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There is a verse in Quran saying God created humans to worship Him.

But, God does not need our worship. Does it mean worship is a middle goal to humans so that they be trained for a higher goal?

What is the final goal of creating humans and nature and all things?

The verse is:

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ

And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.

Zariyat 56 (51/56)

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-1 , because you are giving -1 to the people's kindly written answers. If you are already looking for a specific answer and you won't tolerate any other answer, what is the point in asking your question here? – Ahmed Han Jun 23 '12 at 10:39
@AhmedHan answer should not be interrelated. this is not about tolerating. those answer are saying what is prayer and what is its importance. but not talk abut purpose of God for prayer. – Ahmadi Jun 23 '12 at 10:45
Was my answer unrelated? I'm sorry if it was unrelated, but I don't think so. My answer is there, anyone can read and check it to see if it was unrelated or not. Even if someone's answer was unrelated, -1 is meant to be given for answers that that contain wrong information, not for ones that have missing or extra information. – Ahmed Han Jun 23 '12 at 10:49
@AhmedHan, your answer initially is off topic when it talks about prayer. Then it comes on topic. The question is clear in itself. Is it not about prayer. It is about worship. Worship can be of any kind and you can literally do worship day and night. It is not salat related. – The Truth Seaker Jun 23 '12 at 13:12
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@AhmedHan God does not need both our prayer and worship.no difference here. question is about purpose of God. – Ahmadi Jun 23 '12 at 16:02
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5 Answers

up vote -2 down vote accepted

Sufis Perspective

According to a hadith, Allah said He was a hidden treasure and He wanted to be known. As a result, He created the universe.

The final servant created in the creation stage of the universe was man. As a matter of fact, creation of man was the purpose of creation of the universe. This is because man was the only servant that was capable of being His khalifa. According to another hadith, this khalifa was created in His form. Thus represented His authority over all things. There had been no creature before him that was capable of knowing all known Divine Names on its own.

Allah wants us to get closer to Him and know Himself better. As long as we lack knowledge (regarding the manifestation of His names), we won't accomplish this and stay as animal-humans. This is why Sufis add nafilahs to the obligatory religious practices. And most importantly, they aim to learn more and more of Him everyday.

Sufis realized we are not only created to serve Him, but all our actions serve Him on its own. That means we are servants not because Allah wanted us to be, but we are servants because indeed we are. The universe as we call it is where His names manifest themselves and all consciousness is synced to Him. And thus as the hadith says: "He who knows himself, knows His Lord."

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thanks. very good answer. but can you provide some ref. for your Hadith? – Ahmadi Jun 23 '12 at 10:22
I believe that hadith is da'eef (weak). The hadith about "in His form" means in Adam's original form, it's an ayah I believe. – ashes999 Jun 23 '12 at 14:24
@ashes999 According to Sufis, the pronoun points both to Adam and Allah. So the hadith is understood in two ways. – Ahmet Noyan Kızıltan Jun 23 '12 at 16:27
Ah, I see. Then it should be clearly labelled as a sufi belief, because it is not a general belief. – ashes999 Jun 23 '12 at 16:45
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This answer makes no sense. In the answer it says Allah said He was a hidden treasure and He **wanted** to be known, but in the quran (35:15) it says O ye men! It is ye that have need of Allah: but Allah is the One **Free of all wants**, worthy of all praise. So how can Allah want to be known? When clearly Allah is free from all wants? – oshirowanen Sep 12 '12 at 10:08
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Allah almighty very clearly says in the Qur'an:

And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. Surah Ad-Dhaariyaat, verse 56

Therefore, Allah created us to worship Him, and Him alone. Allah does not need our worship:

Say, "He is Allah , [who is] One, Allah , the Eternal Refuge.

Surah Ikhlaas, verses 1-2. The meaning of "As-Samad" in the second ayah means the one whom everyone and everything needs, but whom needs no one. That is, "The ultimately Self-Sufficient."

Then if Allah does not need us, why create us? Out of His infinite mercy. We don't need to exist. But now that we exist, we have a shot at attaining Al-Jannah, ultimate paradise, for ever and ever and ever.

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how this explain purpose of God for creating human? – Ahmadi Jun 23 '12 at 16:05
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@Ahmadi very clearly "I created jinn and mankind to worship me. – ashes999 Jun 23 '12 at 16:25
OK. to worship to what? only worship? or worship for another higher goal? worship so what? – Ahmadi Jun 23 '12 at 17:46
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yes outlined. but I mean final goal and not middle goal. to worship me is not the final goal. God created human only to worship?! so what? he had angels worshiping him before. – Ahmadi Jun 24 '12 at 0:43
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I think what Ahmadi is trying to ask is, Why did Allah create us to worship him if he doesn't need our worship. – oshirowanen Sep 12 '12 at 10:13
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I quote from Ayatullah Mahdi Hadavi Tehrani's book, Faith and Reason, A Compendium of Fifty Questions and Answers Related to Islamic Theology, Jurisprudence and Other Themes,

Chapter 24, Purpose of Creation.

Allah (awj) is an unlimited being who holds all perfections. Creating (bringing to existence) is munificence (jamal) and Allah (awj) is munificent. His munificence necessitates that He grant existence to anything worthy of creation

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This doesn't make sense. Based on this, you're saying that Allah has needs. But based on the quran O mankind! it is you who stand in need of Allah, but Allah is Rich (Free of all wants and needs), Worthy of all praise. – oshirowanen Sep 12 '12 at 10:56
@oshirowanen the answer doesnt mean Allah(swt) has needs. if you want a detailed explanation, read from the link i posted. – Nerrve Sep 13 '12 at 7:38

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful. In my opinion i believe Allah created us because He loves us. When Adam was created, he was placed in jannah and because Allah loved Adam a.s he created for him Hawaa(adam's wife). Allah placed adam in jannah. Jannah is a magnificent place to be placed in. This therefore means to me that Allah intended for us to be happy always, cause the first thing He did when He created Adam is place him in jannah. Allah gave adam a free will that he did not give the angels,so adam would do as he wished when in jannah, and he gave adam knowledge. That shows you how much Allah loved Adam, he therefore also loves adam's descendants very much.

To ask yourself why did Allah create me and place me on earth and put all these negative feelings in me and obligations, is human but comes from the shaitan. You ask, why did Allah create me?why didnt i get to have a say on whether i should be created or not, what use is there for my creation, when Allah has no need of my worship, thats true. Allah has no need.PERIOD!!!, but lets go back to the beginning of creation.

Say when adam was created, and was placed in jannah with his wife, he didn't disobey Allah, and shaitan also did not disobey. We wouldn't be discussing this cause we would be busy in all the delights in jannah.imagine being brought to existence just so that you are put in pure bliss and happiness. Adam was tricked and disobeyed and as Allah's will, because Allah wills what He wants to will and it isn't for us to question Allah, He willed we come down to earth. And because He loves us, he created a world for us and senses and knowledge to utilize and comprehend this world. And gave us guidance by sending prophets to remind us of our origin, this too is an assistance and mercy from Allah cause when He told us to descend He would have left us without guidance and prophets and thus all of us would live in a chaotic world that has no good in it, a world that is a literal hell, because man is like an animal and worse without guidance,if you don't trust me go to somalia or countries with collapsed governments and when you're violated go to the lawless government to help you. I think you get my point.!

Now this world in itself is jannah but we are the ones that made it hell. The guidance He sent us is to guide the soul back to bliss, back to happiness when the souls was with its lord, because just as our physical body needs food, the soul needs its Creator because it originated from Him.So this guidance is in form of dikr and prayer and good deeds, how else would we know about this without Allah,subhanallah.when adam was in jannah he was sinless and the soul was near its Lord so there wasn't these acts of worship, but now that the soul has descended, its still need to be near its Lord, thus these acts become necessary, not because Allah will benefit(a'udubilah) but because the soul will benefit, it is its nature to crave for nearness to its lord and without Allah the soul will die.

So when Allah s.w.t, all praises and thanks be to him says in His Most noble Qur'an,that He did not create man and jinn except that they may worship him. This is so, and Allah knows best, for our sake,because He loves us He wants life for our souls. If we go against the souls true need for Allah, we bring about unhappiness. So why DID Allah create us? He created us cause He wanted to create us. He brought us from nothingness and elevated man to high level. He is Great and infinite and to ask that will cause doubt in our hearts and to question Allah which is un-Islamic and ingratitude. We do not ask why Allah did something, we believe in him and His infinite knowledge and Allah is All Good and Merciful and Oft forgiving. If you ask me, asking such questions makes us ever more ungrateful, and we do not deserve to be existent if we result to questioning Allah. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls. May He guide as and give us life, And May He forgive us our endless countless sins.ameen

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Nice answer, but only note that the Jinnah Adam was sent to at the first part of his life was not the Jinnah whose good tidings is given in Qur'aan! The Jinnah Mo3ud if someone enters it will never ever be expelled from it! And welcome to Islam.SE, hope to see you as an active member here! – owari Jan 15 at 21:33
@user2018 Can you please format it into paragraphs so that it is more readable and also check some formatting tips, which are very easy if you go through them for 5 minutes. – mtk Jan 16 at 8:24

God also created us without requiring us, as Nerrve quoted correctly, and if God was to choose what to create and in what order and what quality to create things it was certainly Zolm (anyone then was able to debate why you have created me this way!), and he created without even requiring to think (thinking is a weak point for God and he is just perfect with no weakness) what and with what quality to create! He creates anything which creatable in any sense that it is creatable, just when the necessary conditions for its creations are all already available and existed! So to give an answer to the original question, the way God has created us has been the only way that we have been creatable! That he has created us to worship him is nothing but an illustration of the Fitrat (the most basic creation of every species, special to that species, made by Faater, the creator) he has given to us as a part of our creation, that's what we have created based upon.

He is Hagh (sometimes translated as truth!), means the only real existence which is Motehaghigh, and we can get more real existed and better qualified by getting closer and closer to him which is to be by training his names on our own place, that is, trying to become similar to him in the sense of his (Hosna) names, all of them but two (motekabbir, jabbar) or four(?sorry, I can't just remember?). That is, we should try to be rahman, rahim, ghafoor, shakoor, karim, saboor, ghahhar, montaghem and etc. each in its right place (like: اشداء علی الکفار، رحماء بین انفسهم). The Prophet Muhammad (S.A.) did that the best, he got just closest possible to Allah, a khalifeh for Allah for all his creatures from top of the earth to below the thara. It is him who says I got such smaller and smaller in front of Allah that I found myself like a point mass or even smaller in front of him. what does that mean? First he did all the Vajib's and avoid doing any Haram's, then he did all the Mustahab's and avoid every Makrouh's, then even in Mobah's he chose what was better in the eyes of Allah, from the colors of clothing to the way to walk or speak or sleep or etc. . He just reached a place that he did want nothing but what was God's will; this is the point that God wants whatever that he choose and he choose whatever that God wants, he dislikes whatever that God dislikes and God dislikes whatever that he dislikes and etc. . This is the potential of every human and is reached through worshiping God only, that is, living by Quran and Sunnah (both best illustrated, explained and interpreted by his Ahl-ul-beit, A.S.).

To summarize, yes God doesn't need anything of his own creation, all being created from nothingness, but worshiping God is for us getting closer and closer to the only Hagh, which is the best place for us ourselves. The rules of Sharia'at is for taking us through the way and Sallat is the jewelry in the ring of all sort of praying, the direct communication with Allah ...

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closer then what? goal of God is only to human be closer to God? – Ahmadi Sep 13 '12 at 6:48
closer to God is nothing for the God's side of relation as he is needless, but it would worth a whole universe for one who may experience that relation. Joy of being with God is experienced by many, see what the holy prophet A.S. say about his joy of Sallah! A joy of living with God is such that holy people were avoiding sins not for the sake of heaven or fraid of hell but for the sins not to fall Hijabs between them and their God. A like-like relation (like > love) is the highest wish of an aaaref as e.g. Imam Ali A.S. said "you are as I like, let me be as you like". – owari Sep 13 '12 at 23:10
This answer doesn't explain why Allah created us to worship him from Allah's POV. – user3550 Jan 3 at 20:32
@user3550, that's what I am trying to say in answer to your question here, directed by yourself to be to the point ;) – owari Jan 3 at 20:59

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