al-Raghib al-Isfahani #04 – What Is The Purpose of Life

So all of us for honey leaves us hanging with this kind of idea of, okay, you need to know a lot. And you need to know yourself and you need to know, what's your capacity, what's your nature, but also what's your purpose? So the first thing he's got he tackles is okay, what is the purpose? And if you ask, you know, the average Muslim, what's the purpose of life? Why are we here? They're going to give you kind of the Sunday School answer. Well, we're here to worship Allah. Okay? technically true, right? Sort of that yet Allah says that he only created us to worship, that's true.

But that's not the only reason we're here. And regardless for honey goes into the Quran. To extract other purposes, why Allah places here in the first place? Why are we created? And why are we created like this? Right? Not just Why do we exist? Which is one question, but why do we exist as we are? Or why don't we have an original sin to overcome? Why do we have to do good works? Why do we have to believe why do we have? Why are we created as almost like a clean slate with all these sorts of potentialities that aren't realized that require development? What's the point? And so a lot of us for Hani, he identifies three main purposes to human life. And there, they exist in a hierarchy,

right. So there's kind of like your beginner level, training wheels,

purpose to life, and then there's kind of an intermediate level, and there's an advanced level for the elite, who are able and willing to get there. So the first purpose and the beginner level purpose of human life is email, which has to do with just settling on Earth, right, your, your needs, your livelihood, you know, family, you got your kids, you got your friends, you got your job, you got your car, your house, your electricity bill, all the sorts of things that you need to just barely survive, and to have a decent life. And this is something universally recognized, but it is a purpose of our lives, right? It's not, we're not here, solely for spiritual existential purposes.

We're also here for some material purposes. And that's a pretty foundational one. But that's not enough. Right? You can't just get if a human being comes as a, somewhat of a clean slate and is mostly potential or capacity for somebody to get stuck at level one is embarrassing, because there's higher levels to climb. And so the second level is exactly kind of the the Sunday School answer, which is worshiping Allah a bed, I'm outta here bed,

worshiping Allah, why, why is that a higher order purpose than simply a matter because people can have any intention when it comes to establishing their livelihood, you can have the most righteous person on earth, He is going to work for the sake of Allah, and he's making money for the sake of Allah and everything he does is halal. And he's just like, absolutely exemplary in his interactions and transactions with other people. People are, you know, accepting Islam at his hands and by his example, like in droves, right, that's like best case scenario. And then you have the dude who, you know, he opens up, you know, a casino, and he sells drugs, and he, whatever, both of them are taking

care of their livelihood, okay, one of them has an intention to please their Creator, and the other person doesn't have any intention like that whatsoever. They're just about the money. What's the bottom line? What's my number? What's my profit? The second level, are you bad, it has to do with gratitude. Okay, so the difference between level one and level two is that now we're not just talking about livelihood, we're talking about gratitude. You come into this world. And there's two types of people there. There are people that come into the world, and they see the fact that they are in debt.

And there's other people who don't recognize that they're in debt, which is why I lost pounds Allah in the Quran, he compares obedience to parents with obedience to Allah. If he doesn't compare it, per se, he puts them right next to each other. Because there's a transferable spiritual skill that's going on there. You come into this world, you didn't choose to be born.

You didn't choose to have your parents you didn't ask them to change your diapers that you didn't ask them to spoon feed you, or to wipe up your vomit or to, you know, Nurse us, they were to stay up with you all night when you were crying because you're having teething pain. They did it. And you didn't have a choice. It's very against today's society. When everything that I chose, I chose I chose, I'm gonna choose everything about myself. No, you have a debt to pay to your parents, because they did things and you couldn't even consent. They did good for you, and you couldn't even consent. So to be grateful to your parents, or to is to try to pay off that debt is to recognize that debt,

that's a virtue. First of all, to recognize that debt at all is a virtue, and then to strive to pay it back or at least to be grateful for it if we can't pay it back is a second virtue. And so that's completely transferable to to Allah. Right. Not in degree but in kind, right? The amount that we're in debt to Allah, it can't be calculated.

We come into this world that we've got fruit hanging on branches towards us, all you have to do is pluck it off, we've got food growing up under our feet. Right? The earth is easy to walk on the water is pure, everything is made, just like it's like it's like sitting down to a table on the table is already set for you.

Are you going to be grateful? That's the second level, a bad to be grateful, recognizing, first of all, that there's a debt to pay. Second of all, even if we can never repay the debt to at least be grateful and thankful for this situation that we didn't ask for. But we've been given that fell into our laps. But there's a level even beyond that. There's a level beyond a beta and that is NASA. And this is also from from the Quran, various parts. Obviously Allah says in surah baqarah, when he's talking to the angels, that we're going to fill out the Khalifa that he tells them like I'm going to place on earth a Khalifa. So there's our purpose right there or one of our purposes is to be

a Khalifa is to be a welcoming, translated a successor or a steward or a guardian or somebody who comes after somebody else to manage things to take care of things to make sure that things are as they should be, according to the one who kind of put you in that position. That's the highest level. Because gratitude is about expressing something for yourself. It doesn't necessarily transfer to others. Okay? If you're grateful to Allah for creating this world, and the way he did for you recognize that that and you try to be thankful, that's good. It's going to be transformational for you. But it's not necessarily going to help the guy next to you. It might, but it might not. Whereas

once somebody realizes their role as a Khalifa, and human purpose, the highest purpose for human beings is Khilafah. Is stewardship is doing the work of Allah in creation.

Doing what pleases Allah and creation, managing the creation in a way that pleases Allah.

That's the highest level now you're not just expressing gratitude for yourself now you're taking care of everybody. Right? The fish are safe because of you. You're the Khalifa. The air is pure, because you're the Khalifa. The water is clean, because you're the Khalifa. Every single creature, every single part of creation is grateful first to Allah and then towards you, because you are affecting and establishing a society, a just society, a righteous society where everything is taken care of. That's the ultimate purpose of a human being