Freewill of Man And Crime In This World
Comment
I was on an Islamic website today and I read the oddest thing. It just caught my attention and made me think. It was about a question as to why is there war and abuse and violence etc, and the answer was something along the lines that God knows what will happen in future and He would never want abuse or violence upon anyone EVER. Also in Islam it is believed that God is Almighty and therefore has the power to stop things. I think the reasoning for all this comes from freewill. Humans were created by God, messengers were sent, we received the word of God, we can pray and communicate with God (to which He answers or does not) but we are in this world and God is not controlling us. And if humans do war and others suffer, that is because of our freewill. We are allowed (as in we have the possibilty) to act as we want and to do good or bad, it is our choice as humans: it is true liberty and true freewill. And yet we also have religion which is sort of a Book of Guidance on how to use this freewill to better ourselves and our world. Again we have the choice to follow or not, and we also have a set of consequences as we live in a world of action/effect.
There is an after-life, and in after-life, we will be judged on how we used our freewill, on how we controlled ourselved and how we submitted to God and God only. I know the last few times we talked about religion you asked me this question several times when I read the answer it actually calmed me quite a bit and regave me faith.
Response
I agree with most of what you have said. However, there are some details that I will like to add to organize the thought better and present it from a slightly different aspect.
This temporary world is a testing ground for each individual for the next world in which we will be given an eternal life. However, whether that life is going to be that of bliss or doom will be decided by the Almighty on the choices we make and the actions we do in this world. You are correct that in order for us to succeed in this world, we are provided guidance by God. I should also add that basic values, such as honesty, justice, honoring another soul's life etc, exist in all human beings whether religious or non-religious. In addition, a human being, from the time of his birth, is provided with the ability to distinguish right from wrong. When humans transgress limits, resulting in things like war, abuse and violence, they do it not because they do not know what is right or wrong, but because they want to fulfill their desires and their pretty motives.
We do not operate under complete freewill either. Things like our birth, our death, who our parents are, are a few that are not in our control. Many a times a we plan something but it is predestined not to happen and as a result does not happen. It is in this context that when we ask God for help through supplications, some of these are fulfilled by Him while others are not.
God, in His supreme Wisdom, has chosen us to go through the test of this life on the result of which our fate in the next life will be decided. Consequently, in the Hereafter, God, in His supreme Mercy and Justice, will reward those who lived righteously in this world and will punish those who preferred wrong over right and, as a result, committed acts like you have mentioned. Those who commit wrong actually fail to act responsibly in the test of this world and those who are committed wrong on are also going through a test, which they should try to succeed in.
God can obviously stop all this crime but He, in His supreme Wisdom, has granted man the permission to act according to his desires for a limited time in a limited sphere of activities. This world and this system are prepared specifically for the purpose of the test of this life. Therefore when those who commit wrong will appear in front of God on the Day of Judgment, they will have no excuse to defend themselves against, and that is when He will practice absolute Justice and balance the scales.