Comments on Radical Opinions: WHERE IS GOD IN TIMES OF SUFFERING?

You should go beyond Islam to comprehend suffering...

2007-12-20T11:02:00.000Z

You should go beyond Islam to comprehend suffering, without which life would be dreary, forlorn and monotonous. Just imagine our lives without suffering! It would be one long straightline of joy and contentment without any blips or troughs of sorrow and pain. The Poet-phiosopher, Iqbal, portrayed pain as part and parcel of life in this fine couplet:
"Mouj-e-gham par raqs karta hai hubab-e-zindagi,
Hai ALAM ka sura khud juzw-e-kitab-e-zindagi" Simply translated, it means: The bubble of life dances eternally on a wave of pathos. And sura 'alif-lam-mim' or alam (meaning pain or grief) is a part and parcel of our book of life, the Quran.
Hinduism's doctrine of rebirth provides a not-so-convincing ratinale for human suffering and regards it as a recompense for a person's sins in his/her previous life. But it is Buddhism which came about as a result of its founder's pursuit for a divine explanation for human suffering. Prince Siddharta - who latter became Buddha - abondoned his vast empire, his beautiful empress and his infant son in order to find the cause of human suffering. His 'nirwana' revealed to him that a human being can't escape the cycle of joy and suffering on this earth during his/her lifetime. It is simply part of His design and suffering simply prepares us to face the challenges of our life better (You should Matthew Arnold classic poem "The Light of Asia" on Buddha. The cycle of happiness and sorrow is also manifested in the old English adage "Ther is no joy without alloy" or in Thomas Hardy's paradigm "Happiness is but an occsional episode in the general drama of pain". Let's not forget that one of God's 99 names is 'Qahhar' - someone who can express/release His angst or 'Qahr' on individuals, families, communities or even countries. Sorry I couldn't be brief. The subjest is such.

May Allah grant mercy on those soles departed, and...

2007-12-18T22:33:00.000Z

May Allah grant mercy on those soles departed, and may he give strength to the husband/father who survives his family. My sincerest condolences to you, and your wife.

This is a very poignant blog, at this moment in time for me. Last week my first cousins son passed away after being diagnosed with Cancer in January this year. He was 21.

Being the youngest of 4 kids, he was understandably he was I believe his mothers baby, and I every day I think about how his parents, siblings must all be feeling.

Much like your wifes Aunt, and daughters, his life was tragically cut short - leaving a grieving family, learning to how survive, make sense of how to go on.

I think your references to Surahs from the Quran and Hadiths are extremley relevant at times of suffering.Often they are the only thing that gives Muslims the ability to go on.

I think as Muslim you have to ultimately believe that Allah knows best, there is a point where you can't find anymore answers - times such as these. You have to accept that we won't understand/comprehend how things will plan out, you just have to believe that he loves us more dearly than we can imagine and that this life is just a test.

We all will be tested at times, the question being how we will survive that test. The strongest of us will recall that the tragedy, loss is a test, and will attempt to rise to the challenge of bearing the challenge with patience and perserverance.

I guess thats the true essence of Islam.

In times of great difficulties, when you want to ask why is all this happening to me...I try and recall the surahs mentioned in the blog, and in addition this one...

"Allah burdens no one beyond the limits of his strength. As the Qur’an says: “On no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns.”(Surat al-Baqara, 2:286)

May Allah grant those left behind, strength and mercy to survive. May Allah grant the highest station of heaven for those departed.

Thank you very much for all your condolences and m...

2007-12-18T16:56:00.000Z

Thank you very much for all your condolences and messages.

- The Radical

I am so sorry to hear this moving and utterly trag...

2007-12-18T14:30:00.000Z

I am so sorry to hear this moving and utterly tragic story. Such deep loss from such an apparently pointless incident.
Indeed, if there is any "point" to such misery I, as a relatively strong believer in one God, have never understood it, and agree with the author that this question - the same as the earthquake or tsunami question but brought home so acutely with incidents like these that suddenly are not just about "other" people - is the biggest question that results in doubt. And I sympathize deeply with your cousin who wants a "one to one" with God. And although I cannot begin to begin to imagine what it must be like to have such deep loss inflicted like this, I too have experienced "second hand" loss recently with the shocking early death by cancer - that other dark mystery - of a friend of my sister, and it is mind-boggling and mind-numbing. I sympathize with the author and would ask him, if he wishes, to expand on the process that he says has taken place in recent months. I can also add that it is an honour to read such an honest admission of occasional doubt from a man as Godly as any I know of. My God rest their souls, and light perpetual shine upon them.

I go to school with Shaail. It's unbelievable what...

2007-12-17T21:56:00.000Z

I go to school with Shaail. It's unbelievable what happened to her family. Just unbelievable.

I apologize for what at first will feel insensitiv...

2007-12-17T18:25:00.000Z

I apologize for what at first will feel insensitive to you. I need your help. For seven years I have documented thousands of stories similar to this one. Each is a tragedy. The horrible truth is that these types of tragedies do not have to keep happening. If you would look at www.escapetip.com , at first glance you will think it is just a life hammer of some sort. If you look closer, you will see that a tool that could be installed by the manufacturers at the time the car is made. It would stay in the vehicle at all time and it would be available to all passengers. If you and your family could ask the hard questions of the press and your elected leaders, maybe The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will ask auto makers to look at installing such a device so that in the future tragedies like this will be averted.

Thank you for your attention to this matter check out the blog on the site.

My sincere condolenses to you and your family at t...

2007-12-17T16:26:00.000Z

My sincere condolenses to you and your family at this time of great tragedy.

This topic has always been almost impossible to explain, to justify. Man-made evils are one thing but tragedies such as this or the Tsunami or various floods/earthquakes are beyond comprehension.

If we're allowed to ask, but not allowed the answers to certain questions, then where does it end? Perhaps we're not meant to know why such tragedies happen, but then why aren't we meant to know? Why can't we understand? How are we meant to cope? How are we meant to come to terms?

Scholars will always attempt to come up with answers, but the acceptance will always, I feel, remain elusive.