Why didn’t God create humans perfect, without an inclination to sin?

God created human beings good and did not place evil within them. He gave them the ability to tell good from evil and the freedom to choose; most suffering arises when people use that freedom selfishly.

The question often assumes that God placed evil inside human beings. The Holy Qur’an sees it differently. The first verse above says that human beings were created in the best of forms. God did not create evil. He gave us a sense of right and wrong and left the choice to us.

A being that could only do good would not be free. Its goodness would be no achievement of its own, just as no one praises a clock for keeping time. The possibility of choosing wrongly is the price of being able to be good by free will.

Where, then, does so much cruelty between people come from? Almost always from selfishness. It can start with an individual, a family, a group or an entire nation. Whoever thinks only of his own advantage first brings unhappiness to others.

But it does not end there. Selfishness eventually rebounds on those who started it. When everyone thinks only of themselves, the selfishness of others soon strikes the one who began it. In this way it destroys the trust that every community depends on.

The way out lies in loyalty to values that hold for all people, such as justice, truthfulness and kindness. The last verse above says that whoever purifies his soul will succeed. Therein lies hope for each individual and for humanity as a whole.