God, is solely to bring out the thought that they appear to support the idea that man was created for the service of God, and that he might find his supreme joy and happiness in seeing that face turned towards him, and thus find peace and satisfaction for all his heart's desires and longings; and that this was the end for which man was created.

In creating man to serve Him, God did not, however, purpose to produce a mere piece of mechanism which would fulfil this end. The service of God, which according to the Qur'an is man's chief end, was to be rendered consciously and intelligently; and with this end in view God endowed man with self-consciousness, intelligence, and reason, that he might be able to render to Him a voluntary homage.

From this point of view it may be said that man's life on earth is an opportunity afforded him of giving or withholding this homage or service, and it may thus be said that in the creation of man God's purpose was to prove him. 'Verily we have created man of the mingled seed of both sexes, that we might prove him, and have made him to hear and see' [Suratu'l-Insan (lxxvi) 2]. This, of course, does not mean that God created man simply with a view to see or find out whether he would serve him or not. What is meant is that God created man to serve and worship Him, and find in Him the satisfaction of all those longings and desires implanted within his soul; and therefore so created him, and so circumstanced him, that he had the capacity and opportunity of serving Him or of refusing to serve Him; and that in this sense, his life on earth is a trying or testing.

This thought is frequently brought out in the Qur'an, and perhaps in no passages more clearly than in those which, by way of illustration, refer to the course of Jewish history, such as the following: 'And We proved them with prosperity and with adversity, that they might return from their disobedience.¹ The same thought is generalized in another verse in which we read, 'God hath created the heavens and the earth in truth, that He may recompense every soul according to that which it shall have wrought: and they shall not be unjustly treated ' [Suratu'l-Jathiya (xlv) 21]. Many other passages bring out the same thought.

All this, of course, must mean that man is dependent on God. And this dependence is seen in the fact that man has to look to God for the supply of all his physical needs, and the Qur'an has much to say on this point; but it is in respect of his moral and spiritual needs that the Qur'an specially emphasizes the dependence of man on God.

With regard to this spiritual dependence, if we may so describe it, the Qur'an throughout represents God as ever planning and working for the supply of man's needs. Thus we see it teaching that God in His love and mercy did not leave man when he fell without some hope of restoration to his lost blessedness; but gave him a promise of direction and guidance whereby he might again recover his former happy condition. 'We said, Get ye all down from hence; hereafter there shall come unto you a direction from me, and whoever shall follow my direction, on them shall no fear come' [Suratu'l-Baqara (ii) 36]. This verse teaches