“What is the purpose of our creation?” A group of people continuously come into this world while another group leave it, becoming extinguished for ever - what is the idea behind this coming and going?...
It is rare to find someone who has not asked himself or others the question: “What is the purpose of our creation?” A group of people continuously come into this world while another group leave it, becoming extinguished for ever - what is the idea behind this coming and going?
When a God-worshipping person asks himself this question, he never finds himself in despair. Primarily, he knows that the Creator of this world is Wise and therefore His act of creation is undoubtedly based on wisdom - although some men might not be aware of it; secondly, viewing every part of himself, he observes that each one possesses an objective. Not only the brain, heart, blood vessels and the nerves, but even the nails, eyelashes, fingerprints, the depressions in the palms and the feet; each has a philosophy attached to its presence which has been identified and proven today.
How naïvely we reflect when we consider all of these to individually possess a purpose but to collectively lack an objective!
In any event, belief in the Wisdom of Allah (s.w.t.) and attention towards the purpose of the various parts of man and the creatures, imparts a firm conviction to us that there exists a great significance behind the creation of man.
Having comprehended this, we ought to strive to understand this purpose and, to the best of our abilities, set off towards achieving it.
In contemplating the attributes and acts of Allah (s.w.t.) we usually blunder by comparing them with ours, often asking: What flaws and shortcomings did Allah (s.w.t.) possess that could possibly be eliminated by creating us? Or, when we read in the Qur’an, which states that the purpose of man's creation is worshipping Allah (s.w.t.) [1], we ask: Why does He need our worship? We do not realize that these thoughts stem from an erroneous comparison of the attributes of the Creator with the created.
Man indeed is a limited and confined entity which strives to do away shortcomings and hence concentrates its efforts towards achieving this objective. However, this concept is meaningless with respect to an Entity that is unlimited and infinite, and hence we ought to seek the objective and purpose of His acts in entities other than Him.
He is an abundant overflowing spring and the bounty-creating Originator who, having taken the entire creation within the canopy of His support, nourishes and fosters them, leading them from imperfection towards perfection. This is the actual purpose of our servitude (towards Allah (s.w.t.) and this is the philosophy of our worship and prayers, which are indeed training classes for leading us towards perfection.
Consequently we conclude that the purpose of our creation is the (achievement) of perfection of our selves.
Basically, the actual act of creation - that is to move from non-existence into existence, from a non-entity into an entity, from zero to a figure - is a huge step towards perfection, subsequent to which start the other phases that lead towards this goal, including the entire religious set-up which emphasizes this objective.[2]
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[1] وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُون
[51:56]
[2] Tafsir-e-Namuna, vol. 22, pg. 389