The purpose of worldly life lies in being an abode of trial where Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, tries His servants in obeying Him. We have already stated that everything Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, has created has a will. Some have chosen once and for all, have chosen to be subjected as the sun, the mountains, the seas; in fact, the entire universe save mankind and the jinn, whereas, some have preferred to have choices. So, there are those who have exercised their discretion once and chose to be subjected, because they do not trust themselves if given the freedom of showing obedience to Allah, they would honor and fulfill the trust or not; whereas others were misled by their reasoning power and accepted to submit to Allah willingly and not by subjection. But neither the choosers of subjection nor those who preferred to have a free will escaped the Knowledge of Allah. Indeed, Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, is The Omniscient of all that happened or would happen before it happens. Recite the noble Qur’anic ayaat in which Allah, be ever gloried His Majesty and Might, says (what means):
“And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels: ‘Verily, I am going to place (mankind) generations after generations on earth.’”
(Al-Baqarah, 2: 30)
Did Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, when informing the angels about the creation of Âdam (peace be upon him), address these words after He created Âdam or before it? Allah, Blessed and Exalted be He, says (what means):
“So, when I have fashioned him completely and breathed into him (Adam) the soul which I created for him, then fall (you) down prostrating yourselves unto him.”
(Al-Hijr, 15: 29)
Allah, The Exalted and Ever-Majestic, ordered the angels to prostrate themselves before creating Âdam (peace be upon him) and after informing them that He would place mankind generations after generations on earth. Hence, Âdam is intrinsically created to make the land fruitful, inhabit it and have children till the Day of Resurrection befalls. The knowledge of Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, fully encompassed the creation of the universe and the purpose behind it, that of Âdam and the purpose behind him, and all that would render the fulfillment of such purpose possible. Thus, The Almighty, praise be to Him, created the water, the plants and the animals to ensure the survival of Âdam and his offspring on land till the Day of Resurrection. The Truth, all praise and glory be to Him, says (what means):
“Say (O Muhammad SAWS): ‘Do you verily disbelieve in Him Who created the earth in two Days and you set up rivals (in worship) with Him? That is the Lord of the ‘Alamîn (mankind, jinns and all that exists). He placed therein (i.e. the earth) firm mountains from above it, and He blessed it, and measured therein its sustenance (for its dwellers) in four Days equal (i.e. all these four ‘days’ were equal in the length of time), for all those who ask (about its creation).’”
(Fussilat, 41: 9-10)
If we contemplated these two noble Qur’anic verses we would realize that Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, measured on the Day of Creation the sustenance needed on the earth. Allah, The Exalted and Ever-Majestic, knew beforehand all that would live on the earth till the Day of Resurrection from humans, animals, insects and plants; fully and precisely knew them, arranging to every species the sustenance it would need till the Day of Resurrection befalls. All is eternally encompassed within the Knowledge of Allah, Blessed and Exalted be He, before creating the earth; all the species of the universe till the day the earth ceases to be and be destroyed. All is arranged for them; the sustenance they will need for survival.