¶ Door Number Twenty-One
¶ The Source of Evil
¶ “There is only one evil, ignorance.”
God is Just and loves justice. God is Free and loves freedom. God created man in His image, and the human soul loves and yearns for justice and freedom above all. He created the human being free, with a just nature. Everyone blames God for everything, they blame Him for the injustices in the world, yet they hate His interferences and criticize His judgment and His heaven and hell. But is He really to blame for anything at all? Atheists have long posed questions such as “If God is perfect then how did He create such an imperfect world?” Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) answered that and said God did not create this imperfect material world, rather Iblis (God’s curse is upon him) did. He is an imperfect creator and thus his creation is flawed.
¶ More Than One Creator: The Creator vs. creators
There is One Absolute, Perfect Creator who we call “The God” and there are less perfect creators. In the Holy Qur’an this is clear when God says:
“So Blessed is Allah, the Best of Creators.”
Allah is the best of creators but there are other creators. We also have examples in the Holy Qur’an of Jesus (PBUH) creating birds from clay and we have the prayer of Imam Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace) where he says:
“O Lord of lords and King of kings and Master of masters and Conqueror of conquerors and O God of gods, send your prayers upon Mohammed and the Family of Mohammed, and do such and such.”
In the Holy Bible in the very beginning of the book of Genesis it says:
“In the beginning God(s) אֱלֹהִ֑ים created the heavens and the earth.”
The word for God is ‘Elohim’ which is literally a plural form for “gods” in the Hebrew language (אֱלֹהִ֑ים). We also have in the Holy Qur’an,
“We have created you, why then do you not accept the truth?”
While many may point to the fact that these plural forms are honorifics, a form of respect or a royal ‘we’, the reality is they also point to the multiplicity of creators. Is this an indication or an invitation towards polytheism (shirk)? This is absolutely not the case and non-working religious authorities for centuries have made this mistake. Rather, it points to a more complete understanding of who God is. It helps us understand how He creates, how He delegates the power of creation to lesser creations, and most relevant to this Door, why there is imperfection and evil.
One day I asked Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) about the following hadith:
The Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) said that Moses (PBUH) asked his Lord to make him know how the world began, and when it was created, and so God inspired Moses saying: “You are asking Me about the mysteries of My Knowledge?” Moses said: “O Lord, I would like to know that.” So He said: “O Moses! I created the world one hundred thousand thousand years ago multiplied by ten, and it was a wasteland for fifty thousand years, then I began to build it so I built it up for fifty thousand years, then I created in it a creation that looked like cows that ate My sustenance and worshiped other than Me for fifty thousand years. So I caused them all to die in one hour, then I destroyed the world for fifty thousand years, then I began to build it up again and it remained built for fifty thousand years, then I created in it a sea and the sea remained for fifty thousand years while nothing from the Earth drank, then I created a beast and sent it forth against the sea and it drank it up in one gulp. Then I created a small creature that was smaller than a wasp and larger than a fly and I sent it against that beast and it stung it and killed it and the world then remained a wasteland for fifty thousand years, then I began to build it up again and it remained for fifty thousand years. Then I filled the whole Earth with reeds and I created turtles and sent the turtles against the reeds, so they ate them until there remained not a single one, then I destroyed it all in one hour, then the Earth remained a wasteland for fifty thousand years, then I began to build it up and it remained for fifty thousand years, then I created thirty Adams with thirty thousand years from one Adam to the next Adam. Then I destined that they all be destroyed. Then I created in it fifty thousand thousand cities made from white silver and I created in every city a hundred thousand thousand palaces made of red gold and I filled the cities with mustard in the air, and in those days it was more delicious than honey and whiter than snow. I then created a single blind bird and I made its food be one mustard seed every one thousand years and it ate until it was all gone. Then I destroyed it and it remained a wasteland for fifty thousand years, then I began to build it and it remained built for fifty thousand years. Then I created your father Adam (PBUH) with My hands on a Friday at noon and I did not create anyone else from clay besides him and I brought forth from his loins the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family).”
I said, “My Father, is this hadith true? Did these creatures really exist?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “It is not entirely true. The cow people were a very early creation that lived on this Earth. The part where it says ‘I created Adam with My hands and I did not create anyone else from clay besides him’ means that Adam was the very first creation that was created with the hands of Ali, and it means that Adam is the son of Ali.”
I said, “So who created creation before Ali (PBUH)?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Many created, from them were you.”
I said, “Me?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “Yes, you.”
I said, “What did I create?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “You created what you created. You created Adloban Sim.”
I said, “Adloban Sim?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “It was a semi-intelligent creation; its body was curved like a banana, and it had large feet and a head like the head of a turtle but with ears that resembled human ears. God destroyed them because they turned into oppressors.”
I said, “My Father, if a person creates a certain creation, is it him who judges them or exterminates them?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “Yes son, be patient with me and I shall make the entire world stand confused regarding your matter and I shall cause humanity to be amazed at your matter and I shall make history never stop speaking about you. Do you consider yourself to be a small entity while within you is enfolded the greater universe?”
¶ Free Will and Disobedience
One day Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) was teaching me about the knowledge of how to create beings from clay just as Jesus (PBUH) had created birds from clay, when I asked him a question,
“And this creature, shall I be in total control of it? Or shall it be free?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, for sure, for you are its creator and you have authority over its life. The creature is free regarding what it does, but you have the freedom over its life and death just like God has authority, of course without drawing a comparison between God and anything or anyone.”
I said, “Glory be to God.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “The difference between one creator and another determines a lot. Are you, for example, the same as Mohammed (PBUH & His Family)? What is the difference between you and Mohammed (PBUH & His Family)? Do you have the same knowledge as Ali (PBUH)? If Ali (PBUH) creates and Abdullah creates, shall there be a difference between the creation of Ali (PBUH) and the creation of Abdullah?”
I said, “There shall be a great difference.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “Good job, and the difference that shall be between what you create and what he creates is that in your creation there shall be some flaws or defects, perhaps what you create shall turn out insane or cannot walk for example.”
I said, “So the difference is that the creation of any creature will be imperfect because all of creation are in varying degrees of imperfection and imperfection begets imperfection?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, that is the difference.”
I asked, “So the only perfect creation are the People of the Cloak, because they were the only creation directly created by God Almighty, and God Almighty is Perfect and thus His Creation must be Perfect?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, son.”
I asked, “So imperfect creators could create lesser things such as ants, while more perfect creators create human beings?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “The ant is a great creature, do not consider it to be a small thing, on the contrary, the smaller the creation, the greater its creator.”
I asked, “Does the creature that was created contain a soul?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “This is the lesson, the soul. The soul is the first difference between creators.”
So, then the Imam (From Him is Peace) proceeded to explain to me what to do in order to create the living creature out of clay, and then I said, “So now I just leave it until it wakes up?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “Yes, but pay attention and be very careful that your mind doesn’t malfunction because you might see something that your brain cannot handle, or that you won’t be able to comprehend at this point. You shall see things in the future that you never imagined.”
I asked, “So when this creature awakens, shall I be the one who is completely controlling him, meaning that he cannot do anything unless I tell it to or visualize it doing so?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “No son, remember, you are controlling only its life [meaning when it comes to life] and when it dies. God creates, but most of His creation does not obey Him and disobeys Him and angers Him.”
I said, “Ok, now what must I do in order to bring forth its death when I will it?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Now here you must elevate more in order to learn this, and it is here that you need the greater faith, just be careful son, be extremely careful while experimenting. I do not want to hear tomorrow that something happened to Abdullah and your enemies will be happy to hear that. If anything happened to you, it would break the heart of the Family of Mohammed.”
I asked, “Like what could happen, my Father? Would the creature go crazy and kill me for example?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Both and more than that is possible. Perhaps you create a destructive creature. Jesus the son of Mary, almost died like that.”
I asked, “What did he create?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Jesus the son of Mary (PBUH), was creating since he was five years old. One day he created a creature that was made from electricity and not clay, and as soon as it was created it turned against him and sought to kill him and almost succeeded but in the end, Jesus managed to escape.”
I asked, “Is it possible that I die whilst I am your successor and if I die, what shall happen? And what happens to the Will? Shall there come another Abdullah or how does it work if I die?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “You shall remain in the Will, and its companions shall also remain, but if you die, Ahmed Al-Hassan would die and so would Moses and Jesus and all of the Prophets and Messengers and we shall all wait another 100 or 150 years until everyone returns again. But this shall not happen, we are only speaking about a hypothetical matter, but it has happened before, but this I shall not speak about right now, but it has happened before.”
I asked, “So the reason why the world is imperfect is because an imperfect creator created it?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes son, Iblis created this world and that is why it is how it is, imperfect and full of suffering and death, temporary and not everlasting.”
Perfection comes from knowledge or knowing God; imperfection is ignorance of God and His appointed Guide (Imam). The more one knows God through His appointed Guide (Imam), the more perfect they become. Their actions and creations become more perfect. The more a person is ignorant of God, the more imperfect they are. Their actions and creations become more imperfect. Free will gives us the choice to know God or be ignorant of Him. The purpose of all creation is to know God through knowing and following His divinely appointed Guide (Imam) of their time. The Holy Qur’an states,
“And I did not create the jinn and humanity except to worship Me.”
The Holy Family (Ahlul-Bayt) (From Them is Peace) clarified this verse by saying that ‘to worship Me’ means ‘to know Me.’ In another narration, the Holy Family (Ahlul-Bayt) (From Them is Peace) further elaborated on the meaning of this verse, whereby Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace) said:
“Al-Hussein ibn Ali (PBUH) went forth to his companions and said: “O people, God the Almighty did not create the creation except so that they may know Him. So if they know Him, they worship Him. And if they worship Him, they abandon through His worship the worship of other than Him.” So a man said to him: “O son of the Messenger of God, may my father and mother be ransomed for you, what is then the Knowing of God?” He said: “It is the people of every age knowing their Imam whose obedience is obligatory upon them. ”
¶ Two Forces Almost Equal in Strength
I said to Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace), “I have a question, my Father, but I pray that my tongue helps me in translating the idea.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “Yes go ahead, my son.”
I asked, “My Father, I was contemplating over some words of yours, you had said that the heart of the human being is between two fingers from the fingers of the Most Merciful, an angel is a finger, and the devil is a finger, and I asked myself why the devil has so much power. Why is he able to do so much?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes son, good and evil. They are two forces that are almost equal in strength. Iblis (God’s curse is upon him) has enough knowledge to control the entire world completely and he would have done so were it not for the existence of God Almighty and were it not for the existence of some secrets that were hidden from him. God is Just, and He is Wise. When a creature reaches a state of faith, it causes them to be able to scoop up knowledge and gnosis as much as they have faith. God grants them even though God knows that the creature shall be an enemy one day, but still God does not judge anyone for a deed that they have not yet committed or a sin that they have not yet done. What matters to God are the deeds He sees from that creature now. If you could only see how much of a believer Iblis was, you would know how much of this knowledge he has taken and what stage he has reached, and from my words you shall know how much knowledge he has gotten. This is because he was a true believer, and he reached the epitome of faith, but in an instance the ego overtook him. ‘I am better than Adam’, he said, and so he fell such a fall from which there is no return, into the depths and pit of hell and what a misfortune that is.”
I said, “So the verse which says: ‘And whoever takes Satan as a guardian instead of Allah has certainly suffered a tremendous loss’ is concerning this.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, when America, in such a short time in comparison to all the other countries in modern and ancient times, was able to become so strong, and able to control the entire world like this...”
I asked, “Was it because they worshiped evil and used the power of evil?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “It is because they decided to take the devil, Iblis, and make him into a God that they worship.”
I said, “So the finger that is a finger of the Most Merciful is Iblis, the devil is Iblis.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, he is a finger from the fingers of God because all of what he has of knowledge is from God and he learned it from Him Almighty.”
I said, “Glory be to God, there are religions that worshiped two forces, the forces of good and evil. They said they are both from God. I just wanted to understand why the preferred ones of God described Iblis as a finger of God and why the verse of the Qur’an says don’t worship the devil instead of God.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Because sometimes the human worships the devil without knowing, glorifying the devil without understanding or being aware of it. For example, when you say: ‘America is a great country’, or when you say: ‘There is no greater country than it’, this is an indirect form of worship. Do you understand, my beloved?”
I said, “Thank you Father. Now I understand.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Right now the forces of evil are in control because the people are helping them, whether they are aware of it or not .”
I said, “But isn’t God the One who owns both powers, good and evil?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Son, the source of the powers of evil is the forces of good, but Iblis (God’s curse is upon him) is the one who turns it into evil. I shall give you a small example, this phone that is between your hands right now, you can use it for good and you can use it for evil. Google, for example, if you type in it ‘Sex Films’ it shall give you what you ask for, and if you type in it ‘Hadith of the Prince of the Believers’ it shall also give you what you ask. So, what do you call this power that is between your hands, the phone, is it good or evil?”
I said, “Neither this nor that, it is neutral. You can use it for good and evil.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “Good. Excellent. Then it is according to how you use it. That is exactly how it is with the sciences and knowledge of God. You are the one in control and you can use it for either good or evil. The user is the one to blame.”
I said, “So when Iblis (God’s curse is upon him) dies, in whose hands do the forces of evil go?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “The death of Iblis alone is not enough [for evil to disappear] but rather the ideology of Iblis (God’s curse is upon him) must also die.”
I said, “Does this mean that what Iblis (God’s curse is upon him) is doing today when he tells people to fornicate etc., that these things or even the sciences or knowledge which he is teaching are not in essence evil because it is possible that the Caliph of God also drop certain duties and religious obligations from a human being, but the matter is actually just about the rebellion and fighting of Iblis?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes, great job. And it is also about leading creation towards sinning.”
I said, “Yes, I understand.”
¶ Evil Is a Son of the Good
So, what we realize from this Door is that since the origin of all knowledge and all things was one source and that source was the powers of good, the source of all evil is good. Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace) was speaking with me and Ali Al-Ghoraifi one day when he was asked by Ali Al-Ghoraifi a question.
Al-Ghoraifi asked, “The hadith which states that ‘Mohammed and Ali are the Fathers of this nation,’ does the word ‘nation’ here mean the Shia of the Family of Mohammed (PBUT)? And does the word ‘Fathers’ here point towards the soul family?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “That is for sure, my son.”
Al-Ghoraifi said, “Yes, but the rest of the tradition made me confused, the rest of the tradition says: ‘And verily, our right upon them is greater than the right of their physical fathers upon them. We save them if they obey us from hellfire and take them to the safe house and take them out of slavery to the best of the free.’ ”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Allah, Allah. The right of Ali upon this nation is like the right of a father upon his son.”
Al-Ghoraifi asked, “I built my program upon [the concept that] this nation are the followers (Shia) and I just wanted to make sure from you, my Master, that this is the case.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Your understanding is correct, my son, from one angle, and from another angle it means that Mohammed and Ali (PBUT) are the Fathers of the entire nation, the nation of humanity altogether.”
Al-Ghoraifi said, “Even the hypocrites?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “The hypocrites and the disbelievers and everyone upon the Earth. Perhaps I shall say some words to you that will be heavy upon you.”
Al-Ghoraifi said, “God-willing it won’t be and the matter is up to you, Master.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Who created Iblis (God’s curse is upon him)? And who created Pharaoh the disbeliever? Who created Harun the not Rashid (the unrighteous)? And who created Muawiyah and Yazeed (God’s curse is upon them)? And who created the first and the second? Who?”
Al-Ghoraifi said, “I understood from your books that God of course did, but He did describe Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) as being the Gatherer and the Spreader.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Is He not the same Creator that created Mohammed and Ali and Jesus and Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein and and and other than them from the righteous? And I tell you that Ali is the Gatherer and the Spreader.”
Al-Ghoraifi said, “I didn’t understand. Can you increase me?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “I shall increase you, God-willing, but not now.”
Al-Ghoraifi said, “Thank you.”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) replied, “Right now it will be difficult for you to understand but there shall come a day that I shall be able to tell you and you shall be able to grasp what you hear.”
In conclusion, we see that there are more than one creator, and they differ in their level of perfection and thus it affects the perfection of their creation. All creatures created are given free will and with free will comes the choice to disobey, deviate, and make errors. There are degrees to this, and Iblis and his creation chose to disobey to the maximum degree. However, their time is limited and there is an appointed time. They chose to disobey and rebel against God and goodness. They were originally good but chose to be evil.
Evil is not a particular act or person, rather evil is the conscious free-willed choice to go against the good. So killing, for example, is not inherently evil, because the very mechanism of exterminating a life was invented in origin by good and this mechanism can be used for good, but evil is the choice to murder good. Murder could be a good thing when it is exterminating the life of a person who is to cause harm, for example, the story of the Righteous Servant killing the boy in Surah Al-Kahf in the Holy Qur’an. Killing could be a good thing when a country decides to kill a murderer or serial killer who refuses to stop killing, or when they choose to kill a war criminal who committed mass genocide, such as Hitler. So in essence, killing is neither good nor evil, rather it is how it is used. Nuclear power is neutral, it could be used for good and evil. It could be used as an energy source to power a city, or it could be turned into a bomb to destroy a city. The definition of evil then, being sin, is disobeying God and His laws or commands. There are many examples. Everything that exists or has ever been invented can be used for good or evil.
Now we also understand that while Iblis, his son Cain, and their descendants are evil, they are evil because they choose to be. They are not inherently evil because in origin their source is the light like all creation, but they, the children of the darkness chose to be in the darkness, and the darkness is nothing but the absence of light. As the Imam (From Him is Peace) said: “Evil created itself when it chose to disobey God.” Evil is a choice to oppose, disobey, and fight against God. The origin of all things, however, is good and that is why within all beings is still a spark of light. There can be no life without light. Even if Iblis created the material bodies, Iblis ultimately is a creation of God, but more precisely, he is a lesser, imperfect creation of the creation of God. Also, his creatures are creations of God ultimately. Pharaoh, Nimrod, Abu-Lahab, and Abu-Sufyan are all creatures of God in origin too.
I asked Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace), “So then this is the meaning of the hadith that says: ‘We are Adam and Noah and Pharaoh and Nimrod’, because everything is alive through Him, even if by a percentage or dot of light?”
The Imam (From Him is Peace) said, “Yes.”
¶ Sources
- One of the attributes of God is “The Free” (Al-Hur). This is not an attribute mentioned in any of the canonical scriptures currently in the hands of the people (The Holy Bible, The Holy Qur’an). It is also not one of the famous 99 attributes widely circulated in the Muslim world. God’s names are infinite.
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 23 (Al-Mu’minun), Verse 14
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 82, p. 131
- The Holy Bible, Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 1
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 56 (Al-Waqi’ah), Verse 57
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 54, p. 331
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 51 (Al-Dhariyat), Verse 56
- Al-Tafsir Al-Safi, Al-Faiz Al-Kashani, Vol. 5, p. 75
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 4 (Al-Nisa), Verse 119
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 36, p. 9
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 36, p. 11
- The first and the second here is in reference to Abu Bakr and Omar ibn Al-Khattab, who ruled after Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) by way of usurping successorship from the Prophet’s true successor, Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (From Him is Peace).
- The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 18 (Al-Kahf), Verse 74