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"In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful"
Islam and the purpose of life
What is the purpose of life? What’s the purpose of your life? What’s the purpose of our lives? These questions often return in the minds of a person. Most people in Sweden even consider this question as a joke!
Men have always had different kinds of answers to these questions. Some think that the purpose of life is to get rich. But when they get rich, they don’t know what the purpose of life is any longer. They gather millions of dollars. Then what? What shall thy do then, when they have their millions of dollars? If the purpose of life were to get rich, then it wouldn't be any meaning with life after that you got rich. Here is the dilemma for lot of the atheists. Under some period of time they have collected money as their goal in life. When they have collected the money they always dreamed of they lose the purpose of life. They will start to live under tension and they will panic for nothing.
Can wealth bee a goal?
You can often hear or read about a millionaire who killed him/her self. Some times it’s not the millionaire him/her self but his/hers wife/husband, son or daughter who commit suicide. The question is then: Can the goal “wealth” give happiness to an individual? The answer is NO. So is the collection of money a lasting goal? A five year old is not interested in saving money. He rather plays with his toys he got, than planning how to raise one million dollars. And even a teenager has other things on his mined the too think about how he will gather his first million dollars. Even a ninety-year-old man has other things on his mind then to think about money, he knows that health can not be bought with money. This shows that wealth not is a lasting goal in life.
Wealth can’t give lasting happiness to a person how has no faith in God, because he is not sure of his end or destiny. He doesn't know what’s the authentic goal and purpose of his life. If he thinks that he now what the purpose of life is then the purpose is doomed to bee temporary or self-destructing!
What’s the meaning with wealth if you are afraid of your end and are sceptical to all things? A human, who has no belief, can get a lot of money, if Allah so wish, but she will lose her self to find it.
The goal is to worship Allah (God)
A person who is a Muslim has a purpose with his/her life: To worship Allah. This worship fulfils all needs that people have. In Islam the purpose of life mean’s to worship Allah. The term worship covers all that you do in the name of Allah.
The Islamic meaning with life is a lasting goal through life. A true Muslim stands firm by this goal through all of the life’s phases, it doesn't matter if he a chilled, a grownup or old.
To worship Allah gives life a goal and purpose, especially in Islam.
Allah Says in the Qur-an~an:
Surah (chapter): Al Dhariyat (51), ayah (part): 56
“I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me.”
Serve in the ayah means total submission to Allah’s requests. Everything that we do is worshipping Allah, - if we do it for Allah. Our purpose with life is to please Allah by worshiping. To ONLY worship Allah and no one or nothing at all but Allah.
In Islam the earthly life is just under a short period. Then it will be a different life. The first life and the second life are separated by the period of death. Death is like a transition between the first life and the second. The type of life after death depends a pond his/hers acts through life on earth. In the end of the death stadium comes the judgment day. On this day, Allah will reward or punish the humans depending on how he/she has lived their lives on earth.
The earthly life is a test
Islam sees the earthly life like an exam for humans. Death can resemble the stat of rest after the exam in the earthly life.
The judgment day can resemble a notification of the examination result.
The second life is the period when you enjoy or suffer, this depends of the result you got during your life on earth.
In Islam there is a logical line in life: -The first on, Death, the judgment day and then the second life. –With the help of these clear lines through life, Muslims have a crystal clear purpose with life on earth. Muslim knows that Allah has created them. A Muslim knows that he/she will live on earth for a limited period of time, and that he/she is obligated to obey Allah, because Allah will ask him/her and hold him/her responsible for his/hers actions in life. Allah knows what awry person does. A Muslim knows his action in the earthly life will determine how he/she will live in the next life. A Muslim also knows that the life hereafter is eternal!
Life hereafter is everlasting
By realizing that the life hereafter is everlasting, it gets a tremendous effect on a Muslims life. It’s like this because the Muslim realizes the connection between this life and the hereafter.
By realizing this and be able to take the consequences, a Muslim gets clear goal and a purpose with life. In the long-term the goal is to get a place in paradise.
In other words, a Muslims lasting goal is to obey Allah, because Allah has created mankind. That’s way Allah knows the best how a human functions and what his/hers needs are. The word Muslim means “The one who obeys Allah“. A Muslim obeys Allah’s commands, and fulfils the five pillars in Islam: 1. –To witness that there is only one god and that Mohammed is his messenger, 2. – To pray the five daily prayers, 3. –By fasting during the month of Ramadan (a Muslim month), 4. –By paying zakat (charity), 5. –And by doing hadz (pilgrimage to Mecca) once if it is possible during his/her lifetime.
The need of a permanent goal
Unbelievers have different goals in life for example collecting money and wealth, to eat without boundaries, sex, games and alcohol. All of this is by passing nature. Money comes and goes. Health comes and goes. Sexual activity can’t last in a eternity. You can’t eat more then to the time when your stomach is full. You can only sit in one chair at a time. You can only sleep in one bead at the time. You can only be in one house at a time. All the longing for food, money and sex etc. etc. can’t give you an answer to what the purpose of life is. And now what will happen? What will happen next?
On these questions a Muslim already have the answers to because he knows Who created him/her and why he/she is alive and to whom he/she must return. A Muslim long-term and permanent goal is to worship Allah and to get a place in paradise.
The purpose with life is to worship Allah
All that a Muslim do in life is in the name of Allah and not for anyone else or nothing else accept for Allah. This is the way success and happiness in this life and the hereafter.
It’s easy to worship Allah, and to do what he says. Allah has created the universe and all other things that we know of and do not know of, including us humans. Allah knows best of our needs and urges. That’s why Allah has set rules and laws in life for us to follow. By worshiping and subject oneself to Allah’s will then the whole life will have a purpose regarding what will happen during the life in this world. The Muslims have discovered their harmony in life because he/she has a purpose with life.
”Ashhadu Alla Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Ashhadu Anna Muhammad Rasulu Allah”
“I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Messenger”
Author: Abu Omar Jansson
/In memory to my father, Carl-Olof Jansson, that put him self this question and found the answer 1997.
Translator from Swedish: Omar Jansson.
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