Correct knowledge is inextricably linked with the orientation of the intellect. How the mind is guided, the accuracy of knowledge is formed in that direction. This orientation is the actions of human beings to form their social life, inner life, personality and values consciously or unconsciously.

Before moving on to the issue of how the intellect should be guided, we need to briefly dwell on what intellect and maturity are. This is because intelligence and intellect are often confused with each other when they are used in sentences.

Intelligence is a person’s ability to think, to perceive facts quickly, to judge and to draw conclusions. Reason, on the other hand, is the ability to find the truth, to think deeply and to bring a good solution to every subject, which gives people an understanding above intelligence. The beginning of the mind’s ability to make these directions is known as the time of maturity. This is also called puberty. Being baliğ means reaching puberty physically and spiritually. Islam requires a person to be “of sound mind” for the beginning of his/her responsibility. The period of maturity is finalised when a man is menstruating and a woman is menstruating. Reason provides the ability to make judgements and puberty provides the ability to make decisions. The mind that has not reached puberty cannot implement the consequences of the decisions it makes. With the attainment of puberty, man becomes aware of his responsibility and enters into the atmosphere of determining his time, his world, his rights and wrongs and his beliefs on this axis.

In this respect, it is of vital importance to know the method of reaching the right knowledge and guiding the mind. People will decide on their lives in this way, distinguish right from wrong, and will be held accountable in the place of judgement as they live with these truths. If these decisions are based on wrong information that is thought to be true, they may cause them to spend their lives in this world as miserable and to be tormented in the Hereafter.

Allah (swt) gives understanding to His servants in return for believing in Him and fearing and abstaining. Having the right understanding is realised by obeying Allah’s commands and prohibitions after believing. These actions, which are the result of faith, will entitle people to avoid doing evil, to be protected against evil deeds, and to be forgiven by covering up their evil deeds.

Allah (swt) says:

O you who believe, if you fear Allah and abstain, He will give you light and understanding (furqan) that distinguishes right from wrong, and He will cover your evil deeds and forgive you. Allah is the Owner of great favour.[69]

That is why it is constantly observed that people without faith base their lives on irregularities and mistakes. The life built on this disorganisation includes not only those who deny the Creator, but also those who, although they believe in the existence of Allah (swt), lead a life without implementing His commands and prohibitions.

The fact that people should find answers to questions such as “Why do I exist, how did I come into existence, what am I, where am I, why am I like this…”, while they deal with information that does not concern their world and hereafter, means that they have a life based on disorder and mistakes. How can a person who does not know any of the answers to these questions adhere to the values he believes in and how can he find solutions to the problems he encounters in order to live these truths? Even if a person who cannot comprehend the truth reaches puberty, if he does not know the purpose of his life, what responsibility, whether personal or social, can he consciously determine and implement?

In non-Muslim societies, such people are considered intelligent or of puberty on the basis of their advanced age and good knowledge of how to make gains for their own benefit. When asked questions about their beliefs or deeds, the answers are always delayed. Just as the ostrich hides its head in the ground, thinking that “if I cannot see it, no one can see me”, the fact that it runs away and hides from what it is responsible for does not mean that it will never be asked about what it knows. Can there be an explanation for an understanding that acts by conjecture without knowing the Creator’s commands to the creature and takes what suits its own truths and rejects the others?

-Is there a Creator?

-Yes there is.

-Do you have what He has revealed to you?

-Yes, yes.

-Do you have a purpose for coming to the world?

-Yes, yes.

-Do you have the means to act in accordance with this purpose?

-Yes, yes.

-Are you to be questioned about these?

-Yes, yes.

-If you do not apply what you need to know, is there a punishment at the end?

-Yes, there is.

-Well, do you know what the Creator has informed you?

-We are incomplete, may God forgive us.

-Do you know the purpose of your coming to the world?

-We are incomplete, may Allah forgive us.

-Do you know how to act in accordance with your purpose?

-We are incomplete, may Allah forgive us.

-Do you really think you believe in the hereafter?

-We have shortcomings, may God forgive us…

The people in this picture cannot fulfil their obligations because they do not know the obligations imposed on them by Islam after they come of age. The guidance of the mind with wrong information brings an unhappy life and heavy burdens that cannot be accounted for afterwards. The only truth that will make sense of our life is to know the causes and consequences of the purpose for which we were created and to adapt our life in accordance with this purpose.

Allah (swt) says:

“We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in vain; this is the conjecture of the disbelievers.”[70]

The verse informs us that there is not an iota of wasted creation in the world of existence and that everything created has a reason. Since we, as human beings, are also included in this causative creation, the verse directs us to contemplate[71] and then to be in tedebbür[72] and tezekkür[73].

For what purpose did our Creator, who is the only One who is free from deficient attributes, create us?

Where are we in this world where we cannot determine the time of our arrival and departure?

The desire to find the answers to these questions has really led me to a great research. Firstly, I asked the Holy Qur’an, “What is the purpose of my creation?” and I found the answer briefly and clearly as follows.

ALLAH (swt) says:

“I have created the jinn and mankind only to serve me.”[74]

The verse clearly states that the purpose of our creation is to serve Allah (swt).

We were created to do servitude, but what is servitude and how is it done?

What are the terms and conditions of servitude?

Should it be done always and continuously, is it enough if it is compressed to one day of the week as the Christians do?

Or should we, like the Jews, make the superior race model our honour and think that “there will be no punishment for us in the hereafter” and strive only for the world that the Creator has given us?

If none of these, what is servitude and how should it be done?

If we learn the way of life that suits our purpose of creation and apply it in our lives, it means a life that the Creator will be pleased with. Only then can we truly believe that we knowingly perform actions that are in accordance with His (swt) consent. Otherwise, it will be inevitable for us to be one of the addressees of this verse, who will say, “I wish I were dust (so that I would not see this day)”[75] on the Day of Judgement.

The test to be won in the world, in this sense, constitutes its most basic question with the concept of servitude. In order to understand this concept well, I have followed a reverse route from the moment we leave the world to the information we start to determine our lives.

Because with this method to be followed from the end to the beginning, both the truths that give meaning to life will be diagnosed and the way of life that is suitable for the purpose of creation will be determined and the suitability of the life lived will be found. For this, we will start by determining a path from death to birth. This is a method to be applied in order not to say “I wish I were earth” in the Hereafter or for the sake of the preparation to be made for the earth before being mixed with the earth.

[69] Surat al-Anfal, Verse 29

[70] Surat al-Sad, Verse 27

[71] Thinking, generating ideas.

[72] Thinking about the end of something

[73] Remembrance, remembrance

[74] Surah Zariyat, Verse 56

[75] Surah Naba, Verse 40