Find what Allah created you for!

Find What Allah Created You For

The thing Allah created you for, you find it comes very natural for you. Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, has a book — it's about parenting. And in that, he has a section around how to help your children find their purpose.

And he says: try out different things with your children. Get them to do reading, writing, memorization, horse riding, archery, swimming — and just observe them. If you see that they very naturally take to horse riding and physical activity, let them do that. And if you see them instead naturally curious, intelligent, asking questions, memorizing, reading — prepare them for ʿilm and knowledge.

The Prophet's Way of Nurturing Purpose

Did the Prophet ﷺ do this? Or did he force people to do things against their nature? No — what the Prophet ﷺ did was help people find their specific purpose. He would let them try different things, and he would see: there is one thing this person is amazing at.

Bilal was the ambassador for Salah. Khalid ibn al-Walid — military strategist. Hassan ibn Thabit — he was a poet.

Was he a poet before Islam? Yes — he was one of the greatest of poets. What happened after Islam? He found his role as the PR wing for the Prophet ﷺ. He used the skill that he was already great at, already phenomenal at — but now he was using it for what? For the establishment of the deen, for the building of this world, for the service and the worship of Allah.

We Were Not All Made the Same

Many of us think that the only way to serve Allah is for all of us to become scholars. But not all of us are made that way. Not all of us find that natural. Not all of us find that easy. We were all made for different things. Allah placed within us different talents, different skills.

And the greatest moment in your life is when you realize: this is what Allah created me for — and now I'm going to go all in, and I'm going to serve Allah through this.