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A n s w e r : God forbid,
the creation of evil is
not evil, the desire for
or inclination towards
evil, rather, is evil.
For creation and bringing
into existence look to
all the consequences,
whereas such desire looks
to a particular result,
since it is a particular
relation. For example,
there are thousands of
consequences of rain
falling, and all of them
are good. If through ill
choice, some people
receive harm from the
rain, they cannot say
that the creation of rain
is not mercy, they cannot
state that the creation
of rain is evil. Rather,
it is due to their ill
choice and inclination
that it is evil for them.
Also, there are numerous
benefits in the creation
of fire, and all of them
are good. But if some
people receive harm from
fire through their misuse
of it and their wrong
choice, they cannot say
that the creation of fire
is evil, because it was
not only created to burn
them. Rather, they thrust
their hands into the fire
while cooking the food
through ill choice, and
made that servant
inimical to themselves. In
Short: The lesser evil is
acceptable for the
greater good. If an evil
which will lead to a
greater good is abandoned
so that a lesser evil
should not be, a greater
evil will then have been
perpetrated. For example,
there are certainly some
minor material and
physical harms and evils
in sending soldiers to
fight a jihad, but in the
jihad is
a greater good whereby
Islam is saved from being
conquered by infidels. If
the jihad is
abandoned due to those
lesser evils, then the
greater evil will come
after the greater good
has gone. And that is
absolute wrong. And for
example, to amputate a
finger which is infected
with gangrene and has to
be amputated is good and
right, although it is
apparently an evil. For
if it is not amputated,
the hand will be
amputated, and that would
be a greater evil.
Thus,
the creation and bringing
into existence of evils,
harms, tribulations,
satans, and harmful
things, is not evil and
bad, for they are created
for many important
results. For example,
satans have not been set
to pester the angels, and
the angels cannot
progress; their degrees
are fixed and deficient.
However, in the world of
humanity the degrees of
progress and decline are
infinite. There is an
extremely long distance
through which to
progress, from the
Nimrod's and Pharaoh's as
far as the veracious
saints and the prophets.
Thus,
through the creation of
satans and the mystery of
man's responsibility and
the sending of prophets,
an arena of trial and
examination and striving
and competition has been
opened so that coal-like
base spirits may be
differentiated and
separated out from
diamond-like elevated
spirits. If there had
been no striving and
competition, the
potentialities in the
mine of humanity which
are like diamonds and
coal would have remained
equal. The spirit of Abu
Bakr the Veracious at the
highest of the high would
have remained on the same
level as that of Abu Jahl
at the lowest of the law.
This means that since the
creation of satans and
evils looks to great and
universal results, their
being brought into
existence is not evil or
bad. The evils and
instances of bad that
arise from abuses and the
particular causes known
as inclination or choice
pertain to man's choice,
not to Divine creation.
If
you ask? The majority of
humanity become
unbelievers due to the
existence of Satan and
embrace unbelief and
suffer harm, despite the
sending of prophets: If,
according to the rule,
"the majority has
the word," the
majority suffers evil as
a result, then the
creation of evil is evil,
and it may even be said
that the sending of
prophets is not a mercy.
Is that not so?
The
Answer: Quantity has no
importance in relation to
quality. The true
majority looks to
quality. For example, if.
there are a hundred seeds
of the date-palm and they
are not put beneath the
earth and watered and so
do not undergo a chemical
reaction and manifest a
struggle for life, they
are only a hundred seeds
worth virtually nothing.
But If they are watered
and are subject to the
struggle for life, and
then eighty out of the
hundred rot due to their
faulty make-up, but
twenty become
fruit-bearing trees, can
you say, "watering
them was evil because
most of them
ratted?" Of course,
you cannot say that, for
that twenty have become
like twenty thousand. One
who loses eighty and
gains twenty thousand
suffers no harm and it
cannot be evil.
And
for example, if a peahen
lays one hundred eggs,
and they are worth five
hundred kurush. If
the hen sits on the
hundred eggs and eighty
are spoilt and twenty
hatch into peacocks, can
it be said that there was
a high loss and the
affair was evil; that it
was bad to put the broody
hen on the eggs and an
evil occurred? No, it is
not thus, it is rather a
good. For the peacock
species and egg family
lost eighty eggs worth
four hundred kurush,
but gained twenty
peacocks worth eighty liras.
Thus,
through the sending of
prophets and the mystery
of man's responsibility,
and through striving, and
fighting with satans, in
return for the hundreds
of thousands of prophets
and millions of saints
and thousands of millions
of purified scholars they
have gained, who are like
the suns, moons, and
stars of the world of
humanity mankind has lost
the unbelievers and
dissemblers, who are
numerous in regard to
quantity, insignificant
in regard to quantity,
and like harmful beasts.
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