Serving a purpose
Sufaya Yousf
Allah created this world for a specific purpose. Everything created in this world is for a fruitful purpose; whether it is sky, stars, humans, insects, birds etc. Behind every life there is a purpose. And that purpose is is to know Allah, to worship Him alone, to surrender one’s life to the Almighty.
Allah mentions in Quran: “and I did not create the Jinn and mankind except to worship Me” (Quran, 51:56-58)
It means that everything present in this world is not just the way it is, but there is a specific purpose for everything; weather it’s humans or some other creatures like jinn (angels). Not only humans but Angels also have some purposes in their life and their purpose is to obey their master.
Allah sent down many prophets from Adam to Prophet Muhammad (saw), and their message is that we should worship Allah alone. He is the supreme, the Almighty.
If we look into the sky, Allah has created stars, sun and the moon with some specific purpose. Allah has give them some specific works for some specific time just like sun has to rise from east and set in West, and it never disobeys its lord; he never rises from West and sets in East. The sun and its cycles teach us a lesson that we should obey our Lord come what may so that, our life will become meaningful.
Sometimes we think that our purpose of life lies in collecting money and treasures of this world. To become a billionaire becomes our aim of life, and when we achieve the target of becoming billionaire and millionaire, our life loses its purpose and suddenly we become restless, depressed. The result is that our lives suffer.
And if the aim of life is collecting the treasures of this materialistic world then why we come to know of a millionaire committing suicide. Recently we heard a news that world’s richest person Bill Gates’s wife divorced him, why? We often see that billionaires have everything but they lack peace. This proves that wealth cannot be a standing purpose of life.
Wealth is important in life, and with it, you can do anything in this world, but not necessarily every time. Collecting the worldly treasures, we lose our purpose of life. Belief in the purpose of our life is closely tied to belief in the afterlife. Our worldly possessions will not last, but our good deeds done for our God’s sake will.
Some of us think that this life is nothing, and they waste their life in ‘nothing’; it is meant only for enjoyment and they waste their precious time in thinking that this life is in vain. They also think that neither they will be asked for what they are doing, nor will they return to their God. Allah asks them a question in Holy Quran: “Did you then think that we created you in vain, and that you would not be returned to us?” (Holy Qur’an 23:115)
We should always remember this thing that this life is a test from Almighty, and people are tested in different ways. Those who are true believers qualify this test easily and this life becomes meaningful and purposeful to the believing Muslims, because they know that whatever they will do here will surely determine their position in the next life.
God made us to serve Him. It is not for the benefit of the creator Himself. He does not need anything from us, because He is the king of Kings, superpower. But for our benefit, His creations have been formed. Because He doesn’t want that we live our eternal life in difficulties. Seeking the pleasure of God is the aim of every sincere and obedient believer.
Even our difficulties have a purpose! Our hardships in life have a purpose too, they are a test of our faith, and they also purify our soul. We cannot have control over what happens with us but we can have a control over our own reaction. If we are patient in our difficult times, then we are getting closer to our God and attaining paradise.
It is all our faith in our God. A strong faith can help us hold our head high. When our faith seems to be shaking, we should get back to Quran and remind that it’s only our Lord who can get us out of our difficult times. A strong faith can keep you focused on the fact that Allah alone controls our destiny. He alone has the power. If we keep these things in our mind, only then can we achieve the real purpose of our life.
(The author is a student currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree at Srinagar)
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