Purpose of Man’s Creation
Despite having complete freedom, man submits to God of his own free will, while the rest of the universe has submitted to God out of compulsion. Paradise is the reward for this conscious surrender.
The Quran tells us that the jinns and mankind were created to worship God. (51: 56)
According to the interpretation of Mujahid Tabii, a disciple of Abdullah ibn Abbas, a senior Companion of the Prophet, worship in this verse means the realization of God (Tafsir Al-Qurtubi, Vol. 17, p. 55). There is nothing mysterious about this realization. It is, in fact, the realization of God and His creation plan. It means that man becomes unique in his intellectual ability to discover his Creator, his Lord. Then he should understand the creation plan of the Creator and make himself deserving of God’s highest blessing, that is Paradise.
According to a verse of the Quran, God “created death and life so that He might test you” (67:2). The present world is, therefore, a selection ground. Here man is placed in a free environment to find out who proves himself to be the best in conduct so that God may find eligible candidates for Paradise.
This concept makes life extremely meaningful. The British scientist, Sir James Jeans, on seeing that man comes to this world and leaves this world without making use of the potential of his brain and without achieving the fulfillment of his desires, exclaimed: “Man has strayed into a world which has not been made for him.” But, when we look at this in the light of this Quranic concept, human life becomes extremely meaningful.
An attribute of God, according to the Quran, is that He is the best of the creators (23:14), while man is required to be “best in conduct” (67:2). This shows that the very same quality of God, which is at the divine level, is required of man at the human level. The only difference is that this divine attribute manifests itself at the level of powerfulness, while with man, it becomes evident at the level of helplessness and obedience.
Here is a saying of the Prophet: “Adopt divine ethics.” (Sharh Al-Aqeedah At-Tahawiyyah, Vol. 1, p. 120). This means that man ought to bring himself into line with divine ethics; he should prove to be best in conduct by properly using his freedom, although there is no compulsion for him to do so. Those who fulfill this criterion will be the people whom God will bless with His nearness in the perfect world of the Hereafter (66:11). They will be held deserving of God’s hospitality. (41:32)
We learn from the Quran that the whole universe is obedient to God (3:83). In this respect, the material universe serves as a model of submission to God for humanity. The only difference is that man submits to God of his own free will, despite having complete freedom, while the rest of the universe has submitted to God out of compulsion.
Submission by choice is a unique phenomenon, the proof of which is given only by man in this world. Everything in the universe, from particles to stars and planets, expresses God’s glory in the complete sense, albeit in silent language, whereas man stands in this world and articulates his admiration for his Creator by saying: ‘O God, You are the greatest. Therefore, I surrender myself before You in acknowledgment of Your greatness.’
It is man alone who discovers his Creator at a conscious level and then, acknowledging his Creator at this level surrenders himself totally before Him. Paradise is the reward for this conscious surrender.
