“The kingdom of the heavens and earth belongs to God; God has power over all things. There are signs in the creation of heavens and earth and in the alternation of night and day for eople of understanding; who remember God while standing, sitting and (lying) on their sides and who ponder over the creation of heavens and earth, saying ‘Lord, you have not created all this without purpose. Glory be to you! Save us from the torment of fire.” From the above verse, it is noted that God has a purpose to create His creatures. Further, He creates man to fulfill His purpose. Precisely, man is created only for ‘worshiping alone Him’. However, some verses can be cited as: “When your Lord said to the angels, ‘I am putting a successor on earth,’ they said, ‘Will you place someone there who will cause corruption on it and shed blood, while we glorify you with holiness? (God) answered, ‘Surely, I know that which you do not know.” “And I created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship me.” The verses clearly mentioned that man was created with a ‘purpose’. It signifies that man is not created without purpose. The purpose is to get successor (khalifa) on earth and to worship alone Him. Islam is the response to humanity’s search for meaning. The purpose of creation for all men and women for all times has been one: To know and worship God. Islam is the complete code of life and it gives details and mentions about each and every aspect of life. Therefore, by following the instructions of Islam one can live the worldly life in the best manner. However, there are others who think that following the principles of Islam alienates them and takes them away from this world and hinders in their way of achieving success in this life. Such a conception about Islam is wrong and it has nothing to do with real message of Islam. The Qur’an teaches us that every human being is born conscious of God: “(Remember) when your Lord extracted from the loins of Adam’s children their descendants and made them testify (saying): ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said: ‘Yes, we testify to it.’ (This was) in case you say on the Day of Judgment: ‘We were unaware of this.’ Or you say: ‘It was our ancestors who worshipped others besides God and we are only their descendants. Will you then destroy us for what those liars did’?” (Qur’an, 7:172-173). In Christianity, the meaning of life is rooted in faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, the proposition is not without serious problems. First, if this is the purpose of creation and the precondition for eternal life, why was it not taught by the prophets to all the nations of the world? Second, had God turned into man close to the time of Adam all mankind would have had an equal chance to eternal life, unless those before the time of Jesus had another purpose for their existence! Third, how can people today who have not heard of Jesus fulfill the Christian purpose of creation? Naturally, such a purpose is too narrow and goes against divine justice. The Prophet (peace be upon him) teaches us that God created this primordial need in human nature at the time Adam was made. God took a covenant from Adam when He created him. God extracted all of Adam’s descendants who were yet to be born, generation after generation, spread them out, and took a covenant from them. He addressed their souls directly, making them bear witness that He was their Lord. Since God made all human beings swear to His Lordship when He created Adam, this oath is imprinted on the human soul even before it enters the fetus, and so a child is born with a natural belief in the Oneness of God. This natural belief is called fitra in Arabic. Consequently, every person carries the seed of belief in the Oneness of God that lies deeply buried under layers of negligence and dampened by social conditioning. If the child were left alone, it would grow up conscious of God — a single Creator — but all children are affected by their environment. The Prophet of God said, “Each child is born in a state of ‘fitra,’ but his parents make him a Jew or a Christian. It is like the way an animal gives birth to a normal offspring. Have you noticed any young born mutilated before you mutilate them?” (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim) According to Islam, there has been a basic message which God has revealed through all prophets, from the time of Adam to the last of the prophets, Muhammad (peace be upon them). All the prophets sent by God came with the same essential message: “Indeed, We have sent a messenger to every nation (saying), ‘Worship God and avoid false gods..’” (Qur’an, 16:36). The prophets (peace be upon them) brought the same answer to mankind’s most troubling question, an answer that addresses the yearning of the soul for God. Islam means ‘submission’ and worship, in Islam, means ‘obedient submission to the will of God.’ Every created being ‘submits’ to the Creator by following the physical laws created by God, “To Him belongs whosoever is in the heavens and the earth; all obey His will.” (Qur’an, 30:26). They, however, are neither rewarded nor punished for their ‘submission’, for it involves no will. Reward and punishment are for those who worship God, who submit to the moral and religious Law of God of their own free will. This worship is the essence of the message of all the prophets sent by God to mankind. For example, this understanding of worship was emphatically expressed by Jesus ((peace be upon him), “None of those who call me ‘Lord’ will enter the kingdom of God, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” ‘Will’ means ‘what God wants human beings to do.’
“Aspire for yourself what Allah wishes for you. While some Muslims seek the material possessions of this world, Allah desires for you the Hereafter. Allah is indeed Exalted. Therefore, humanity must strive by acknowledging Allah’s greatness and power, and must contemplate how to endure the day of trial throughout their lifetime. One should not attempt to exceed the boundaries of the commandments. Believers need to assess their faith and endeavor to be blessed in order to achieve Allah’s purpose.”
This ‘Will of God’ is contained in the divinely revealed laws which the prophets taught their followers. Consequently, obedience to divine law is the foundation of worship. Only when human beings worship their God by submitting to their religious law can they have peace and harmony in their lives and the hope for heaven, just like the universe runs in harmony by submitting to the physical laws set by its Lord. When you remove the hope of heaven, you remove the ultimate value and purpose of life. Otherwise, what difference would it really make whether we live a life of virtue or vice? Everyone’s fate would be the same anyway. While fixing your eyes on the eternal prize, be sure to inform yourself regarding what Allah expects from you in this life. Recognise that Allah is lord and master, not only of this world, but of all possible worlds, and that He provides for the world and saves it. So they routed them by Allah’s Leave and Dawud (David) killed Jalut (Goliath), and Allah gave him [Dawud (David)] the kingdom [after the death of Talut (Saul) and Samuel] and Al-Hikmah (Prophethood), and taught him of that which He willed. And if Allah did not check one set of people by means of another, the earth would indeed be full of mischief. But Allah is full of Bounty to the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists). [Quran, 2:251]. Avoid disgracing others. Then, you are those [same ones who are] killing one another and evicting a party of your people from their homes, cooperating against them in sin and aggression. And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, although their eviction was forbidden to you. So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part? Then what is the recompense for those who do that among you except disgrace in worldly life; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent back to the severest of punishment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do. [Quran, 2:85]. Don’t value the world life above the life of the hereafter. The world is truly full of joy and beauty in spite of all of the sin and suffering, but the heavenly life will be better. Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire – of women and sons, heaped-up sums of gold and silver, fine branded horses, and cattle and tilled land. That is the enjoyment of worldly life, but Allah has with Him the best return. [Quran, 3:14]. The worldly life is your only opportunity to establish obedience to your creator. You won’t get a second chance. Those who followed will say, “If only we had another turn [at worldly life] so we could disassociate ourselves from them as they have disassociated themselves from us.” Thus will Allah show them their deeds as regrets upon them. And they are never to emerge from the Fire. [Quran, 2:167]. Recognise that Allah does not depend on the world— rather the world depends on Him. In it are clear signs [such as] the standing place of Abraham. And whoever enters it shall be safe. And [due] to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House – for whoever is able to find thereto a way. But whoever disbelieves – then indeed, Allah is free from need of the worlds. [Quran, 3:97]. Avoid injustice. These are the verses of Allah. We recite them to you, [O Muhammad], in truth; and Allah wants no injustice to the worlds. [Quran, 3:108]. Spend wisely the resources given you by Allah. The example of what they spend in this worldly life is like that of a wind containing frost which strikes the harvest of a people who have wronged themselves and destroys it. And Allah has not wronged them, but they wrong themselves. [Quran, 3:117]. You get what you ask for, so ask for the best. And it is not [possible] for one to die except by permission of Allah at a decree determined. And whoever desires the reward of this world – We will give him thereof; and whoever desires the reward of the Hereafter – We will give him thereof. And we will reward the grateful [Quran, 3:145]. Guard yourself against the delusions of this world. Don’t be fooled into thinking that that’s all there is. And leave those who take their religion as amusement and diversion and whom the worldly life has deluded. But remind with the Qur’an, lest a soul be given up to destruction for what it earned; it will have other than Allah no protector and no intercessor. And if it should offer every compensation, it would not be taken from it. Those are the ones who are given to destruction for what they have earned. For them will be a drink of scalding water and a painful punishment because they used to disbelieve. [Quran, 6:70]. Don’t create, say, or do anything dishonest or misleading. Indeed, those who took the calf [for worship] will obtain anger from their Lord and humiliation in the life of this world, and thus do we recompense the inventors [of falsehood], [Quran7:152]. Desire for yourself what Allah desires for you. Some Muslims desire the commodities of this world, but Allah desires [for you] the Hereafter. And Allah is Exalted. So, Mankind must work by remembering Allah’s supremacy and mighty and must think to pass on the day of test during the course of life time. There should not try to go beyond the periphery of the injunctions. The believers require checking their level of faith and work to be a blessed in order to fulfill Allah’s purpose.
(The authors write regularly on Islamic topics exclusively for the opinion pages of “Kashmir Horizon”. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”)
Dr. Bilal A Bhat
Intizar Ahmad
