بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

“Justice means to give someone exactly what he deserves. Mercy is to give someone less than he deserves. God therefore cannot be infinitely/perfectly Just and infinitely/perfectly Merciful at the same time.”

Famous atheist Dan Barker once made this argument in a debate. Although there are many answers to this dilemma, I wanted to offer one thought.

Let us say that a man murdered your child. In Islamic law, you have the option to a) have him executed or b) forgive the man and have him pay blood money.

Let us say you pick option b, which is the more merciful option. Has justice not been served? Of course it has. That is because you, as the injured party, have the choice as to whether you want vengeance or not. The murderer is brought to justice in both a and b, because justice here is dependent on the will of the injured party.

Allah owns all of us, and all sins are sins against Allah first and foremost. He can therefore choose to forgive whatever He Wills on the Day of Judgement without this being a violation of justice. All of our missed prayers, our anger, our lust, etc. can be forgiven. Continue Reading