The Purpose of Human Life and How to Achieve it

The purpose of human life, as with many religious matters, is subject to different explanations when it does not have to be so. For one thing, human beings did not play any role in their creation. And so, it is improper for anyone to try to assign a purpose to his life. The only One qualified to appoint a purpose for human lives is God, the Creator of mankind. Every creature is incapable of creating itself. It is always the Creator, who determines the purpose for His creations.
A creature can never create itself. Every creature is a creature because a greater Power created it. To think otherwise in this matter would be tantamount to defying the laws of nature. Also, people generally do not do things without reasons behind them. Even where the reason for doing something is not obvious, yet, there is still always an underlying reason behind it.
So, if people do not normally do things in vain, why would God create the heavens and the earth and everything in them such as the angels, planets, stars, plants, animals and human beings in vain? God does not do anything in vain. The spiritual purpose of human life, according to authentic Divine scriptures, is to worship God. The main reason why God created mankind is for people to worship Him. The worship of God does not add anything to His Power and Majesty. Rather, the Almighty God requires people to be grateful and to worship Him voluntarily for the benefit of their souls. God gave mankind many favors, which are too numerous to number.
God endowed every person with many faculties to help with the understanding of His Nature and the purpose of human life. Then, the understanding of the Nature of God, often leads to His sincere love and true worship.
There is a natural attraction between every human soul and God. This explains why no one can find true peace except in God Almighty. You may be perceived as the most powerful human being on earth. You may be the most learned person alive. And you may have all the wealth. You can have the greatest achievements in this world. But, until you believe in God and live your life according to the pleasure of Allah, you will never have any lasting inner peace. Consequently, you may not have ete
al peace in the Hereafter.
Whoever truly searches for the Almighty God, usually finds Him to some degree. That is to say, every person is capable of achieving the purpose of human life. To achieve the purpose of your life, the first place to start, is the recognition of God as the Creator and the development of faith in Him. When the recognition of God is present, it becomes easier to have faith in Him. If, on the other hand, it is absent, there will be little or no faith in God. This explains why some people end up worshipping idols instead of God. In that case, they block their channels of understanding of the purpose of human life.
Those who worship the Living, Merciful, and Almighty God, receive help from Him in many ways. On the contrary, those who worship lifeless objects and other living creatures do not receive any help from these idols. Idols are incapable of hearing their worshippers and so cannot help them in any manner.
The second means of achieving the purpose of life is to be aware of the Perfect Attributes of God. Divine Attributes are always unique. For example, God is the only One that sees everything. He is the only One that hears all things. Besides, He has unlimited Powers. Nothing is comparable to God. Every human quality is a shadow of one of the perfect attributes of God.
The third means of achieving the purpose of human life is to recognize the Benevolence of God. God is gracious and merciful. He is the Lord of all the worlds and the only One worthy of worship. God put all the controls in place for the sustenance of His creatures before He created them. The providence of God is without limit. Even those who do not believe in God also benefit from this Providence of God. The General Divine Attribute of Grace is enough for any person to recognize an Almighty God.
The fourth means of achieving the purpose of human life is through Prayer. The benefits of prayers, as with the Favors of God, are also too numerous to count. All creatures, including human souls, are spiritually inclined to God in many ways.
The birds sing the praises of God. Plants and trees prostrate to Him. All the other creatures have their ways of worship also. It is just that we may not always understand that it is worship. The lack of understanding of a subject and its principles still does not negate its validity. God knows and we know not. Every creature, indeed, has a spiritual urge towards its creator.
Prayer is a supplication that has many benefits when directed to a Higher Being. And so the first benefit of prayer is the establishment of the Unity of God. The second benefit is increased faith. The third benefit of prayer is enhanced spiritual wisdom. And lastly, prayers increase the understanding of the Nature of God. Everything about prayer has spiritual significances such as the purification of the soul, the willingness to suffer and sacrifice for the Sake of God, humility and so on.
Another great means of achieving the noble purpose of human life is to Strive in the Cause of God with your lives, your faculties and your material possessions. Striving in the Cause of God pleases Him greatly. All the things you do for the Sake of God are spiritual loans to Him. And He has promised to repay all these spiritual loans in full, and may even multiply the repayment whenever it pleases Him to do so.
Every person came into this world with nothing. In the same way, you must leave this world with nothing also. Your deeds, which precede you to the next world, will be your only possessions in the Hereafter and the determinant of your fate.
The next means of achieving the purpose of life is to keep company with the righteous and follow their examples. All the Prophets used to learn from God. And so the Prophets and their successors are our only exemplars on spiritual matters. In the same way, the original scriptures of Divine religions are the only acceptable teachings in the assessment of the Almighty God.
The last means of achieving the purpose of human life is Steadfastness. True believers should never get tired or be daunted by trials of any kind. As every journey has an end, there is always ease after every hardship. Everlasting rewards especially await every hardship done for the sake of God.
There is a spiritual purpose for all creation. The spiritual purpose of human life is to be grateful to God by way of worship and the performance of Good deeds. Even if you do not believe this to be so, you should still be open-minded enough to do more research into this matter. All the same, be quick and take concrete steps to benefit from these teachings before it is too late upon the termination of life, which can happen any day or time.