God’s Silence, War, and Moral Responsibility: A Critical Examination of the Transition from Classical Theodicy to a Peace Theology with Emphasis on the Qur’anic Principle of “Tadāfuʿ”

Articles in Press

Document Type : Scientific-research

Author

Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Teachings, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

10.48308/jipt.2026.243032.1729

Abstract

The problem of horrendous evils, particularly within the context of devastating wars and collective violence, has long been recognized as a “stumbling block” for faith and the most challenging riddle for monotheistic theology. The profound gap between the expectation of Divine Intervention to aid the oppressed and the historical reality of Divine Silence amidst slaughter raises a question that extends beyond abstract philosophy of religion, touching the very core of the victims’ lived experience. Adopting an analytic-phenomenological method and a comparative approach between Post-Holocaust Theology and Islamic Wisdom, this research attempts to propose the hypothesis of “Strategic Absence” as an alternative to traditional theodicy explanations. The findings indicate that classical Augustinian-Thomistic theology, by reducing war to a mere “trial” or “chastisement,” inadvertently suspends human moral agency under the shadow of Divine Providence. In contrast, by critically re-examining the concept of “Divine Hiddenness” and referencing the Quranic doctrine of “Tadafu” (2:251), this study argues that God’s silence in war is not a sign of indifference, but rather the ontological condition for realizing human “radical responsibility.” In this paradigm, peace is not a metaphysical gift bestowed via miracle, but a human project meaningful precisely in the absence of direct divine intervention.

Keywords

The Mirror of Knowledge

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 06 June 2026

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