Question: A friend of mine asks: Why does God—who possesses compassion manifold greater than a mother’s love for her children—inflict illness upon humans? Furthermore, why do many good people suffer from disease—often without the means for proper medical treatment—while many wicked people live in robust health?
– M. Ahmed, Chennai-1.
Answer: There is no doubt that illness is an adverse aspect of human life. However, there are many such adverse aspects in life.
Poverty, lack of physical beauty, physical weakness, childlessness, subjection to the oppression of the strong, insurmountable debt, an incompatible spouse, wayward children, the death of loved ones, physical disability, poor memory, impaired cognitive ability—there are thousands of such adversities.
You view illness as the only adversity! Yet, every human being lives with some of the adverse conditions mentioned above. There is no one in this world who is free from all forms of adversity.
God may have given us poverty and illness. But those who possess wealth and health will have other shortcomings.
God might have given them an incompatible spouse or children, or perhaps some other form of hardship.
Just as you worry about your illness, they might worry about their family. Because you do not carry the crushing mental stress that they do, you fall asleep the moment you lie down. The person you envy might be unable to sleep even on a soft mattress.
For this world to function smoothly, both shortcomings and advantages must be distributed among people.
If everyone owned a thousand acres of land, no one would go to work. We would lack the strength to till and cultivate our own land. We would all perish from starvation. Just imagine what would happen if everyone possessed crores of rupees! It would lead to total ruin.
That is precisely why God, in His mercy, has endowed each person with a unique blend of strengths and limitations.
A doctor’s livelihood depends on patients; a merchant’s livelihood depends on the doctor; and the livelihoods of farmers and manufacturers depend on the merchant. God has ordained this arrangement so that the world functions through such an interconnected chain.
Many wealthy individuals are warned by doctors to limit their diet to just two idlis a day and to abstain from meat and oily foods. Despite possessing vast fortunes, they are unable to enjoy the taste of the food they eat.
In this regard, isn't the poor person—who is able to eat whatever is available—better off than the wealthy one?
Similarly, if those facing poverty or illness were to reflect on their own strengths, they would surely realize that they possess certain comforts, opportunities, or blessings that are denied to those who are healthy. In doing so, they would come to understand, beyond any doubt, that God is an ocean of mercy.