Let’s delve a little deep in the part of the Qur’an where God announced to the angels that He will place man on Earth:

“And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successor.” They said, “Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we exalt You with praise and declare Your perfection?” He [Allah] said, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know.”

[Qur’an 2:30]

When the angels asked God the question, did God give a fancy answer? Did He say, “Well, for this person, he suffered that calamity because of this reason and if it didn’t happen, this would’ve happened. And if something else happened, it would’ve been worse for him”? Nope.

All He said was, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know.” It’s hard to accept such an answer, but there’s a profound lesson in that. We may understand why some things happened to a certain person. Maybe your friend didn’t get that job because he was lazy in school. Maybe your uncle got into a car accident because he was a reckless driver. Maybe for a more complicated situation, after contemplating it for some time, we can see some reasoning behind it. However, at the end of the day, we don’t have the answers for everything. We don’t know why a five-year old girl would get leukemia. We don’t know why millions of innocent people have died in wars throughout human history they weren’t a part of. We also don’t know why certain “random” things have happened in our lives. But all this does not mean God doesn’t exist.

I heard a speaker once explain: if you go to a physics library and don’t understand some of the books, are you going to say, “Forget this! Physics doesn’t exist”?

At the end of the day, perhaps there are reasons, but so complex with many intricate parts to them, that our minds just cannot comprehend them all. Regardless, if we have the foundation and know that God has to exist and that He’s the All-Knowing, we sometimes just have to humbly accept that we don’t have all the answers.

The Qur’an, in countless Ayahs, criticizes the Quraish, who are the people Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) was living with in Makkah and he too was one of them. Many times throughout the Qur’an, Allah criticizes them for worshipping idols instead of Him alone. In Surah Al-‘Alaq, Allah threatens Abu Jahl, the leader of the Quraish. In Surah Al-Masad, He threatens Abu Lahab, another prominent leader and the uncle of Prophet Muhammad. In Surah Al-Ma’un, He critiques those amongst the Quraish who treat orphans poorly and those who do not encourage the feeding of the poor.

What’s so noteworthy about this? Well, imagine you were in Prophet Muhammad’s shoes. Your audience in the first decade of preaching was the people you grew up with. Would it make sense to criticize them? Would people listen if you did? After all, you want them on your side. In fact, wouldn’t you be worried if you kept on doing that, that they would kill you? If you’re an imposter, you’d eventually tell yourself, “Okay, I tried the mean way. I need to change my strategy.” But nope, the Qur’an doesn’t compromise. It doesn’t mean that the Qur’an didn’t try other methods. Of course it did! It spoke with emotion and with logic, but when needs be, it did speak harshly. 

The Quraish tried to compromise multiple times because they got tired. It was said that the leaders told him that if he sets aside days to worship their idols, they would set aside days to worship the one God, Allah. Prophet Muhammad didn’t compromise to even that. However, wouldn’t an imposter do that? After all, that’s the nice option. Beyond that, one should expect persecution (which happened). But, if you do believe you’re a Messenger of God, your mindset is that you have to do what God says – no matter what!

As Surah Al-Kaafiroon says:

1. Say (O Muhammad): “O Al-Kaafiroon (disbelievers in Allah and His Oneness)!
2. I worship not that which you worship,
3. Nor will you worship that which I worship.
4. And I shall not worship that which you are worshipping.
5. Nor will you worship that which I worship.
6. To you be your religion, and to me my religion.”

[Qur’an 109:1-6]