Abstract
In this article, we investigated the problem of whether evil can be attributed to God according to Kamāl Pashazāda and revealed how he grounds the view that negates such an attitude. Kamāl Pashazāda discussed the problem of attributing evil to God in a special treatise called “Risālah fī Bayān ‘adam Nisbah al-Sharr ilā Allāh Ta’ālā”. In the article, we examined the problem by referring to Kamāl Pashazāda’s Tafsīr in addition to this treatise and by applying some modern studies that examine the problem of evil from a theological and philosophical perspective.
Kamāl Pashazāda thinks that goodness can be attributed to God, but evil cannot be attributed to him. He tried to prove this view both through inferences he made from verses and hadiths and directly through rational deductions. The first hadith he refers to while examining the problem is “Fortunately, goodness is in your hands, evil does not belong to you.” Kamāl Pashazāda, in order to prove that the meaning of the word “hand” is power, referenced the verse “What prevented you from prostrating to that which I created with My hands?” According to this, it is meant that God’s power in the worlds of seen and unseen are meant by both hands, and man is superior to angels because he has his share of both worlds. The preference of the phrase “evil is not belonging to you” instead of “evil is not from you” in the hadith shows that evil owes its existence to God like goodness. Kamāl Pashazāda thinks that whether his work is good or bad, God’s doing is in line with justice and wisdom in the sense of putting everything in its proper place. Evil cannot be attributed to God in terms of being evil. “And we do not know whether evil is intended for those on earth or whether their Lord intends for them a right course.” the mention in this verse that, contrary to goodness, that evil is asked passively without being attributed to God confirms this approach. The verses stating that God did the creation of everything in the best and most beautiful way support Kamāl Pashazāda’s thesis by drawing attention to the goodness in art, not in the work.