What
is your purpose in life? What is the rationale behind our life? Why do
we live in this life? These questions frequently intrigue people who
try to find accurate answers.

People
provide different answers to these questions. Some people believe the
purpose of life is to accumulate wealth. But one may wonder: What is
the purpose of life after one has collected colossal amounts of money?
What then? What will the purpose be once money is gathered? If the
purpose of life is to gain money, there will be no purpose after
becoming wealthy. And in fact, here lies the problem of some
disbelievers or misbelievers at some stage of their life, when
collecting money is the target of their life. When they have collected
the money they dreamt of, their life loses its purpose. They suffer
from the panic of nothingness and they live in tension and
restlessness.


We
often hear of a millionaire committing suicide, sometimes, not the
millionaire himself but his wife, son, or daughter. The question that
poses itself is: Can wealth bring happiness to one’s life? In most
cases the answer is NO. Is the purpose of collecting wealth a standing
purpose? As we know, the five-year old child does not look for wealth:
a toy for him is equal to a million dollars. The eighteen-year old
adolescent does not dream of wealth because he is busy with more
important things. The ninety-year old man does not care about money;
he is worried more about his health. This proves that wealth cannot be
a standing purpose in all the stages of the individual's life.

Wealth
can do little to bring happiness to a disbeliever, because he/she is
not sure about his fate. A disbeliever does not know the purpose of
life. And if he has a purpose, this purpose is doomed to be temporary
or self destructive.

What
is the use of wealth to a disbeliever if he feels scared of the end
and skeptical of everything. A disbeliever may gain a lot of money,
but will surely lose himself.


On
the contrary, faith in Allah gives the believer the purpose of life
that he needs. In Islam, the purpose of life is to worship Allah. The
term "Worship" covers all acts of obedience to Allah.

The
Islamic purpose of life is a standing purpose. The true Muslim sticks
to this purpose throughout all the stages of his life, whether he is a
child, adolescent, adult, or an old man.

Worshipping
Allah makes life purposeful and meaningful, especially within the
framework of Islam. According to Islam this worldly life is just a
short stage of our life. Then there is the other life. The boundary
between the first and second life is the death stage, which is a
transitory stage to the second life. The type of life in the second
stage a person deserves depends on his deeds in the first life. At the
end of the death stage comes the day of judgment. On this day, Allah
rewards or punishes people according to their deeds in the first life.


So,
Islam looks at the first life as an examination of man. The death
stage is similar to a rest period after the test, i. e. after the
first life. The Day of Judgment is similar to the day of announcing
the results of the examinees. The second life is the time when each
examinee enjoys or suffers from the outcome of his behavior during the
test period.

In
Islam, the line of life is clear, simple, and logical: the first life,
death, the Day of Judgment, and then the second life. With this clear
line of life, the Muslim has a clear purpose in life. The Muslim knows
he is created by Allah. Muslims know they are going to spend some
years in this first life, during which they have to obey God, because
God will question them and hold them responsible for their public or
private deeds, because Allah knows about all the deeds of all people.
The Muslim knows that his deeds in the first life will determine the
type of second life they will live in. The Muslim knows that this
first life is a very short one, one hundred years, more or less,
whereas the second life is an eternal one.


The
concept of the eternity of the second life has a tremendous effect on
a Muslims during their first life, because Muslims believe that their
first life determines the shape of their second life. In addition,
this determines the shape of their second life and this determination
will be through the Judgment of Allah, the All just and Almighty.

With
this belief in the second life and the Day of Judgment, the Muslim's
life becomes purposeful and meaningful. Moreover, the Muslim's
standing purpose is to go to Paradise in the second life.

In
other words, the Muslim's permanent purpose is to obey Allah, to
submit to Allah, to carry out His orders, and to keep in continues
contact with Him through prayers (five times a day), through fasting
(one month a year), through charity (as often as possible), and
through pilgrimage (once in one's life).


Disbelievers
have purposes in their lives such as collecting money and property,
indulging in sex, eating, and dancing. But all these purposes are
transient and passing ones. All these purposes come and go, go up and
down. Money comes and goes. Health comes and goes. Sexual activities
cannot continue forever. All these lusts for money, food and sex
cannot answer the individual's questions: so what? Then What?

However,
Islam saves Muslims from the trouble of asking the question, because
Islam makes it clear, from the very beginning, that the permanent
purpose of the Muslim in this life is to obey Allah in order to go to
Paradise in the second life.

We
should know that the only way for our salvation in this life and in
the hereafter is to know our Lord who created us, believe in Him, and
worship Him alone.

We
should also know our Prophet whom Allah had sent to all mankind,
believe in Him and follow Him. We should, know the religion of truth
which our Lord has commanded us to believe in, and practice it …

Those
in search of truth

Who
have an open mind and heart,

Islamic
Education Foundation

Welcome
You.

Objectives:
-

To
Convey the message of Islam

To
Educate Muslims about Islam

To
keep in close contact with new Muslims.

Activities:

Offering
Courses and presenting lectures about Islam in several languages.

Teaching
Islam and Arabic.

Teaching
new Muslims to receive the Holy Quran.

Helping
Non- Muslims embrace Islam and complete the required procedures