Question:
When I preach to a Hindu brother, he asks, “Why did God create us? Does God gain anything by creating us? If He created us to worship Him, does He need that worship? If good deeds lead to heaven and bad deeds to hell, why all this unnecessary effort? Isn’t our creation itself a waste?” I couldn’t answer. Please provide a response.
Farooq, Mylapore
Answer:
It is beyond doubt that in Islam, Allah is completely self-sufficient. This means He has no needs or dependencies. Islam firmly asserts that any entity with needs cannot qualify as a god.
The command to worship God does not imply that He has any dependence on our actions. The essence of worship is not to fulfill a need of Allah but is entirely for the benefit of human beings.
Even if all humanity unanimously decided never to worship God, it would not diminish His greatness in the slightest. Conversely, if every individual chose to worship Him, His grandeur and worth would not increase.
Allah’s Messenger (sal) as saying that Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, said:
O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as pious as the most pious heart of any one man of you, that would not increase My dominion in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as wicked as the most wicked heart of any one man of you, that would not decrease My dominion in anything. (Muslim 4674)
The command to worship, including performing prayers, is not for God’s benefit but entirely for the benefit of humanity. Worship cultivates discipline, gratitude, and spiritual well-being, which enhances human life.
If we ask someone to engage in a task for their own benefit, we will not assume that we ourselves have a need for that task.. For example:
A parent pushes their child to excel in exams or competitions, not for the parent’s gain but for the child’s future success. There may be an implicit hope that a well-settled child will care for their parents, but this is incidental, not the primary goal.
However, Allah does not even have such expectations from our worship. He is completely independent of our actions.
This implies that all divine instructions, including worship, are intended for human growth and alignment with the ultimate truth, not for fulfilling any divine requirement.
Therefore, the commands given for our benefit should not be misunderstood as commands given out of the need of the One who issued them.