Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Sunday Guardian | July 16, 2017

Why was this world made? Why was a human being born into this world? Why, after a certain period of time, does he pass away? What will happen after death? These are the most important questions concerning the origins and fate of humanity, and they should never be far from people's minds. Finding the correct answers to these questions has always been one of man's most important quests.

Pondered over for thousands of years, these questions have been variously answered by different people. However, these answers can be placed in two broad categories: one, which holds the great array of wonders in this world to be purposeless, and the other, which asserts that a human being was created with a purpose and that he has a definite goal.

While the first view tends to be subscribed to by poets, philosophers and secular scholars, the second view is firmly upheld by that very special class of beings called prophets, or messengers of God.

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Many arguments can be put forward in support of the answers in both of these categories. It is very obvious, however, that the notion of purposelessness is not in keeping with the structure of life and universe. The idea, on the other hand, of purposeful creation, falls exactly into place, for the simple reason that it contains no inherent contradictions.

The world into which man is born is fraught with significance and intelligence. There is nothing which is of a meaningless or random nature. It is quite unthinkable that a human being, with his meaningful life, born into a meaningful universe, should find no purpose in creation.

Where there is meaningfulness, there will, of necessity, be purposefulness. This aspect of the universe is a clear verification of the religious answer to the purpose of life.