Friday, June 18, 2004

Purpose of Life

Purpose of Life

We are faced with a very common issue or question in this era we live in. What is our purpose here? why are we here? Well, the only way you shall find out the correct answer is no where other than the Quran, the true words of Allaah the Exalted.Now first of all, we can all confirm that the Quran is the true word of Allaah, and there is no doubt about it. Now if you turn to Surah Da'riat, Aya 56, we read," WA MAA KHALAKTUL JINNAH WAL INSAH ILLA LI YA'BUDOON,"
'And I have not created Jinn & Mankind for any other purpose but to worship Me' (i am very sure that this is the correct translation but please check the 1% doubt that i have)

Now look, Allaah has made it crystal clear for us, that we (his creation) are only here for one reason, and that is to worship our most perfect Lord, in the way He has told us.

Today we have forgotten our purpose and have gone astray. Let me set it to you in form of a short story:

A man enters the forest and his aim is obviously to get to the other end. As he is walking he looks back and notices that a lion has begun to chase him so he begins to run but the lion is gaining on him. So as he runs and he sees a well and jumps in and holds the rope. After a while he realises that the lion is waiting on top next to the well and is not going away. So he looks down and sees that the well instead being full of water is full of snakes, he then looks up and notices two mice one black one white and they are eating away at the rope. As he begins to panic he looks up past the mice and sees a tree is over shadowing the well and on a branch is a honey comb and a drop falls and lands in his mouth. He thinks he has never tasted better honey and eventually the drops turn into a stream falling straight into his mouth. He then forgets about the snakes at the bottom of the well which is his grave waiting for him. Forgets about the mice one black and white representing night and day and how soon it will be over. He also forgets about the lion which represents death and after forgetting his destination to reach the end of the jungle he is engulfed with the honey which represents this duniya and when the night and day finish, death will come and he will fall into his grave leaving this deceiving honey behind.
If the purpose of life is to become wealthy, there would be no purpose after becoming wealthy.

The fact is that when people approach their purpose here in this life from the aspect of only gaining wealth, after collecting the money they have dreamed of their lives loose purpose and then they live in restless tension suffering from a feeling of worthlessness.

How could wealth then be considered as the aim of life?

Could the acquisition of wealth guarantee happiness? Of course not.
When we hear of millionaires or members of their families committing suicide, how could we consider the purpose of life would be to gain great wealth?

A child of 5 years would obviously prefer a new toy to a deposit slip for a million dollars.
A teenager does not consider millions of dollars in the bank a substitute for movies, videos, pizza and hanging out with his friends.
A person in their 80s or 90s would never consider holding on to their wealth in place of spending it to hold on to or regain their health.

This proves that money is not the main purpose at all the stages of one's life.

Wealth can do little or nothing to bring happiness to one who is a disbeliever in Almighty God, because regardless of what he or she would gain in this life they would always live in fear of what will happen to them in the end. They would wonder what would become of them and how they would end up.

Wealth and its accumulation as a purpose would be doomed to a temporary success at best and in the end it would only spell out self destruction.

So, what is the use of wealth to a person without belief? He would always fear his end and would always be skeptical of everything. He may gain a great material wealth but he would only lose himself in the end.

Worship of the One True Almighty God of the Universe [Allah in Arabic] as a primary goal or aim in life provides a believer with everything he needs to succeed in both this life and the Next Life.

The word for total surrender, submission, obedience, purity of heart and peace in the Arabic language is "Islam". Those who try to perform these actions are called "MU-slims" [Islam-ERs].

To a Muslim the whole purpose of life is "ibadah" or worship to the One True Almighty God on Terms and under His Conditions.

The term "worship" to a Muslim includes any and all acts of obedience to Almighty Allah.

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