Why are we here?

I had an epiphany the other day when hearing a hadith about one of the gifts that the inhabitants of Paradise will receive upon entering Paradise. The hadith states that Allah will uncover his face and all of the people who had earned Paradise will fall down in prostration. Then Allah will tell the worshipers that there is no longer worship. Only honor. Allah will honor them for their good deeds. This is where the epiphany comes along. Many times we question why God would put us here in the first place and every time I have asked this I don't get much of an answer and I have even had people tell me not to question things as this might put me into disbelief. Now I do agree that there are some silly questions that don't have much point behind them and to complex yourself over such things could be useless but to question why we are here is a rather cosmic question and to search for an answer within Islamic text is not something ludicrous. In fact, when I have these sort of question marks floating around in my head it is usually only because I have so much belief in what I am asking about that I want to know more. I have the type of mind that if I am not asking questions than there is a problem and as a Muslim I trust the Quran when it says that within the text of the Quran is an example (in some form or another) for everything. I studied the Quran for myself and came across a couple verses stating that we are only made to worship and that Allah put us on earth to judge which of us are best in deed. As a former Christian I read the Bible several times and what I noticed most is that the prophets emphasized humility and kindness to others. In Islam these actions are part of worship. Our daily prayers are one on one worship with Allah but our good actions toward mankind (contrary to modern belief that Muslims are taught to harm others) are also a form of worship because if we truly worship Allah in prayer from a genuine and grateful heart then our love for Allah will overflow and manifest in our treatment toward others which is indeed much of our worship and exaltation of God. This was enough of an answer for me to calm the cosmic question of why we are here until I heard the hadith that refers to Allah showing himself to us and then telling us there is no longer worship, only honor. It sounds simple but to me it sealed up all the loose ends to my questioning of why we are here. With our sentence being only to worship and for Allah to judge which of us are good in actions comes something distinct that most other creation has not been appointed. That is free choice. The angels were created to do only what they are commanded. Most other creation only does what it was made to do while humans have free choice. Free choice is often confused with free will. However, I could will myself to grow wings and fly but it would never happen. This lack of free will is what SHOULD make mankind grateful and humble to their Creator but instead we find the evil amongst mankind trying to take on the role of free will. That is to be all powerful. The difference is that God never uses His free will for evil (only justice). Some of mankind however will take as much power as they can get their hands on regardless of the price others pay. Take for example Hitler, the man took the lives of many innocent people in very gruesome ways and for what? For power and domination. He took his free CHOICE and confused it with free will forfeiting the fact that he will face the One and only being who does have free will. When I read the Quran it refers to the inhabitants of the hellfire as the like. People who relentlessly choose evil over good and refuse to humble themselves in repentance. Those who associate partners with him forgetting that He alone is the all powerful and yet most merciful. They associate sons, statues, daughters, wives, other gods, etc. with Him. There is a hadith that states that on the day of judgment people will be faced with the things that they associated with God (Jesus, trees, etc.) and Allah will ask them if these attributed 'gods' can help them more than Himself. There is even a Quranic verse that says Allah asks Jesus (peace be upon him) if he ever asked people to put him equal with Allah. "And behold! God will say [i.e. on the Day of Judgment]: 'Oh Jesus, the son of Mary! Did you say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of God?' He will say: 'Glory to Thee! Never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, You would indeed have known it. You know what is in my heart, though I know not what is in Yours. For You know in full all that is hidden. Never did I say to them anything except what You commanded me to say: 'Worship God, my Lord and your Lord.' And I was a witness over them while I lived among them. When You took me up, You were the Watcher over them, and You are a witness to all things'" (5:116-117)."

So in this I can find it plausible and even logical when Allah says we are made to worship and do good deeds. Part of those good deeds include turning to Him for forgiveness because that is admitting that you have transgressed bounds and it is also admitting that you are under God's governance not your own. ‎"O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind... O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness as great as it."

If we use our free choice for good rather than evil Allah will reward us so much as to tell us we don't even need to worship Him anymore (of course naturally I believe we still will worship Him) and even further He will give US honor. Honor for our humility and self restraint. Honor for not using our distinct free choice and trying to compete with our Creator in making it free will. Honor for laying aside arrogance for gratefulness. Honor for using our money for charity instead of building our social credibility. (If we only obeyed Allah and all gave in charity and resisted the urge to overpower each other there would be no hunger or cruelty in the world).

Our Creator gave us something as unique and responsible as free choice so let's be careful to not turn this gift into a right and let us also be careful to use it for good rather than evil.

I testify that there is only One God and I testify that Muhommad, Jesus, Abraham, Moses, Noah, Adam, etc. were God's prophets. Peace be with you. Ameen.