Refuting the allegation of (why did Allaah create us?)
9-1-2014 | IslamWeb
Question:
My question is somewhat strange, but it has confused me greatly. I would like to ask the scholars about it. The question simply is: why did Allaah create us? The answer is mentioned in the verse: {And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me}. However, Allaah always does whatever He Wills; when He wants a thing to happen, He only says to it: "Be!'' once, and it is. Thus, if Allaah created us to worship Him, then He would have ordered us to do so and we would have been obedient, i.e. He could have made us like angels. However, Allaah created us, endued us with minds, gave us the choice, clarified to us the path of good and the path of evil and sent us messengers and prophets to guide us.
My question is: As long as Allaah created us to worship Him, so why all the prevarication and what is the reason for sending messengers and creating Paradise and Hellfire? He could simply have made us like angels. Has He endued us with a mind to put it to test or to amuse Himself? If He created us to worship Him as the verse says, then He should have made us worship Him. Really, I found a contradiction between the words and the reality. Allaah The Almighty Says: {And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.}, while it is clear that He The Almighty created us for another purpose that only He knows about and not to worship Him. If He created us to worship Him, then He should have made us worship Him by force. From this the contradiction arises. Please, could you explain this for me? May Allaah Reward you.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
We ask Allaah The Almighty, the Lord of the Mighty Throne, to guide us and you to the Right Way and to protect us from the accursed devil and his whispers.
You have to know that answering the question (why did Allaah create us?) entails knowing two things:
Firstly, the Universal Will and Decree
Secondly, the Legislative Will
The kind of Will that is mentioned in the verse in which Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.} [Quran 51:56] is the Legislative Will.
Universal Will and Decree is related to Wisdom, Forgiveness, Mercy, Wrath, Punishment and the other Attributes of Allaah The Almighty that appear clearly in the creation of human beings and jinn in their specific state that includes mind and desires. Allaah The Almighty created the living creatures in three categories:
First, those whom He endued with mind but not desire. They are the angels.
Second, those whom He endued with desire but not mind. They are the animals.
Third, those whom He endued with mind and desire. They are the human beings and jinn.
So, the one whose mind controls his desires will be at the top of the list because the angels obey Allaah The Almighty by nature and do not need to strive against their desires to be obedient to Allaah The Almighty, unlike human beings and the jinn. Those whose desires overcome their minds are in a lower rank than the animals for the animals have no minds that can guard them against their desires. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like livestock; rather, they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless.} [Quran 7:179]
The difference between the Universal Will and Legislative Will is that the Legislative Will may or may not happen. It is also related to all that Allaah The Almighty loves. Universal
Will must inevitably happen and it is related to all that Allaah The Almighty loves and does not love.
In brief, a Muslim must know that Allaah The Almighty is All-Knowing, All-Wise and All-Equitable. He has the Ultimate Wisdom and He is not questioned about what He does, but the creatures will be questioned. So, if the Muslim is content with this fact, then he has to give up asking that kind of question and stop thinking about the whispers of the devil which the devil uses to corrupt one’s religion and drive him away from the way of success in this life and the life to come.
We would like to draw the attention of the questioner that he used some grave words that he should have avoided when speaking about Allaah The Almighty such as: “why all the prevarication, to amuse himself, I have found contradiction between words and the reality, He created us for another purpose that only He knows about, and From this the contradiction arises.”
He has to return to Allaah The Almighty with sincere repentance from this deed and ask for the Forgiveness and Pardon of Allaah The Almighty. Indeed, Allaah The Almighty is Ever-Forbearing and Ever-Patient. He does not hasten to punish those who disobey Him.
Allaah Knows best.