Why Did God Create Us?

Name of Questioner: Majed

Date: 10-11-2016 03:40:19 PM

Consultant: Ask About Islam Editorial Staff

Question:

My question is somewhat strange, but it has confused me greatly. I would like to ask the scholars about it. The question simply is: Why did Allah create us? The answer is mentioned in the verse: {And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me}. However, Allah always does whatever He Wills; when He wants a thing to happen, He only says to it: "Be!'' once, and it is. Thus, if Allah created us to worship Him, then He would have ordered us to do so and we would have been obedient, i.e. He could have made us like angels. However, Allah created us, endued us with minds, gave us the choice, clarified to us the path of good and the path of evil and sent us messengers and prophets to guide us. My question is: As long as Allah created us to worship Him, so why all the prevarication and what is the reason for sending messengers and creating Paradise and Hellfire? He could simply have made us like angels. Has He endued us with a mind to put it to test or to amuse Himself? If He created us to worship Him as the verse says, then He should have made us worship Him. Really, I found a contradiction between the words and the reality. Allah the Almighty Says: {And I did not create the Jinn and mankind except to worship Me.}, while it is clear that He The Almighty created us for another purpose that only He knows about and not to worship Him. If He created us to worship Him, then He should have made us worship Him by force. From this the contradiction arises. Please, could you explain this for me? May Allah Reward you!

Dear questioner, thank you very much for your interesting question. There is no need to feel sorry regarding your questions. We are here at your service. It is our pleasure to answer you and present the truth sustained by lucid proofs for all our dear readers.

With regard to your question, we feel that you have put yourself to bewilderment and confusion. The issue of our creation is totally different from what you thought. God has created everything for a job but still there is much wisdom behind its creation. This is what you did not pay attention to. You mixed between the wisdom and the job. The wisdom is divine whereas the job is ours. God has created the universe according to His Own Will for wisdom He knows, while He put a job for everything He created. He created man for a job, animals for a job, angels for a job, etc. We have neither the capacity nor the knowledge to debate with God regarding His wisdom. We only have the free choice to undertake the job we are created for or not. This is the issue.

Allah the Almighty created the living creatures in three categories:

  • Those whom He endued with mind but not desire. They are the angels.
  • Those whom He endued with desire but not mind. They are the animals.
  • Those whom He endued with mind and desire. They are the human beings and jinn.

So, the one whose mind controls his desires will be at the top of the list because the angels obey Allah the Almighty by nature and do not need to strive against their desires to be obedient to Allah, unlike human beings and the jinn.

Those whose desires overcome their minds are in a lower rank than the animals for the animals have no minds that can guard them against their desires. Allah  says:

And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like livestock; rather, they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless. [Al-A`raf 7:179]

In brief, one must know that Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise and All-Equitable. He has the Ultimate Wisdom and He is not questioned about what He does, but the creatures will be questioned. So, if the Muslim is content with this fact, then he has to give up asking that kind of question and stop thinking about the whispers of the devil which the devil uses to corrupt one’s religion and drive him away from the way of success in this life and the life to come.

We would like to draw the attention of the questioner that he used some grave words that he should have avoided when speaking about Allah  such as: “why all the prevarication, to amuse himself, I have found contradiction between words and the reality, He created us for another purpose that only He knows about, and From this the contradiction arises.”

He has to return to Allah  with sincere repentance from this deed and ask for the Forgiveness and Pardon of Allah the Almighty. Indeed, Allah  is Ever-Forbearing and Ever-Patient. He does not hasten to punish those who disobey Him.   

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Source: The answer is partly excerpted from Islamweb.net with a lot of modifications.