Question:
As-Salaamu `Alaykum!
I have been asked so many questions by my relatives, which I find difficulty in answering, such as: Why did God create us, Why is there heaven and earth? I was told that we are created so we could know God, who then judges us.
What I really want to know is why does God want to judge us? Why create people of different religions? Why do so many people die not knowing Allah? Isn’t the purpose of creating us is to know who is our creator? Why do babies die early in age and they don’t know Allah, why,,, why,,, why so many questions unanswered??
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Dear sister, thanks for your questions.
All these questions revolve around one issue, i.e. the concept of creation. You can also call it, the purpose of man’s existence in life: Why was he created? Then one can extract from this another issue: Allah’s divine schemes. That’s, what are the reasons that underline His actions.
Ok, He created mankind. But why? If you say, just to worship Him, another question comes up: Why to worship Him? What does He want to do with worship anyway? Someone may say to know Him, i.e. we worship Him to know Him. I’d say, it should be the other way around: We must know Allah in order to worship Him. This has been confirmed by many Qur’anic verses, one of them is the following:
Know, therefore, that there is no god but God, and ask forgiveness for thy fault, ...
Surah 47 Verse 19
You see here that knowledge is highly stressed upon, for man to know about his Lord. Allah also says:
There is no god but He: That is the witness of God, His angels, and those endued with knowledge, standing firm on justice. There is no god but He, the Exalted in Power, the Wise.
Surah 3 Verse 18
So, you see, knowledge gives rise to strong faith and true awareness about the Divine Entity.
Now, back to your questions in details. They actually remind me of a question thrown by a child to his mother: “Mum, why do you happen to be my mother?” “Because I gave birth to you,” the mother replied. “But why did you give birth to me?” The child went further. “Because I needed a good and pretty child like you, and God answered my prayer,” the confused mother replied. However, the child, who would not be convinced with such simple answers, said to his mother: “Please mum. Just one more question! Why did you need a child?” Responding to this, the mother snapped back: “I needed a child to play my role in life as a good mother, and for you to obey me. Now would you please stop this nonsense?!”
Now you see, sister! There are some areas that man’s mortal mind cannot reach in his quest for knowledge. He will just be asking and asking endless questions, which may further increase his confusion. That’s why we Muslims are urged not to give free rein to our thoughts as not make ourselves easy prey for Satan, for Satan waits for man at the end of this chain of question to entrap him. Nothing more. So the shield of a Muslim in this mental struggle is 'iman (faith). He is not prevented from thinking and reflecting. Rather, he is constantly urged by the Qur’an to think and to meditate; he should let his mind traverse the whole universe, contemplating on the secrets of the universe in order to draw near to conviction about his creator, about himself and others.
Still, he is not to be left alone in this crucial journey. Islam sets for him guidelines to accompany him. When he asks himself about why he is created, the answer is there for him in the Qur’an:
I have only created Jinns and men, that they may worship (or serve) Me.
Surah 51 Verse 56
Now here you are! So does it mean that our main purpose of existence is to worship God? Not exactly! When we say that man was created to worship Allah, this does not mean that Allah needs his/her worship. Almighty Allah is Ever-Rich, and He does not need our worship. He says in a divine hadith (hadith kudsi):
“If all of you, jinn and mankind, were to worship like the most righteous amongst you, it would not increase the dominion of Allah in any way, shape or form …”
If so, then why did He order us to worship Him? This is part of His tremendous mercy and kindness. Allah tells you to worship Him just for your own sake. He wants to bless you, to shower you with His mercy, to stand besides you and guide you to success and salvation. How do you earn all this? It’s just through one thing, i.e. worship your God. Just like that? Yes, just like that. Your worship implies your faith in Him, your showing acknowledgment of Him. Allah says in another Divine hadith:
“My servants, I didn’t create you just to keep Me company or for you to help Me accomplish a certain task, nor did I create you to acquire a benefit or to be spared a harm. I did create you for you to offer Me incessant worship, to remember always and to glorify Me day and night.”
All that we are required to do here is just for own benefit. Let me ask you a question: If a very rich person in your neighborhood asks you to recognize him as a wealthy person, and says that if you do that he will fill your house with dollars, sterling pounds…etc. And you are in need. Won’t you do that? Just a simple job! Do I hear you saying “Of course I’d do it right away?” So! Why can’t we do it for God, despite that we know that He owns everything, including you and that rich man? By this, our worship reflects our love to God, and this is what makes Him happy. He says in the Qur’an:
Say: "If ye do love God, Follow me: God will love you and forgive you your sins: For God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."
Surah 3 Verse 31
He is the Loving God, and His great love manifests in everything: in the way He created you, in how He takes care of you since your infancy, and promises to do so till your death, even if you don’t worship Him. Though He will call you into account when you meet Him on the Judgment Day and ask you why did you fail to love Him and to show gratitude for all His blessings.
So, sister, we should know that all what Allah creates is a sign of His love and mercy. It’s also a sign of His Divine Will, which draws us always to the fact that our God is Most Powerful. He creates, not just because He needs to create. Rather, because He wants to create. He can dispense with all what He created, even angels and prophets. Thereby, we have to know that there’s a divine wisdom in all what Allah creates.
Our renowned scholars have unanimity on this fact. For instance, in one his statements on the wisdom behind man’s creation, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi says: “He who ponders over the planet we are living in will find out that every object exists and functions for another. As we see, water is for the land, the land is for the plant, the plant is for animals. Animals are for man. And man for whom? This is the question which answer lies in man’s instinct that he is for nothing but Allah, to know Him, to worship Him and to serve Him alone.”
Even in some of the things we mortals find strange, due to our limited faculty, there lies divine wisdom. Why should a child die young? This also shows how very Kind and Merciful our God is. Muslim scholars have maintained that Muslim children who die young will be in Paradise in the Hereafter; they are unanimous on that. As for the children of unbelievers, Muslim scholars differ on this, but some of them say that those children will be in Paradise, citing as evidence the hadith reported by Imam Bukhari that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saw the children of Muslims and children of polytheists with Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim), peace and blessings be upon him. (Sahih Bukhari 6640).
So all in all, sister, behind every act of God there is divine wisdom.
