Is Life Just A Game?

Think about it. Is our purpose in this world simply to eat, sleep, dress, work, play games, make music and babies, amass fame and fortune and enjoy ourselves? Is this all what our purpose is?

‘Know that the present life is just a game, a diversion, an attraction, a cause of boasting among you, of rivalry in wealth and children…’ (The Qur’an, Chapter 57, Verse 20)

All objects have purpose

Not far from reality. Look around you. You are surrounded by things we human beings have made with our own hands – a mobile phone, a car, chair/ table, all have a purpose. They were all actually made to perform specific functions for us. These inanimate objects with no emotional or mental faculties have a purpose and yet we do not attribute purpose to our own existence. Isn’t this absurd?

All objects are made

When you see a bridge, a building or an automobile, you automatically consider the person or company that constructed it. When you see a large ship, an airplane, a rocket, a satellite; you also think about how incredible it is. You know by its design who the maker is. When you see a super international airport, nuclear plant or an orbiting space station you have to be thoroughly impressed with the engineering dynamics that are involved. Yet, these are just things that are manufactured by human beings. So, who made man with all these intricacies? What about the human body with its massive and intricate control systems? Think about it.

The big questions

Why are we born? What is the object of our existence? What is the wisdom behind the creation of man and this tremendous universe? Think about those questions. Why did God make us?

Think about the brain: how it thinks, functions, analyses, retrieves and stores information, as well as distinguishes and categorises information in a millionth of a second, all of this constantly and instantly. Think about it. This is the brain that made the automobile, the space ships, the boats, and so on. Think about the brain and who could have made that!

Think about the heart. Think about how it pumps continuously for sixty or seventy years maintaining steady precision throughout the life of the person.

Think about the kidneys and the liver and the various functions they perform. The purifying instruments of the body that perform hundreds of chemical analyses simultaneously and also controls the level of toxicity in the content of the body. All of these are done automatically.

Think about your eyes, the human cameras that adjust, focus, interpret, evaluate and discern colour automatically, naturally receiving and adjusting to light and distance, in fraction of seconds!

Think about it – Who created them? Who has mastered their design and function? Who plans and regulates their functions? Surely, human beings did not do these. No, of course not.

What about this universe? Think about this. This earth is one planet in our solar system, and our solar system is one [of possible many] solar systems. Our galaxy, The Milky Way, is just one of the galaxies. There are one hundred million galaxies in the universe. They are all in order and they are all precise. They are not colliding with each other. They are not conflicting with one another. They are swimming along in an orbit that has been set for them. Did human beings set that into motion and are human beings maintaining their precision? No, of course not.

Think about the oceans, the fish, the insects, the birds, the plants, bacteria, and chemical elements that have not yet been discovered and cannot be detected even with the most sophisticated instruments. Yet each of them has a law that they follow. Did all this synchronization, balance, harmony, variation, design, maintenance, operation, and infinite numeration happen all by chance? Do these things function perfectly and perpetually also by chance? No, of course not. That would be totally illogical and foolish.

‘O Mankind, what has deceived you concerning your Lord, the Generous; Who created you, proportioned you, and balanced you? In whatever form He willed, has He assembled you.’ (The Qur’an, Chapter 82, Verse 6-8)

An Almighty?

In the least, it indicates that however it came to exist, it exists beyond the realm of human capability. We can all agree to that. The intelligent construction of these ingenious creations must have a Creator too and should be distinct from His creations and thus deserves recognition. This Being, The Almighty, this Creator who has the knowledge to design and proportion created all of this and is responsible for maintaining it too.

If I were to give each one of you one hundred pounds for no reason, just for being here, you would at least say thank you. What about your eyes, your kidneys, your brain, your children, and your life: who gave you all of that? Is He not worthy of praise and thanks? Is He not worthy of your worship and recognition?

My brothers and sisters, that, in a nutshell, is the goal and purpose of this life. God Almighty (Allah in Arabic) said in the last and final revelation to the whole of mankind, the Holy Quran:

‘And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me..’ (The Qur’an, Chapter 51, Verse 56)

Purpose of Life

Our purpose in this life is to recognize This Creator, to be grateful to Him, to worship Him, to surrender ourselves to Him and to obey the laws that He has determined for us. It means worship is our purpose in life. Whatever we do in the course of that worship, [i.e., eating, sleeping, working, enjoying,] between birth and death is consequential and subject to His orders. But the main reason for our creation is worship. Anyone who is analytical or scientific will have much of an argument with that purpose. They may have some other reason with themselves – but that is something they have to deal with between themselves and Almighty God.

But in order to worship Him, we have to know Him well otherwise we may form a distorted concept of Him and then go astray. In the Quran, Almighty God tells humankind what He is and what He is not. For example, in response to a question about God that was posed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), God says:

‘Say (O Muhammad): He is God [Who is] the One and Only, God, the Eternal, Absolute. He neither begets nor is He begotten, There is nothing (imaginable) equivalent to Him. ’ (The Qur’an, Chapter 112)

In Islam, God Almighty is nothing like a human being or anything that we could imagine and He is the only One worthy of worship.

Implications of denying the Divine

Ignoring or denying God and any Divine accountability leads to an existential nightmare. Rationally speaking, holding on to such views, leads to absurd conclusions (known as argumentum ad ignoratium). When you play a game, you either win or lose, and then you eventually die; game over. This irrational and unintuitive view on life is not simply a worldview that exists in a bubble. If its claims are true, then one would have to make some inevitable existential conclusions that are very bleak. Under this view, life is ludicrous.

The formula is simple: denying or ignoring God, Divinely given purpose and accountability equals no ultimate hope and no true happiness (as well as many other things, but I have a word limit). This conclusion is not an outdated religious cliche; it is a result of thinking logically about the implications of this world view.

‘There truly are signs in the creation of the heavens and earth, and in the alternation of night and day, for those with understanding, who remember God standing, sitting, and lying down, who reflect on the creation of the heavens and earth: “Our Lord! You have not created all this without purpose – You are far above that! – so protect us from the torment of the Fire.’ (The Qur’an, Chapter 3, Verse 190)