Creation Plan of God The Sunday Guardian | January 23, 2011 | Page 15

Everyone asks the same questions: Who am I? Why am I here on this planet earth? What is the purpose of man? What is success and what is failure? These questions may be summed up in a single sentence: What is the Creation Plan of the Creator? The chapter Al-Mulk (The Kingdom), of the Quran gives the answer to this question. The translation of the relevant verse is as follows: God created death and life so that He might test you, and find out which of you is best in conduct. He is the Mighty, the Most Forgiving One. (67:2)

According to the Quran, man was created as an eternal being. In the above verse "death and life" represent both the pre-death period of life and the post-death period of human life. So, death and life cover the entire eternal lifespan of human beings. The fact is that God created man with a well thought out plan, the gist of which was to give man complete freedom, not simply as a gift, but as a test. The result of this test would enable God to know who misused his freedom and who put his freedom to the best use. This was, and still is, the divine scheme of things for man. This test is not just for the sake of testing mankind. It is for a high purpose. Before creating man, God created an ideal world, that is, paradise. Now God wanted ideal men and women who would merit settling in this paradise for all eternity. Therefore, the present world is a selection ground.

According to this divine scheme, the present human lifetime affords a great opportunity to man. In the pre-death period, man gets the chance to qualify for paradise, so that in the post-death period he may settle as a deserving candidate in this perfect world.