Salam, Zainy.

Thank you for your interesting questions.

Since Allah has created us as free beings and endowed us with reason and curiosity, we are able to raise questions like, "Why does Allah ask us to worship Him?"

And Allah the Merciful will forgive us for trying to find answers to such questions, seeking His own guidance.

Allah has also said:

*{To Allah belong all things in heaven and earth: verily Allah is He (that is) free of all wants, worthy of all praise.}* (Luqman 31:26)

This verse tells us that Allah has no needs; that He is completely independent and free. So it was not out of any necessity on his part that He created the humans and asked them to worship Him.

And yet He created them, because He is the Creator par excellence. And it is part of His creative plan that He created beings who can understand and appreciate His creative power, along with countless insensate beings and inanimate things.

Allah on His own chose to be Merciful, Bounteous, Loving and Forgiving. And all these are qualities that require that there be beings who should receive His mercy, His bounty, His love and His forgiveness.

Maybe that is why He created such beings; who out of their gratitude to Him are asked to willingly, and not out of compulsion, worship Him. This was never a need on the part of Allah.

Nor can any of His creation provide him or help him with anything. As all beings came into existence out of Allah's own will and whatever they possess by way of ability or power — and indeed their very existence — was given to them by Allah the Almighty Himself.

About our complete powerlessness apart from Allah's guidance and help, and about Allah's complete freedom from any reliance on any being, the Prophet has said:

"If the whole of mankind gathered to do some thing to help us, they could not help in anything which Allah had not already written for us. And if the whole of mankind gathered together to harm us, then they would not be able to harm with anything which Allah had not already written for us."(At-Tirmidhi)

In fact, the reason why Allah created us is answered by Allah Himself in the Quran:

*{He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days—and His Throne was over the waters—that He might try you, which of you is best in conduct...}* (Hud 11:7)

And again,

*{He Who created death and life, that He may try which of you is best in deed: and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving.}* (Al-Mulk 67:2)

From the above verses, we can understand that the purpose of creation, as well as the test He puts to us in this world, is that Allah wants to reward those who are good in motives and actions, and punish those who follow the evil one.

So, the picture is clear. Allah does not benefit from our good deeds. It is we ourselves who benefit.

Likewise, Allah is not harmed in any way by our wicked ways. It is we ourselves who face the consequences of our actions.

Allah says in the Quran what means:

*{Who receives guidance, receives it for his own benefit: who goes astray does so to his own loss: No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another: nor would We visit with Our Wrath until We had sent an apostle (to give warning).}* (Al-Israa' 17: 15)
And Allah knows best.

Changing the Word of God

In fact, your second question arises out of a misreading of the verse quoted: "None can change His words". We need to read the previous verse also along with this verse to understand the context:

*{Say: "Shall I seek for judge other than Allah. - when He it is Who has sent unto you the Book, explained in detail." They know full well, to whom We have given the Book, that it has been sent down from your Lord in truth. Never be then of those who doubt. The word of your Lord does find its fulfillment in truth and in justice: None can change His words: for He is the one who hears and knows all." (Al-An`am 6:114-115)

The following is the meaning of the verses:

Those people who seek judges other than Allah know well that the Book has been undoubtedly sent from Allah. The word of God will be fulfilled truly and with justice. And there is no scope whatever for any one to change or tamper with the word of God; as Allah is All-hearing and All-seeing.

The word of God — the exact phrase in Arabic is kalimatihi — in this context stands for the promises of God — or the decrees of God — as given in the Book of Allah; and there is no one who can make any change in those promises or decrees of God.

The above quoted verses do not negate the possibility of interpolation, distortion, misinterpretation, deletion, etc., as regards the Books of God.

Indeed nothing is said here about the possibility for instance of someone printing a copy of the Book of God with a number of its words changed. That is a possibility we need to reckon with.

But such instances of corruption do not in any way affect the actual promises or decrees of Allah given in His revealed Books; and that is Allah's promise.

Indeed the verses, I repeat, do not negate the possibility of someone taking a pen and striking off blacking out certain words or verses of the Book of God. Besides, it has been clearly said in the Quran that such interpolation or falsification has been done before:

*{Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then say: " This is from Allah," to traffic with it for miserable price!- Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby.}* (Al-Baqarah 2:79)

This verse clearly says that there were persons who were prepared to write their own "verses" and interpolate them into the Book of God with the intention of foisting them on the people as the Word of God.

And so, to those members of the People of the Book who quote verses like 6:115 to 'prove' that the Bible as existing now is the original pure Torah and Gospel, one can quote in response the following verses from the Bible itself:

"The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever." (Isaiah 40:8)

"How can you say, 'We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us'? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie." (Jeremiah 8:8)

The first of the above verses says effectively the same as Quran 6:115: No one can change the word of God.

The second verse says that the scribes among the Children of Israel in Jeremiah's time had used their lying pen to change the law of God into a lie.

The first is the general principle underscored by the Quran about the word of God, that no one can change God's commandments or Law. The second is what had happened to the Book of God with the Children of Israel, at the time of Jeremiah. They did not have a correct copy of the Book of God with them. What remained with them had been falsified by the scribes.

I hope this answers your question. Please keep ion touch.

Salam.

Useful Links:

Worship in Islam: The Winning Formula

My Prayer, Life and Death… for Allah

The Role of Public Worship in Islam

Why Aren’t We Free to Worship as We Please?

Does God Need to Be Worshipped?

The Free Will to Worship God

The Purpose of Life

What Islam Says About the Bible

Proving the Quran Is the Word of God

Is the Bible the Word of God?

How Do We Know the Quran Is God's Word?

Has the Quran Changed?