRA Secretary General

     In the 9th episode of his program “Towards a Proper Understanding”, the Secretary-General of the Islamic Research Academy (AIRA), Dr. Nazir Ayyad, discussed the second part of the fallacy about the existence of evil.

     Ayyad said that if the world is full of evils and sins, as the atheists claim, this does not - in any way - lead to the denial of divine care.

     The evidence of the existence of divine care is that the evils of our time are not more or worse than they are now. For example, why did the heavens not fall on earth? Why was the earth not destroyed entirely? Why did the rivers, seas and oceans not run dry?

     In the same context, the Secretary-General added that the presence of evil in the world does not mean the absence of the Almighty God. This is confirmed by several phenomena, which seem to be torment, but in fact, they are a mercy from God Almighty.

     Phenomena like earthquakes, volcanoes, thunder and lightning, in some of their aspects, are means of goodness; they could be a source of electricity, and when thunder and lightning occur, nitrogen oxide comes down and contributes to the germination of the soil and the reconstruction of the earth.

     Ayyad clarified that the existence of evil in the world is due to man, not to the absence of a God. For example, if we look at the diseases that afflict humans, we will find that the causes of infections such as AIDS and arteriosclerosis are not due to a defect in divine care, but to human behavior.

     The former disease results from illegal relations, and the latter is caused by excessive food, so they do not indicate a deficiency in divine care, but they are due to violation of divine commands.

     Finally, he said that we have to consider what was mentioned in the Holy Qur’an about what happened between Moses (PBUH) and the righteous servant, since what the righteous servant did could be seen as evil, destruction and torment, but the wisdom behind his actions showed that they carried a lot of good.