the topic title gives me more questions (provided 'us' you mean human)
sorry i have no anwers. just more question and a crap thinkin of mine.

why god created plants and animal?
i once heard a simple answer is for the ecology/for us human to eat /etc.
well looks like animals and plants are not the main actor.

i guess it's self centric, i mean we're thinking about the universe thru our own lenses
like human is the only focus of god's creation. while maybe we're not.
like SoA said.. perhaps we're just an avoidable by-product of the universe.

so like most of us think that animal has their own purpose, so does human.
perhaps human existance is not so on focus like how most people think animals and plants are.
maybe humans are just like animal and plants. created to support something bigger. we're not the main charachter perhaps.
(well i take human > animals & plants, base on the common-minded people think.) <-- not generalizing

yes we tend to think that way due to we've been told about our task. being khalifah of the earth. from the book.
but again the other being (animal & plant, planet, water, etc) might have their own task also that we might not know.
and to them they are the main character. perhaps each creation feels that way and improve themselves

all summed up to the whole progress of the universe towards idk...

peace,

i once wonder about the same thing.
and i can't say i got final answer either. (as in the most correct)

but DaresBears' first sentence is the same thinking i took back then

IMO, all you have said is a proof that god gives free will.

if god were to just create good and throw away evil.. then it'll be called pre-determined.
but god knew that human for example can choose between good and evil.
so it's up to human to behave or not.

and how to behave, there's a minimun guideline given in the quran.
and still human can choose

i think it's frustrating when one has the awareness of oneself but no free-will

AGAIN!

If everybody does as he sees fit, then why would we need God (or Qur'an)?

If everybody interprets anything however he wants, then why would we need any set of rules?

If anybody could come to God on their own, then why would God send any messenger or message?

thanks for the question.
i'm not anwering to anyone.. perhaps i'll try to answer it for myself. but just sharing the answer here
and overtime it(answers) may change as i learn more and more.

Q If everybody does as he sees fit, then why would we need God (or Qur'an)?
A quran meant for a guidance from god (not the only guidance i believe)
thus it's a minimal guideline for better living (or peaceful life). although everybody does as he sees fit, atleast there's a minimal guidline so people don't transgress or doing something overboard. for example, one might think it's ok to kill. but that'll be overboard according to quran. so it's like everyone can do as they like as long as not overboard etc. thats why there's quran even one can do as he please.
about why we need god, i keep it for now. i can't answer that myself at the moment.
in general i've heard most says (those that believe in god) human nature is tend to seek for something to cling to,protection,help,etc
as for myself, i was born as a god-believing person. i might be bias in answering this.

Q If everybody interprets anything however he wants, then why would we need any set of rules?
the set of rules is for reading the quran?

Q If anybody could come to God on their own, then why would God send any messenger or message?
A this one is tough one for me. i was born to believe in god. i can't imagine being some non-god-believing person trying to find about god. i'm not sure about anybody could come to god in their own.
(of coz god can plant into everyone's mind to think about him. but i think it's like fixed programming. or like god interfere with our decision. so i do believe the concept of god sends the awareness thru messenger and human decide seems legit.)

imo, human can't think of all the things in theworld. thus god created many of us with diff2 minds so we mix and co-operate. thus thats why messenger/message is needed. to create the awareness. after that its up to the person to decide what to do with that awareness of theirs. an example of mine would be history.
i wouldn't be able to think of history of america if i never knew its existence. but once i heard about america from someone/news/movies.
then only my brain will think of such question like when, where, why, etc. or i could still not bother to think after heard about it. it's a choice. what i'm trying to say, i think it's hard to start sumthing out of nothing. most likely people will not think of evertyhing on their own. and not like everone knows everything by default.
human capacity to know verything is limited thus diff people might think of diff field and when combine it'll be spread

to me messenger not only for quran. perhaps the wind could be a messenger to tell about the wheather.

As I understand you said that we don?t need to follow any one. Now my question is, ?why should I follow as to what you say?? When did you become qualified to give me advice? (It is like me giving advice to a NASA astronaut on how to behave in space). If I want to follow, I rather follow some one from the earlier generation, because they were close to the period of revelation.

peace,
since the point above was said to be irrelevant, then my reply is also irrelevant to this topic .

i just feel like commenting on the analogy since it implies how most of us see things. which i don't quite agree.
yes it's logical to consider the experts when it comes to an advice. but it's not always true.
i just hate the fact that people 'simply' associating knowledge to one's status (be it education/social) or look or title.

to me the content is where the focus should be.
if a beggar saying something that make sense why should we buttthurt
why the first thing came up to our mind is 'who do you think you are to give advice'

some people are wiser than we thought they were. regardless of their appearance.
status and rank is human-made thing, it might not be/reflect the truth.
even worse nowadays people could buy status and ranks

3918 The ones who listen to what is being said, and then follow the
best of it. These are the ones whom God has guided, and these are
the ones who possess intelligence.

my key point is listen to what being said.
even a bad thing just listen not jumping
it's up to us to brain it afterwards.

and i wonder if those that were close to the period of revelation is reliable enough.
again here we simply look at the status not the content.
since they're companions, close to that period then the content is good? more reliable?

next
listen to those with turban with beard kind of guy to ask for relegious maters coz
they are more like arabs thus more likely related to the messenger and so on

salam,

i'm just wondering, if i were to support this explaination, then i'll be asking myself why The Congregational prayer is on Friday?

i couldn't answer this since i'm also in question why all day in a week is named by count/number except the 6th day.

sorry to post my concern, i've lots to learn. perhaps there's an explaination about the concerns above in this forum/anywhere that yet to be found.

***and i'm a truly slow learner , pardon my mistakes if any. TQ ^_^

nice and good for you.
i'll study your method and find the right time to apply.

i'm currently doing this (shifting from sunni to muslim) alone.
my wife still sunni and not into truth seeking.
did talked to her.. and she just said that before you complete learning don't simply applying.
(something like a half-baked knowledge that may not be true thus dont jump in)
but i believe that this journey of mine will be long.. so i can't wait. don't know when it will end.

i'm at first feel bad about this (leaving my wife with her believe) but now calm a bit since i learnt that

1. we're responsible to ourselves
2. it's Allah who guides

**please correct me where i made mistake. TQ

Male/ Female Male

Age 27

Nationality Malaysian

Parents background ( if different from nationality) Malaysian

Born as a Muslim? ( in a muslim family) sunni

Level of education bachelor

Are you from a city or from the country? city

How did you first come to learn about Quranism ( for a lack of a better word) ? discussion/debate (in person) made me put a thought on islam rather than blind following/idolizing

And at what age? 26

Do you personaly know fellow Quranist or are you alone with your view in your social network? the person i discussed with

Do you primarily reject Hadith on the basis of authority or authenticity? instead of reject, i prefer the act of 'questioning' hadith regardless of both