Suffering

One of the key factors that makes us human is the fact that we cannot stand to see others suffer.

The images of children suffering from famine, for example, is often a site that can bring hurt into the most hardest of hearts.

It is very often images like this that cause us to doubt in the existence of God. We often ask ourselves the following question, if there is a god, how can he allow all of this suffering?

One of the most enlightened responses to this is that in every religion, those closest to God have suffered the most. For example, in Christianity, Jesus died for us because it was God’s will for him to die for us.

What is most important is the way in which he died for us. Jesus not only died a gruesome and painful death, but prior to his death he was given a crown of thorns and paraded in front of those he loved with a cross on his back. Surely there are few amongst us, or who have ever lived, that have suffered such a painful death.

Similarly, in Islam, the death of Hussain (AS) and his family on the fields of Karbala, which Muslims over the next few days are mourning, was not simply a gruesome death, but one which very few of us could comprehend, let alone suffer.

The next time you are faced with challenges or with images of suffering and your minds are turned towards the question that if god is good, how can he allow suffering, it is paramount to remember that God has willed that those closest to him have suffered in such a way that all of us, no matter how much we suffer, can compare our pain to that of Jesus, Hussain (AS) and many others who were closest to God and say that in terms of their suffering, our suffering seems insignificant.