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GOD
CERTAINLY KNOWS HOW WE ACT AND LIVE IN THIS WORLD, WHETHER WE OBEY HIS COMMANDS OR NOT. SO, WHY HAS HE CREATED
US AND SENT US TO THIS WORLD?
First of
all, it is a reality that we have come to the world and live here.
We are born through a father and mother at any time in any place.
We have a physical composition, certain color. We belong to a
nation or race. After we live for some time, we die. We feel
hungry, thirsty, cold and warm and we sleep. We have certain
essential needs. We are surrounded by certain ‘natural’
conditions, live in a natural environment. There is an essential
relation between us and this environment. In order for a single
fruit, an apple for example, to grow, almost all parts of the
universe - the seed of the apple, earth, water, air, and the sun
each of which if all the people in the world came together to
produce, they would not be able to do that - cooperate, which
means a single apple really costs the whole universe. All of these
are the realities of our life in which we do not have the least
part. It is our belief in a Supreme Being Who creates all these
realities and us or our attributing them to ‘nature’ or ‘natural
laws’ which make us direct our lives. If we believe in the
Supreme Being, then it is of no use to question Him why He does
all these. Because He is evidently able to do anything He wills.
If we attribute them to so called ‘natural’ laws or matter or
to something else, then again we have no alternative other than
submitting to our ‘fate’, as neither of such so called powers
has either eyes to see us or ears to hear us or the power to help
us.
However,
what we should do is to try to know why we are brought or sent to
the world; how we should govern our lives; what He Who sends us to
the world ask of us? We should ponder over our responsibility in
life.
Consider
the difference between the ways in which human beings and animals
come into existence. Almost from the very moment an animal is
born, it seems to have been sent to this world after having been
trained in another and perfected in all its faculties. Within a
few hours or days or months, it comes into full possession of its
natural capacity to lead its life according to its particular
rules and conditions. A sparrow or a bee, for example, acquires in
less than a month or, rather, is inspired with, the skill and
ability to integrate into its environment in a matter of twenty
days, to do which a man would require twenty years. This means
that the basic obligation upon animals, their essential role does
not include seeking perfection through learning, or progress
through scientific knowledge; nor does it include prayer and the
petitioning for help by displaying their impotence. Their
obligation or role in creation is to act within the bounds of
their innate faculties, which is the mode of worship specified for
them.
Man, by
contrast, is born with no knowledge of life and his environment
and with a need to learn everything. Unable to know entirely the
conditions of life even after twenty years, he needs to continue
his learning until the end of his life. He appears to have been
sent to the world with so much weakness and inability that it may
take him as much as two years only to learn how to walk. Only
after fifteen years can he distinguish between good and evil, and
by virtue of living in a society, attain to a point where he can
choose between what is beneficial and what is harmful to him.
Thus, the
essential duty of man, the one intrinsic to his existence, must be
to seek perfection through learning and to proclaim his worship of
Him Who sends him to the world. He should look for the answer to
such questions- Through whose compassion is my life so wisely
administered? Through whose generosity am I being so
affectionately trained? Through whose favor and benevolence am I
being so solicitously nourished? Then he should pray and
petition The Provider of Needs in humble awareness of his needs,
even one in a thousand of which he is unable to satisfy.
This means
that man has come to this life to seek perfection through
knowledge and prayer. Everything by its nature is essentially
dependent on knowledge. And the basis, source, light and spirit of
all true knowledge are knowledge of God, and belief is the very
foundation of this knowledge.
After these
preliminary explanations, we can proceed with the answer:
To exist is
absolutely good, while non-existence is evil. So our coming or
being sent to the world is good. The overwhelming majority of
people have always loved living. The undesirable aspects of life
are usually the outcome of our own choices and deeds.
Second, it
is certainly the case that God knows how we act and live in this
world. He sends us to be tested by Him, so that we can improve our
abilities and skills through the responsibilities He ordains for
us. Undoubtedly, God creates us just as He creates minerals such
as coal, copper, iron, silver and gold: He is the Lord, the
Cherisher, the Owner and Maker of all.
A person
with artistic talents wants to express those talents and so is
known through his works of art. In the same way, the majesty and
splendor and artistry of the creation of God is a presentation and
reflection of His sacred Names and Attributes. To show human
beings His art (Might, Power, Knowledge, Wisdom, Beauty and Mercy)
He created the universe and exhibited aspects of His mysterious,
hidden treasures in it. He created the world and made it very
beautiful and charming and put it under the service of man.
To show us
how His Names, Attributes and Divine Art become manifest, He
created the universe step by step. In different qualities and
quantities, He grants us countless opportunities to get to know
Him better, endless ways to acquire sound knowledge about Him. He
is the absolute Creator Who makes everything from one, and adds to
whatever He wills thousands of additional benefits. Thus it is
that, for example, carbon may be manifest as coal or diamond, and
each further refined and adapted to a multitude of different uses.
Through
whatever is created and exhibited in the universe and is given
to man, man himself is tested, purified and prepared as a
candidate for eternal bliss in Paradise. That is, God’s creating
man is certainly a blessing for him. His putting him in a warm,
welcoming environment is another blessing. He has created diverse
kinds of food and drink and, in turn, equipped man with appetite
to need them and senses to taste them, which is another blessing.
He has ordered him to know Him, believe in Him and adore Him. The
spiritual pleasure coming from man’s knowledge of Him, belief in
and adoration of Him is innumerable times greater than the
pleasure man receives from eating, drinking and sexual relation.
This is the greatest of blessings. Man’s being perfected and
spiritually purified through belief, knowledge and worship is
another great blessing. In addition to all these and many other
blessings, God promises him to bestow eternal happiness in
another, eternal life. So, it is evident that whatever God does
for man is a hundred percent blessing.
In the same
way, raw materials are refined, purified and processed into
silver, gold or diamonds. In one hadith, the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace, said: ‘Human beings are just like
minerals. One who has a prominent place in jahiliyya (the
time of pagan ignorance in Arabia before Islam) can also enjoy a
leading position in Islam’ (Bukhari, Iman, 10, Anbiya’,
8-14; Muslim, Fada’il al-Sahaba, 168, Mana-qib,
25; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 3, 101). That is, one with great
talents or inborn capacities can have leading positions whether he
is on the wrong or right way. If he uses his capacities and talent
for wrong, he can be a tyrant or trickster, and so on. If, by
contrast, he believes, follows the right way and uses his
capacities and talents for good, this time he can be one of the
best of people. It is the God-revealed religion which guides man
to the right way. So, this religion is another great blessing for
man.
Before
Islam, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab enjoyed dignity, glory and honor in
the polytheist society of Makka, but when he became a Muslim he
gained a calmer dignity, tender-heartedness and the grandeur of belief.
Before Islam, he might be tough, quick-tempered, haughty, as one
who thought he had everything; after becoming Muslim, he was one
of the most modest and humble of men in his bearing towards the
believers. Through Islam, he improved his qualities and
attributes. Therefore, when we see well-mannered, dynamic,
energetic, audacious and spirited people, we wish them to be
Muslim, for one who was good, great, glorious and esteemed before
Islam will be far more so in Islam.
Islam deals
with the most precious and invaluable of minerals - man. It takes
man, kneads, improves and matures him, refining him as gold is
refined pure. The Companions of the Prophet, upon him be peace
and blessings, became so, 24 carat pure.
We are
tested in this world so that we may become clarified, purified
and attain virtue and perfection. Even though God knows how well
or otherwise we perform in the test, He tests us all the same. It
is not because He does not know and wants to learn what He does
not know through us, rather He knows and accordingly tests a man
against himself, and man against others. When we make strenuous
efforts to refine ourselves, to find out and prove what we are,
what we have, and whether we are worthless and valueless like iron
or great like gold, we are only acting as a means to make happen
what God already knows from eternity. We are tested in what we
strive for, and in what we exert ourselves to do. In this way, we
shall enter the presence of God and give account of ourselves to
Him: ...But their hands will speak to us, and their feet bear
witness, to all that they did (al-Fussilat, 41.65). ‘Hands
and feet’ symbolically represent all our instruments for
action, all the members of our bodies, including our faculties
and opportunities. In other verses, ‘eyes, ears and skins’ are
all mentioned as bearing witness against us if we have misused
them. |
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