We present extracts from the writings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi^as, on the purpose and meaning of life. These are republished from the second volume of Essence of Islam.

The Purpose of Creation

Though different people, on account of their short-sightedness or lack of courage, appoint various types of objectives for their lives and stop short at worldly purposes and desires, yet the purpose that God Almighty has specified in His Holy Word is:¹

I have created jinn and men so that they should recognize and worship Me.

According to this verse the true purpose of human life is the worship and understanding of God Almighty and devotion to Him.

Only the Creator can Enjoin the Purpose of Life

It is obvious that it is not open to man that he should himself lay down the purpose of his life by his own authority inasmuch as man does not arrive in the world of his own will, nor will he depart from this world of his own will. He is a created being and He Who created him and bestowed upon him better and higher faculties than those bestowed upon other animates, has enjoined a purpose for his life. Whether anyone comprehends that purpose or not, without doubt the purpose of man’s creation is the worship and understanding of God Almighty and to lose himself in Him.²

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