The purpose and wisdom, which manifest themselves in the wider universe under the direct control of God, have to be adopted by man of his own accord in his personal life. What God has established on a physical plane; man has to establish on a moral plane. With the same strength as is possessed by the iron which is found everywhere in the cosmos, man must have realstaunchness of character. But kind-heartedness must spring from him too, in the way that the springs gush forth from the rocks. Just as fragrance and colour are to be found in abundance in the cosmos, so should man’s life be enhanced by the fairness and honesty of his dealings. He should be like the tree which breathes out oxygen in return for the carbon dioxide which it breathes in: that is, he should return good for evil; he should be kind to those who wrong him. He should learn too, from the fact that nothing in the cosmos ever encroaches upon anything else.
Each physical entity concentrates solely upon playing its own part in the order of the universe. Man must also engage in the same positive action, avoiding all negative activities. Innumerable activities are going on throughout the cosmos on the grandest of scales, but without any recompense. In like manner, man should keep on discharging his responsibilities without any hope of reward. He should reflect upon how the lofty mountains and the trees cast their shadows upon the earth, with no thought for what anyone can do for them in return, and should emulate this act in all humility, for, as the Prophet has enjoined, no one should be proud; no one should consider himself superior to others.
The activities going on in the world at every moment proclaim who are the worthy and who are the unworthy. Those who are motivated solely by the superficial interests of money, honour or fame are little better than miserable misfits in this selfless world of God. They are not true to the standards set in this universe, which is a living manifestation of divine ethics. Only those who can be motivated by the truth, pure and simple, who can rise above personal interests, freeing themselves from complexes and obsessions, shall be deserving of honour and glory from God.
In the heavenly world to come, all those who have been activated solely by their immediate worldly interests, will be marked down as unworthy, and cast out from it. This beautiful and blissful world will be inherited only by those who, motivated by unworldly interests, lifted their eyes from the immediate, material things in order to be able to see things distant and ‘unseen’: The universe demonstrates at all points in time and on a vast scale what kind of citizens arerequired by God to inherit the ideal world of tomorrow – Paradise.
God desires men who will be true to His morals, and who will practice the religion that is enshrined, in theory, in His Book and, in practice, in His universe. Those who refuse to learn their lesson and persist in following the path of selfish passion are wrongdoers of the worst kind. (Those who refuse to see God’s signs, although they have eyes, and refuse to hear God’s voice, although they have ears, are, in the eyes of God, ‘the worst animals’ (8:22)!).
Man’s True Purpose in Life!Man attains his highest distinction only when he leads a purposeful life. Such a life characterises the most advanced stage of human development. This does not mean that, by taking up just any task which is ostensibly significant, man’s life becomes truly purposeful. A really purposeful life is one in which man discovers his supreme status as a moral being; it is a life in which his personality makes manifest the unique and distinctive ability to make moral choices.
An animal strives to obtain food; a bird flies in search of a better country when the season changes; a wasp busies itself building up its own home from tiny particles of earth; a herd of deer takes measures to protect itself from wild beasts of prey. All of these appear to be purposeful actions. But when the phrase ‘a purposeful life’ is applied to man, it does not refer to practical efforts of this nature. Without doubt arranging for food, clothes and shelter are some of the tasks that man has to perform in this world; but this is a level of purposefulness at which men and animals, being concerned only with bare survival, are equal. Its true application in relation to man can only be that, in which he appears in all his dignity: when it goes beyond common animalism and takes the form of superior humanism.
God’s creations in this world fall into two categories: animate and inanimate. Obviously, animate objects enjoy a certain superiority over inanimate objects. The former can be divided into three classes: the vegetable, the animal and the human.Modern scientific research has shown that plants also possess life, in that they nourish themselves, they grow and they have feelings. But animals and men surely represent a higher form of life. In what way does man excel animals?
Many theories have been advanced in answer to this question over the ages, and great minds are still studying it. But modern biologists have come to the conclusion that it is man’s capacity for conceptual thought, which distinguishes him from other life forms. Animals lack this quality, whereas man is conscious of the fact that he is thinking. He consciously forms all plans of action in his mind; in his everyday life his actions are determined by him. Whereas this is not the case with animals. Though many of their actions appear to be like those of men, these actions are not the result of thought; they all stem from pure instinct. Animals are simply led intuitively by their desires and their needs in a certain direction. Their actions are governed by environmental stresses from without and physical pressures from within.
It is from this unique capacity of man to conceptualise that we can conceive of what his higher purpose in life should be: one which in no way results from the pressures of desire or of immediate exigencies. It must emanate from his own urge to worship God.
Man’s true purpose in life can only be one which reflects the nobler side of his character; one which represents him as the superior being that he is, if one pauses at this stage to take note of what the Quran has to say, one will find that it gives us clear guidance in this matter. Man’s purpose in life has been explained in the Quran in the following words:’I created mankind and the jinn that they might worship me. I demand no livelihood of them, nor do I ask that they should feed me. God alone is the Magnificent Giver, the Mighty One, the Invincible.’ (Surat-uz-Zaariyaat,Aayat Nos. 56,57,58).