Determination, along with other attributes that we gain in this world, through struggles, pain, and difficulties, makes us into the enlightened beings that can praise Allah in a way that is higher than the angels.
Determination, along with other attributes that we gain in this world, through struggles, pain, and difficulties, makes us into the enlightened beings that can praise Allah in a way that is higher than the angels.
Why didn’t Allah create us perfect? Why do we have to go through all of this suffering? If Allah has created us to know Him, why didn’t He just create us knowing Him? Surely this would have been better, less pain for humans and less disobedience of Allah?
In this article (as well as winding up your inner-self), we will try to shed some light on these questions to answer those who are curious within.
In the Holy Quran, Allah says:
“‘Verily, I am going to place mankind generations after generations on earth.’ They said: ‘Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, while we glorify You with praises and thanks and sanctify You.’ God said: ‘I know that which you do not know.’” (Quran 2:30)
“And He taught Adam the names – all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said, ‘Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful.'” (Quran 2:31)
“They said, ‘Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who is the Knowing, the Wise.'” (Quran 2:32)
The angels had foreseen the suffering that the inner self of man would perpetrate, they could not see why Allah would create man when they were already praising Allah. But Allah explained to them gently that He knew better and asked Adam to praise Him. The angels were amazed by the praise emanating from Adam, and the curiosity of the angels was resolved.
From this we can understand why enlightened human beings are better than angels – because they have a greater knowledge of Allah, but why didn’t Allah create us enlightened?
Well, in the Holy Qur’an, when Adam is tricked by Iblees, Allah says that Adam had no determination:
“And We had already taken a promise from Adam before, but he forgot, and We found not in him determination.” (Quran 20:115)
This is the key to answer our questions, because it is this determination, along with other attributes that we gain in this world, through struggles, pain, and difficulties, that makes us into the enlightened beings that can praise Allah in a way that is higher than the angels.
Through difficulties, we gain strength, patience, and determination. Allah did not create us with these because we would have known if we were created with these that they were false, untested perceptions we had of ourselves. All these attributes require time for their development – we face challenges, and then we are patient, and in the end we find that we are stronger and more determined in facing such challenges in the future.
This is the nature of strength, patience, and determination, they wouldn’t be called strength, patience, and determination otherwise. Every time we face a challenge, these attributes get stronger, and our knowledge of Allah and our ability to praise Him also get stronger.
Allah did not create us with these attributes because that would have been a dishonest creation because when you find these attributes in yourself they relate to a past event. In the same way that Allah creating us with memories of deeds that we haven’t performed would also be a dishonest creation, and Allah doesn’t do such things.
To summarise, Allah created us in this world so that we could gain those attributes that would allow us to know Him and praise Him in a way that was superior to the angels – in a way that would require the angels and Iblees to prostrate to us because of this knowledge and praise.
See, it’s not such a bad deal is it? The prize is great, all we must do is be patient for a while, and even that brings tranquillity and knowledge as we traverse our paths to Allah.
