It’s Okay Not to Know God’s Plan
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Introduction
It is okay not to know why God does what He does. In fact, it is not our business. Our business is to know what God asks us to do, and then to do it. How do we know what God wants us to do? Certainly not by figuring out why He does what He does, and then calculating from that baseless speculation. God has sent His Messenger and His Message to convey to us in clear terms what to do. For example, He has said that we will be questioned, but He will not (Qur’an 21:23). Thus, we can understand that we should act under the awareness that we will be questioned, and should not expect from God an account of what He does. Then of course, do not pretend as if God has informed us of why He does what He does.
For instance, do not claim that God has sent the pandemic (or the earthquake, or the tsunami, etc.) to punish such and such people for such and such sin. For this is not something we know. Indeed, Allah says “And whatever strikes you of disaster, it is for what your hands have earned—but He pardons much” (Qur’an 42:30). This, however, does not warrant me to think I know what is truly a disaster and what is a blessing. What I think is a disaster among the acts of God may actually be a blessing, and vice versa. In the final analysis this depends on what it means for my final destination in the Hereafter, and after God’s Mercy, whether I respond with submission and patience or with sin and rebellion. Submission is a blessing and sin is the disaster. Observing the worldly fortunes, which we deem ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ is not the way to know what are the sins and who are the sinners. Notice that people who talk this way display their lack of principles and consistency. For when a disaster strikes them, they usually say it is because God tests the righteous. That is not having a good opinion of God, but just a good opinion of one’s self and a bad opinion of others. Gratefulness, and not wealth, is the sign of God’s favor. Impatience, and not worldly misfortune, is the sign of God’s disfavor. May Allah test our gratefulness and not our patience.
Whenever we think we know why God does what He does, we are only putting our own desires and delusions in the empty space of our ignorance. We are putting our ego in the place of God. It is just as wrong if you think God is punishing you. Who are you to decide how God should deal with your sins? Do not try to do God’s job. Do your own job. Try to be just, even when it is against yourself. Be merciful to all, including yourself. Yet we will never be as just and merciful as The Just and The Merciful, so we are better off to leave His job to Him. Once you lay aside the need to know why God does what He does, you will relieve yourself of many unnecessary burdens on your faith, which can lead to unbelief. If your faith in God is conditional on your being able to explain His actions, your inability to meet that condition will undermine your faith.
The pandemic has amplified certain theological pseudo-problems in the public sphere of our internet-connected world. They seem to be traps laid by Satan. On another level, they are acts of God, just as the pandemic; the fact that the sun rises every morning, and that the universe operates according to a fixed order, are all acts of God. For nothing escapes God’s plan, including Satan’s plots. I do not know what role Satan plays in God’s plan, but I do not need to know. Thus, I am relieved of this impossible burden. God, however, has informed us that Satan’s plan is to lead us away from Him, and has told us what we need to know and do to avoid that (Qur’an 36:60–61).
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