Explanation of the author's statement: The saying of Allah the Exalted: "And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me."

The Shaykh : He said "And the saying of Allah the Exalted:

And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.

وما خلقت الجن والإنس إلا ليعبدون

[Adh-Dhariyat 51:56]

"
"Ma" is a negation, and His saying: This is an exception emptied from the most general of conditions, meaning: I did not create the jinn and mankind for any purpose except for worship. The "lam" here in His saying: The "lam" is for causation (ta'lil). The "lam" is for causation, but it is a causation that explains the wisdom of creation, not the causation that is inseparable from the caused effect. Because if it were the causation inseparable from the caused effect, it would follow from the creation of the jinn and mankind that they would all be servants of Allah, worshipping Him, and that is not the case. So this cause is a purposive cause, not an effective cause. The purposive cause may or may not be realized, just as if you said, "I sharpened the pen so I could write with it." You may write, or you may not. Pay attention: the effective cause means that the caused effect is built upon it and must occur... it is the path of the caused effect. As for the purposive cause, it is for explaining the goal of this action and the intended purpose of this action, and it may occur or it may not. The example I gave you makes this clear. What is it? To say, "I sharpened the pen so I could write with it." So you have now sharpened it, but does it follow from that, from the fact that you sharpened it to write with it, does it follow that you will write with it? No. "I sewed the garment so I could wear it." Perhaps you will not wear it. No? It seems to you... and you leave it. And so on. So this cause is purposive, and the purposive cause does not necessarily occur. And we said that because if it were an effective cause, it would follow that all people would worship Allah, and reality is not so. Yes.
The student: The effective cause.

The Shaykh : The effective cause means that which is the cause for bringing this thing into existence, so it precedes it. For example, you say, "The glass broke because of the intense heat." So the effective cause is that which precedes and is inseparable from the caused effect.
Now, His saying the Exalted "Khalaqt" means "I brought into existence," but it is a bringing into existence preceded by estimation. Therefore, creation in the language means estimation, as the poet said:
"And you unravel what you created *** And some people create and then do not unravel"
"What I created" means "what I estimated." So the original meaning of creation in the language is estimation, and it is applied to the bringing into existence built upon it, as in the verse. And His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: The jinn are a hidden, unseen realm concealed from us. Therefore, it came in the root of "jinn." Yes, the root of this naming came for them because it was mentioned to us before that the letters "j" and "n" indicate concealment and hiding. From this come "jannah" (garden), "jinah" (covering), and "junah" (shelter), all of which indicate concealment and hiding.
And His saying: By this is meant the children of Adam. They were named so because they do not have strength or do not live without comfort. They find comfort in one another and move toward one another, and by that they were named "ins" (mankind). And Allah created them for His worship He explained His saying "so that they worship Me" as "except to make Him unique." And this is the truth. And it was explained to mean "so that they humble themselves to Me by obedience," by doing what is commanded and leaving what is forbidden. And of His obedience is that we make Him unique, Glorified and Exalted is He. This is the wisdom.
And it is known that if this were the wisdom, it would be contrary to wisdom. How so? Because Allah the Exalted gave humans intellects, and He sent messengers to them and sent down books to them. So if the purpose of their creation, or if the wisdom of their creation, were like the wisdom of creating animals, which were created for people to benefit from them, the wisdom would be lost. How would they say there is wisdom, and you send messengers, and you send down books, and you give the human intellect, and the end is that he is like a tree that grew and then collapsed and vanished? This is not from wisdom. Therefore, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: You must be returned to a resurrection where you are recompensed for your work. If good, then good; and if evil, then evil. So this is the wisdom of creating the jinn and mankind. Is the wisdom that they benefit Allah? Meaning... the wisdom... So is the wisdom that they benefit Allah? No. And for this He said: If you ask how to answer His saying the Exalted: The answer is that this is not an acknowledgment of need for Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, for Allah is rich in Himself and in need of nothing from us. But He, Glorified and Exalted is He, likened the treatment of His servant toward Him to a loan, because a loan must be repaid. It must be repaid. So it is as if it is a commitment from Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, to pay the worker the reward of his work, just as the borrower repays the one who lent to him. The one who lent to him. Now, then he said