Why was I not created as a more handsome person?

Dear Brother / Sister,

9.1.6-Why was I not created as a more handsome person?

Question:Allah creates some people handsome and beautiful and some people ugly; He gives health to some people while others suffer from illnesses throughout their lives. Some people live in comfort, wealth and prosperity while others live in poverty, distress, and hardship. Since everything is predestined with qadar, does qadar not oppress some people; hence, does Allah not commit injustice?

Let us try to solve the problem in the light of the following case study:

1) There was a very rich and very skilled tailor. He sewed beautiful, precious clothes. His style of working was as follows: When he sewed a jacket, coat, shirt and so on, he would use a live model. He would find unemployed, weak, poor men for it and give them high wages in advance daily. The live models would wear a shirt when he wanted and he would lengthen, shorten or cut the shirt with scissors if necessary. He gave different shapes to clothes on the live models. That famous artist would give orders to models likes “bend down, sit down, extend your arm, lie down, get up”. Thus, he wanted to reflect his art on clothes.

One day, he was cutting and shortening a shirt on one of the live models whose wages he paid in advance and fully, giving it different shapes, removing some parts and pinning  some parts. Meanwhile, the model said to him,

 “You give me orders like ‘bend, stand up, sit down, stand up’; thus, you put me into trouble and hardship. Besides, you cut, and shorten the shirt you put on me, making me ugly. What you do is mercilessness and cruelty.”

The tailor was surprised. How could this man talk like that? For, he was paid in full and in advance. The man who was paid in advance had no right to say, ‘You are bothering me.’ Besides, he was only a model; even though the shirt was on him, it did not belong to him. The owner of the shirt and the fabric was the tailor who sewed it and reflected his art on it.

As in this example, Allah, who is the Wise Creator, made people wear a body shirt that He embroidered finely with eye, ear, mind, heart, imagination, love, fear and similar emotions. He wants to show the embroidery of His beautiful names on this body shirt. Therefore, He changes people from state to state, turns them, sometimes makes them sit, sometimes get up, sometimes tire and sometimes relax. Man recognizes and understands his name “Razzaq = Nourisher, Sustainer” with hunger, and he becomes a reflector and mirror of the name of “Shafi = Healer” with illness.

What man, who is like the model in the example, needs to do here is to show patience and gratitude, not to complain because the body and organs, which are the clothes of the spirit, are not actually the property of man. The body shirt was entrusted to him and put on him temporarily like the shirt on the live model. Man did not produce his body and organs himself; he did not buy them by paying someone else. Allah is the owner of all of them. Therefore, the owner of the property can use his property as he wishes.¹

From this point of view, man should not complain by saying, “Why was I not created as a more handsome and beautiful person? Why has Allah made me sick while others are healthy? Why am I in trouble?” For, he has no right to complain. However, if the body had not been entrusted to him and if he had been the real owner of his body, if he had built his own body, or if he had purchased his body from someone else, perhaps he would have a right to complain.

2) Besides, illnesses, misfortunes, difficulties, and states that appear to be negative wash away the impurities of sin and become atonement for sins in our religion. In this respect,we should not complain but be grateful since they actually purify us.  Such states should not be interpreted as cruelty and injustice, but as a mercy, blessing, boon and gift of Allah.

For God Almighty gives the biggest misfortunes to his beloved slaves. The Prophet (pbuh) explains it as follows:

“Those who are given the most severe hardships are prophets, followed by saints and then those resembling them in degrees.”

Those people regard illnesses and misfortunes as a pure gift of worship and mercy and thank Allah patiently.

1.Nursi, B. S. Sözler. Diyanet Vakfı Yayınları-600, Ankara, 2^nd impression, 2016, p. 581-582.

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