Muslim Teachings About Good, Evil & Suffering (Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies B)

Islamic Teachings about Good Actions

The nature of good actions

• Good actions are known as halal, or permitted, in Islam

• Since God created the universe, everything in it is halal unless God has said it is not

• All humans are born with a fitrah or nature that is pure and have free will to act in good or harmful ways

• Good actions are those that make a positive difference, while harmful actions are viewed as evil

• Good actions are divided into two groups:

  • Fard are actions that must be performed for the person to be seen as good

    • These include observing the Five Pillars of Islam and obeying Shari’ah laws

    • Muslims will be rewarded for fard actions and punished by God for failing to carry them out

  • Mandub are recommended actions

    • Examples include helping others or giving charitable donations

    • Muslims will be rewarded for doing these, but won’t be punished if they fail to carry them out

The reward for good actions

• God will reward good actions on the Day of Judgement by sending the people who perform them to Paradise for eternity

• The Qur’an describes the rewards as being like ‘clusters of fruit’, meaning they will be great

• The rewards are beyond human imagination

Islamic Teachings About the Nature of Evil Actions

The nature of evil actions

• Evil actions are known as haram, or ‘that which is forbidden’, in Islam

• Any action forbidden in the Qur’an, Hadith or Shari’ah is haram

  • Examples include drinking alcohol and gambling

• Muslims believe that things are not good or evil in themselves, but their use determines their benefit or harm

  • For example, a knife can be used to prepare food or to stab someone

The consequences of evil actions

• Humans have free will and choose how to act. They may choose to act in harmful ways

• The Qur’an teaches 

• God keeps a record of everyone’s actions and will punish evil actions on the Day of Judgement

• The Qur’an teaches that those who ignore God’s messengers and do evil will suffer the consequences

Non-religious Views About Why People Suffer

• Suffering is caused by two types of evil:

  • Natural evil is suffering that is caused by nature, for example earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis

  • Moral evil is suffering caused by humans using their free will to carry out evil actions, for example murder

• Non-religious people, including atheists or humanists, would say that 

  • Moral evil comes from people’s bad choices or bad behaviour, which causes others to suffer. People’s greed, envy, hatred and selfishness leads to actions such as crime and war

  • Natural evil is also a cause of suffering, but this is just the way the world is - it is bad luck for those who suffer

• They would say that the existence of natural evil is a good reason not to believe in God. Why would a good God create a world with earthquakes, floods, and terrible diseases?

Muslim Teachings on Suffering

• Evil and suffering cause problems for believers because:

  • if God was omnipotent, he would have the power to end suffering and evil

  • if God was omnibenevolent, he would want to remove from the world anything that causes suffering

• Muslims answer this issue by saying that God is both omnipotent and omnibenevolent, and yet there is still suffering in the world so there must be a good reason for it, although humans are not able to understand that reason

  • God is so much greater than humans that we cannot understand his motives and must just simply accept what he does

• Suffering is a test of faith and must be accepted as God’s will for their lives

  • If Muslims remain faithful in this life, they know their rewards will come in the afterlife

• The Qur’an teaches that God wants good, and therefore evil and suffering must lead towards good and so humans must work towards this throughout their lives

• God cannot be blamed for moral evil, since this is caused by humans acting of their own free will

• Suffering, including at times of tragedy such as natural disasters, provides opportunities for people to demonstrate their goodness by helping those in need

• Islam teaches that Muslims should actively seek to end suffering in the world for everyone, whether by offering practical support for others or through prayer. This is part of their role as khalifahs of the world

  • As a result, there are many charitable organisations such as Islamic Relief that work to reduce the suffering of others

  • Every good action will be rewarded in the afterlife 

Divergent Muslim responses to suffering

• Some Muslims believe that the suffering of sinners is due to Allah because the Qur’an teaches

• Others interpret the ‘darkness’ in this teaching as people’s choice to move away from Allah.

• They say that everything good is down to God, and anything bad is due to humans alone 

  • This is because the Qur’an teaches

• The Qur’an also makes it clear that humans have been given reason and understanding so that they can follow the right path as shown to them by the prophets

• However, some people do not use this reason and understanding to follow the right path

• They will suffer the consequences in the afterlife