What are the main reasons behind our creation?
- As the Qur’an states, we were created mainly to know and serve God.
“And I did not create the jinn[1] and mankind except to serve Me.” (Al-Dhariyat, 51: 56)
Serving God, which the verse tells us is the reason behind man’s existence, is so great a rank that it is also finds its place in the kalima shahadah, the profession of faith in Islam. There, it says Our Prophet (saw) is above all a servant and only then a messenger. This shows that being a servant of God has priority and that prophethood is conditional upon serving God.
The Messenger of Allah (saw) would warn people who would go overboard in praising him, with the words:
“Do not raise me above the rank I deserve…for Allah made me a servant before He made me a prophet.” (Al-Haythami, IX, 21).
Elsewhere in the Qur’an, it is said:
“Say, ‘What would my Lord care for you if not for your supplication?’” (Al-Furqan, 25: 77)
Being a servant requires one to gain marifatullah, which is the wisdom of recognizing and knowing the Lord. Imam Maturidi says genuine faith has two conditions:
[1]. As opposed to human beings who have been created from soil, jinn are created from bright and smokeless fire. They have no mass but are capable of assuming the form or appearance of beings that do. Even though they are able to travel at the speed of light, in many other areas, they are far less developed than human beings are. They have lower intelligence. Our Prophet (saw) has another distinct quality in that he was sent as a prophet to both humanity and jinn. Thus, he is also called ‘Rasulu’th-Thaqalayn’, ‘the prophet of the two species’. Muslim scholars of law, like Ghazzali and Ebu’s-Suud Efendi, who were known to settle disputes among both people and jinn, were similarly known as ‘jurists for both species’ (mufti’th-thaqalayn); while spiritual masters known to have guided them both were known as ‘masters of both species’ (murshidu’th-thaqalayn).
Source: The History of Prophets in Light of The Qur’an, THE CHAIN OF PROPHETS, Osman Nuri TOPBAŞ,Erkam Publications
