Malfuzat – Volume I — Page 157
Malfuzat - Volume I وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ 157 And I have not created the Jinn and the men but that they may worship Me. Now when the very purpose of man's creation is worship, it is necessary for there to be immense pleasure and satisfaction in worship. We can appreciate this very well from our daily observation and experience. For example, grain along with all the things that we eat and drink have been created for humans. Do they not then derive a pleasure and satisfaction from these things? Does man not possess a tongue so that he can experience the taste, flavour and sensation that is associ- ated with these things? Does man not derive pleasure from looking at beautiful things, whether plants or minerals, animals or other human beings? Do the ears not derive pleasure from attractive and beautiful voices? Then is any further argu- ment required to establish the fact that there is pleasure to be derived in worship? Allah the Exalted states: We have created man and woman as mates and we have inclined man towards his mate. God has not made it so by way of coercion, but rather, He has encouraged by way of pleasure. If procreation and reproduction was the only intended purpose, this would not fulfil the actual objective. In a state of nakedness, shame would prevent a man and woman from having inti- mate relations with one another. However, God has made this process a source of pleasure and satisfaction for both man and woman. This pleasure and satisfaction is so great that there are some ignorant people who do not even care for children, and the only thing that they are interested in is pleasure. The actual purpose of God Almighty was the continuation of human beings, and for this objective he fostered a relationship between man and woman, and as a secondary element in- vested this relation with pleasure, which for many unwise people has become the only intended purpose. In the same manner, bear well in mind that worship is no burden or tax. This too possesses a pleasure and satisfaction; and this pleasure and satisfaction is far greater than all the delights of this world and all carnal pleas- ures. Although there is pleasure in the mutual relation between man and woman, only such men can derive satisfaction from this who are in the full possession of their faculties. An impotent man or a eunuch cannot find pleasure in such rela- tions. Moreover, just as an ill person remains deprived of the pleasure of even the finest and most exquisite foods, so too is precisely the case with the unfortunate person who does not find pleasure in worshipping Allah. 1 adh-Dhariyat, 51:57