God, Evil, and Suffering in Islam

Salih Sayilgan
Hardback, 200 pages
9781009377317

In this volume, Salih Sayilgan explores the problem of evil and suffering in Islamic theology along with the questions that both religious and non-religious people alike perennially ask: Why is there evil and suffering? What is God's role in both natural and moral evil? If God is loving, just, powerful, why is there innocent suffering? Do humans have free will or are they predestined to act in a certain way? Examining both theoretical and practical theodicy in Islam, he provides Muslim perspectives on natural and moral evil in light of Islamic theological concepts. Sayilgan interrogates several specific topics related to evil and suffering, including death, sickness, aging, disability, climate change, and pandemics. These topics are explored through case studies from the lives of Muslims, with particular attention given to the American context. A comparative and dialogical study, Sayilgan's volume also engages with Zoroastrian, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, and Christian approaches, as well as non-religious perspectives.

Contents
I. God and the Problem of Evil:
1. Mapping the problem
2. God, angles, humans, and Satan
3. Natural evil and the role of God
4. Moral evil, freedom, and predestination
II. Human Nature and Suffering:
5. Aging, loneliness, and filial piety
6. Illness and healing
7. Death, resurrection, and the hereafter
III. Contemporary Questions:
8. Disability, the blind, and God's justice
9. The environmental and climate change
10. Plagues, pandemics, and Coronavirus