Man bases his purposes on the requirements of his personal interests and needs.

Man bases his purposes on the requirements of his personal interests and needs. These needs are dictated by, the environment and objective circumstances which surround man. The circumstances, however, do not move man directly in the way a storm, for instance, moves the leaves of trees.' Had this been the case, it would annul man's role as a purposive being.

It is therefore necessary for objective circumstances to move man, but only in that they stir him to act in accordance with his own perception of his interest within a specific practical situation. Not every interest, however, is capable of moving the individual to action. Rather, this is achieved by such interests as the individual discerns to be his own interests as well.

Therefore, interests are of two kinds, short-term interests which often benefit the .purposive individual who act strictly in self interest, and long-term interests' which benefit society. Often, however, individual interests come into direct conflict with those of society. Thus, we observe that man is often moved not by the positive values of an interest but by the special benefits which may accrue to him.

We observe also that there should be an objective necessity which can assure individual motivation by group interests as a necessary condition for the preservation and progress of life in the long run. On this basis, man has to face a conflict between the demands of the law (sunnah) of life and its preservation through an objective conduct aimed at promoting group interests.

On the one hand, and individual tendencies demanding man to heed only his own individual interests and to work for his own individual benefit on the other. It was therefore necessary to find a formula capable of resolving this conflict and creating objective circumstances which call for human motivation in accordance with group interests. Prophethood, in that it is a divine phenomenon in human life, is the law which provides the way to resolve this problem.

This it does by rendering group interests and all other great interests which go beyond the short-term aspects of human life, into individual long-term interests. It achieves this by informing the individual of the continuity of his existence after death and of his final journey into the divine court of justice and recompense, where all human beings will be gathered to see their deeds. “ Whosoever does an ant's weight of good shall see it, and whosoever does an ant's weight of evil shall see it.