FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON BELIEF Why did Allāh create us? Everyone affirms that the most insignificant things in life such as a toilet paper has a purpose. Would it then not make more sense that human beings, in light of their complex biology also have a purpose? Allah, the Most High informs us of this very purpose: “And I have not created man and jinn (creation made from smokeless fire) except that they should worship Me (Alone)” [Al Quran 51:56] If Allāh created us, who created Him? This question entails a flawed understanding of the Creator because He is uncreated, the Eternal with no beginning or end, and whom all affairs return back to. Also, claiming that the Creator is created sets of a never ending chain of regression that has no end (e.g. if God is created, who created the God that created Him, and so on). This is a logical fallacy. Thus, it is more logically coherent to affirm that the Creator (Allah) who is Uncreated and Eternal, caused the beginning of all life forms. If He truly exists then why does suffering and killing happen, especially since He is All Merciful and All-Powerful? This thinking is massively flawed. The fact that evil and suffering occur, does not necessarily disprove His existence! Allāh is All-Powerful and All-Merciful, but He is also All-Knowing, All-Wise and the Most-Just. When evil and suffering occur, there is a Hikmah Baligha (Divine Wisdom) behind it. Consider the following example: A child loves and eats fast food, his father being well aware of the health implications restricts it to once a week. Consequently, the child not knowing why, begins to hold negative thoughts about his father. Is the father evil in this case? Any rational person would disagree and argue that the father had wisdom that the child lacked. Likewise, due to our very limited knowledge we are not sometimes able to comprehend the Divine Wisdom behind certain events that Allah has decreed
