Why do bad things happen to good people?

Why do bad things happen to good people?
Pause for Thought, BBC Radio 2, Chris Evans Breakfast Show

Script:

I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked this question but why do bad things happen to good people? Take my friend for example. She pays her taxes, helps deprived youngsters have bright futures, but this all-round good egg fell down a manhole in the middle of the street.

Okay, she may have been checking a good looking guy on the other side of the road, but I’m not sure that deserves going feet first down a random hole.

This is a minor tribulation of course, but so many good people suffer major awful stuff and it simply doesn’t seem fair.

Another good egg to whom loads of bad things happened was an 11th century north African scholar called Ibn Nahawi. Ibn Nahawi lost his home, his family, he even lost his eyesight, yet he authored a powerful poem in which he said: “Your hardships relieve me. Truly, your dark night beckons the dawn.”

I admit, looking for the light of dawn hasn’t always come easily. I’ve been at my darkest hour when witnessing someone very close to me lose their newborn baby – her tiny heart beat a few precious hours before leaving a world she entered too soon.

It left my own heart broken into pieces, but somehow my faith and human resilience soldered it back together.

In Islam, parents who lose a baby are assured that their child will be the first to welcome them into Paradise. I hold on to the belief that anything that’s torn away from a person will come back to them with more grace and beauty than we can imagine.

The American Muslim writer and speaker, Yasmin Mogahed said: “Your life is nothing more than a love story. Between you and God. Nothing more. Every person, every experience, every gift, every loss, every pain is sent to your path for one reason and one reason only: to bring you back to Him.”

The greatest love stories are not without tears and struggle. Bad things may well happen to good people, but I believe joy is on the way for those who endure them. The loom of life might try to unravel me, but I’ll find a way to hold my threads together through patience, faith and ultimately a love that keeps me coming back round.