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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me)

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Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me)]

We begin this session with the exegesis of the end of Surat al-Dhariyat, from the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He:
And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
[al-Dhariyat:56] Meaning: I did not bring you into existence after non-existence except for this great wisdom, which is the worship of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, alone, with no partner, as we will explain.And the lam in His saying: (To worship Me) The lam is for the purpose of specifying the cause, but this cause is a legal cause, meaning: so that they worship Me, where He commanded them and they obeyed His command. The lam here is not a causal lam of destiny; because if it were a causal lam of destiny, it would follow that all the jinn and mankind would worship Him. But the lam here is to clarify the legal wisdom in the creation of the jinn and mankind. The jinn are a hidden realm created from fire;Because their father is Iblis, as Allah the Exalted said:
Then will you take him and his descendants as allies other than Me while they are enemies to you?أَفَتَتَّخِذُونَهُ وَذُرِّيَّتَهُ أَوْلِيَاءَ مِنْ دُونِي وَهُمْ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ
[al-Kahf:50] .
And they are called jinn because they are hidden from eyes, as they see us but we do not see them. This is the original state: they are a hidden realm, but they may appear at times. Their original state is like that of mankind: among them are Muslims and non-Muslims, among them are the righteous and those below that. But mankind are better than them in terms of origin, as they were created from clay, from dust, from hard clay like pottery. As for those jinn, they were created from fire. Likewise, mankind are distinguished from them by having messengers and prophets among them, whereas there are no messengers among the jinn. Yes, there are some among them who convey the messages from mankind, as in the saying of Allah the Exalted:
And [mention, O Muhammad], when We directed to you a few of the jinn, listening to the Qur'an. And when they attended it, they said, "Listen quietly." And when it was concluded, they went back to their people as warners.وَإِذْ صَرَفْنَا إِلَيْكَ نَفَراً مِنَ الْجِنِّ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقُرْآنَ فَلَمَّا حَضَرُوهُ قَالُوا أَنْصِتُوا فَلَمَّا قُضِيَ وَلَّوْا إِلَى قَوْمِهِمْ مُنْذِرِينَ
[al-Ahqaf:29] Look at their etiquette in their saying: "Listen," and then their remaining until the session ended,Then they went as callers to what they had heard:
they said, "Listen quietly." And when it was concluded, they went back to their people as warners. (30) They said, "O our people, indeed we have heard a [recited] Book revealed after Mosesقَالُوا أَنْصِتُوا فَلَمَّا قُضِيَ وَلَّوْا إِلَى قَوْمِهِمْ مُنْذِرِينَ * قَالُوا يَا قَوْمَنَا إِنَّا سَمِعْنَا كِتَاباً أُنْزِلَ مِنْ بَعْدِ مُوسَى
[al-Ahqaf:29-30] to the end of the verse.
As for mankind, they are the children of Adam, the humans. These were created for one thing: the worship of Allah. Not so that they would benefit Allah with their obedience, nor harm Him with their disobedience, nor feed Him. And for this He said:
I do not want from them any provision, nor do I want them to feed Me.مَا أُرِيدُ مِنْهُمْ مِنْ رِزْقٍ وَمَا أُرِيدُ أَنْ يُطْعِمُونِ
[al-Dhariyat:57] Meaning: I do not seek sustenance from them, meaning: a provision that I benefit from, nor that they feed me and I benefit from their feeding.Allah, Blessed and Exalted, said:
Say, "Is it other than Allah I should take as a protector, Creator of the heavens and the earth, while it is He who feeds and is not fed?"قُلْ أَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ أَتَّخِذُ وَلِيّاً فَاطِرِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَهُوَ يُطْعِمُ وَلا يُطْعَمُ
[al-An'am:14] So He, Glorified and Exalted is He, possesses wealth, generosity, and nobility, and He is rich in respect of what is other than Him.

So if we asked: What is the wisdom in the creation of the jinn and mankind? Worship.Meaning: They were not created to cultivate the earth, nor to eat, nor to drink, nor to enjoy themselves as livestock enjoy themselves. Rather, they were created for the worship of Allah, and He created for them what is on the earth. We are created for worship, and what is on the earth is created for us:
It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earthهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعاً
[al-Baqarah:29] And the wonder is that our people now occupy themselves with what was created for them, away from what they were created for. What was created for them? What is on the earth. Away from what they were created for, which is worship. And this is foolishness: to occupy oneself with something created for them, away from the thing for which they were created.
So what is worship?Regarding worship, we say: It is used in the first meaning: 'ibadah, meaning: the act of the servant.It is said: Worship of Allah,And the second: The one who is worshipped, and this meaning, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said about it: It is a comprehensive name for everything that Allah loves and is pleased with, of words and deeds, apparent and hidden, and everything that brings one closer to Allah. So it is a comprehensive name for everything. Prayer is worship, charity is worship, fasting is worship, Hajj is worship, enjoining good is worship, forbidding evil is worship. Everything that brings one closer to Allah, whether word or deed, is worship.

So worship is used in two meanings: The first meaning: "ta'abbud," which is the act of the servant.

And the second meaning: The one who is worshipped, which is worship.
Source shamela.ws

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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