ISHWORLD

Weekly Column/Blog

September 13, 2026

1,027 words

“If I were God…”

By Ishmael-Lateef Ahmad

Columnist/Blogger-At-Large

The sad, horrid news from around the world continues unabated, with one side saying this and another side doing that.

You know the stories – war after war, death and destruction everywhere. And as usual, this crime and that crime continues over here and over there. And the "innocent” take the hits from the world’s bullies, be they politicians, the learned, the unlearned, even the seemingly innocent who are being misled by the conning, vile worldly thugs.

While I have accomplished much in life, even now as an elder I feel like I am still not done. There is so much more I wish to do and hope and pray that I have time to do it.

Among my life’s goals is helping to say something, do something that will help mankind choose better going forward, hoping to overcome the bad choices humanity has made over the centuries.

Unfortunately, as a mere human being I (we) seem to be more powerful on the side of destruction than on the side of good. Wars and violence seem to come quick and easy, compared to building worlds of good.

The quest for doing good always seems to take forever and a day, and only lasts for a short, wonderful time before another generation comes along and dismantles it all.

Lately, I have pondered the question, what would the world be like “If I were God?” For the sake of clarity, I feel like I must ask this question with some qualification, so that I am not misunderstood.

Firstly, I certainly am not God. Please, do not think that I think that I am.

Secondly, due to the nature of humanity, each of us can have a different concept of who or what God is, has been or could be in the future. And we could all be right, all be wrong or none of the above.

Certainly, I must admit, I myself am a whole lot timid to even think that “If I were God” I could solve all our problems. But, rhetorically, one might ponder why the madness continues. What is God’s plan to end the crazy among mankind.

Certainly, I am not God but in my quest for a better world, I do wonder what the real God, the absolute creator of everything, understands why I ponder the continued madness among humanity and wonder what he would do to fix it all.

Then, one day, I began to believe that this may be okay, to pretend that as God I could solve the problems we face. Perhaps, that thinking is the only way we can challenge, conquer and defeat the problems that need fixing.

For me, this is a journey I began as a much younger person and even as a middle-aged parent, it took two people – a 12-year-old son and an elder friend – to provide clarity and wisdom. From those times to this I have traveled down a new path, one that offers better understanding and clarity about creation and our role in it.

The older friend was robbed in his store and the robber shot at him as he turned to run away. Luckily, the bullet missed and my friend lived for years after, to work in the store, with all the risks that came with it.

“Remember, the elder said, there is more good in the world than evil.”  

Years later I asked my son wouldn’t it be great if there was no evil? He took a moment’s reflection and then said that would not work. Unapologetically, he said the world is made up of opposites – hot and cold, up and down, in and out, white and black. You need evil, he said, in order to have good. I was shocked! After a short reflection, I realized that evil too has a purpose. But, that does not mean evil must win. And, with that, I am back with the question, “If I were God, what would I do?”

Fortunately, I am not God because I would be a weak god. My world would be weak and boring. No evil threats to dominate the good. No storms, no destructive volcanoes, no floods, no nothing that would challenge humanity to step up and be great, to overcome problems for the better.

The nature of humanity demands that we confront problems and using our gifts from God, we can overcome a great many of them. Without the challenges, we wander listlessly in a world that is built for challenge and rising to overcome. Without the problems, the threats, the dangers of living we would not rise to greatness. Perhaps, that greatness will be the God-like power that will take new, yet to be born worlds, to destinies we yet cannot imagine in this world, or the next.

If I were God, I would not have to ponder this reality. And because I ponder, that proves the master creator has a plan for us all and we need to prepare and get ready to meet the challenges of this world and the next, and the next, and the next.

I often reflect – at times of hardship and confronted with evil – a verse in the Holy Quran – Chapter 2, Verse 31 – which tells of a post-universe creation moment in which God told the obedient Angels that he was sending man down to manage the earth. When the angels questioned the wisdom of using man and his troublesome nature for such an important task, God responded, “ I know what you know not.”

And that is yet another proof to me that (I am/we are) not God and can never be, but we have a mission and we can accomplish our mission in spite of hardship and evil.

We were chosen for a reason. Let’s find our gifts, do our jobs and return for our new assignments.

Our universe and future times and places, await our greatness.

(ISHWORLD: The International Search for Humanity is a complimentary column created and distributed to media by freelance journalist & blogger Ishmael-Lateef Ahmad. Based in St. Louis, Mo., he can be reached via ishworldcolumn@gmail.com or his website at https://payhip.com/ISHWORLDcolumns [payhip.com]).

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