Why Suffering?: Finding Meaning and Comfort When Life Doesn't Make Sense by Ravi Zacharias & Vince Vitale

Author:Ravi Zacharias & Vince Vitale [Zacharias, Ravi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion / Christian Theology / Apologetics, Religion / Christian Life / Death, Grief, Bereavement, Religion / Christian Life / Spiritual Growth
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2014-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

2. Islam: Submission Without Questions

Interestingly, Islam has a completely different take on the theme of suffering, but when systematized it comes perilously close to the pantheistic tendencies of Buddhism. I cannot resist a lighter note as I begin this section. Some years ago, I was attending my first cricket match in twenty years. The venue was the historic Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. South Africa had emerged from its dark days of apartheid and once again fielded its great cricket team in a championship series.

The day I went to see the game, Pakistan was playing the West Indies. Early in the innings, as Pakistan put in their finest bowler (equivalent to a pitching ace in baseball), the star West Indian batsman took one step forward and hammered the ball a massive distance. All eyes watched the ball sail out of the playing field. In cricketing terms it is called a “six” and was truly a sight to behold. In baseball terms it would be like hitting a whopper of a home run off the first pitch.

As soon as the ball was seen heading out of reach of any player’s hands, a large, irate Pakistani fan behind me stood up, clenched his fist toward his own team, and shouted, “That’s what you get for playing during Ramadan!” If I weren’t putting my own jaw at risk, I would have asked, “What are you doing paying to come and see a game during Ramadan?” It is amazing how size dictates our candor. So I just smiled and looked at my host and knew we had just been entertained more by the fan than by his team. Losing the game because they played at Ramadan may well occupy some conversations around a Muslim table.

Moving away from the lighthearted, let’s be serious. After the tragic events of 9/11, I was in a taxi in a Muslim country when the taxi driver asked me, “Are you from America?”

“I’m originally from India, but now America is my home,” I said.

“What do you think of what happened in New York when their buildings were destroyed?” He chuckled.

“What do you think?” I countered.

His smile turned to anger. “Allah gave us success and punished America!” he replied.

I said, “That is so interesting. What should I say if someone asked me about the plane that was heading to another destination, possibly the White House? That plane crashed without succeeding in its mission. Who was being punished there?”

There was an ominous silence and a grunt. His glare at me in the rearview mirror told me this was not a happy thought for him and possibly for me. But it spoke volumes. These are not off-the-cuff remarks. Comments like this are “soul-embraced” beliefs. Everything boils down to “You did this so God did that.” The entire issue of judgment in Islam is one of being “weighed in the balances” and nothing more than that.

Even in the Old Testament the belief was often “Be good and be blessed; be bad and be cursed.” This was why Job was so perplexed by what was happening in his life.

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