Creation Plan
Blessed be He in Whose hands is all sovereignty: He has power over all things.
He created life and death that He might put you to the test and find out which of you acquitted himself best. He is the Mighty, the Forgiving One.
He created seven heavens, one above another. Do you see any fault in the work of the Merciful? Turn up your eyes: can you detect any rift?
Then look once more and yet again: your eyes will in the end grow dim and weary.
We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps, missiles for pelting devils. We have prepared a scourge of flames for these, and the scourge of Hell for unbelievers: an evil fate!
(The Quran 67:1-6)
When one studies the present world, one finds an apparent contradiction, that is, that the entire universe besides man is quite perfect and organised. At no point is there any defect to be seen. By contrast, human life is marred by oppression and injustice. This is due to the nature of man being different from that of the rest of the universe. Man in this world is in a state of trial. Trial requires, of necessity, freedom of action. It is this freedom which enables him to perpetrate oppression and tyranny in this world.
Tyranny in the human world is the price of human freedom. Yet, without freedom, how can those precious human souls who opt not to be unjust and oppressive—despite the opportunities that present themselves—be differentiated from the willing perpetrators of injustice and oppression? Without freedom, how can those who choose not to indulge in insolent behaviour although quite free to do so, be held above those who do not hesitate to stoop to insolence?
Besides man, nothing in the universe is going to be sent to heaven or hell. If man’s fate is different, it is because, having been given the exceptional capacity to distinguish between right and wrong, between truth and untruth, he is a responsible creature. This moral endowment is, in essence, the key to man’s lot in the Hereafter. In the final judgement, those who have put their freedom to the right and proper use will be rewarded. Those who have not will be punished.
