The problem of evil in Mevlânâ's Mesnevî

Quite a number of people and schools of thoughts have shown a close interest in the subject of evil and offered different solutions to the related problems. Mawlana Calaladdin er-Rumi as a Sufi also recognizes the existence of goodness and evil in the world as a challenging problem by emphasizing the moral issues involved in any understanding of evil. His main aim was to identify and eliminate the causes that prevent human beings from achieving happiness.. According to Mawlana, the causes which leads people to evil are; lower self-esteem, not acting wisely, and bad environment. In Mawlana?s thought there is no absolute evil and for him evil needs to be seen as a relative reality.Mawlana?s understanding of God is of an optimist. Mawlana who contemplates God as absolutely benevolent and excellently presence thinks that everything appreciated by God are the results of this benevolence. The names, attributes and actions of God could be shown as an evidence for his benevolence. In addition to these, the creation of human beings as a valuable presence is also one of these evidences.Mawlana attempts to mediate what has been expressed as evil and God's benevolence, with reference to these reasons; evil for examination, benevolence that is supposed to be evil because of the limited knowledge, incapability of apprehending the benefit, relatively goodness, evil for appreciating benevolence and evil for spiritual maturity. Mawlana also gives recommendations regarding to how to take appropriate attitude in order to overcome evil.Mawlana?s arguments intends to solve the problem of evil satisfactorily, namely the question of theodicy in philosophy. Mawlana also deals with this problem by placing the love of God in the center of his understanding. Accordingly, the relative evil created by God (even if it may seem paradoxical) is the result His perfection.Key Words: Mawlana, God's Benevolence, The problem of Evil, Mesnevî.