If we live in an atheistic paradigm then it is self evident that something that has come into existence by accident can have no real purpose. But, humans have been created by God, so He has the perogative to define the purpose of life. The purpose of our life is to have communion with the All Powerful, All Knowing and Loving God. Allah says in the Holy Quran, "And I have not created the Jinn (leaders of men) and the men but that they may worship Me. " (Al Quran 51:57)
Source: Knol: A unit of knowledge (Google)
By Zia H. Shah, MD | Miami FL.
The die hard atheists may think that there is no real purpose to human life, so the only superficial purpose may seem to have fun while we are still alive. Sometimes, the more flexible among them try to construct some sort of altruistic purpose to life, but their synthesis is hard for those with a theistic perspective to comprehend.
The way many of us lead our lives it may seem that the purpose of life is material accumulation, becoming popular and leading a life of luxury and pomp. But there may be a certain futility in that life style, and if not most many of us begin to see that sooner or later in our lives.
When it comes to chosing a teacher to lead the way as to how to establish communion with our Creator, we could not possibly learn from a teacher who has not succeeded himself and is describing theoretical details only, from the scriptures. We rather need a Master who has succeeded in this endeavor and his success is manifest!
Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Messiah of this age describes the path and means to achieve the goal in his book, the Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam. To read the whole text go to:
http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Philosophy-of-Teachings-of-Islam.pdf
Let me present an excerpt from that book:
"The real purpose of all the external and internal limbs and faculties that have been bestowed on man is understanding and worship and love of God. That is why, despite a thousand occupations, man does not find his true well-being except in God Almighty. Having acquired great wealth, or achieved high office, or having become a great merchant, or having acquired governing authority, or become a great philosopher, he departs in the end from these worldly involvements with a sense of frustration. His heart rebukes him all the time about his deep concern with the world and his conscience never approves his wiles and deceits and wrongful actions. This problem can be appreciated in another way. The purpose of the creation of a thing is determined by its highest achievement beyond which its faculties cannot rise. For instance, the highest a bullock is capable of is ploughing, or irrigation, or transportation, and therefore these are the purpose of its life and it cannot rise above them. But when we take stock of man’s faculties and powers to discover his highest capacity, we find that he is invested with the faculty of seeking after God so much so that he desires that he should become so devoted to God’s love that he should have nothing of his own and that everything should become God’s. He shares his natural needs like food and drink and rest with other animates, and in industry some animals are ahead of him; for instance, the bees produce such excellent honey from every type of flower that man has so far not been able to compete with them. It is clear, therefore, that the highest capacity of man is meeting with God Almighty and thus the true purpose of his life is that the window of his heart should open towards God."
The word ‘Islam’ means peace, obedience and submission. Submission to Allah’s teachings, submission to observe the daily prayers and surrendering to all that He desires in order to gain His love. Muslims believe that this life on earth is a test, or a journey one must encounter, which will ultimately lead one to the Hereafter. The Essence of Islam which is a collection of excerpts from the writings of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, has a chapter on this topic in the second volume:
Shah, Zia. The Purpose of Human Life [Internet]. Version 3. Knol. 2010 Jan 3. Available from: http://knol.google.com/k/zia-shah/the-purpose-of-human-life/1qhnnhcumbuyp/80.
Read other articles by the author here: Zia Shah
ahmadiyya zindabad =)
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