Does Allah Bring About Both Good and Evil?

Assalamu ‘Alaikum! (peace be upon you) Alhamdulillah! (praise be to God) Thank you very much for this question.

If we interpret the statement at face value, it seems to suggest the God of the Qur’an is not righteous, since He also brings evil to human beings. Let’s investigate whether that’s actually what the Qur’an teaches.

God by definition should be loving and caring, and should never bring forth evil to His creation. However, God by definition is also the creator of everything — hence God created Satan as well. Anything evil is from Satan, not from God. Still, if God loves us, He should have clearly warned us of Satan and given us reason for creating him in the first place.

In Islam, everything around us is well-planned according to the will of Allah (may He be glorified and exalted) from the very start of creation — nothing is a coincidence, and Allah knows ahead of time what our actions will be. Yet we are also taught that we have our own free will in our decision-making. At first glance these seem mutually exclusive, but they are not: our freely-willed decisions end up matching what God already knew would happen. Holding both together — nothing is a coincidence, and yet we act with free will — is itself one reason Allah is the one and only true God, since these attributes are difficult to reconcile and hard to fully comprehend.

Given that, it’s fair to say Allah brings forth goodness to us, not evil — it is up to us whether to follow Allah or follow Satan. Whatever we decide is, by design, our own free will. If we follow Allah, then goodness is from Him. If we follow Satan, there is no goodness in it, and the absence of goodness is evil.

While evil is from Satan, we also said God created him in the first place — so in that sense, everything we receive, even the fruits of Satan’s work, ultimately traces back to the will of Allah. What’s the reason for that? How can a loving and caring God create evil for human beings? In Islam, Allah created evil as a test. Without a test — without the presence of evil — what would be the point of heaven and hell? Allah created heaven and hell for those who deserve them, and there must be some way to sort human beings into those who deserve heaven and those who deserve hell.

Consider how universities select their students: entrance exams aren’t there out of malice, but to determine who is prepared to succeed, which ultimately benefits everyone by ensuring qualified practitioners in fields like law, medicine, and engineering. Applying the same logic, Allah tests us as well — not because He needs to find out (He already knows), but so that the distinction between those who follow Him and those who follow Satan is made manifest. Unlike university entrance exams, though, Allah — the Most Merciful — has already told us the answer to the test: trust Him and follow Him alone, not Satan, who is our clear enemy.

God in the Old Testament similarly acts through what might look like evil for a greater purpose — for instance, causing the Assyrian army to flee in the book of Kings — which suggests this tension between God’s sovereignty and the presence of evil in the world is not unique to the Qur’an; it runs through the Bible’s own narrative as well.

May the God of Jesus (peace be upon him) guide us all. Take care.