Islam and the Problem of Evil: A Bibliographic Survey of English-Language Scholarship

Document Type : Short Paper

Author
Saida Mirsadri
Post-doc Research Fellow, Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
10.30497/prr.2025.247947.1989
Abstract
The human catastrophes of World War II, along with the experience of the Holocaust—occurring after the dominance of Enlightenment rationality and its associated values—gave rise to profound existential and philosophical questions. These inquiries led to the emergence of a robust discourse on evil within the Western philosophical and theological traditions. In this context, atheistic philosophers questioned the rationality of traditional theism and its approach to the problem of evil. Additionally, anti-theodicy movements emerged, condemning any attempt to justify evils as shameful and morally indefensible. Against this backdrop, Jewish and Christian theologians, along with theistic philosophers, engaged in a reevaluation of their religious traditions, offering more resilient responses to the problem of evil. However, in the Islamic world, scholars have shown relatively little interest in such a reexamination. This paper provides a brief survey of contemporary works on Islam and the problem of evil, demonstrating that the few existing studies often reiterate classical and traditional responses or dismiss the discourse on evil as a Western and foreign concern. The conclusion drawn from this analysis is that Islamic theology still needs to address the existential and human dimensions of evil and to offer practical responses to this enduring challenge.
Keywords
Islam
problem of evil
contemporary world
bibliography
Subjects
Abu-Rabi, Ibrahim M. 2010. Theodicy and Justice in Modern Islamic Thought: The Case of Said Nursi. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.
Adorno, Theodor W. 2015. Prismen: Kulturkritik und Gesellschaf. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag.
Chowdhury, Safaruk. 2021. Islamic Theology and the Problem of Evil. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
Faruque, Muhammad U, & Mohammed Rustom. 2023. From the Divine to the Human: Contemporary Islamic Thinkers on Evil, Suffering, and the Global Pandemic. London and New York: Routledge.
Hasan, Abla. 2022. On Pain and Suffering: A Qur'anic Perspective, Lanham, Boulder. New York, London: Lexington Books.
Heemskerk, Margaretha T. 2000. Suffering in Mu’tazilite Theology: ‘Abd al-Jabbar’s Teaching on Pain and Divine Justice. Leiden: Brill.
Inati, Shams C. 2000. The Problem of Evil: Ibn Sina’s Theodicy. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Jackson, Sherman A. 2009. Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jones, William R. 1973. Is God a White Racist? A Preamble to Black Theology. Boston: Beacon Press.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. 2023. "Remarks on Evil, Suffering, and the Global Pandemic". In From the Divine to the Human: Contemporary Islamic Thinkers on Evil, Suffering, and the Global Pandemic, edited by Muhammad U. Faruque and Mohammed Rustom. New York: Routledge.
Ormsby, Eric Linn. 1984. Theodicy in Islamic Thought: The Dispute Over Al-Ghazali’s Best of All Possible Worlds. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Ozkan, Y. Tubanur. 2015. A Muslim Response to Evil: Said Nursi on Theodicy. New York: Routledge.
Rouzati, Nasrin. 2015. Trial and Tribulation in the Qur’an: A Mystical Theodicy. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Altizer, Thomas J. J., & William Hamilton. 1966. Radical Theology and the Death of God. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.