Created to Worship God or for Hell? (51:56), (7:179)

51:56 says jinn and humans were created only to worship God. 7:179 appears to say many were made for Hell. The claim is that these verses give contradictory accounts of the purpose of creation.

The false claim: The Quran contradicts itself - humans are created to worship God yet also created for Hell.

7:179 does not say that jinn and humans were made for Hell. This is a mistranslation, and it generates the entire apparent problem.

[51:56] I did not create the jinns and the humans except to worship Me alone.

The purpose of creation is worship of God alone. This is the design and intention behind human and jinn existence.

[7:179] We have committed to Hell multitudes of the jinns and humans. They have hearts with which they do not understand, eyes with which they do not see, and ears with which they do not hear. They are like livestock - even worse. These are the oblivious ones.

The correct word is committed - not made or created for. The verse describes the outcome for those who chose to reject guidance, not the original purpose for which they were created. The distinction is fundamental. God created all jinn and humans to worship Him. The majority, as the Quran confirms elsewhere (12:103, 12:106), choose not to - and many compound their rejection with shirk. It is this freely chosen rejection of guidance that results in their being committed to Hell.

The two verses describe purpose and consequence respectively. They operate at different points in the chain: God's intention in creating, and God's judgment upon those who betray that purpose through their own choices. There is no contradiction between them.