Why are We Here? (1)
The Parrot then said, "After all of this our discussions, there is something I want to ask you about." The birds said, "Try us!" The Parrot said, "I wonder you can anwer some questions that are always in my mind. Why are we here? What are we doing in this world? Why did Allah create us?" The Shama said, "These questions, are questions which each and everyone of us reflects on at some point during their life. We have some answers, which are given generally, but usually these answers don’t satisfy us, they seem somewhat simplistic. We still wonder. "Why me? Why here?"
For human beings, it is extremely critical to know the answer. Without knowledge of the correct answer, human beings become indistinguishable from the other animals around them. For a Muslim, when we go in to this topic, we have to find our understanding in divine revelation and not human speculation. Because human speculation has no bounds, we can imagine all kinds of things, and is any of you have studied philosophy of religion, you can see how many opinions exist about the creation of man and existence. Because of the variety of philosophies, which are out there, no one can say this one is correct or that one is incorrect, because there is no guidance behind it. No divine revelation. It is only from divine revelation that we can determine the reality of our creation, because it is Allâh who has created us and he knows the purpose of our creation. We can hardly understand ourselves, much less try to understand the essence of things.
So it is for Allâh to inform us through the revelation in the Qur'ân and the Sunnah which was brought by his last Messenger (ﷺ) and the Messengers before. Now if we are to look, initially into revelation, to determine why was man created, there is a deeper question that we should be asking before that. "Why did Allah create?" Before we even get to man, why did Allah create, because man is not the greatest act of creation that we should be so focused on why man. No, because Allâh says in Sûrah Ghâfir, verse 57, ""The creation of the Heavens and the Earth is indeed greater then the creation of mankind; yet, most of mankind know not."
Man is not the greatest act of creation, this universe is far more complex and far more magnificent then man. So the issue of creation should then go to why create? As opposed to simply why create man? Fundamentally, we can say that the creation is the natural consequence of the attribute of creator. Allâh is the creator. That is one of His attributes. That is what He has informed us. That being His attribute, the Creator, the natural consequence or the product of this attribute is His creation.
A painter, if we are to draw a similitude on a lower level, who tells you that he is a painter, if you ask him where are his paintings and he replies I don’t have any. What kind of painter is this? The concept of a painter who doesn’t paint, there is some thing not quite gelling together here, of course Allâh is beyond this. But if we are to understand on the simplest level, the two go together. The perfection of a painter lies in his paintings. His quality and his ability to paint, is manifest in his paintings. And Allâh, beyond all that, as creator, this quality of creation is manifest in the creation itself. Allâh didn’t create out of a need. No, the fact that he is the creator, is manifest in the creation.
Furthermore, consider the act of creation, this act, with regards to Allâh is unique. Though we use the term i.e. So and so created a table etc, actually it is in a limited sense. Human beings don’t really create, they manipulate, because they can only "create" what already exists. When we make a chair or a table, we didn’t create the wood, we had to take it from a tree, we didn’t create the metal, which makes the screws etc, we had to melt down rocks and take the metal out. So we are not creating from nothing. We are manipulating things which Allâh has already created in to different shapes and forms which are useful to us. We call it "creation" but the real act of creation, is creation from nothing, and this is unique to Allâh alone.
The problem is, we always try to interpret Allâh’s creation like the way we create, then we have made Him like His creation and it leads us ultimately to shirk. This is a product of the inability to understand the concept of creation from nothingness, which is unique to Allâh. Allâh says in Surah ash-Shuraa[42]:11, "There is nothing like Him, and He is the Hearer and Seer of all."
Allâh is the creator and everything besides Him is His creation, which He created from nothing. It is not Him, nor is He it. This is the pure concept as taught by the Prophet (ﷺ), his companions, and the early generations of righteous scholars, the students of the companions and those who came after them. The best of generations. That is how they understood this matter. There was no confusion in their minds.
What we have in front of us, is that Allâh created this universe out of nothing, and everything that is in it was created. This is the reality. This is stressed for us, in order for us to realize that ultimately, all good, all evil, that takes place in the world, only takes place by the permission of Allâh. Therefore we should not seek any other channels to protect ourselves from evil, or to gather for ourselves good, as people commonly do today. They will go to fortunetellers, this is big business today, all the magazines have various forms of fortunetellers like dial a horoscope etc. in a society that has lost touch with Allâh, this is what is open to them. Allâh has stressed for us that no calamity will befall us except by Allâh’s permission. What is required of us is to depend on Allâh, put our trust in Allâh. This is what we have to draw out of this attribute of Allâh being the creator. This creation exists because of that attribute. Its practical significance to us lies in putting our trust in Allâh.
From the perspective of humankind, the question "Why did Allâh create man?" implies "For what purpose was man created?" In the final revelation, this question is answered without any ambiguity. Humans are first informed by Allâh that every human being is born with an innate consciousness of Allah. In Surah AlA'raf[7]:172-173, Allah says, "And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes, we have testified." [This] - lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, "Indeed, we were of this unaware. Or [lest] you say, "It was only that our fathers associated [others in worship] with Allah before, and we were but descendants after them. Then would You destroy us for what the falsifiers have done?"
The Prophet (ﷺ) explained that when Allah created Adam, He took from him a covenant at a place called Na'maan on the 9th day 27 of the 12th month. He then extracted from Adam all of his descendants who would be born until the end of the world, generation after generation, and spread them out before Him to take a covenant from them also. He spoke to them, face to face, making them bear witness that He was their Lord. Consequently, every human being is responsible for belief in Allah, which is imprinted on each and every soul. It is based on this inborn belief that Allah defined the purpose of humankind's creation in Surah ath-Thaariyaat[51]:56: "I did not create the jinn and the humankind except that they should worship Me."
Thus, the essential purpose for which humankind was created is the worship of Allah. However, the Allah Subhanahu wa-ta'Ala is not in need of human worship. He did not create human beings out of a need on His part. If not a single human worshipped Allah, it would not diminish His glory in any way, and if all of mankind worshipped Him, it would not increase His glory in any way. Allah is perfect. He alone exists without any needs. All created beings have needs. Consequently, it is humankind that needs to worship Him."
The Parrot asked, "What is meant by the term 'worship'?" The Shama said, "The English term 'worship' comes from the Old English weorthscipe meaning 'honor.' Consequently, worship in the English language is defined as 'the performance of devotional acts in honor of a deity.' According to this meaning, man is instructed to show gratitude to Allah by glorifying Him. In Surah an-Nasr[110]:3, Allah says, "Glorify the praises of your Lord." In glorifying Allah, man chooses to be in harmony with the rest of creation which naturally glorifies its Creator.
In Arabic, the language of the final revelation, worship is called 'ibaadah, which is closely related to the noun 'abd, meaning 'a slave.' A slave is one who is expected to do whatever his master wills. Consequently, worship, according to the final revelation, means 'obedient submission to the will of Allah.' This was the essence of the message of all the prophets sent by Allah to humankind. Consequently, obedience to divine law is the foundation of worship. In this sense, glorification also becomes worship when humans choose to obey Allah's instructions regarding His glorification."
The Parrot asked, "Why do human beings need to worship and glorify Allah by obeying the divinely revealed laws?" The Shama said, "Because obedience to divine law is the key to success in this life and the next. The first human beings, Adam and Eve, were created in paradise and later expelled from paradise for disobeying the divine law. The only way for human beings to return to paradise is by obedience, to the law. Divine laws represent guidance for humankind in all walks of life. They define right and wrong for them and offer human beings a complete system governing all of their affairs. The Creator alone knows best what is beneficial for His creation and what is not. The divine laws command and prohibit various acts and substances to protect the human spirit, the human body and human society from harm. In order for human beings to fulfill their potential by living righteous lives, they need to worship Allah through obedience to His commandments.
All of the various acts of worship contained in the divine laws are designed to help humans remember Allah. It is natural for human beings to sometimes forget even the most important things. Humans often become so engrossed in fulfilling their material needs that they totally forget their spiritual needs. Regular prayer is ordained to organize the day of the true believer around the remembrance of Allah. It interweaves spiritual needs with material needs on a daily basis. The regular daily need to eat, work and sleep is linked to the daily need to renew man's connection with Allah. With regard to regular prayer.
The believers are encouraged to remember Allah as much as possible. Although, moderation in all spheres of life, whether material or spiritual, is generally encouraged in divine law, an exception is made regarding the remembrance of Allah. It is virtually impossible to remember Allah too much. Consequently, in Surah al-Ahzaab[33]:41, Allah encourages the believers to remember Allah as often as possible, "O believers! Remember Allah often."
Remembrance of Allah is stressed because sin is generally committed when Allah is forgotten. The forces of evil operate most freely when consciousness of Allah is lost. Consequently, the satanic forces seek to occupy people's minds with irrelevant thoughts and desires to make them forget Allah. Once Allah is forgotten, people willingly join the corrupt elements. Allah, through Divine law, has prohibited intoxicants and gambling primarily because they cause human beings to forget Allah. The human mind and body easily become addicted to drugs and games of chance. Once addicted, humankind's desire to continually be stimulated by them leads them into all forms of corruption, and violence among themselves.
Consequently, humankind need to remember Allah for their own salvation and growth. All humans have times of weakness in which they commit sins. If they have no means of remembering Allah, they sink deeper and deeper into corruption with every sin. However, those who follow the divine laws will be constantly reminded of Allah, which will give them a chance to repent and correct themselves.
In the Islamic system, each and every human act can be transformed into an act of worship. In fact, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala commands the believers to dedicate their whole lives to Him. However, for that dedication to be acceptable to Allah, each act must fulfill two basic conditions: first, the act must be done sincerely for the pleasure of Allah and not for the recognition and praise of human beings. The believer also has to be conscious of Allah while doing the deed to insure that it is not something forbidden by Allah or the last Messenger (ﷺ). In order to facilitate this transformation of mundane deeds into worship, Allah instructed the last Prophet (ﷺ) to prescribe short prayers to be said before even the simplest of acts. The shortest prayer which may be used for any circumstance is, 'Bismillaah (In the name of Allah).' There are, however, many other prayers prescribed for specific occasions.
The second condition is that the act be done in accordance with the prophetic way, called in Arabic the Sunnah. All of the prophets instructed their followers to follow their way because they were guided by Allah. What they taught were divinely revealed truths, and only those who followed their way and accepted the truths would inherit eternal life in paradise. The only acceptable way to worship God is according to the way of the prophets. That being the case, innovation in religious affairs would be considered by God among the worst of all evils. Innovation in the religion is forbidden and unacceptable to God. The Prophet (ﷺ) was reported to have said, "The worst of all affairs is innovation in religion, for every religious innovation is a cursed, misleading innovation leading to the hellfire."
(Part 2)
