THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

The same is true of the much vaster journey of man’s life. Man’s life’s journey is not made in space or in a world made by himself. He undertakes this journey in the world made by God. Therefore, it is essential for all men and women to understand God’s creation plan and to build their lives accordingly. In the absence of such planning they cannot save themselves from failure. Man’s own experience is sufficient for him to grasp the point that, if nature makes provision for him to survive and to make satisfactory progress through life, it is all part of God’s plan. For example, when a man wants to quench his thirst, water is available everywhere, and it is the water provided by nature which best satisfies his needs. Similarly, when man feels hungry, he appeases his hunger by eating the food provided by nature. Likewise, everyone needs to breathe in oxygen. Without oxygen no one could survive for even a few seconds. Again, nature is the great provider. It provides both the oxygen and the breathing apparatus with which human beings have been endowed. But if nature provides man with these and all other human requirements, it is because God planned things that way. Now when it comes to understanding the purpose of life, man must likewise learn about the creation plan of God. He has no alternative but to do so. The Quran — which is the book of nature — answers our question. In Chapter no. 103, it is stated that history is a witness that ‘man is in loss,’ except those who follow the course of life set by the Creator. Looking at it from this angle, we find that human life is divided into two stages – the stage before death and the stage after death. The stage before death is one of action and the stage after death is one of reaping rewards. What we have to receive after death, we cannot receive before death. What we have to do before death, we shall have no opportunity to do after death. The study of man shows that every human being is born with unlimited desires. These desires are dear to everyone. But it is also a fact that, in all of human history, no one has entirely succeeded in fulfilling these desires. Many people have spent their whole lives in seeking to fulfill their desires, but it has all been of no avail. They were ostensibly highly successful in life, but every one of them breathed his last with utter regret and grief that he had failed to fulfill his desires. In the world of today he had failed to find what he wanted. The study of the world shows that, here, the principle of the pair is well established. Here everything has its pair. Everything becomes complete by uniting with its pair. This principle is enforced at a universal level. Right from earth to space — everywhere indeed — this system is enforced. For instance, a negative particle has a positive particle as its pair. Human beings are made up of men and women. In the animal world, there are males and females. In the vegetable world also there are the male and female sexes. This system of pairs is found at the universal level in all creatures. In this vast and complete system there is only one exception and that is of human desires. Every person is born with a deep sense of desire, but all die without the