Answer
Wa Alaykom Assalam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh Dear Sister,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
You may pass on this answer to your cousin, as the answer is directly addressed to him.
Apparently there is a contradiction in the statement: “the word GOD is a mere imagination and a preacher.” If God is a preacher, He cannot be mere imagination. Or do you mean to say that God is a being of the Preacher’s imagination?
In which case, it means that God does not exist; but the Preacher simply coins the word “God” for his purpose. For the time being, let us forget the Preacher, and simply consider the claim that God exists:
In fact, the existence of God cannot be proved the same way we prove the existence of a physical object, as He is not a physical object. He is a Transcendental being, i.e. a being that exists on a level beyond our sensual perception.
That is to say, the claim that something does not exist because you haven’t seen it or heard it, etc. is untenable. So to speak of ‘proof’ with regard to a Transcendental Being becomes irrelevant.
As for man, there are two dimensions to his existence: One of matter and the other of spirit. Reduced merely to the level of material existence, man becomes a machine or a mere animal at best. It is his spirit that makes man so different from animals.
If we ponder over the phenomena of the world around us and over the complexities of our own existence, we are bound to conclude that God is the Reality behind all appearances. The Holy Quran states:
{Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of mankind; in the rain which God sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth;- [here] indeed are signs for a people that are wise.} (Quran 2:164)
That is to say the external signs perceivable in the universe should necessarily lead a wise person to the Ultimate Reality behind it all. And that is how we arrive at the realization that Allah Almighty is the Moving Power behind all life and all existence.
Indeed the teaching of Islam regarding the life of this world is that it is a test, and that the very word Islam means “submission” to the will of Allah. But sensitive people when faced with the sufferings of this world may ask: “If there is a God Who loves His creatures, why does He permit all kinds of sufferings (or evil) to them?”
The answer is that a Good God may allow evil, when there is a good reason. From the Quran we can understand that Allah has given humans freewill, in order to test them to prove who is better in good deeds:
{Every soul shall have a taste of death: and We test you by evil and by good by way of trial; to Us must you return.} (Quran 21:35)
Allah Almighty created both good and evil in the world, and made our world a testing ground. He has gifted us with a number of intellectual faculties. And He has given us freedom too, though within limits. But one consequence of freedom is that humans may choose evil instead of good. But if they are forcefully prevented from choosing evil, there won’t be any freedom.
That is to say, God cannot have free beings whom He forces to choose only good, because that would involve a logical impossibility.
Many of the sufferings of this world come from our misuse of the freedom God gave us. Thus it is because God does not want to take away the freedom He gave us that He permits evil, such as the death of the kids in Africa during gun fires or wars. And Allah compensates these sufferings by the blessings He gives us in the next world.
We as Muslims must understand that everything, including our own life, belongs to Allah; and we have no right to question His privileges as well as the way He dispenses justice. And we should always be thankful for the innumerable blessings He showers on His creatures as well.
May Allah Almighty guide us and help us in understanding His ways and accepting them with wholehearted submission!
I hope this helps answer the question.
Salam and please keep in touch.