Jinn and Men

In the Name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful

The So called dificulty of Jinns and men created for worship or for Hell

was raised in :

http://www../Quran/Contra/qi031.html

here He quotes : Created only to serve God [Sura 51:56],

many of them made for Hell [Sura 7:179].

Jochen Katz states :

>It would be no problem to say that all of them were created to worship and serve >God, but because they have free will and some or many decided to disobey they >will be punished in Hell. But to state that many were made for Hell is an obvious >contradictions to the first statement - or else we must conclude that they were >created in order to serve Allah in Hell, but this would require a serious shift in the >understanding of the meaning of Hell as well as the issue of justice in who is sent >to hell.

Firstly I am very happy that the allegation is made with the supposed understanding of the Islamic system of Heaven and Hell. I would like any reader of this article to read the following and you will find that there is no such contradiction. There is only the overzealousness of Christian missionaries, and the lack of an explanation of heaven and hell in the Bible.

We read in the Quran:

"And I have not created the Jinn and the men but that they may worship Me" (Al Quran Chapter 56 verse 57)

Important words:

(They may worship me) is derived from ('abada). (abadallah) means, he served, worshipped or adored God alone or he rendered to God humble obedience. (Aboda) means he , he was or became a slave, his forfather having been so before him. ('abbada) means, he enslaved him; he subdued him so that he did the work of slaves (Lane, Aqrab &Mufradat)

The primary signification of the word ('Ibadat) as shown above, is to subject oneself to rigorous spiritual discipline, working with all ones inherent powers and capacities to their fullest scope, in perfect harmony with and obedience to God's design, so as to receive the Divine impress and thus be able to manifest in oneself God's attributes. This is as stated in the present verse, the great and noble aim and object of man's creation and this is exactly what worship of God means. The external and internal endowments of human nature give us clearly to understand that of God-given faculties the highest is the one which awakens in man the urge to search after God and incites in him the noble desire completely to submit himself to His will. This being the great object of man's existence the Quran has not failed to prescribe ways and means to attain it.

"Verily, WE have created many of the jinn and the men whose end shall be Hell. They have hearts wherewith they understand not and they have eyes wherewith they see not and they have ears wherewith they hear not. They are like cattle; nay, they are even more astray. They are indeed altogether heedless." (Chapter 7 verse 180)

In the statement alleging that this verse contradicts chapter (56:57) it was not noted what the rests of the verse has to say, so I have reproduced it above.

The verse does not at all mean that men and Jinn were created to be thrown in Hell. The use of the word "many" also belies that inference. Their creation, infact is intended to serve a great purpose (see above 56:57). The present verse thus has nothing to do with the object of man's creation but only mentions the regrettable end of life of many a man and Jinn, the latter word also meaning a special class of men i.e. rulers or chiefs of great men. They lead and evil life, the inevitable result of which is Hell. But from the way in which they spend their days in sin and iniquity it seems as if they were only created for Hell. They are the people whom God had endowed with understanding and with the faculty of perception and sight. They were blessed with all the necessary means by which they could find out and follow the right path and attain nearness to their Maker; but out of perversity and waywardness they did not avail themselves of those means, with the results that they wandered away from the truth and fell into error. It was not, therefore for Hell but for Heaven that God created them, but they themselves forsook the path of Heaven and chose the path of Hell.

The condition of such men is indeed worse than that of "cattle", because inspite of the fact that they posses understanding and the power to rise, they do not avail themselves of their understanding and, instead of rising (for which they are meant) ever go on falling lower and lower.

So in Islam the purpose of the creation of man is that he attain nearness to Allah and to serve Allah, if he falls on the wrong path then he is destined for hell.

But in Christianity men are born sinners, Adam was the father of all sinners, his wife Eve was the greatest of all sinners according to the bible of course :->

And Allah Knows Best

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