Man, according to the Islamic message, is not a fallen being as the Christianity asserts. His existence on earth is not a sentence passed on to him by God on account of what transpired between Adam and his wife Eve in the Garden of Eden. On the contrary, man is a vicegerent on earth (khalifah) entrusted with the honorable task of inhabiting the earth in accordance with the divine guidance given to him.
This terrestrial life to man serves as a platform either for elevating his status over that of angels, should he abide by the divinely prescribed rules and regulations, or for debasing his self lower than the rank of animals, should he turn away from truth and dazed and lost wander aimlessly amid the innumerable and awesome wonders of creation.
Man is the crown of God’s act of creation. God created man by His own Hands and in His own image. (Sahih Muslim) For man and his principled assignment as vicegerent everything else on earth has been created, and to him and the expediency and services of his mission everything else has been subjected.
God created man with the primordial natural disposition (fitrah) to thirst for and worship his Creator. God, therefore, knowing best the character of man, his needs and weaknesses, on sending Adam and Eve to the earth to assume their duty of vicegerency, revealed to them that He will never forsake them and their progeny. God promised that His guidance and signs will be coming to mankind to guide them and will perpetually stay with them, and:
Whosoever follows My guidance, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. (2: 38)
…Whosoever follows My guidance, will not lose his way, nor fall in misery. (20: 123)
By God’s guidance and signs it is meant the religion of Islam which was preached by every prophet from Adam as the first messenger, to Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the last and seal of all messengers.
God’s divine guidance enables man to remain strong, rational, content and responsible while on earth. It makes him capable of keeping up the focus of his undertakings on worshiping his Creator and Master in his every action, word, and thought. God says in the Quran that He has created both Jinns and men only that they may worship and serve Him.
On the other hand, in the event of man’s rejection of God’s messages and guidance, the repercussions will be costly. The Quran says:
But those who reject Faith and belie Our Signs, they shall be Companions of the Fire; they shall abide therein. (2: 39)
But whosoever turns away from My Message, verily for him is a life narrowed down, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Judgment. (20: 124)
Furthermore, man is created as a social being endued with free will, passion and emotions, which could lead him either to the highest or drug him to the lowest ebb of creation.
Humanity is but a big family with the same origin, mission and purpose. People have been divided into nations and tribes only to know each other, learn from each other, and cooperate at various levels in righteousness and piety, not that they may loathe each other, conspire against and exploit each other.
They are to explore the universe and within a conceptual framework rendered to them by revelation try to make their existence on earth as convenient, meaningful and productive as possible, that is, to create and leave behind a virtuous legacy in the form of virtuous cultures and civilizations.
However, no sooner does this universal equilibrium become impaired and vitiated, than man’s relationship with God, his peers and the whole of the environment starts to degenerate.
God says about this:
O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things). (49: 13)
And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colours: verily in that are Signs for those who know. (30: 22)
Islam with its unique tawhidic (God’s Oneness) worldview champions that Muslims are brothers to each other and their similitude is like a wall whose bricks enforce and rely on each other. They are like a solid cemented structure held together in unity and strength, each part contributing strength in its own way, and the whole held together not like a mass, but like a living organism.
Muslims are furthermore related to each other in such a way that if one of them (a part of an organic and formidable formation called the Ummah, Community) is troubled by a problem of any kind, the rest of the body parts will remain disturbed and restless until the matter became solved. (Sahih Muslim)
Man, it follows, stands at the center of all creation. He, likewise, stands at the center of all his cultural and civilization legacies. They are all created by him and for him, and are meant only for him.
The idea of man, therefore, is indicative of productivity, discovery, creative force and continuous cultural and civilizational evolutions and outputs.
Not only for his own bequests, but also for the whole of the earth, is man responsible and will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment. Such are the profundity and scale of his earthly mission that if the earth is sustained and kept clean, healthy and intact, that would imply that man has lived up to the requirements of his noble mission.
However, if the earth is dealt with irresponsibly and avariciously, resulting in it to become ravaged and uninhabitable, that would imply that man has betrayed his Creator and Master and the mission entrusted to him, and that he has been untrue to himself and his primordial inborn moral fiber.