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The Islamic Bulletin
The Purpose Of Life
If I gave each one of you a hundred dollars, for
no reason, just for coming here, you would at least
say, “Thank you.” However, what about your eyes,
your kidneys, your brain, your life, your breath, your
children? What about that? Who gave you that? Is He
not worthy of praise and thanks? Is He not worthy of
your worship and your recognition? My brothers and
sisters that, in a nutshell, is the purpose and the goal
of this life.
Allah says in the Quran:
“I have not created the jinn, the spirits, nor the
human beings, for any other purpose except to wor-
ship Me.”
(Quran 51: 56)
This is what God Almighty said. So our purpose
in this life is to recognize The Creator and to be grate-
ful to The Creator. To worship The Creator. To surren-
der ourselves to The Creator, and to obey the laws
that He has determined for us. In a nutshell, it means
worship. This is our purpose in this life. And whatever
we do in the course of that worship-- the eating, the
drinking, the dressing, the working, the enjoyment
between life and death-- all of this is just consequen-
tial. We have been created for worship - that’s the
purpose of our life. I believe that even someone who
is scientific or analytical would agree with that pur-
pose. They might have some other ulterior purpose
within themselves, but that’s something they have to
deal with between themselves and Almighty God.
Now on to the second half of our topic. What
do you know about Islam? Not what you’ve heard
about Islam. Not what you have seen in the actions of
Muslims, because there’s a difference between Islam
and Muslims. Just like there’s a difference between a
man and a father. A man who has children - he is a
father, but being a father is a responsibility. If a man
does not fulfill those responsibilities, he is not neces-
sarily a good father. Islam is a rule and an order. If a
Muslim does not fulfill these rules and orders, he is
not a good Muslim. So you cannot compare Islam by
Muslims.
We hear the terms ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslims’ quite
often. And we read about Islam and Muslims in the
periodicals, textbooks of colleges and universities.
We hear and see a lot of inaccurate, misleading, and
purposeful misinformation through the media. And I
have to admit that some of this misinformation and
misrepresentation have been perpetuated by Mus-
lims themselves. Yet one of every five persons in this
world of some five billion people is a Muslim! One
out of five people in this world is a Muslim! This is
a statistic that you can verify in the encyclopedia,
or the almanac, or in other sources that you like to
look at. How is it that if one out of five people in this
world is a Muslim, that we don’t know something
about Islam? The facts about Islam. If I told you that
one out of five people in this world was Chinese,
which is a fact – there are one billion Chinese in the
world, one out of five people is Chinese! Then we
know the geographical, the social, the economical,
the political, the philosophical, the historical factors
about China and Chinese! How come we don’t
know about Islam?
What is it that joins so many different nations
and this universal configuration into a common fra-
ternity? What makes a brother or sister in Yemen my
brother or sister, and I’m from America. And makes
this brother from Eritrea my brother or sister. And
makes another brother from Indonesia my brother.
And from Africa my brother. And another one from
Thailand my brother. And from Italy, Greece, Poland,
Austria, Colombia, Bolivia, Costa Rica, China, from
Spain, from Russia, and so forth… What makes them
my brother or sister!? We with different cultural and
psychological backgrounds! What is it about Islam
that automatically embraces us and joins us together
as a brotherhood? What are the accurate characteris-
tics of this misunderstood way of life that is followed
by a great part of humanity?
I will try to provide you with some facts.
But in addition to this, as I’ve mentioned to you
before, it is necessary for you to be open-minded
and open-hearted - because, if I turned the glass
upside-down and poured water on it, I’ll never get
a glass of water. It has to be the right side up. Facts
alone do not lead to understanding, but rather a
combination of tolerance, ambition, and the ability
to appreciate and accept the truth when you hear it.
The word ‘Islam’ means surrender, submis-
sion, and obedience. Surrender, submission, and
obedience to the law of Almighty God. You can say
‘Allah.’ You can say ‘The Creator.’ You can say ‘The
Supreme God,’ ‘The Supreme Force,’ ‘The All-Wise,’
all of these are His names.
Muslims use the Arabic word for God, Allah,