Did Allah Create Us To Worship Him or To Test Us?


Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question

Did Allah create us to worship him or to be tested?

Because apparently – and I seek refuge in Allah – there seems to be a contradiction in these two aspects.

Answer

I hope you’re doing well, insha’Allah.

As the following answers, articles, and on-demand courses make clear, Allah the Most Wise (al-Hakim) created us–without any need to do so–with many pearls of wisdom.

These include

  1. manifesting His Perfection and Mercy;
  2. to be known and worshipped; and
  3. to test those He chose out of His Wisdom and Mercy–to be morally responsible.

[Nablusi, Asrar al-Shari‘a; Bajuri, Tuhfat al-Murid ‘ala Jawharat al-Tawhid; Nasafi, Tabsirat al-Adilla]

See:

And Allah is the giver of success and facilitation.

[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus, and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of: Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.