Why does Allah give people so much hardship like torture, cruelty, brutality, disability, blindness and rape?

They say a person who immerses deep in religious sciences is destroyed. Why should he be destroyed? I think such a person sees the realities and he finds them too hard. Allah is so powerful. Our minds cannot realize it. There are so many misfortunes for the slaves of Allah in the world: torture, cruelty, brutality, disability, blindness, rape, and many more that do not come to mind. Why did Allah not create a different world of testing without needing the oppressions mentioned above though He is so great and knows all kinds of creation? Or, is Allah a sadist? He even caused so many hardships to His so-called beloved Messenger. He even reportedly said He would have killed all of the beings in the world and sky if his blood had shed on the ground. Could Allah not have created a different world of testing without needing these persecutions and why did He not create it? Animals tear one another apart; so do human beings. Why is it necessary? A human being lives about 60 years; he will go to Hell and Allah will punish him for thousands of years. Is this fair and just? Or is not Allah the God that is taught to us? I am a believer. I am looking for answers to these questions and similar ones.

Dear Brother / Sister,

Answer 1:

“That which is on earth we have made but as a glittering show for the earth, in order that We may test them - as to which of them are best in conduct. Verily what is on earth we shall make but as dust and dry soil (without growth or herbage)." (al-Kahf, 7-8)

As it is stated in the verses above and similar verses, the world is exactly a testing place. This is a complete test. The deeds and outcomes we evaluate originate from this environment of testing. In this environment of testing, a believer or an unbeliever is not given a privileged position. Sad things and joyful things exist together.

What is bad is not the possibility of doing bad deeds but doing bad deeds itself. For instance, a person’s being fair and just is understood when he has the opportunity to be cruel and to oppress but he does not do so.

Therefore, in a world where only opportunities to do good deeds are present, doing good deeds is not regarded as something valuable. When we consider all of the grades of good and beautiful, honesty and justice, it is clear that there will also be the opposites of them. The point that needs to be judged at this point is people’s misusing their ability to do endless good deeds, and doing bad deeds instead.

There are so many good and charitable servants of Allah. The existence of these good servants in terms of quality is also the cause of the creation of this world of testing. In other words, many people make themselves bad in this test, and many people display the good things in themselves thanks to this test.

However, Allah states that with His mercy He will grant boons that will please in their eternal life those who are oppressed and wronged in this test

What we need to do is to surrender to the divine mercy and to wait for the great day of religion. On this great day, the one who is punished will be punished fully and the one who is rewarded will be rewarded fully.

This worldly life may be a short life but since that person denies his Lord, who is eternal, his denial necessitates eternal punishment. Similarly, in this short life, a person who accepts and believes in his Lord attains eternal mercy.

Answer 2:

Man was created in a nature that tends to develop and change like a nucleus and an egg; his rank is not fixed like angels and animals. The conditions, circumstances and situations that will trigger and activate this development in man were necessary.

The development of an egg that is a candidate to be a bird and a seed that is a candidate to be a tree cannot develop everywhere and in all circumstances. The egg needs to remain under a chicken or an environment like that of a chicken.  

A seed needs the environment under the soil. Otherwise, they will rot and be destroyed.

Can it be regarded as a torture for a seed to be thrown into the ground, buried in the darkness, to crack as a result of being given water so that it will be transformed into a tree and to have the blessings such as leaves, flowers, fruits, tastes, smells and colors? No sane person can say that it is wrong for the seed and that it is not in compliance with wisdom and mercy.

So, a suitable environment is required for a seed to be a tree,

Similarly, there is a need for an environment so that man will reveal the ores in his nature. This environment is the life in the world. Man’s nature, which could not develop in Paradise, was sent to the world, which has the conditions that will enable him to develop.

Such an environment was necessary for man to show which one of the positive or negative features potentially placed in his nature he would prefer. Otherwise, the ranks of human beings would be fixed like those of the angels and animals; They would not have the ability to ascend and descend.

It is clear what a great blessing and mercy is for man to be buried in the earth so that these great and endless blessings will be revealed.

Questions on Islam