Apologetics · FaithLogic
The Problem of Evil in Islamic Theology — Ash'ari Determinism and Its Consequences
The problem of evil is a challenge for all theistic religions. But in Islam, the problem is uniquely severe — because classical Ash'ari theology (the dominant Sunni theological school) holds that Allah is the direct cause of all events, including human acts of evil. This section examines the Quranic texts, the classical theological positions, and the devastating consequences for Islamic theodicy.
The Quranic Texts — Allah Causes Misguidance
The Quran's Own Statements — Allah Sends Astray
The explicit texts:
Surah 74:31: "Allah leaves astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills."
Surah 35:8: "Whom Allah lets go astray, there is no guide for him."
Surah 16:93: "If Allah willed, He could have made you one nation. But He causes to go astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills."
Surah 7:178: "Whom Allah guides, he is rightly guided; and whom He sends astray, they are the losers."
Surah 14:4: "Allah sends astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills."
The contradiction with human responsibility:
Surah 4:79: "Whatever of bad happens to you, it is from yourself."
Surah 30:9: "They wronged themselves."
Surah 10:44: "Allah does not wrong the people at all, but it is the people who are wronging themselves."
The logical problem:
Group A says Allah causes misguidance. Group B says humans are responsible for their own misguidance. If Allah causes someone to go astray (Group A), that person cannot be responsible for their own misguidance (contradicts Group B). If the person is responsible for their own misguidance (Group B), then Allah is not the one causing it (contradicts Group A). Both cannot be simultaneously true for the same act of misguidance.
Surah 74:31: "Allah leaves astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills."
Surah 35:8: "Whom Allah lets go astray, there is no guide for him."
Surah 16:93: "If Allah willed, He could have made you one nation. But He causes to go astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills."
Surah 7:178: "Whom Allah guides, he is rightly guided; and whom He sends astray, they are the losers."
Surah 14:4: "Allah sends astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills."
The contradiction with human responsibility:
Surah 4:79: "Whatever of bad happens to you, it is from yourself."
Surah 30:9: "They wronged themselves."
Surah 10:44: "Allah does not wrong the people at all, but it is the people who are wronging themselves."
The logical problem:
Group A says Allah causes misguidance. Group B says humans are responsible for their own misguidance. If Allah causes someone to go astray (Group A), that person cannot be responsible for their own misguidance (contradicts Group B). If the person is responsible for their own misguidance (Group B), then Allah is not the one causing it (contradicts Group A). Both cannot be simultaneously true for the same act of misguidance.
Ash'ari Theology — Allah Is the Direct Cause of All Human Acts
The Ash'ari school (founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, 874-936 AD) — the dominant Sunni theological position:
Al-Ash'ari taught that Allah is the ONLY true causal agent in the universe. Created beings including humans do not have genuine causal power — only Allah acts. This position is called occasionalism — what appears to be human causation is actually Allah creating the appearance of causation on each occasion.
The kasb (acquisition) theory:
Al-Ash'ari's solution to the free will problem: humans "acquire" (yaksib) their acts — they do not create them but receive them. Allah creates the act AND creates the human's "acquisition" of it. This preserves human moral responsibility (you acquired the act) while maintaining Allah's absolute sovereignty (Allah created the act).
Why kasb fails:
If Allah creates both the act AND my acquisition of it, then my "acquiring" it is itself an act that Allah created. The "acquisition" is just another layer of divine causation — it does not introduce genuine human agency. Even if kasb gives me formal "responsibility," it does not give me genuine freedom to have done otherwise. As philosopher William Lane Craig has noted: the kasb theory is "a distinction without a difference" — it says I am responsible for what Allah predetermined I would do.
The Mu'tazilite alternative (declared heresy):
The Mu'tazilites (rationalist school) held that humans DO have genuine free will and that Allah does NOT cause evil — otherwise Allah would be unjust. But this position was declared heretical at the Mihna (inquisition) under Caliph al-Ma'mun and never recovered as a mainstream position. Mainstream Sunni Islam rejected the solution that would have solved the problem.
Al-Ash'ari taught that Allah is the ONLY true causal agent in the universe. Created beings including humans do not have genuine causal power — only Allah acts. This position is called occasionalism — what appears to be human causation is actually Allah creating the appearance of causation on each occasion.
The kasb (acquisition) theory:
Al-Ash'ari's solution to the free will problem: humans "acquire" (yaksib) their acts — they do not create them but receive them. Allah creates the act AND creates the human's "acquisition" of it. This preserves human moral responsibility (you acquired the act) while maintaining Allah's absolute sovereignty (Allah created the act).
Why kasb fails:
If Allah creates both the act AND my acquisition of it, then my "acquiring" it is itself an act that Allah created. The "acquisition" is just another layer of divine causation — it does not introduce genuine human agency. Even if kasb gives me formal "responsibility," it does not give me genuine freedom to have done otherwise. As philosopher William Lane Craig has noted: the kasb theory is "a distinction without a difference" — it says I am responsible for what Allah predetermined I would do.
The Mu'tazilite alternative (declared heresy):
The Mu'tazilites (rationalist school) held that humans DO have genuine free will and that Allah does NOT cause evil — otherwise Allah would be unjust. But this position was declared heretical at the Mihna (inquisition) under Caliph al-Ma'mun and never recovered as a mainstream position. Mainstream Sunni Islam rejected the solution that would have solved the problem.
The Consequences — Evil in an Ash'ari World
Consequence 1 — Natural evil:
In classical Ash'ari theology, earthquakes, tsunamis, and famines are directly caused by Allah — not by impersonal natural processes. This makes Allah directly responsible for every natural disaster. Classical Islamic theology accepts this: it is Allah's will, and questioning it is a failure of submission (islam). But this means every child killed in an earthquake was killed by divine will — not by evil, but by Allah.
Consequence 2 — Moral evil:
If Allah causes humans to go astray (Surah 74:31), then the people Allah sends astray who commit murder, rape, and genocide were caused to commit those acts by Allah's will. Classical Ash'ari theology must say: yes, but Allah's will is absolute and we do not question it. This makes Allah the ultimate cause of all moral evil — which destroys any meaningful distinction between God and evil.
Consequence 3 — The justice of hell:
If Allah predetermined who would go astray, and those who are led astray go to hell — then Allah sends people to hell for doing what he predetermined they would do. Islamic theologians accept this: Allah's justice is defined by what Allah does, not by our prior concept of justice. But this makes "divine justice" indistinguishable from divine arbitrariness.
In classical Ash'ari theology, earthquakes, tsunamis, and famines are directly caused by Allah — not by impersonal natural processes. This makes Allah directly responsible for every natural disaster. Classical Islamic theology accepts this: it is Allah's will, and questioning it is a failure of submission (islam). But this means every child killed in an earthquake was killed by divine will — not by evil, but by Allah.
Consequence 2 — Moral evil:
If Allah causes humans to go astray (Surah 74:31), then the people Allah sends astray who commit murder, rape, and genocide were caused to commit those acts by Allah's will. Classical Ash'ari theology must say: yes, but Allah's will is absolute and we do not question it. This makes Allah the ultimate cause of all moral evil — which destroys any meaningful distinction between God and evil.
Consequence 3 — The justice of hell:
If Allah predetermined who would go astray, and those who are led astray go to hell — then Allah sends people to hell for doing what he predetermined they would do. Islamic theologians accept this: Allah's justice is defined by what Allah does, not by our prior concept of justice. But this makes "divine justice" indistinguishable from divine arbitrariness.
The Biblical Answer — How Christianity Resolves the Problem of Evil
The biblical framework:
YHWH created beings with genuine free will (Genesis 2:16-17 — the real choice between obedience and disobedience). Evil entered through creaturely free choice (Genesis 3) — not through divine causation. YHWH is not the cause of evil — he is opposed to it. James 1:13: "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one."
Why YHWH permitted evil — the greater good argument:
Free will capable of genuine love requires the capacity for genuine evil. A love that is predetermined is not love — it is programming. The creation of beings capable of genuine love required the risk of genuine evil. YHWH took that risk — and then himself bore its full consequence in the incarnation and crucifixion. The cross is God's answer to evil — not a divine explanation, but a divine participation in suffering.
Romans 8:28 — The promise that addresses the reality:
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
YHWH does not cause evil — but he promises to work even within evil's consequences toward ultimate good. This is not the same as saying evil is caused by God. It is saying that God's redemptive purposes operate even within the evil that creaturely freedom produced.
The contrast with Islam:
Islam: Allah causes misguidance (multiple Quranic texts), humans are responsible for misguidance (multiple Quranic texts) — unresolved contradiction in the foundational texts.
Christianity: YHWH created genuine free will, evil results from creaturely choice not divine causation, YHWH himself bears the consequences of evil at the cross, YHWH works redemptively within the fallen world toward ultimate restoration.
YHWH created beings with genuine free will (Genesis 2:16-17 — the real choice between obedience and disobedience). Evil entered through creaturely free choice (Genesis 3) — not through divine causation. YHWH is not the cause of evil — he is opposed to it. James 1:13: "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one."
Why YHWH permitted evil — the greater good argument:
Free will capable of genuine love requires the capacity for genuine evil. A love that is predetermined is not love — it is programming. The creation of beings capable of genuine love required the risk of genuine evil. YHWH took that risk — and then himself bore its full consequence in the incarnation and crucifixion. The cross is God's answer to evil — not a divine explanation, but a divine participation in suffering.
Romans 8:28 — The promise that addresses the reality:
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
YHWH does not cause evil — but he promises to work even within evil's consequences toward ultimate good. This is not the same as saying evil is caused by God. It is saying that God's redemptive purposes operate even within the evil that creaturely freedom produced.
The contrast with Islam:
Islam: Allah causes misguidance (multiple Quranic texts), humans are responsible for misguidance (multiple Quranic texts) — unresolved contradiction in the foundational texts.
Christianity: YHWH created genuine free will, evil results from creaturely choice not divine causation, YHWH himself bears the consequences of evil at the cross, YHWH works redemptively within the fallen world toward ultimate restoration.
💡 Problem of Evil in Islam — Summary Response"The Quran contains an unresolved contradiction: Allah sends astray whom he wills (Surah 74:31, 35:8, 16:93, 14:4) AND humans are responsible for their own misguidance (Surah 4:79, 30:9, 10:44). Both cannot be simultaneously true for the same act. Classical Ash'ari theology (dominant Sunni position) resolves this by making Allah the ONLY true causal agent — humans 'acquire' their acts but Allah creates them. The kasb theory is a distinction without a difference: if Allah creates both the act AND my acquisition of it, I have no genuine freedom to have acted otherwise. Consequence: in Ash'ari theology, Allah is the ultimate cause of all moral evil — murder, genocide, rape are all acts Allah predetermined and caused humans to 'acquire.' This makes 'divine justice' indistinguishable from divine arbitrariness — people condemned to hell for doing what Allah predetermined they would do. The Mu'tazilite solution (genuine human free will, Allah does not cause evil) was declared heretical. The Quran's own contradictions on this point remain unresolved in mainstream Sunni theology. Contrast with Christianity: YHWH created genuine free will (Genesis 2-3), evil entered through creaturely choice not divine causation (James 1:13: 'God cannot be tempted with evil and tempts no one'), YHWH himself bore evil's consequence at the cross rather than merely commanding humans to suffer it."
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