It is a question that troubles many hearts: if Allah is Most Merciful and Most Just, why do suffering, cruelty and disasters exist? Islamic theology does not answer by placing evil outside Allah’s creation. The Quran says Allah is the Creator of all things and that everything occurs within His decree. At the same time, Allah does not command or love moral evil, and human beings remain responsible for the wrong they freely choose.
Quran 4:78 says that all events are from Allah in the sense of decree, while 4:79 says that the evil that befalls a person is from himself in the sense of cause and responsibility. These are two different questions: who creates and decrees what occurs, and who is morally responsible for a sinful choice.
Example 1 : Evil Out of Anger (Family Conflict)
Picture this: a brother and sister are sitting together. The sister says something small, careless maybe even a little sharp. Instead of pausing, the brother explodes. He shouts, his face hardens, he slams the door, and his words leave wounds deeper than any cut.
In that moment, the anger becomes morally blameworthy because the person chooses to use it unjustly. Allah created the human capacity for emotion and action, while the servant is accountable for how those capacities are used.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “The strong person is not the one who can overpower others. The strong person is the one who controls himself when angry.” (Bukhari, Muslim). True strength is not in slamming doors or breaking hearts. It is in holding the fire of anger inside until it cools.
Human anger is not sinful merely because anger exists. The Prophetic teaching is about control, justice and conduct. A person becomes blameworthy when anger leads to abuse, injustice, humiliation or other prohibited actions.
The moral evil here lies in the brother’s unjust choice and conduct. That choice occurs within Allah’s creation and decree, but Allah has forbidden injustice and the person is responsible for committing it.
Real Talk for Today
If you are quick to anger, pause and hear this clearly: no human being has the right to abuse another. No one is above you, and you are above no one. Allah created us equal husband and wife, brother and sister, parent and child each soul is His servant, not yours to humiliate.
So when you raise your voice, slam your door, or cut your family with sharp words, understand this: you are not showing strength. You are exposing weakness. The Prophet ﷺ said, “The Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand other Muslims are safe.” (Bukhari, Muslim). If your own sister or brother is unsafe from your tongue, what does that make you?
Islam teaches accountability for injustice and the rights of other people. We should keep that warning tied to established texts rather than inventing the exact dialogue a person will hear in the grave or on the Day of Judgement.
So do not hide cruelty behind “I was upset” or “it was only words.” Anger does not remove responsibility. The question is what you chose to do with it.
Control your tongue. Guard your actions. Because when you hurt a Muslim and worse, a member of your own family you are writing a record that will be read back to you when no excuses remain.
Example 2: Evil on Purpose (Jealousy)
A man sees his colleague succeed. Instead of being happy, jealousy grows in his heart. He starts spreading lies at work, insulting him, even trying to block his progress.
The man chose to use his tongue and mind in a harmful way. Islamic belief holds both truths together: the act exists within Allah’s creation and decree, while the servant’s intention and voluntary choice make him morally responsible for the sin.
A commonly quoted report says that envy consumes good deeds as fire consumes wood. It appears in Sunan Abi Dawud 4903, but the Darussalam grading lists that chain as weak. The Quran already gives a firm basis for condemning harmful envy, including the command to seek refuge from the envier when he envies in Quran 113:5.
So the verse is really teaching us to say: “O Allah, You are the One who can protect me. You made all things. If harm comes through them, keep me safe from that harm.”
Surah Al Falaq itself teaches believers to seek refuge “from the evil of what He created”. This language shows why it is inaccurate to say evil exists completely outside Allah’s creation. A created thing can contain harm in a particular relationship or circumstance even though Allah’s creation and wisdom are not themselves morally evil.
Stories From the Qur’an Show This Truth
Musa and Khidr in Surah al-Kahf
When Prophet Musa travelled with Khidr in Quran 18:60 to 82, he saw actions whose wisdom he could not initially understand, including damage to a boat and the killing of a boy. The later explanation shows that human beings can judge an event from incomplete information. The lesson is not that painful events fall outside ALLAH’s creation. It is that divine wisdom may include dimensions we cannot see.
The Prophet ﷺ at Ta’if
When the Prophet ﷺ went to Taif seeking support, he faced rejection and abuse. The cruelty belonged morally to those who chose it, while the event itself still occurred within ALLAH’s decree. Later good does not make the abuse morally good. It shows that ALLAH can bring benefit from circumstances created beings experience as painful.
How Islamic Theology Holds the Two Truths Together
- Allah is the Creator of all things. Nothing exists independently of His knowledge, power and decree. Quran 39:62 states this directly.
- Allah does not approve every act He allows to occur. His universal decree is not the same as His religious command. Sin can occur within His decree while remaining something He forbids.
- Human responsibility is real. People choose, intend and act, and are judged for those choices even though Allah already knows and creates the circumstances in which they occur.
- Created harms can serve wider wisdom. A painful event may contain consequences or purposes that are not visible to us immediately, as the story of Musa and Khidr illustrates.
Closing Thought
The more precise Islamic conclusion is not that evil exists outside Allah’s creation. Allah created all things and nothing escapes His decree. Moral evil belongs to the sinful intention and choice of the creature, while pain and calamity can form part of a test whose full wisdom may be hidden from us. Allah is never unjust, and His allowing something to occur is not the same as commanding or loving it.
