Before delving into the answer to the question itself, a few points and reminders need to be made:

1. What is the meaning of verse 8 of surah Shams “فَأَلْهَمَها فُجُورَها وَ تَقْواها”?

In response to this question, we must say that this verse has engaged in one of the most important matters pertaining to the creation of man, meaning the ‘inspiration’ of vice and virtue. What the verse is saying is that when man was created and his existence was complete, Allah taught him his “do’s and don’ts”.[1]

“ألهمها” derives from the root “الهام” which originally means to eat or drink something, and here, has been used to denote transmission of something from the Lord to the soul and spirit of man; it is as if the soul actual takes in and ‘drinks’ it. This term has also been used to denote revelation at times.[2] “فجور” derives from “فجر” which means to split and tear something vastly. It is due to this literal meaning that the dawn has been given the name “فجر”; it is as if the morning light tears the veils of night. The same goes for why sins have been given the same name; sin tears the veils of religiosity. Of course, what is meant by “فجور” in the discussed verse denotes the means and causes of sin, and what is meant by “تقوا”, which derives from “وقایة” (abstinence), is for one to keep himself from ugliness, inappropriateness, vice and sin.

It is also imperative to note that the verse isn't saying that Allah has created the means of sin and piety in man, and in other words, He hasn’t given man the faculties that invite him to depravation and tearing the veils of chastity, along with the means for being good and righteous, as opposed to what some believe. What the verse is actually saying is that He taught man these two, or, to put it more simply, he showed him the way to both, as verse 10 of surah Balad also reads: “وَ هَدَيْناهُ النَّجْدَيْنِ” (and shown him the two paths [of good and evil]).

In other words, Allah has given him a mind, ability of discernment and a vigilant conscience to be able to distinguish between vice and virtue through the aql (mind) and fitrah (primordial nature of man). Thus, some commentators have said that this verse is pointing to ‘intellectual good and evil’ (al-husn wa al-qubh al-aqli), which means those goods and evils that the mind can identify on its own without the dictation of religion; this is something that Allah has endowed man with.[3] Of course, it must be kept in mind that it is by virtue of informed discretion and choice that man can reach his ultimate goal of perfection and goal of his creation; this means that man’s perfection is a matter of free will and acquisition[4]. It is from this perspective that in the verses to follow the aforementioned verse, the Quran attributes purification and corruption to man himself: “قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكَّاه وَ قَدْ خابَ مَنْ دَسَّاها”.[5]

2. It would have been better if you had asked the question in a different way by saying that some verses mention that good and evil all belong to Allah[6], while other verses tell us that good is only from Him and evil is from man,[7] and that man’s selection and actions play a role in there being evil; some evil originates from man’s decisions, such as moral corruptions, transgression, oppression, poverty, hunger, and hundreds of other economical, political, and medical complications the world faces. Also, there are some evil that are linked to our actions through causality[8], an example being certain worldly and otherworldly punishments.[9] Therefore, evil must be something existential, while philosophers believe it to be something non-existential and rather, define it to be privation. If this is the case, then why have these verses ascribed evil to God, while it isn't something existential that can be created? How can we reconcile between these two sets of assertions?

To answer this question, one must say:

a) Based on the theory that holds evil to be privation in essence, the contrariety between good and evil will be one of ‘privation and possession’ (al-adam wa al-malakah)[10] and not one of ‘contradiction’ (al-tadhadd), and as we all know the privation in the former, bears a degree of existence, as opposed to privation in the latter, and this degree of existence can be ascribed to its doer.

To explain further, divine ideology holds that everything is the creation of God[11] and that everything has been created in perfection.[12] That which has to do with God, is creating, which isn't apart from perfection and goodness, and all the hardship and calamities which are either evil in nature or evil in human actions, are in reality privation of good and thus, not the creation of God. In the verses mentioned previously, the only evils that are spoken of are those having to do with man’s actions. The point these verses look teach us is that what deprives man of divine blessings are the actions we do at an individual and social level, and of course, this doesn’t contradict the fact that evil is privation and not a creation of God’s.

As one scholar put it, earth orbits around the sun and one side of it is always facing the sun, making it day, and if the other side of the globe is dark, it is because it is away from the sun; the sun is always doing its job of radiating light. Therefore, one can say that whichever part of the earth is bright, is because of the sun, and the part that is dark is because of earth itself and not the sun.[13] So, from the perspective that man himself, and his free will are all under the dominance of God, one can ascribe evil to God, but from the perspective that only good is issued from God, if evil is ascribed to Him, it will be due to the origin of this evil – in its privational sense – being existential. The same goes for ascribing evil to man, with one difference though: since man has the opportunity to benefit from divine blessings and the ‘radiation of the sun’, and yet chooses to turn away from and deprive himself of it, he consequently deserves punishment. In any case, the contrariety between good and evil is one of ‘privation and possession’ and the privation in such cases, possesses a degree of existence and isn't total privation, and it is due to this degree of existence that it can be ascribed to its doer, the same way creation of death, which is essentially privation, is ascribed to God: “الَّذي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَ الْحَياةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلاً وَ هُوَ الْعَزيزُ الْغَفُورُ”.[14]

b) Different religious and non-religious interpretations and definitions are proposed when it comes to the meaning of evil. For example, from a non-religious philosophical perspective, evil can be interpreted as the following:

1. Privation[15]; 2. Relativity[16]; 3. Inseparability of good and evil[17]; 4. The abundance of good over evil[18]; 5. Evil being a preliminary step to good[19]; 6. Evil: particularism and materialism[20]; 7. Evil: accidental and a by product[21]; all the explanations given above were actually based on only one philosophical interpretation of the many theories regarding the essence of evil. Based on other interpretations, one can look at evil as existential and continue with the discussion from there.

To conclude, one must say that verse 8 of surah Shams doesn’t want to say that evil comes from God, all it wants to say is that the “do’s and don’ts” have been taught to man by God, and he can, using the mind and vigilant conscience he has been endowed with, distinguish between vice and virtue. Of course, some verses imply that evil can be ascribed to both God and man, but one must keep in mind that such attribution is due to the existential origin from which this non-existential matter originates, and is also due to the fact that this non-existential evil, isn't totally non-exist and rather, is non-existent in the sense of privation (adam al-malakah), thus, bearing a degree of existence.