Is God Sadist?
Question:God put us in the world to test without our consent. He created love for our forefathers and cultures so intense that seldom man think of them critically and sum up his courage to leave it for some other faith he finds right. and how many people could find such time from their routine, critical thinking and courage to take the right decision. in such a scenario one feels that God is either not just or sadist.
Answer:
I think I have to cover four points in order to provide an answer to your question:
1. "God put us in the world to test us"
Although in principle I agree with this, however I prefer to use the word 'challenge' rather than test. Please read my short article 'Test or Challenge?'
2. "God put us in the world for test/challenge without our consent"
The Qur'an says that this is not true, we read:
وَ إِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِنْ بَني آدَمَ مِنْ ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَ أَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلى أَنْفُسِهِمْ أَ لَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ قالُوا بَلى شَهِدْنا أَنْ تَقُولُوا يَوْمَ الْقِيامَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هذا غافِلينَ
"And when your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their backs, their descendants, and made them bear witness against their own souls: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes! we bear witness lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection Surely we were heedless of this" (7:172)
إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمانَةَ عَلَى السَّماواتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ وَ الْجِبالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَنْ يَحْمِلْنَها وَ أَشْفَقْنَ مِنْها وَ حَمَلَهَا الْإِنْسانُ إِنَّهُ كانَ ظَلُوماً جَهُولاً
"Surely We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to undertake it and feared from it, and human being undertook it Surely he is unjust, ignorant" (33:72)
Based on verse 7:172 every human being has confessed to God as the Lord and has therefore accepted the responsibility of holding to the consequences of this confession.
Based on verse 33:72 human being has accepted the trust given to him by God.
Accordingly it is not correct to say that we are facing challenges in this world without our consent. Based on the above verses, in particular verse 33:72, human being has accepted the trust with which these challenges are associated.
Please bear in mind that these are among the ambiguous verses of the Qur'an (mutishabihat). They are not to be taken literally. The core message of these verses is that human being is capable of a responsibility that is beyond the capability of mots of the other creatures.
3. "He created love for our forefathers and cultures so intense that seldom man think of them critically and sum up his courage to leave it for some other faith he finds right."
I agree with what you write here, that is, normally people find it very difficult to leave the wrong ways of their forefathers and cultures. It is exactly for this reason that God does not hold us responsible for being in the wrong path while honesty being convinced that it is the right path. We are held responsible to act in accordance to our conviction (i.e. what we honestly believe to be the truth).
Please consider the following two verses:
قالَ اللَّهُ هذا يَوْمُ يَنْفَعُ الصَّادِقينَ صِدْقُهُمْ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْري مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهارُ خالِدينَ فيها أَبَداً رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَ رَضُوا عَنْهُ ذلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظيم
"God says: This is the day when truthfulness of the truthful will be of benefit to them. For them shall be orchards below which canals are running; they shall dwell therein forever." (5:119)
The above is what God says about the destiny of Christians in the day of judgement. According to this, those of them who 'in all honesty' followed what they thought 'in all honesty' to be correct, will benefit from this 'honesty' and will be safe, even though their beliefs might have not been entirely true.
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ لَيْلَةَ الصِّيامِ الرَّفَثُ إِلى نِسائِكُمْ هُنَّ لِباسٌ لَكُمْ وَ أَنْتُمْ لِباسٌ لَهُنَّ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ أَنَّكُمْ كُنْتُمْ تَخْتانُونَ أَنْفُسَكُمْ فَتابَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَ عَفا عَنْكُم
"It has been made lawful for you to lie with your wives in the nights of the fast; they are a garment to you as you are to them. God knew that you were betraying yourselves. He has relented towards you and pardoned you" (2:187)
The verse refers to the false belief of some Muslims at the time whereby they thought that in the nights of the fast they were not allowed to lie with their wives. The verse while correcting this false understanding, also makes an interesting point: They were held responsible for doing what they thought was forbidden for them, even though in reality it was not forbidden. This is referred to as 'Betraying yourselves'.
The above two verses clearly show that God's judgement on human being is not based on 'whether they got it right or wrong', as if it is a driving test. The base is whether people's belief, words and actions were all inline with each other, i.e. whether they practiced what they thought in all honesty to be the truth.
Of course, the same honesty also should prompt the person to always remain keen for the truth and to take benefit of the opportunities that come on his way to correct himself if he notices mistakes in his beliefs.
So to conclude, if we follow the false beliefs of our forefathers and cultures without knowing that they are false then, with the grace of the Almighty, we will not be held responsible for this. We will however be held responsible when we realise that these beliefs are false yet insist in following them, or when we see a clear opportunity to investigate these beliefs and clear indication that there might be something wrong with them, yet, we withhold and do not take the opportunity.
4. So what?
Despite all the above explanations a person may still wonder, what is the point of all this struggle and scenario for the human being? Since this was not originally your question I will answer this very briefly and would require you to let me know if you would like any further clarifications. I add relevant verses of the Qur'an without quoting them to remain brief. I request you to please check these verses and deliberate on them:
A. God creates things because He is Creator, he is full of 'being' and He spreads this 'being' by creating. He would have not been a perfect being if he would have not created. To bring this close to mind, consider, how would you rate a perfume that does not spread the good odor or a light that does not brighten up its surrounding. (59:24)
B. Being a perfect Creator, God also creates a creature that can reach a degree of perfection that qualifies him to be as close as possible to God, Who is the source of perfection. This creature is human being (as far as we concern, one may add Jinns to this as well). Human being can reach this perfection by acting and remaining as a servant of God and as the result purifying himself from anything that is against that level of perfection that he is supposed to achieve (51:56, 95:4, 87:14, 15).
C. To reach that perfection in his acts as the servant of God, Human being needs some tools. These tools are given to him. These are 'having a reasonable ability to think and choose' and 'being in a challenging environment'. The combination of these two provides the human being an opportunity to show its best potentials and reach the level of perfection that was intended for him (33:72, 67:2).
D. Exactly due to this situation, human being can also misuse the authority given to him and knowingly make the wrong choices. In this case instead of reaching that perfect state, he will be descending into the worst possible state. This is only due to his own choice. On the other hand those who honesty try to reach that perfection by having faith and doing righteous deeds will be successful (47:12).
E. Despite the fact that by nature human being knows God and is able to distinguish between good and evil and despite the clear evidences that are available to him in the life and in the nature, God has also sent special and specific guidance for human being in the form of messengers. These messengers have the mission of reminding human beings of the truth and their duties and to show the human beings a path to follow in the form of religion so that they could purify themselves (2:151)
F. God, with His limitless mercy has made Rahmah (compassion) the core element of his relationship with His creation. Accordingly He shows the most flexible and merciful attitude to those who deserve it and does not expect absolute perfection from people. An honest attempt is good enough to leave the rest for the Almighty (6:12, 39:53, 3:77).
I do not know about you, but when I review the above, all I see is love, wisdom and passion. I pray to the Almighty to make us among the addressees of the following verse:
إِنَّ فىِ خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ وَ اخْتِلَافِ الَّيْلِ وَ النهَّارِ لاَيَاتٍ لّأِوْلىِ الْأَلْبَابِ
الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ قِيَمًا وَ قُعُودًا وَ عَلىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ فىِ خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذَا بَاطِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ مَن تُدْخِلِ النَّارَ فَقَدْ أَخْزَيْتَهُ وَ مَا لِلظَّلِمِينَ مِنْ أَنصَارٍ
رَّبَّنَا إِنَّنَا سَمِعْنَا مُنَادِيًا يُنَادِى لِلْايمَنِ أَنْ ءَامِنُواْ بِرَبِّكُمْ فَامَنَّا رَبَّنَا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَ كَفِّرْ عَنَّا سَيِّاتِنَا وَ تَوَفَّنَا مَعَ الْأَبْرَارِ
رَبَّنَا وَ ءَاتِنَا مَا وَعَدتَّنَا عَلىَ رُسُلِكَ وَ لَا تخُزِنَا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّكَ لَا تخُلِفُ المْيعَاد
"In the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alternation of night and day, there are signs for those with vision; those who remember God while standing and sitting and lying down, and keep thinking on the creation of the heavens and the earth. Lord! You have not created all this without a purpose, you are exalted, so save us from the torment of the Fire. Lord! He whom You cast into the Fire You have put him to great humiliation and there are no helps for oppressors. Lord! We have heard a caller calling to faith that: ‘Believe in your Lord,’ and we believed. So Lord! Forgive our sins and avert from us our evil deeds and make us die with the virtious. Lord! and Fulfill what You promised us through Your messengers and do not humiliate us on the Day of Judgement. Indeed! You never break Your promise.” (3:190 - 194)
--------------
Related Topics:
- Is God Sadist (Follow Up: Honest Polytheism)?
- Is God Sadist (Further Follow Up: Honest Polytheism)?
--------------
March 2013
Farhad Shafti
Answer:
I think I have to cover four points in order to provide an answer to your question:
1. "God put us in the world to test us"
Although in principle I agree with this, however I prefer to use the word 'challenge' rather than test. Please read my short article 'Test or Challenge?'
2. "God put us in the world for test/challenge without our consent"
The Qur'an says that this is not true, we read:
وَ إِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِنْ بَني آدَمَ مِنْ ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَ أَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلى أَنْفُسِهِمْ أَ لَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ قالُوا بَلى شَهِدْنا أَنْ تَقُولُوا يَوْمَ الْقِيامَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هذا غافِلينَ
"And when your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their backs, their descendants, and made them bear witness against their own souls: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes! we bear witness lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection Surely we were heedless of this" (7:172)
إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمانَةَ عَلَى السَّماواتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ وَ الْجِبالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَنْ يَحْمِلْنَها وَ أَشْفَقْنَ مِنْها وَ حَمَلَهَا الْإِنْسانُ إِنَّهُ كانَ ظَلُوماً جَهُولاً
"Surely We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to undertake it and feared from it, and human being undertook it Surely he is unjust, ignorant" (33:72)
Based on verse 7:172 every human being has confessed to God as the Lord and has therefore accepted the responsibility of holding to the consequences of this confession.
Based on verse 33:72 human being has accepted the trust given to him by God.
Accordingly it is not correct to say that we are facing challenges in this world without our consent. Based on the above verses, in particular verse 33:72, human being has accepted the trust with which these challenges are associated.
Please bear in mind that these are among the ambiguous verses of the Qur'an (mutishabihat). They are not to be taken literally. The core message of these verses is that human being is capable of a responsibility that is beyond the capability of mots of the other creatures.
3. "He created love for our forefathers and cultures so intense that seldom man think of them critically and sum up his courage to leave it for some other faith he finds right."
I agree with what you write here, that is, normally people find it very difficult to leave the wrong ways of their forefathers and cultures. It is exactly for this reason that God does not hold us responsible for being in the wrong path while honesty being convinced that it is the right path. We are held responsible to act in accordance to our conviction (i.e. what we honestly believe to be the truth).
Please consider the following two verses:
قالَ اللَّهُ هذا يَوْمُ يَنْفَعُ الصَّادِقينَ صِدْقُهُمْ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْري مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهارُ خالِدينَ فيها أَبَداً رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَ رَضُوا عَنْهُ ذلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظيم
"God says: This is the day when truthfulness of the truthful will be of benefit to them. For them shall be orchards below which canals are running; they shall dwell therein forever." (5:119)
The above is what God says about the destiny of Christians in the day of judgement. According to this, those of them who 'in all honesty' followed what they thought 'in all honesty' to be correct, will benefit from this 'honesty' and will be safe, even though their beliefs might have not been entirely true.
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ لَيْلَةَ الصِّيامِ الرَّفَثُ إِلى نِسائِكُمْ هُنَّ لِباسٌ لَكُمْ وَ أَنْتُمْ لِباسٌ لَهُنَّ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ أَنَّكُمْ كُنْتُمْ تَخْتانُونَ أَنْفُسَكُمْ فَتابَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَ عَفا عَنْكُم
"It has been made lawful for you to lie with your wives in the nights of the fast; they are a garment to you as you are to them. God knew that you were betraying yourselves. He has relented towards you and pardoned you" (2:187)
The verse refers to the false belief of some Muslims at the time whereby they thought that in the nights of the fast they were not allowed to lie with their wives. The verse while correcting this false understanding, also makes an interesting point: They were held responsible for doing what they thought was forbidden for them, even though in reality it was not forbidden. This is referred to as 'Betraying yourselves'.
The above two verses clearly show that God's judgement on human being is not based on 'whether they got it right or wrong', as if it is a driving test. The base is whether people's belief, words and actions were all inline with each other, i.e. whether they practiced what they thought in all honesty to be the truth.
Of course, the same honesty also should prompt the person to always remain keen for the truth and to take benefit of the opportunities that come on his way to correct himself if he notices mistakes in his beliefs.
So to conclude, if we follow the false beliefs of our forefathers and cultures without knowing that they are false then, with the grace of the Almighty, we will not be held responsible for this. We will however be held responsible when we realise that these beliefs are false yet insist in following them, or when we see a clear opportunity to investigate these beliefs and clear indication that there might be something wrong with them, yet, we withhold and do not take the opportunity.
4. So what?
Despite all the above explanations a person may still wonder, what is the point of all this struggle and scenario for the human being? Since this was not originally your question I will answer this very briefly and would require you to let me know if you would like any further clarifications. I add relevant verses of the Qur'an without quoting them to remain brief. I request you to please check these verses and deliberate on them:
A. God creates things because He is Creator, he is full of 'being' and He spreads this 'being' by creating. He would have not been a perfect being if he would have not created. To bring this close to mind, consider, how would you rate a perfume that does not spread the good odor or a light that does not brighten up its surrounding. (59:24)
B. Being a perfect Creator, God also creates a creature that can reach a degree of perfection that qualifies him to be as close as possible to God, Who is the source of perfection. This creature is human being (as far as we concern, one may add Jinns to this as well). Human being can reach this perfection by acting and remaining as a servant of God and as the result purifying himself from anything that is against that level of perfection that he is supposed to achieve (51:56, 95:4, 87:14, 15).
C. To reach that perfection in his acts as the servant of God, Human being needs some tools. These tools are given to him. These are 'having a reasonable ability to think and choose' and 'being in a challenging environment'. The combination of these two provides the human being an opportunity to show its best potentials and reach the level of perfection that was intended for him (33:72, 67:2).
D. Exactly due to this situation, human being can also misuse the authority given to him and knowingly make the wrong choices. In this case instead of reaching that perfect state, he will be descending into the worst possible state. This is only due to his own choice. On the other hand those who honesty try to reach that perfection by having faith and doing righteous deeds will be successful (47:12).
E. Despite the fact that by nature human being knows God and is able to distinguish between good and evil and despite the clear evidences that are available to him in the life and in the nature, God has also sent special and specific guidance for human being in the form of messengers. These messengers have the mission of reminding human beings of the truth and their duties and to show the human beings a path to follow in the form of religion so that they could purify themselves (2:151)
F. God, with His limitless mercy has made Rahmah (compassion) the core element of his relationship with His creation. Accordingly He shows the most flexible and merciful attitude to those who deserve it and does not expect absolute perfection from people. An honest attempt is good enough to leave the rest for the Almighty (6:12, 39:53, 3:77).
I do not know about you, but when I review the above, all I see is love, wisdom and passion. I pray to the Almighty to make us among the addressees of the following verse:
إِنَّ فىِ خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ وَ اخْتِلَافِ الَّيْلِ وَ النهَّارِ لاَيَاتٍ لّأِوْلىِ الْأَلْبَابِ
الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ قِيَمًا وَ قُعُودًا وَ عَلىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ فىِ خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَذَا بَاطِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ مَن تُدْخِلِ النَّارَ فَقَدْ أَخْزَيْتَهُ وَ مَا لِلظَّلِمِينَ مِنْ أَنصَارٍ
رَّبَّنَا إِنَّنَا سَمِعْنَا مُنَادِيًا يُنَادِى لِلْايمَنِ أَنْ ءَامِنُواْ بِرَبِّكُمْ فَامَنَّا رَبَّنَا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَ كَفِّرْ عَنَّا سَيِّاتِنَا وَ تَوَفَّنَا مَعَ الْأَبْرَارِ
رَبَّنَا وَ ءَاتِنَا مَا وَعَدتَّنَا عَلىَ رُسُلِكَ وَ لَا تخُزِنَا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّكَ لَا تخُلِفُ المْيعَاد
"In the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alternation of night and day, there are signs for those with vision; those who remember God while standing and sitting and lying down, and keep thinking on the creation of the heavens and the earth. Lord! You have not created all this without a purpose, you are exalted, so save us from the torment of the Fire. Lord! He whom You cast into the Fire You have put him to great humiliation and there are no helps for oppressors. Lord! We have heard a caller calling to faith that: ‘Believe in your Lord,’ and we believed. So Lord! Forgive our sins and avert from us our evil deeds and make us die with the virtious. Lord! and Fulfill what You promised us through Your messengers and do not humiliate us on the Day of Judgement. Indeed! You never break Your promise.” (3:190 - 194)
--------------
Related Topics:
- Is God Sadist (Follow Up: Honest Polytheism)?
- Is God Sadist (Further Follow Up: Honest Polytheism)?
--------------
March 2013
Farhad Shafti
