SECOND REMINDER. Friday. WHY ALLAH PERMIT OR ALLOW SOMETHING BAD TO HAPPEN. BismilLahir Rahmaanir Raheem. You might have heard it at school or work place after someone was murdered: “How could God allow this to happen?!” You see it in articles and blog posts after the bombardment of an entire village: “What kind of God would allow these things to happen” You will even find it in intellectual circles and philosophy books: “If there really were a perfectly good, all-knowing, all-powerful God, then there would be no evil and suffering in the world.” The common picture we have in our minds is of the skeptic atheist calmly presenting a logical, intellectual, and scientific argument while the religiously-inclined defendant becomes emotionally charged and tries to beat around the bush. In fact, we find the angels asking something similar even before man was created: In the Quran we read: “When your Lord told the angels, ‘I am putting a deputy on earth,’ they said, ‘How can you put someone there who will cause damage and bloodshed, when we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your holiness?’ but Allah said, ‘I know what you know not.’” Qur’an 2:30. The secret to understanding the issue is so simple that it often eludes us. Life is a test. Man has been given a limited free will to do good or bad. Look at the following statement of the Prophet: “The life of a believer is truly amazing. Everything that happens to him is good. This is only true for a believer and none else. If something pleasant happens to him, he is thankful and that is good for him. If something bad afflicts him, he is patient and that is also good for him.” (Muslim) Affliction is part of the test of life. If Allah were to interfere and prevent every bad thing from happening to each individual, it would be like taking the test away from a student. To be continued in Shaa Allah. May Allah increases us in beneficial knowledge and protect us from any satanic influences. Aameen.