Daily Times

What is the purpose of life?

why are we here?

the answers are all around us

the Greeks aimed for happiness

Aristotle even

listed eleven virtues

that would help achieve happiness

he pointed to the Golden Mean

the Abrahamic faiths

Jews, Christians and Muslims

believe it is to worship

the Abrahamic God

to be good and pious people

to do unto neighbors

what they would do unto you

the Jews

emphasize tikkunolam

to heal a fractured world

the Christians are inspired by Jesus’ commandment

to love one another

even on the cross

crucified, tortured and taunted

Jesus still had it in his heart to say

forgive them for they know not what they do

Islam’s message is defined by

the two greatest attributes of God

compassion and mercy

the Prophet was called

a mercy unto mankind

the spirit of Islam is contained in God’s message

“My mercy prevails over My wrath”

Muslims aim to achieve Rida

contentment

others too sought the meaning of life

some searched for

dharam-ahimsa in non-violence in India

some sought nirvana in the jungles

yet others

found joy in the peace, beauty and quiet

of the mountains and streams

through silence, meditation and withdrawal

one Zen master spent ten years staring at a rock

weren’t the mystics and yogis practicing similar methods?

the philosophers of atheism

sought to kill God

but in the vacuum stepped monsters

like Mao and Stalin

who demanded the blood sacrifice of millions

in the end the eudaimonia of the Greeks

or the nirvana of Buddha

or the fulfillment of the Abrahamic faiths

all point to the same direction

an attempt by us

in this brief span

to answer the question

what is the purpose of life?

The writer is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC