The Quran makes this demand clear when it states...

The Quran makes this demand clear when it states, “I have not created the jinn and humanity except to worship Me” (51:56); also “Verily I, I am God. There is no God save Me. So worship Me and establish prayers for My remembrance” (20:14). The word “worship” (‘ibadah) in Arabic also means “service.” To worship God is also to serve Him. Many interpretations have been given of the term ‘ibadah by commentators; its meaning ranges from ordinary acts of worship to loving and knowing God.

The purpose of human existence is considered by Islam to be the worship and service of God, and only in carrying out the aim and purpose of our existence are we fully human. Otherwise, although we carry the human reality within ourselves, we fall short of it and live beneath the fully human state.

HUMAN RESPONSIBILITIES Responsibility comes from the word “response,” and one might say, in the Islamic context, that all of our responsibilities issue from that original response to God, when, according to the Quran, before the creation of the world God addressed all the children of Adam asking them, “Am Human Responsibilities and Human Rights 277 I not your Lord?” and they said, “Yes” (7:172).

In this affirmation lie all our responsibilities as human beings, for in saying “yes” we accepted the Divine Trust*(amanah)* , which we must bear in this world. At the heart of this trust resides the affirmation of Divine Oneness and acts of worship and service. The very word for servant (‘abd) of God is related to the word for worship and service (‘ibadah). To accept to be God’s servant and to represent Him in this world means, above all, worshiping and serving Him.

All the rights we have issue from the fulfilling of our responsibilities, and in the Islamic perspective responsibilities always precede rights. Although everyone these days speaks all the time of human rights and little of human responsibilities, in practice, even in the modern West, in many cases responsibilities precede rights.

For example, we have to be responsible drivers before we are given the right to drive on public roads, and we have to accept the responsibility of mastering the laws of the land before being given the right to practice law. In Islam this relationship is not a matter of expediency, but of principle, and its acceptance dominates the cultural and intellectual landscape. Now, we have responsibilities not only toward God, but also toward His creation.