Fine Tuning

Towards Submission

Our Lord, make us submitters to You, and from our descendants
let there be a community of submitters to You. Teach us the rites of our religion,
and redeem us. You are the Redeemer, Most Merciful.
(2:128)

There is a purpose in everything God created. Nothing has been created in vain including our finite life span on earth. God emphasizes our purpose in this life in many verses of the Quran:

Why do they not reflect on themselves? God did not create the heavens and the earth, and everything between them, except for a specific purpose, and for a specific life span. However, most people, with regard to meeting their Lord, are disbelievers. (30:8)

We did not create the heavens and the earth, and everything between them except for a specific purpose, and for a finite interim. Those who disbelieve are totally oblivious to the warnings given to them. (46:3)

The One who created death and life for the purpose of distinguishing those among you who would do better. He is the Almighty, the Forgiving. (67:2)

Had your Lord willed, all the people would have been one congregation (of believers). But they will always dispute (the truth). Only those blessed with mercy from your Lord (will not dispute the truth). This is why He created them. The judgment of your Lord has already been issued: “I will fill Hell with jinns and humans, all together.” (11:118-119)

If God willed, He could have guided all the people. He could have made all the people believe. The idea, however, is to let the people have the freedom of choice. We know from the Quran that the whole reason for our existence

occurred when Satan claimed he could be a god besides God. Our Lord called Satan’s challenge. “All right, I’m going to make you a god and all the creatures will see how you handle it. It will be clear that you can never be god.”

God made Satan a temporary god. God created the planet earth as Satan’s dominion and created human beings as Satan’s constituents. God gave human beings free will and they could, therefore, choose Satan as their master, if this was their will. We can either join in Satan’s point of view which is that God alone is not enough, or choose the only true point of view which is that God alone is enough.

If all the people sided with God’s

Continued on page 2