Is God Unfair?

Author: Rabia Tariq

“You may dislike something although it is good for you and like something although it is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not know” [Quran 2:216]

In the Quran, there are several places where Allah has mentioned some of our characteristics i.e. human beings as weak [Quran 4:28], impatient/anxious [Quran 70:19], hasty (acting without thinking) [Quran 21:37], unjust/ungrateful [Quran 14:34], quarrelsome [Quran 18:54], lacking thought & deliberation/ignorant [Quran 33:72].

When I first read about these verses mentioned above, I was really surprised to know how perfectly Allah knows us. but we often fail to ponder over it or reflect on our relationship with Him. No matter how literate we become, how much we advance/accelerate in the present modern world, whether we live in the east, west, south, or north region around the globe, or which family/culture or religion we belong to, it is our ‘innate’ nature to perceive and self-assume “we are ‘different’ from others and we are the smartest amongst all”.

The most important study in Islamic theology is the concept of the unseen realm (metaphysical world) which is not accessible to human senses or human perception. For a believer (Mu’min), this is the first step of the ladder. According to the Quran, the Oneness of God (tawheed), prophet-hood (risaalah), and belief in the Unseen (divine decree & the belief in the life hereafter – aakhirah) constitutes the most essential requirements for those who wish to seek guidance and completely submit themselves to a sovereign authority i.e., Allah, The Creator of this Universe. 

In easy words, being a humble slave of Allah, worshipping Him without expecting materialistic worldly gains in return, & starting to lead a life of Taqwah (being conscious of God, in normal day-to-day activities, and avoiding such habits & actions which are displeasing to Him)

In the Quran, Allah has mentioned His name:

“Aalim – Al-Ghaib – Al-Shahada – 

The All-Knower of the Unseen (of the metaphysical realm) and The Witnessed (of the physical world)”

The unseen metaphysical realm holds the information of divine nature, the fundamental answers to our destiny as well as all the current as-is and future to-be circumstances of this world i.e., the physical world we live in.  As we have studied in biology, the human being has (5) senses, i.e., hearing, vision (sight), touch, smell, & taste. We can use all these (5) senses in this world which help us perform certain tasks, gain knowledge, collect information, innovate the latest trends, express emotions, foresee detectable disasters, react to certain events, visualize the past/present, and so on. 

However, we are unable to use our given senses to depict the future, we can’t rush to a conclusion about any specific event that has already occurred or whatever is going on in the present. Due to the limited access to our intellect, we are unable to come up with explicit reasoning for any event that took place in our lives. We, as humans, have been given certain extraordinary abilities as compared to other species in this world, but with limitations. No matter how much we see ourselves as all-knowledgeable.

If we rationalize the above concept, we will understand that if an unforeseen event takes place in our lives on a personal, societal or countrywide level, Allah has complete knowledge of the future, and a clear picture of the present and its after-effects i.e. the upcoming outcome of this event (as per Quran, Allah promises the future outcome is always a win-win situation in this world and the next, for the one who’s suffering). 

Our vision is vague, we can only see something in front of us, but we can’t see what’s 5 miles away. On the one hand, whatever discomfort takes place in our lives, we want immediate results because of our impatient nature, we fail to visualize what falls behind the huge unseen curtain, which is why we start making judgments and assumptions as if we have seen the entire road from start to end. We immediately lose all hope, our faith weakens, and we develop a mindset of being a victim with the forever-bad ending.

On the other hand, as per the law of physics, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, e.g., if I punch a glass wall, I’m going to feel the pain instantly and I’ll see the cuts and bruises on my hand in no time. However, in the metaphysical realm (al-ghaib, the unseen), this law does not exist. For example, if we commit sin; act against Allah’s will, we don’t face the punishment instantly within seconds, do we? Nor our day-to-day blessings are taken back from us soon after our sin, correct? The reaction of our sin eventually takes place in the longer run, maybe at some point in life when we don’t even remember that specific sin anymore. But Allah has everything on ‘record’.

Similarly, if an act of injustice/calamity takes place in society or on a personal level, it could mean it’s a temporary test from Allah and we should be looking at the bigger picture instead of narrowing down our vision towards negativity. As firm believers, we need to be optimistic in all circumstances because we have no idea what could be the perfect wisdom behind the tests taking place around us or in our lives. 

Maybe it could be a test to bring us closer to Allah or our hardship/calamity could help us differentiate between good or bad people in our lives? (Who was a friend and who is the enemy)

Or it might be that sometimes when we get too busy in our lives, we remove Allah from our equation, we forget to thank Him for the infinite blessings He has given us, which is why Allah sends us a test, to re-calibrate our sub-conscious minds to make us realize how dependent we are on Him, and all our accomplishments are only from Him. There could be several other possible reasons for tests and trials when things don’t go as we expect. We can think of so many other reasons if we really reflect with a positive mindset.

Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said:

“When Allah wills good for His servant, He expedites his punishment in this life; and when He wills retribution (punishment/penalty) for His servant, He holds his sins for Him to judge him by them on the Day of Resurrection (Judgement).” [At-Tirmidhi]

“No fatigue, nor disease, nor sorrow, nor sadness, nor hurt, nor distress befalls a Muslim, even if it were the prick he receives from a thorn, but that Allah expiates some of his sins for that.” [Bukhari]