With the ethnic cleansing of Rohingha Muslims in Burma, the devastating situation of Yemenis, the blood spilling in nooks and crannies of Nigeria, the Israel aggression, and the war torn Afghanistan and the plight of Black people in this part of the world…

People are at a risk of losing their most valued possession – faith – when they can’t reconcile the beauty and mercy of God with these senseless killings. They think of people like Shekau and Netanyahu living, enjoying while a gentle and kind uncle or aunt they know just collapsed on the way to work, and a day or so later died, leaving children and spouse vulnerable. Why would a just and merciful God do that?

On my way home today, I was thinking about this, when something came to my mind. I realized how the first story narrated in the Qur’an began with this very same question people ask today, and how some out of frustration in their inability to reconcile this huge dissonance of cognition, sadly give up, and become agnostic.

Every word in the Qur’an is strategically placed and it is our jobs as Muslim to go beyond cursory reading or listening and venture into reflecting upon Allah’s words to unearth those subtle messages.

Yes, the first story was on the angels, Iblis, and Adam. The question we ask today is why does God allow these killings to happen. Why did my good aunt died of cancer while mass killers ate enjoying life, wealthy even? Why?

The angels asked the exact question millions and millions of years before you set foot on earth, and your Lord replied to them as well as to you in a simple but eloquent sentence, in a way that befits His majesty, He says: إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ. ‘I know things you do not know.’