Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

Bad things happen not because God creates evil, but because human freedom makes evil possible. From a Sufi perspective, suffering reaches the righteous not to destroy them, but to purify the soul and draw it nearer to the Divine.

Core Takeaways

Evil is committed by people, not by God.
The righteous are refined through suffering, not abandoned.
God permits human freedom, including the possibility of evil.
We are often tested through what we love, trust, or claim as our own.
Suffering is not always punishment; it can be purification.
A true story from Istanbul reveals this spiritual reality.

You hear that the sweet child of someone you know has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. You receive news that a couple with whom you once shared family dinners has gone bankrupt, their family torn apart. Your neighbor tells you that the woman you met at the grocery store last year—the one with whom you exchanged a pleasant, brief conversation—is now homeless. “What a pity,” you think, “she was such a lovely woman.” You feel a pang of sorrow. And inevitably, you wonder: If God is good, why do these things happen?

When misfortune strikes those believed to be bad, it rarely troubles the human heart deeply—perhaps because people assume it was deserved. It passes, forgotten.

God is the source of goodness; evil stems from His creation, not from Him. He warned us that it would be so. Yet, one must distinguish between divine decree and evil. Evil is the cold apathy of the relatives who stood by as that woman became homeless; the plight of the terminally ill child is something else entirely. I have sought to make sense of these very questions through a trans-religious lens, grounded in the words of God and those close to Him. Trans-religious, yet guided by God and the saints? Yes—because religions exist to refine the human spirit into true humanity. This inquiry is not merely religious; it is fundamentally human. Furthermore, truth is truth, no matter who utters it.

To bring this into clearer focus, I have included a story towards the end of the text that I personally experienced in Istanbul. Though it may challenge your patience at times, I have no doubt that after reading it, you will view life and its unfolding events through a vastly different lens. At least, I hope so.

Evil Belongs to Humanity, Not to God

Let us proceed step by step. We speak of “bad things,” but what is evil? Evil originates from the human ego (nafs) and human action—not from the Divine. There is no evil in God; how could He bestow upon His creation that which does not exist within Himself? On the contrary, He has continuously warned humanity against committing evil. Being absolute Goodness, He does not love evil; He loves and encourages goodness. Is He not also the One who judges evil?

When we examine the root of evil and where it touches human life, we see that it flows from humans to other humans, never from God. What originates from the Divine are trials, afflictions, and natural boundaries. Furthermore, while the source of evil action is human, God permits and ordains its reach through His sovereign wisdom. He allows human freedom to unfold while governing its ultimate boundaries.

“To consider God the cause of evil is the greatest ignorance. Evil is not a living entity; it is the soul’s departure from truth and its deprivation of goodness.”

— St. Basil the Great

Does God Cause Evil?

Evil is committed by the wicked, not by God. So why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? This matter is less about the merit of good or bad people and more about the Divine Nature itself. God possesses a sublime Self-Respect that human intellect struggles to fully comprehend. Whatever He manifests in the universe, He manifests out of honor for His own Being. The existence of distant galaxies and untouched realms—places humanity will never witness—exists because He decrees: “I am fully capable of creating their likeness.”

the good person pays the toll for their shortcomings in this world. As for the wicked, they are granted their temporal desires, but they have no share in the eternal realm.

We need not look into the deep cosmos. Observe a small fish hunted by a larger one in the abyssal depths of the ocean, where no human eye will ever reach. You will find no imperfection in its scales or fins. It could have been flawed, for no human was there to critique it. Look at a fruit ripening and falling from a branch in an uninhabited mountain range; it matches the perfection of any fruit displayed on a market shelf, yet no human will ever buy or taste it. Whatever He creates, He creates for His own Glory, Honor, and Right.

The Purification of the Good

In this same manner, He promised that He would bring good people into His Presence cleansed and pure in the Hereafter. And He never breaks His promise. Call this good news or bad news, it remains an unalterable reality: the good person pays the toll for their shortcomings in this world. As for the wicked, they are granted their temporal desires, but they have no share in the eternal realm. They are the truly impoverished of the Afterlife. God acts thus out of mercy for the good. When a good person experiences hardship and perceives this world as a temporary furnace, that awareness is precisely what is intended. The greatest affliction of this world is like a sanctuary compared to eternal separation. Will bad things find every good person? Everyone makes mistakes, but only the good are purified of them here. As a good person slips, trials emerge to cleanse them. The more one accumulates dust, the more washing is required.

“If God wills good for someone, He subjects them to hardship (to cleanse their faults and elevate their rank).”

— Prophetic Tradition (Hadith)

“God afflicts His friends in this world not to punish them, but to detach them from every worldly bond and prepare them as a pure vessel for His Presence.”

— St. Teresa of Ávila

The Crucible of Testing

We Are Tested Through What We Love

A person is typically tested through that which they claim, rely upon, or love most. If what a good person relies on or fears is anything other than the Divine, they should prepare for trial. Yet, there are essential ways for a good person to guard their spirit. Most calamities that befall a person stem from the tongue or the hands. If one guards their speech and actions, smoother days inevitably follow, for what meets us today is often the harvest of yesterday. If you sowed no harm yesterday, you need not fear today.

The most common triggers for sudden adversity include:

Backbiting (speaking of an absent person in a way that would displease them, even if true).
Tale-bearing and spreading rumors.
Harboring ill thoughts toward the Divine.
Lying and making boastful claims.
Harshness, arrogance, and excessive, heedless socializing.

All these acts invite trial, and their clearing charge is collected from good people while they are still in this world. As for the wicked, they have been left to their own devices; their ledgers are deferred. What they desire is granted almost before they ask, so that they may never experience true remorse. God loves the remorseful heart and forgives abundantly; therefore, those who persist in evil are left distracted by worldly abundance, deprived of deep reflection and repentance. You may see them prosperous and smiling, but their enjoyment is confined solely to what can be consumed and worn out in this brief life—and true peace eludes them, for heart-peace comes only through Divine content.

“Do not let the unfaithful think that Our granting them respite is good for them. We only grant them time so that they may increase in burden, and for them is a humiliating punishment.”

— Quran (3:178)

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.”

— Gospel of Luke (6:24-25)

“God pays the wicked in this world for whatever small good they may have done, so that they remain entirely without share or merit in the World to Come (Olam Ha-Ba).”

— Talmud (Kiddushin 40b)

Pain teaches; comfort rarely does. As the core of the soul warms in that fire, the idols and attachments clinging to it burn away one by one, bringing the human spirit closer to its Creator. If humanity only awakens through pain, how else shall the soul be refined?

The Heating of the Diamond

God does not allow suffering to reach good people merely as a correction for flaws. Sometimes, hardship is granted as a profound mark of spiritual favor. When trials come upon the chosen—the prophets, the saints, and those who walk in their footsteps—it is not because of sin. It is to cleanse the surface dust from a diamond that has fallen to the earth. The dust of worldly existence can only be detached when the gemstone itself is heated in the forge.

Pain is the ultimate cleanser. Pain teaches; comfort rarely does. As the core of the soul warms in that fire, the idols and attachments clinging to it burn away one by one, bringing the human spirit closer to its Creator. If humanity only awakens through pain, how else shall the soul be refined?

“Those who reach guidance through pure gentleness, love, and ease are very few indeed.”

— Abdul Qadir Gilani

Does being a good person frighten you now because of the risks involved? Being a good person is not a casual weekend resolution. No one plans to become a noble soul starting next Monday. This inner gem is a treasure distributed when souls were first created. Calls for collective goodness exist not to transform the wicked overnight, but to restrain their outward harm.

A Living Witness

An Encounter I Never Forgot in Istanbul

About five years ago, I visited a close friend in Istanbul whom I had known for nearly thirty years—someone with whom I had begun my spiritual search in our youth. I was deeply moved to find him living inside a small workshop he operated, alongside his wife and two young daughters, aged 16 and 12. They had been living there for months. Aside from two couches used as beds and a small television, there was nothing else. He explained that their landlord had demolished the building for urban redevelopment, forcing them to leave. I told him that legally he could have stayed for at least another year and that he did not have to put his family through such hardship. Anyone with children that age can imagine how difficult such a situation is. He replied that the landlord was an elderly couple, and knowing how burdensome it would be for them to find another place, he and his family chose to vacate voluntarily. When I learned he had no money left and refused all financial assistance, I asked why. He looked at me and said he would not complain about what God decreed to His creation, nor would he contest his destiny.

When I spoke with his family, I realized his wife and daughters shared the exact same spirit. They were not bitter. In fact, his wife turned to me and said gently, “This workshop is 40 square meters; it is larger and more comfortable than a grave.” I fell silent. Three years later, I visited them again. They had managed to move into a modest apartment by taking on debt, unable to bear seeing their eldest daughter live in a workshop any longer. As we sat talking, I noticed a slow, continuous fluid dripping from the left side of his jaw. He tried to act as though nothing was wrong, but every few minutes he would take a tissue, wipe his beard, and step away to wash his hands. He was clearly in severe pain.

When I inquired, he showed me an old childhood scar on his jaw that had developed a deep, severe abscess the size of a walnut, spreading toward his throat. He had lived with this continuous drainage for over a year. At one point, as the pain intensified, he asked his wife for medication—a heavy painkiller reserved for post-surgical recovery. Holding the pill in one hand and a glass of water in the other, he closed his eyes and began murmuring silently. This went on for two or three minutes. His expression moved so deeply that he seemed on the verge of tears. Assuming he was praying for relief from his own agony, I said, “Amen.” He turned to me with tear-filled eyes and said: “No… I was not asking for myself. I was praying: ‘O my Lord, who has honored me by granting me a trial resembling that of Prophet Job—who am I compared to them? I know I cannot reform my soul through this alone unless You grant mercy. I pray that You take the healing in this medication and distribute it equally among all suffering people and animals right now, especially the children, regardless of their faith, goodness, or faults. I am content with whatever tiny crumb remains for me, even if nothing is left at all.'”

In that moment, I understood that abundance and poverty, health and affliction, had become identical to him. Everything other than closeness to the Divine had lost its weight.

“There are such servants of God that if one attempted to force them into Paradise, they would cry out and run toward the fire just to remain in devotion.”

— Abdul Qadir Gilani

Do Not Run From the Fire

Strive to do all that you do for the Divine, not for human approval. Everyone seeks you for their own sake, but God desires you for your own elevation. Draw near to Him. Drawing near is simple: everything created can act as a veil between you and the Creator if you attach your heart to it. Clear your heart of created things, expectations, and fears. Desire only the Ultimate Reality. Let whatever comes, come. Do not let hardships intimidate you. What harm can they do in the end? Does not every winter resolve into spring? Love the Divine not merely for the gifts bestowed, but even through the trials presented. Once your spirit demonstrates that it will not fall despite the storm, trials lose their power over you. If God preserves even those who deny Him day by day, will He not preserve you? Affliction pursues a person only as long as they run from it. Stop running, and let what comes arrive.

Here is a quiet truth: spiritual grace is placed inverse to worldly demand; it is granted not to the pursuer of comfort, but to the one who surrenders.