How to reconcile his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): “You must believe in the divine decree, its good and its evil,” with his saying: “Evil is not from You.”

The questioner : How do we reconcile, O Shaykh, the hadith of the six pillars of faith, which includes belief in the divine decree, its good and its evil, with the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): How is this evil to be understood, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : It is relative. Evil is relative to us, not relative to our Lord, because the actions of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) are all good. We can illustrate the issue with an example, while remembering that Allah is the Most Exalted. First, and second, we must remember the principle in His saying: Thus, the decree of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is a creation and action on His part (Mighty and Majestic) that is fully consistent with all His attributes, including power, will, justice, and wisdom. So when we see evil occurring, it is as He said: The example I want to use to clarify this matter of faith is this: If you see a doctor cutting a limb from a patient, you would certainly condemn his action if you did not know that this doctor is first skilled in his medicine and second just in his practice. Likewise, if you see a ruler beating or flogging a person, you would say that this is evil. But if you know that he is beating him rightfully, the previous concept in your mind—that it is evil—changes to the understanding that it is not evil. This is how it is among us, so how much more so is it with the Creator, to whom nothing is comparable in any way.