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What is your purpose in life? What is the rationale behind our life? Whydo we live in this life? These questions frequently intrigue people who try tofind accurate answers.

People provide different answers to these questions. Some people believethe purpose of life is to accumulate wealth. But one may wonder: What is thepurpose of life after one has collected colossal amounts of money? What then?What will the purpose be once money is gathered? If the purpose of life is togain money, there will be no purpose after becoming wealthy. And in fact, herelies the problem of some disbelievers or misbelievers at some stage of theirlife, when collecting money is the target of their life. When they havecollected the money they dreamt of, their life loses its purpose. They sufferfrom the panic of nothingness and they live in tension and restlessness.

Can Wealth Be an Aim?

We often hear of a millionaire committing suicide, sometimes, not themillionaire himself but his wife, son, or daughter. The question that posesitself is: Can wealth bring happiness to one’s life? In most cases the answeris NO. Is the purpose of collecting wealth a standing purpose? As we know, thefive-year old child does not look for wealth: a toy for him is equal to amillion dollars. The eighteen-year old adolescent does not dream of wealthbecause he is busy with more important things. The ninety-year old man does notcare about money; he is worried more about his health. This proves that wealthcannot be a standing purpose in all the stages of the individual's life.

Wealth can do little to bring happiness to a disbeliever, because he/sheis not sure about his fate. A disbeliever does not know the purpose of life.And if he has a purpose, this purpose is doomed to be temporary or selfdestructive.

What is the use of wealth to a disbeliever if he feels scared of the endand skeptical of everything. A disbeliever may gain a lot of money, but willsurely lose himself.

Worshipping Allah as an Aim

On the contrary, faith in Allah gives the believer the purpose of lifethat he needs. In Islam, the purpose of life is to worship Allah. The term"Worship" covers all acts of obedience to Allah.

The Islamic purpose of life is a standing purpose. The true Muslimsticks to this purpose throughout all the stages of his life, whether he is achild, adolescent, adult, or an old man.

Worshipping Allah makes life purposeful and meaningful, especiallywithin the framework of Islam. According to Islam this worldly life is just ashort stage of our life. Then there is the other life. The boundary between thefirst and second life is the death stage, which is a transitory stage to thesecond life. The type of life in the second stage a person deserves depends onhis deeds in the first life. At the end of the death stage comes the day ofjudgment. On this day, Allah rewards or punishes people according to theirdeeds in the first life.

The First Life as an Examination

So, Islam looks at the first life as an examination of man. The deathstage is similar to a rest period after the test, i. e. after the first life.The Day of Judgment is similar to the day of announcing the results of theexaminees. The second life is the time when each examinee enjoys or suffersfrom the outcome of his behavior during the test period.

In Islam, the line of life is clear, simple, and logical: the firstlife, death, the Day of Judgment, and then the second life. With this clearline of life, the Muslim has a clear purpose in life. The Muslim knows he iscreated by Allah. Muslims know they are going to spend some years in this firstlife, during which they have to obey God, because God will question them andhold them responsible for their public or private deeds, because Allah knowsabout all the deeds of all people. The Muslim knows that his deeds in the firstlife will determine the type of second life they will live in. The Muslim knowsthat this first life is a very short one, one hundred years, more or less,whereas the second life is an eternal one.

The Eternity of the Second Life

The concept of the eternity of the second life has a tremendous effecton a Muslims during their first life, because Muslims believe that their firstlife determines the shape of their second life. In addition, this determinesthe shape of their second life and this determination will be through theJudgment of Allah, the All just and Almighty.

With this belief in the second life and the Day of Judgment, theMuslim's life becomes purposeful and meaningful. Moreover, the Muslim'sstanding purpose is to go to Paradise in thesecond life.

In other words, the Muslim's permanent purpose is to obey Allah, tosubmit to Allah, to carry out His orders, and to keep in continues contact withHim through prayers (five times a day), through fasting (one month a year),through charity (as often as possible), and through pilgrimage (once in one'slife).

The Need for a Permanent Purpose

Disbelievers have purposes in their lives such as collecting money andproperty, indulging in sex, eating, and dancing. But all these purposes aretransient and passing ones. All these purposes come and go, go up and down.Money comes and goes. Health comes and goes. Sexual activities cannot continueforever. All these lusts for money, food and sex cannot answer the individual'squestions: so what? Then What?

However, Islam saves Muslims from the trouble of asking the question,because Islam makes it clear, from the very beginning, that the permanentpurpose of the Muslim in this life is to obey Allah in order to go to Paradise in the second life.

We should know that the only way for our salvation in this life and inthe hereafter is to know our Lord who created us, believe in Him, and worshipHim alone.

We should also know our Prophet whom Allah had sent to all mankind,believe in Him and follow Him. We should, know the religion of truth which ourLord has commanded us to believe in, and practice it

Thepurpose of life in this world in Islam and Christianity - ...

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