ABSTRACT
A very famous question is about the creation of sharr. Why does God create sharr and isn’t the creation of sharr, sharr? Nursi states that the creation of sharr is not sharr, rather the ‘acquisition’ of sharr, in other words the desire for sharr, is sharr. 1 This is because when God creates something, that act looks to all consequences whereas the desire of man to do sharr looks to a particular result, for it is a particular relation. 2 Nursi provides two allegories to this problem. Rain for example, is a creation from God which has thousands of consequences to it. All of these consequences are positive, beneficial and good. If out of wrong choice, some people receive harm from rain and it becomes sharr for them, they cannot say that the creation of rain is not mercy, but sharr. 3 Likewise it is with fire. The creation of fire bears lots of benefits and good. But if some people are harmed by it because of their own misuse, for instance through thrusting their hands into it while cooking, they cannot say that the creation of fire is sharr for it was not created to burn them. 4 Thus, Nursi continues, ‘the lesser sharr is acceptable for the greater good.’ If one would abandon a minor sharr which will ultimately lead to a greater good, just in order to avoid that lesser sharr, a much greater sharr will have been perpetrated. 5 If there is for instance a finger infected with gangrene, the doctor will decide to amputate that finger, which is a right and good decision, although it looks like it is sharr. But if it is not amputated, the whole hand will be amputated, which is a much greater sharr. 6
Thus one might say that God does not create sharr. What God creates is always khayr. Thus, perfection, good (khayr) and beauty are essentially what are intended in the universe, states Nursi, and are in the majority.
Relatively, defects, ashrār, and ugliness are in the minority, and are insignificant, secondary and trivial. Their Creator created them interspersed among good and perfection not for their own sakes, but as preliminaries and units of measurement for the appearance, or existence, of the relative truths of good and perfection. 7
