Islam has answered this question, by stating that man, life and the universe are all created by a one and only Creator (God in English, Allah in Arabic) and that before the life of the world was God, God is beyond this life and the universe, and is eternal, and self-subsistent. After this life there will be an ending and day of reckoning or judgement, in which man will return to his Creator, to be followed by an everlasting existence in paradise or hell. Islam has made the intellectual acceptance of this view a prerequisite for entering it.

We therefore should examine closely, intellectually, these points in order to assess them, and decide upon their correctness or otherwise.

Before we continue we complete the Islamic basis or creed (Aqeedah in Arabic) upon which all problems and further questions in life will be referred.

The creed of Islam is that there is only one God that created man, angels and jinn, Muhammad (may Gods peace be upon him) is the last in the chain of Prophets sent from God to guide mankind, the Qur'an is the word of God sent as guidance for all of mankind, that after this life man will be resurrected to face judgement concerning his actions, that after judgement follows paradise or hellfire. The Muslim (who submits to the will of God) should be intellectually convinced of these points as irrefutable facts, if this is the case the Muslim will guide all actions and refer all problems great and small to this basis or creed. Islam as an ideology or complete way of life (Deen in Arabic) has this basis as given by God, and all of life’s systems emanate and are directed from this basis.

We recall the ground rules that we need to apply to our assessment of this or any other creed or comprehensive solution. The solution should be:

- Comprehensive and answer the whole question leaving nothing unanswered.

- Agreeable with reality, and with man's nature and satisfy the mind intellectually.

- Assessed based upon our limits of perception, and not what we cannot sense.

An issue as important as the basis of our lives and how we lead them should not be accepted without the most strenuous of examinations based upon these criteria which can satisfy our minds and lead our hearts to contentment.