Seeking God’s help is only to compensate for our limitations and it is, therefore, a blessing for man. GettyImages
In his book, Does He Know a Mother’s Heart, Arun Shourie raises the question, “How can extreme suffering be so commonplace if there is a God who knows everything, who is all-powerful and also compassionate?” He argues that answers offered by religious texts lead inevitably to a conception of God who is all-powerful yet punitive, arbitrary, and tyrannical. A better solution may lie instead in embracing a life of devotion and service that isn’t reliant on divine will.
On Tuesday, we published an excerpt from Shourie’s book that pointed out troubling flaws in Gandhi’s faith-based explanations for the Bihar earthquake in 1934 and the plights of Jews in Nazi Germany. Today, we present two contrasting views on the broader questions raised by Shourie’s book. Below is our email interview with renowned Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan.
Arun Shourie makes the case that suffering, especially suffering of the innocent and children, negates the idea of all religions. All religions say suffering has a purpose, and try to rationalise it – as punishment of god for something wrong we did, in this life or the past. Or by saying that the suffering was necessary for us to learn something — patience or forbearance — from it. But if God is all-knowing, wasn’t there a better way to teach us these things without suffering?
A priest of the ancient Samaritan community, wrapped in a prayer shawl, holds up a Tora scroll as worshippers pray during the holy day of Shavuot on Mount Gerizim in Nablus, West Bank. Uriel Sinai/Getty Images
Suffering is only a negative name for experience. The fact is that God Almighty has created us with great potential, and it is our job to turn this potential into actual. During this process, sometimes, we achieve and sometimes we lose. But, both these are temporary. It is the temporary nature of the experience of life that creates challenge.
Challenge creates competition, and competition leads to different kinds of experience. It is this challenge-response mechanism, through which we unfold our potential. The fact is that both achievement and failure are relative. From both, we learn and draw lessons. Thus, through the challenge-response mechanism, the journey of life goes on.
People generally believe that he is fortunate who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. But those who are deprived of the “silver spoon” were born with a greater thing and that is the incentive spoon. In practical life, “incentive spoon” is more important than the silver spoon. According to the law of nature, suffering is only a blessing in disguise. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam is a case in point.
Suffering of innocent children is also a blessing. Previously, they were called disabled. Now, after research it is established that they are not disabled but they are differently-abled. One such example is of a well-known British scientist, Stephen Hawking.
The concept of an omniscient, omniscient God in almost all religions flies against the concept of free will. If He/She knows all, is He just watching the fun as we blunder along? What kind of God is that?
This question can be answered by understanding the Creation Plan of God. God Almighty has created man and has given him total freedom. There is no contradiction between the all-knowing nature of God and total freedom of man. God is all-powerful and along with this, He also has the power to hold back His power. Dark matter is in fact bright, but we cannot see it because it has held back its light. This is a demonstration that God can contain His power so that man continues to possess the freedom to act in whicShourie’s hever way he wants.
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