Dear Andrew,

 

Thanks a lot for your important question.

We quote the answer from Sheikh Yusuf Estes’s “The Purpose of Creation”.

This question should be asked because humankind is not, in fact, the greatest creation. God says in the Quran what means:

The creation of the heavens and earth is greater than the creation of mankind, but most of the people do not know. (Ghafir 40:57)

The composition of human beings is far less complex than the composition of the universe in which they exist. However, very few people reflect on this reality. Because of the apparent supremacy of human beings over the other creatures on this earth, man’s journeys through space and the continued advancement of their technology and knowledge, humankind in every age becomes arrogant and considers itself the greatest thing in this world.

The Creator

Creation is fundamentally the consequence of the divine attribute of being the creator. A creator who does not create is something of a contradiction in terms. This is not to say that God needs His creation. God is free from all needs. It is creation which needs Him. But, as the greatness of a writer becomes apparent in his writings, the perfection of the divine creative attribute is manifest in creation. Creation in the true sense is unique to God alone. Although humans ascribe the act of creation to themselves, what they do is not true creation.

Humankind merely manipulates what already exists, what was already created by God. A table is made from wood which came from trees and is held together with nails and screws made from metal that came from rocks. Human beings did not make the trees or the rocks.

In fact, all human creations can be traced back to basic elements which humans cannot make. Even the artist creates designs based on what he has seen. It is not possible to imagine what has not been perceived by the senses. Thus, all of the artist’s thoughts are reflections on what was already created. Only God alone creates from nothing. This basic fact was and still is incomprehensible to some.

Some ancient as well as modern philosophers, who could not comprehend how God could create from nothing, claimed that the created world and its contents are all originally a part of God. That is, according to them, God took a part of Himself and made the universe. This conclusion is based on comparing God to man, who can only  ‘create’ by modifying what already exists. However, God, denies any such comparisons which would give Him human limitations. In Chapter Ash-Shura of the final revelation, Almighty Allah states:

There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing. (Ash-Shura 42:11)

Thus, the act of creation is a consequence of the divine attribute of being the Creator. God describes Himself as the Creator in a variety of verses throughout the final revelation to emphasize to humankind that everything belongs to Him alone.

Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is, over all things, Disposer of affairs. (Az-Zumar 39:62)

While Allah created you and that which you do? (As-Saffat 37:96)

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Source: Taken from the book entitled "The Purpose of Creation" by Sheikh Yusuf Estes