What is the source of Evil?

[Madhoshi04]

Salam,

I'm having some trouble understanding the initiation of evil. If all comes from God, does that mean evil also comes from god? Did God create Evil?

I have heard the argument that Satan used to be an Angel, and then he turned "evil." What caused Satan to do this? Satan may tempt all of us, and we may "sin." But how did satan manage such a sin? Who tempted satan?

[Wakas]

peace,

The Quran itself talks a lot about this. From my studies, I will give you my understanding:

Think of it like this: if a company produces cooking knives, and some people use these knives for their intended purpose: cutting meat, chopping vegetables etc (i.e. good) and some people use the knives for stabbing/killing others (i.e. bad), would it be fair to say the company created the evil/bad?

God gave us free-choice, and showed us the two paths: good and bad. It is up to us which we choose.

I have heard the argument that Satan used to be an Angel, and then he turned "evil." What caused Satan to do this? Satan may tempt all of us, and we may "sin." But how did satan manage such a sin? Who tempted satan?

The story of adam/mankind in The Quran is a parable. Perhaps its most central/thematic. The following book discusses it in more detail, it is from the same author as the Quran translation I mentioned. Some background posts:
http://free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=9597379.msg185295#msg185295
http://free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=12703.msg102151#msg102151

Once you have read the above, I strongly recommend re-reading the story of "Adam" in The Quran with this in mind. I would be interested to hear your thoughts. I personally found understanding this story one of the most important in my overall understanding of The Quran. 


From the topics index at www.studyquran.org

Adam 2:31-32, 3:33, 5:27, 7:19-25, 17:61, 17:70, 18:50, 19:58, 20:115-123, 40:31, 41:13, 41:15

angels to prostrate before 2:34, 7:11
tree of knowledge 2:35, 7:19, 20:120-121
banishment from Garden (no blame to Eve) 2:36, 7:24

[OPF]

The company created the potential for good/evil. The company also happens to be a monopolistic conglomerate whose products include "good" and "evil". So evil things will use the evil potential while good things will use the good potential. God made the people, the devils, the knives, the blood, the tears...

[jaythikay99]

The company created the potential for good/evil. The company also happens to be a monopolistic conglomerate whose products include "good" and "evil". So evil things will use the evil potential while good things will use the good potential. God made the people, the devils, the knives, the blood, the tears...

yea, and we should keep such things away from children too!

[FAR]

Salam,

I'm having some trouble understanding the initiation of evil. If all comes from God, does that mean evil also comes from god? Did God create Evil?

I have heard the argument that Satan used to be an Angel, and then he turned "evil." What caused Satan to do this? Satan may tempt all of us, and we may "sin." But how did satan manage such a sin? Who tempted satan?

I'll give you an example.

What is the source of a story? And the characters in that story? The author.

And the creation of such characters is for a purpose.

Iblis didn't want to do as the god demanded. Quran 15:29 is a clue to this. http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=15&verse=29

Satan prayed to the god, and the god answered his prayers. He didn't want to be the first to enter into a human. http://www.dapla.org/plasma_carbon.htm

I pray that you understand me. Ameen.

[shadowpuppet]

In reality, there are only extremes of light and darkness.
And, then, the points in between.


Perhaps we are somewhere in between and
...what we consider to be good
or evil.... is based on our own zone of comfort, collective or otherwise.

[FriskyBun]

Doesn't the Qur'an say something like all good comes from God and all bad comes from man?  If somebody could verify this that would great.

[OPF]

Doesn't the Qur'an say something like all good comes from God and all bad comes from man?  If somebody could verify this that would great.

It says ALL is from allah in one verse. How could it not be?

If a person does good, it is from Allah and if a person does bad, he only wrongs his own soul.

This is in line with the concept of a completely just day of judgement.

004.078
SHAKIR: Wherever you are, death will overtake you, though you are in lofty towers, and if a benefit comes to them, they say: This is from Allah; and if a misfortune befalls them, they say: This is from you. Say: All is from Allah, but what is the matter with these people that they do not make approach to understanding what is told (them)?

004.079
Whatever benefit comes to you (O man!), it is from Allah, and whatever misfortune befalls you, it is from yourself, and We have sent you (O Prophet!), to mankind as a messenger; and Allah is sufficient as a witness.

[zenshark]

@far to say the shia made a sect as in your signature is a bit arrogant of you. sunnis made a sect too. its all a bunch of sects in the end. the hope is by sticking to the quran alone, we can be united.

and iblis was a jinn not an angel.

as to the original poster, there are many good writings on theodicy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodicy check here for a basic understanding of the concept and the issues. fine tune your question and ask again.

[FAR]

@far to say the shia made a sect as in your signature is a bit arrogant of you. sunnis made a sect too. its all a bunch of sects in the end. the hope is by sticking to the quran alone, we can be united.

and iblis was a jinn not an angel.

as to the original poster, there are many good writings on theodicy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodicy check here for a basic understanding of the concept and the issues. fine tune your question and ask again.

Annoying? The term shia means sect.

Iblis was like an angel... he was obedient. Like, not an angel. In heaven you obey allah otherwise get kicked out.