﴿ وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ ﴾

“And [tell them that] I have not created the invisible beings and men to any end other than that they may [know and] worship Me.”

God Himself possesses all kinds of powers. However, He has created the angels to effect the administration of His vast domain. But, the case of human beings is different. Human beings were not created to fulfill any administrative or other need of God. The sole purpose of their creation was their devotion and servitude (‘ibadah) to God. This implies bowing down without any reservation before God completely and dedicating oneself entirely to Him. The substance of this devotion is deep inner realisation of God (ma‘rifah) (Tafsir ibn Kathir). In other words, it is required of man that God should be a discovery for him. He should recognise God without seeing him. This is essential to ma‘rifah. The shape which the life of a man takes as a result of this ma‘rifah is one of devotion and subservience.