Using Your Gifts In The Service of ALLAH

By Imam Abdullah El-Amin, MMNS

Sometimes we may wonder what the purpose of our creation is.  Just why did ALLH create this special place we call earth.  Why did He create and evolve the microorganisms, plants and animals?   And then, why did He decide to create Adam (man)? 

He gives the answer when He says, “I have created neither men nor Jinn except for to worship Me.”  This means all men and women.  Regardless of where you were born or live or your ethnic or cultural group; you are still only a son or daughter of our first father, Adam.

ALLAH has also given each of us, His special creation, special gifts to use in His service.  It does not matter if you are a rocket scientist or a street sweeper, you are still only a child of God – you are still only Adam. 

While each of us is using the gift(s) He has given us, we are supposed to keep in mind our purpose (our only purpose) on this earth.  We are to think of ways to use our gifts to benefit the society in which we live.  Adam is the khalifa (custodian) of the entire creation so everything he does is to better the creation.  If ALLAH has given you the skills to be a great physician, before you exercise one operation, you should ponder if this action will be pleasing to ALLAH or not.  If it is not something you feel will please Him, it should be cast aside and something else done.  The physician is not to use his skills to create a Frankenstein or clone a monster to take over the world.  If he is involved in genetic research, the emphasis should be on something like getting a cure for breast cancer.  This is in synch with ALLAH’S decree that we were created for the worship of Him alone.  We just have to know how to worship Him.

I had a conversation with a homeless man the other day who was confused about his purpose in life.  He was homeless, but he was a very intelligent man who was in his present situation because of a lack of knowledge of that one simple statement by ALLAH of why He created us.  This guy is a poet and artist with great skills.  When I told him what ALLAH said about his purpose, he lit up lit a light bulb as though the answer he had been searching for had been revealed.  I am prayerful that he continues his quest for truth and comes back to the masjid to get further enlightened.

It is also important to realize that ALLAH gives us gifts and skills on many levels.  If you are gifted to be a street sweeper, before you take one stroke with the broom you should see if this broom stroke will be pleasing to ALLAH or  will it serve the enemies of mankind.  If you use the broom to sweep garbage in front of your neighbor’s house, ALLAH will not be pleased with that.  However, if the broom makes the environment beautiful, it is a certainty ALLAH is pleased.

It is not difficult to please ALLAH and you don’t have to be intellectually on a superhighway to understand it.  Just submit your God-given moral consciousness to His service and you will be successful.

As Salaam alaikum
(Al Hajj) Imam Abdullah El-Amin