Page 21 - Why Do You Deceive Yourself ?

Remembering the Purpose of Creation 19
yourself to worldly aims. The real purpose of your presence in the
world is not for you to have a successful career or become rich or es-
tablish a happy home or have children. None of these is the real reason
for your existence. Your greatest purpose is to serve Allah and earn His
approval, His mercy and entry into His Paradise. Naturally, during
their life in the world people may be successful in business, rise to a
superior position, marry and have children and grandchildren, or
make an effort to accomplish these things, but only on condition that
they do not make them the sole aim of their lives in the world, and that

they are seeking Allah's approval at the same time. A person who does
otherwise will find at his death that everything else loses its meaning
and he will realize that serving Allah is the only thing that is really im-
portant. Allah relates in a verse of the Qur'an:
It is not your wealth or your children that will bring you near
to Us – only in the case of people who believe and act rightly;
such people will have a double recompense for what they
did. They will be safe from all harm in the high halls of
Paradise. (Surah Saba': 37)
In other verses, Allah speaks of the situation of people who de-
ceive themselves in the life of this world with property and opportuni-
ties, and forget the purpose of creation and who, as a result, are liable
to great suffering in the Hereafter:
[He will say:] "If only death had really been the end! My

wealth has been of no use to me. My power has vanished."
"Seize him and truss him up. Then roast him in the Blazing
Fire." (Surat al-Haqqa: 27-31)