What is the purpose of this life?

A question people often ask is "why are we here?" or "what is the purpose of life?"    Surely our purpose cannot be simply to go to work, pay bills and die.  There must be more to it than that. 

We ask these questions because we need to understand our purpose, why we are here on this planet?  This line of questioning is obvious, because all around us we see purpose e.g. nature that provides us with oxygen, cools the temperature of the planet, beetles and vultures cleaning us the savannah etc.
Even man made items have a purpose, Phones to communicate, vehicles to transport us, refrigerators to preserve food etc.

So it is only natural that we too have a purpose, but what is it?  Some argue it is to breed and make a better world for generations to come.  This cannot be the case, because as we know everything has an expiry date including stars and planets (earth included) and this would nullify the purpose of the final generation. Therefore a purpose would not be absolute.

Another argument is that we simply have no purpose.  This is an invalid argument, because everything has a purpose and this is a fact, perhaps some purposes may be unknown or unclear but non the less they have a purpose. So whether its our solar system and the rotation of the earth around the sun or the moon around the earth, or plankton or bacteria. Everything has a purpose.

So what does Islam say about our purpose?

Allah mentions in the Quran

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
"And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me". 

Now this concept may seem strange to some non Muslims, but man has always created something to serve, from the discovering fire, inventing the wheel, and even the IPhone, we create things to serve us or benefit.

We believe in Heaven and Hell and that how we choose to live will ultimately lead to one of these two places.  Therefore once we understand that this life is a journey and not a destination, we understand our purpose and the travel (so to speak) is important. Allah (Our creator) has provided man throughout history with Prophets & Messengers and Books (manuals) to tell us of His existence and to worship Him by Praying, valuing life, being good to one another, giving charity, etc. And to avoid evil, e.g. Murder, theft, racism, etc.

This is our purpose and it is absolute i.e. relevant to all mankind and for all time 

Related:
The frog of the well
Misconceptions about Islam

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