What is the Muslim explanation as to why “good” people suffer and die?

Question

I asked a similar question twice already, and I got only one response from a Muslim. You can answer the original question if you want:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsOvlFoPQCe8w1EW2oi5qOTsy6IX?qid=20070719193115AARjJWt

Since Muslims do not believe in the curse of “original sin”, then why does Allah allow everyone to experience pain, suffering and eventually, death? Both good and evil, man and woman, animal and human, experience disease, suffering, and death. Why did Allah do this? If there is no curse, then why do good people suffer? Why do good people die?

I’m not trying to pick a fight, just curious.

Answer 1

From the time Adam got expelled from Paradise life has been a "test". Muslims believe whatever happens in a persons life is the will of Allah. Good and bad. Allah guides and Allah leads astray whom he wants.
Allah is also called omnipresent, omniscient. He already knows the outcome of the test, so there is no real point in testing a person.
You can maybe call it a "curse" but nothing coming from God is evil. Suffering and death came into the world through separation from God. Man turned sinful, and nothing sinful can be in the presence of God.

Answer 2

When you see that many good people suffer while many bad people enjoy an easy life, you must wonder what the purpose of life is if there is no justice. Muslims believe that justice will come in the next life after Judgment Day. And even though the good people suffer in this life they will get rewarded In heaven. And the even though it seems the bad people have it easy now they will get justice for the bad things they have done and will go to hell.

The original sin belief is absurd because, how could God punish the rest of humanity for what happened thousands of years ago? It would be injustice and unfair for God to do that.Thats like saying your brother gets caught killing a person but you are the one that gets the punishment instead of him. When you did nothing wrong

Answer 3

I'm not sure about the Muslim explanation, but my explanation is that people suffer in order for us to realize what we want and what we don't want. Pain is an indicator that allows us to quickly come to the decision to change whatever it is that we are doing, be it touching a hot surface or stuck in a meaningless job. Pain is a teacher of sorts, it has no body, it has no mind, it has no soul, but when it inflicts us, we learn an important lesson.

When I meditate, I focus on my pain, because that is what I sense, and thus to me it is "real." Upon focusin on my pain, I can think and will this pain to equalize throughout my body and surroundings which leaves me free of that pain. If our higher Self is God, then our lower self is pain, and so the reason that we have pain is becuase that is part of who we are.

Answer 4

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim - In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Hello. In Islam, we believe that this world is a test. Everything that happens to us is a manner of either remitting sins from us, or testing us so we can improve as believers. We live in this world and as a natural course of events things happen. If someone is afflicted with, say, cancer, then how they react to that is an important indication of the level of their faith. If they react with patience, understanding that for every pain they are forgiven a sin, and that it is a way of purifiying them, then they will still love Allah and not "blame" Him for allowing this to happen. Also, their status in the next life will be enhanced because of their faith in the face of difficulty. If they succeed in their test, then Allah will grant them Jannah "a place under which rivers flow", a lovely garden with mansions of delight, a place of ease. Imagine if I told you that, in order to get ten million dollars, you had to allow me to poke you in the finger once with a needle. I would say pretty much everyone would agree to that. Well, this life, even if we live a long time, say 80 or a hundred years, counts as the merest blip of time when compared to the eternity of ease that awaits in Jannah. Knowing this allows a person to be patient in the light of even major tragedies of this world.

There is a hadith that says:

Anas bin Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Among the inmates of Hell, a person who had led the most luxurious life in this world will be brought up on the Day of Resurrection and dipped in the Fire and will be asked: `O son of Adam! Did you ever experience any comfort? Did you happen to get any luxury?' He will reply: `By Allah, no, my Rubb.' And then one of the people of Jannah who had experienced extreme misery in the life of this world will be dipped in Jannah. Then he will be asked: `O son of Adam! Did you ever experience any misery? Did you ever encounter difficulty?' He will say: "By Allah, no my Rubb, I neither experienced misery nor passed through hardship".
[Muslim].

This is a wonderful, comforting hadith (tradition) that helps us to be patient when experiencing difficulty.

I certainly don't want to minimize the reality of suffering in this world. From a needle prick of the finger to starvation, war, rape, abuse, torture, disease, there are many different and severe levels of testing in this world. But the believer knows overall that if he keeps his faith in God, he will be rewarded. And Allah knows best.

May Allah guide you to that which is best in this world and the next. Ameen.

Fi Aman Allah,

Nancy Umm Abdel Hamid

Answer 5

we muslims believe that man can be supjected to pain for
1-if he was bad person,its punishment for it
2-if he is a good man ,its a test from God to raise his degree in paradise

another thing i missed ,it may be that God give a message to repent and remember him