29 March, 2024

19 Ramadan, 1445 H

"Silence saves you from regret"

- Imam Ali (as) -

Learning
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Core Curriculum

Section 1 - God, Religion and Islam: An Introduction
  • Topic 1.1 - God, Allah and Religion

  • Topic 1.2 - What is “Religion” and What’s the Point of it Anyways?

  • Topic 1.3 - Introduction to Islam

  • Topic 1.4 - A Brief Introduction to the Prophet Muhammad (s), the Prophet of Islam

Section 2 - Foundations of Islam - Theology
  • Topic 2.1 - Satan, Jinns and Angels: Their Influence in the World

  • Topic 2.2 - The Islamic Concept of the Nafs: Battling the Human Ego

  • Topic 2.3 - The Sharīʿa: Purpose and Practice

  • Topic 2.4 - Nubuwwa: The Purpose of Prophethood in Islam

  • Topic 2.5 - Tawhīd: The Unity and Oneness of God in Islam

  • Topic 2.6 - The Usūl al-Dīn: The Fundamental Beliefs of Islam

  • Topic 2.7 - Adala: Divine Justice in Islam

  • Topic 2.8 - Entering Islam: The Shahada

  • Topic 2.9 - Maʿād: The Day of Judgment in Islam

  • Topic 2.10 - Imāmah or divinely guided leadership in Islam after the Prophet Muhammad.

Section 3 - Foundations of Islam - Obligatory Acts
  • Topic 3.1 - Accepting Islam: Putting Faith into Action

  • Topic 3.2 - The Furūʿ al-Dīn: The Fundamental Practices of Islam

  • Topic 3.3 - Salāt: Obligatory Ritual Prayers in Islam

  • Topic 3.4 - Fasting in Islam, its Purpose, Dos and Don’ts

  • Topic 3.5 - The Hajj Pilgrimage

  • Topic 3.6 - The Purpose of Zakat and Khums in Islamic Law

  • Topic 3.7 - Jihād in Islamic Law and Spirituality

  • Topic 3.8 - Commanding the Good and Forbidding Evil in Islam

  • Topic 3.9 - Tawalla and Tabarra, its Basics and Purpose

  • Topic 3.10 - The Five Categories of Islamic Law

  • Topic 3.11 - Niyya: Religious Intention as the Foundation of Islamic Practice

  • Topic 3.12 - Ritual Purity in Islamic Law: Understanding Tahāra and Najāsa

  • Topic 3.13 - Other Obligatory and Forbidden Acts in Islam

Section 4 - Prophethood in Islam
  • Topic 4.1 - A Brief Biography of the Prophet Muhammad (s): The Prophet’s Childhood (PART I of III)

  • Topic 4.2 - Bio: The Prophet Muhammad as a Prophet of God (PART II of III)

  • Topic 4.3 - A Brief Biography of the Prophet Muhammad (s): The Prophet’s Character (PART III of III)

  • Topic 4.4 - The Prophet Muhammad (s) as Messenger and Teacher

  • Topic 4.5 - The Prophet and his Relationships

  • Topic 4.6 - The Prophet’s Sunnah and Hadith

  • Topic 4.7 - Ghadīr and Arafah: The Two Last Sermons of the Prophet

  • Topic 4.8 - Jesus and Mary in Islam

Section 5 - The Qur'an and Hadith
  • Topic 5.1 - Islam and Other Religions

  • Topic 5.2 - What is the Qur’an? A Short Introduction to Islam’s Holy Book

  • Topic 5.3 - The Structure of the Holy Qur’an

  • Topic 5.4 - The Quran and Islamic law

  • Topic 5.5 - The Qur’an, Allah and Humankind

  • Topic 5.6 - Hadith and Sunnah, difference and variations

  • Topic 5.7 - The Reliability of Hadiths

  • Topic 5.8 - A Reflection on Verses of the Holy Qur’an

  • Topic 5.9 - Hadith al-Thaqalayn

  • Topic 5.10 - Imam Ali (as) and Nahj al-Balagha.

  • Topic 5.11 - Taqlid and Tawḍih Al Masail Genre of Literature

Section 6 - Measuring Good and Bad in Islam
  • Topic 6.1 - Guidance According to Islam

  • Topic 6.2 - Life and Death in Islam

  • Topic 6.3 - Heaven and Hell in Islam

  • Topic 6.4 - The Effects of Our Actions in this World

  • Topic 6.5 - The Gray Areas of Islamic Law and Morality

  • Topic 6.6 - Benefits of Islamic Law in this World

  • Topic 6.7 - Good and Bad Deeds: The Spiritual Consequences of our Choices

  • Topic 6.8 - The Effect of Culture and Environment in Shaping our Religious Choices

  • Topic 6.9 - Fate and the Consequences of our Choices in Islam

  • Topic 6.10 - Trivializing the Harām

  • Topic 6.11 - Sinning Against Others and their Delayed Punishment

  • Topic 6.12 - The Three Kinds of Rights in Islam

  • Topic 6.13 - Major Sins in Islam

  • Topic 6.14 - Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins in Islam

  • Topic 6.15 - Kufr in Islam

  • Topic 6.16 - Why Allah Allows People to Sin

Section 7 - The Legacy of the Prophet Muhammad (s) and his Ahl al-Bayt (as)
  • Topic 7.1 - Islam and Knowledge: the Importance of Islamic Education

  • Topic 7.2 - The Ahl al-Kisa

  • Topic 7.3 - Imamah in the Qur’an

  • Topic 7.4 - Fatima al-Zahrah (as)

  • Topic 7.5 - A Brief Look at the Lives of the Imams (Imam al-Hasan until Imam Muhammad al-Baqir)

  • Topic 7.6 - A Brief Look at the Lives of the Imams (Imam Jafar al-Sadiq until Imam Hasan al-Askari)

  • Topic 7.7 - A Brief Look at the Life and Importance of Imam al-Mahdi (aj)

  • Topic 7.8 - Salawat and Atonement in Islam

  • Topic 7.9 - The Companions (Sahaba) of the Prophet According to the Qur’an

  • Topic 7.10 - Clerical Hierarchies in Muslim Communities

  • Topic 7.11 - Mosques in Islam

  • Topic 7.12 - The Philosophy of Karbala and Majalis

  • Topic 7.13 - A Brief Biography of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (as)

  • Topic 7.14 - The Battle of Karbala: A Brief History

Section 8 - Islamic Relationships, Sects and Conflicts
  • Topic 8.1 - Islam and Rights

  • Topic 8.2 - Islam and Religious Conflicts

  • Topic 8.3 - Major Sects of Islam

  • Topic 8.4 - Sunnism and Shi’ism, beginnings and historical developments.

  • Topic 8.5 - Misconceptions about Shi’ism

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Special Topics

Section 9 - Independent Topics
  • Topic 9.1 - Muslim Converts – Welcome to Islam!

  • Topic 9.2 - Basic Dos and Don’ts of Being a Muslim

  • Topic 9.3 - Halal Food and Zabiha

  • Topic 9.4 - Modesty in Islam

  • Topic 9.5 - Family, Parents and Marriage in Islam

  • Topic 9.6 - Marriage in Islam

  • Topic 9.7 - Islam and Sex

  • Topic 9.8 - Women’s Menstruation in Islam

  • Topic 9.9 - Music, Alcohol, Drugs and Pork in Islam

  • Topic 9.10 - Islam and Science

  • Topic 9.11 - A Reading List of Islamic Knowledge

  • Topic 9.12 - Islam and Sufism

  • Topic 9.13 - Ritual Prayers and Supplications in Islam

  • Topic 9.14 - Death & Burial Rituals in Islam

  • Topic 9.15 - The Battle of Armageddon: An Islamic View

  • Topic 9.16 - The Muslim Calendar

  • Topic 9.17 - Muslims and non-Muslims in the Shariah

  • Topic 9.18 - A Timeline of Major Events in Islamic History

  • Topic 9.19 - Introducing the Qur’an: Why it is the way it is

  • Topic 9.20 - The School of Imam Jafar al-Sadiq

  • Topic 9.21 - Major Fields in Islamic Studies

  • Topic 9.22 - The Caliphate in Sunni and Shia Islam

  • Topic 9.23 - The Spread of Islam: After the Prophet until the Ottoman Empire

  • Topic 9.24 - Islam, Racism and Anti-Semitism

Section 10 - Islam, Religion, and Modern Controversies
  • Topic 10.1 - Modern Fallacies about God: where Theists and Atheists Agree

  • Topic 10.2 - Tawhīd: The Muslim God according to the Prophet Muhammad and the Ahl al-Bayt (as)

  • Topic 10.3 - God’s Existence: The Argument From Being (Wujūd)

  • Topic 10.4 - God’s Existence: The Kalam Cosmological Argument

  • Topic 10.5 - God’s Existence: The Argument From Design

  • Topic 10.6 - The Problem of Evil, Suffering and Pain

  • Topic 10.7 - Why did God Create Us? The Purpose of our Creation

  • Topic 10.8 - Why Humans Need Religion according to Islam

  • Topic 10.9 - Jahl and Spiritual Ignorance in Islam

  • Topic 10.10 - Faith in Islam: Belief without Evidence?

  • Topic 10.11 - Do Non-Muslims Go to Hell?

Why did God Create Us? The Purpose of our Creation

Abstract

Here we look at some of the reasons why God created human beings. We also look at what our purpose in this world is and why God created evil people.

INTRODUCTION 

 

Bismillāhir Rahmānir Rahīm, As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh. Peace be upon you brothers and sisters. 

 

Welcome back to the Muslim Converts Channel! 

 

Sometimes you have your really critical questions about God and religion such as the following ones: “how do we know that God exists?” or “why does God allow evil?”  

 

There are other questions that people wonder about that can be just as important as these ones. 

 

A common question we want to tackle here is the following. Why did God create us in the first place?  

 

Related to this question is the following: what’s the point of God creating humanity if so many people are bad? 

 

In this lesson, we will attempt to answer these questions. 

 

BODY OF TEXT 

 

I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me. (Chapter 51, verse 56 of the Holy Qur’an) 

 

And We did not create the heaven and earth and that between them in play. (Chapter 21, verse 16 of the Holy Qur’an) 

 

If God is all great, what was the point of Him creating us? What need did He have in doing so? 

 

Especially with all the evil that we see in this world, the question is a baffling one. Even the angels, in some way, protested when God declared His intention to create humanity.  

 

The Qur’an says: 

 

Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." They said: "Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" He said: "I know what ye know not." (Chapter 2, verse 30 of the Holy Qur’an) 

 

This reasoning doesn’t need much explanation, we all experience human evil, either directly or through the news. With all this bad stuff going on, why did God create humans anyways? 

 

The first way of looking at it is this way. God has lots of attributes, and some of these attributes are part of His essence. In other words, just like water is wet, God has attributes that are part and parcel of Himself. Of these attributes, we know that God is all-loving (al-wadūd) and all-merciful (al-rahmān).  

 

Since God is all loving and all merciful, He created us humans out of this love and mercy. It is out of His care and compassion that He wanted to give us life and give us the opportunity to earn eternal happiness in exchange for limited, finite acts of good and obedience to Him that He really doesn’t need. He only asks us to do them because it is for our own good! 

 

In this sense, we see the purpose of our lives. The purpose of our lives is to attain eternal happiness. But how is this done? The only way this happens is when we synchronize our hearts and souls with the essence of all of existence, the essence of all being, namely God.  

 

This act of synchronization in the Qur’an is called ibādah, or servitude to God. This isn’t just external servitude, but it is, fundamentally, an interior reality. In other words, it is our heart’s submission to God and acceptance of His light into the dark depths of our being. 

 

God doesn’t need this worship or servitude of ours. It is we who need it because it is the only way we can purify our inner selves. God is the source of all love, good, compassion, wisdom and everything in between. It is only by linking our hearts with Him that we can acquire these attributes in their fullest sense possible. 

 

So what is God doing for us? Well, He’s promised us eternal life and happiness if we accept a plan that will transform our souls and make us better people. It is a win win situation where it is not God that benefits, but it us who benefit in every sense you can think of. 

 

Now let’s turn back to the question of evil. We know that there is lots of evil in this world, but God still created us. A lot of times, it seems that there are more bad people than good. So wasn’t this all a waste anyways? What’s the point of creating us out of love if we’re just going to do evil? 

 

We can answer this in two ways. First, not everyone is evil in this world. There are also lots of good people. There are also some bad people who are really good but became bad because they were victims of their circumstances. God will judge all of us according to our circumstances so it is only He who can judge which one of us is truly good or evil. 

 

In Islam, God also sees hope in every single one of us. He sees hope that we may turn back and change, perhaps not in this world, but in the grave, the Day of Judgment or maybe even in hell. So not all is lost if we don’t make it in this world.  

 

Second, there are many humans who have fulfilled the ideal of being God’s vicegerents on earth. In other words, they are people who have purified their hearts and fulfilled what God expected of them. Why should these people be denied their existence because others would be bad? Why should evil people have a veto over the existence of Good people? 

 

Some may ask the following question: well why didn’t God just create good people only? The answer is the following: maybe the reason why these good people existed and continue to exist is because good people will descend from them, perhaps their grandchildren or their offspring many generations later will become pious servants of God? 

 

Consider, also, the following. Perhaps if evil people didn’t exist to test potentially good people, these so called good peopel wouldn’t be so good?  

 

Until Next Time, Thank you for watching. As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh

Al-Wadud

God’s characteristic, all-loving

Al-Rahman

God’s characteristic, all-merciful

Ibadah

Worship, servitude to God

Q1

What is true servitude to God?

It is to submit your heart to God, to synchronize your soul with His will and being.

Q2

Why isn’t the world filled with only good people?

Because God gave humans free will, and free will means that people can choose evil as well as good. If there is no free will, people cannot choose good either. 

Q3

Why did God create bad people?

God did not create bad people, bad people chose to be bad by themselves.

Q4

Why is our purpose in this life?

To submit our hearts to God and thereby purify them and reach spiritual perfection and wisdom.

Q5

What is the reason God create us humans?

He created us out of His love and compassion.

 

why did God create us
day of judgment
angels
purpose of our creation
purpose of our lives

Faith and Reason by Mahdi Hadavi Tehrani