O Mankind!

O man! What evil has enticed you away from your gracious Lord who created you, gave you an upright form, and proportioned you well? In whatever shape He willed He could have surely moulded you.

Yet, you deny the Last Judgement. There are guardians watching over you, noble recorders who know of all that you do.

The righteous shall surely dwell in bliss. But the wicked shall surely burn in Hell; they shall enter it on the Day of Judgement. They shall not escape it.

Would that you knew what the Day of Judgement is! Oh, would that you knew what the Day of Judgement is! It is the day when every soul will stand alone and God will then reign supreme.

(The Quran 82:5-19)

Man is the most meaningful creature in the entire known universe. He has been given a body which is eminently suitable. He has been given a mind, than which no other gift can ever be thought better. With all these gifts man has been installed in a world which so perfectly accords with human requirements as to seem incredible.

However, bounties always entail responsibilities, a natural principle which applies to man. The extraordinary gifts given to man are in themselves an announcement of the fact that these gifts come along with responsibilities.

These responsibilities for man are to consider the blessings of God as the trust of God. And he should put God’s bounties to use only in accordance with His will.

The creation of man is for an extremely meaningful purpose: one day he is to stand in the court of justice in order that it may be judged who put these bounties of God to the proper use and who failed to do so. On this Day of Justice, which is to come after death, God will judge all men according to their records. Those who pass this test will be ushered into Paradise, and those who do not will be thrown into Hellfire.