Introduction

Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips was born in Jamaica in 1947 and raised in Canada, where he embraced Islam in the early 1970s. He subsequently pursued formal Islamic education in Saudi Arabia, completing a Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Studies at the Islamic University of Madinah and a Master of Arts in Islamic Theology at the King Saud University in Riyadh, before earning a doctorate in Islamic Theology from the University of Wales. His academic formation placed him firmly within the tradition of Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah, with particular emphasis on the Atharī approach to theological questions. The Purpose of Creation was composed in the late twentieth century as part of a broader effort to address foundational questions of Islamic belief for English-speaking Muslim and non-Muslim audiences, a context in which few accessible yet rigorous treatments of the subject existed.

The work examines the Islamic understanding of why Allāh created humanity and the cosmos. Beginning with a survey of how other philosophical and religious traditions have approached this question, Philips proceeds to ground his analysis in the primary sources of Islām: the Qurʾān, the authenticated Sunnah, and the interpretive consensus of the classical scholars. The central Quranic verse to which the text repeatedly returns is the fifty-sixth āyah of Sūrat adh-Dhāriyāt: "And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me." Around this axis, the author explores the meaning of ʿibādah (worship) in its comprehensive sense, addressing the relationship between worship, purpose, and human happiness. The book is organized to move from the general to the specific, beginning with cosmological context and concluding with practical implications for the believer's daily life and moral orientation.

The work occupies a modest but useful place in the landscape of contemporary Islamic theological writing in English. It does not aspire to the technical depth of classical kalām treatises, nor does it engage extensively with modern Western philosophy of religion. Its strength lies in accessibility: it synthesizes material from Quranic exegesis, hadith literature, and the writings of scholars such as Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah and Ibn Taymiyyah into a coherent and readable argument. For readers encountering Islamic theology in English for the first time, it has served as an introductory bridge toward more specialized study. The book has been widely distributed through Islamic educational institutions and has been translated into several languages, reflecting its reception as a reliable introductory text within Sunni communities.

A reader approaching this work should do so with an awareness that it is an introductory text written for a general audience rather than a work of advanced theological scholarship. Its citations of Quranic verses and hadith are the most valuable elements and merit careful attention; readers who wish to go deeper should consult the primary sources cited, as well as classical works such as Ibn al-Qayyim's Madārij as-Sālikīn and the Quranic commentary of Ibn Kathīr for a richer treatment of the same themes. The book is best read as a starting point for reflection on one of the most fundamental questions a human being can ask: what is the purpose of my existence? Those who engage it with sincerity and then pursue further study in the classical tradition will find that this question has been addressed with great depth and precision by the scholars of Islām across fourteen centuries.