The Purpose of Human Life

things which are called the life support system. The life of the Hereafter is also, in fact, the life of maarifah. The journey of maarifah which primarily began in the life of this world, will also continue in the world of the Hereafter in its higher form. In the Hereafter, man will have the opportunity to see his Creator directly, to participate in His gatherings and to speak to Him. However, man will live as a guest of God in the Hereafter. Whatever man received in this world on the basis of need will likewise be given to him in the Hereafter on the basis of his desires and all his desires will thus be fulfilled. (The Quran, 41:31) God-Realization A Personal Discovery T he Quran consists of more than six thousand verses, the longest of which is verse 282 in chapter 2. This verse concerns debt, and the necessity to put it down in writing, and it also gives commands in this regard in great detail. The case of maarifah is treated quite differently, in that the Quran mentions maarifah but does not give any details of it. The root word of maarifah is ‘arafa’. Nearly seventy derivatives of maarifah appear in the Quran but details of it are not mentioned anywhere. For example, this verse of the Quran, “When they listen