Jazaki Allahu Khair for clearing my confusions. Your last reply really hit home, my questions is finally at rest. May Allah reward you abundantly in this life and the next.

Ps:the reply button disappeared for the original thread of comments, so I’ll just post my comment here.

Exactly 🙂 Thank you for your thoughts.

Salaam Fatima,

I think there is a misunderstanding. The lesson I was talking about was dealing with injustice. That’s not to say that the purpose of the event was the lesson. But the lesson should be a by-product so that it doesn’t happen again.

You asked “what is her fault?” But bad things don’t have to happen because it is someone’s fault. If I am driving recklessly and run someone over, that person is not at fault. I am. Allah is not necessarily punishing that person or anything like that. That is not how we interpret every bad thing that happens. Not every bad thing that happens is Allah’s punishment upon someone.

Allah tells us in the Qur’an “And when the girl [who was] buried alive is asked. For what sin she was killed” [Qur’an, 81:8-9]. So abuse of children is not new. Allah talks about it in His Holy Book. He gives severe punishment for those who do it. Like all innocent life that is shattered in this world, there is ultimate justice in the Hereafter.

But just because that is the case, that doesn’t remove the responsibility from us to do something in this world for justice. Again, if something bad happens to an innocent, it is wrong to say or even think that Allah did that to the child because it is the child’s fault. It is our fault for not living as we should be, and unfortunately the innocents pay the price. This is the order of the universe, and it is a logical order.

Allah warns us in the Qur’an so that we take heed. If there is a hole in the ground that I warn you about so that you don’t fall into it, but then you ignore me and fall into it anyway, would you say that I made you fall into it because I warned you? That doesn’t make sense. Allah is far above any analogy, but we apply that same thinking to God.

Finally, I firmly believe that there are some things we will never understand. That doesn’t mean that they don’t make sense. It just means that in our human capacity we do not understand. And thank God for a Hereafter where it will all be explained to us inshAllah.

I hope this helps 🙂

Thank you immensely for trying to clear my confusion.

I understand everything you just said. But what I’m asking is on an individual level. You’re looking at a community as a whole, I’m looking at only that individual child. What is her fault? What is her recompense? I understand us bringing about trouble on ourselves, but why doesn’t Allah punish us directly and us only? Why are these truly innocent ones used to teach us, the ones who really are wrong, lessons?

When I asked a friend this question(but I didn’t mention that I only meant children) she replied that Allah only tries those who He knows are strong enough to bear it. Its a very good answer but I can’t apply it to children.

These questions are from my lack of knowledge only. I just want to understand Allah’s justice for these innocents who couldn’t possibly have sins on them, especially infants and very young children.

Again, Jazakallahu Khair for trying to clear this doubt in my heart.