Fiṭrah, The Natural Inclination Towards God

The belief in a creator is not only something which is natural for all of mankind, but ingrained into our very own subconscious. Humans are hardwired to recognize the beautiful and complex nature of reality and infer wisdom and meaning behind this beauty. In addition to this, all humans are endued with a basic sense of morality and justice This explains the existence of a common set of morals between all people regardless of their ideas and beliefs about life and the universe. In Islām, all of this is referred to by the word “fiṭrah”, or “innate disposition”. It is the natural state upon which all humans are born. If left alone without opposing teachings being introduced, every child will go on to develop a desire to show gratitude to the Creator for the countless favors and blessings he or she receives on a daily basis. In short, all humans are born pure and innocent, predisposed to truth, goodness, and gratefulness to the one who created them. Concerning this, God stated in the Qurʾān,

﴾ فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًۭا ۚ فِطْرَتَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّتِى فَطَرَ ٱلنَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا ۚ لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ ٱللَّهِ ﴿

“So direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fitrah of Allah (God) upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of Allah (God).” (30:30).

And the Prophet Muḥammad (ﷺ) said, “Every child is born upon the fiṭrah.”

The fiṭrah can be compared to that of a seed planted within the soul of every man and woman. For this seed to sprout, it requires water to nurture it to its full potential. Just as the fiṭrah requires the guidance of the Messengers and Prophets of God to reach its full potential. The medieval Muslim scholar, Shaykh al-Islām, Ibn Taymiyyah (May God have mercy upon him) said, “The Messengers were sent to corroborate the fiṭrah and bring it to perfection.”

However, often times, this seed is corrupted or weakened by the person’s parents or environment. In this case, the Messengers rely upon not only the fiṭrah but upon the human’s faculty of reasoning (‘aql), to guide the person back to their original state. For example, in the 14th chapter of the Qurʾān (Ibrāhīm), God informs us about groups of people who came before us and rejected their Messengers. In one of these examples he says:

﴾ قَالَتْ رُسُلُهُمْ أَفِى ٱللَّهِ شَكٌّۭ فَاطِرِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ﴿

“Their messengers said, ‘Can there be doubt about Allah (God)? The Originator of the heavens and earth.’” (14:10).

Analyzing their claim, we can see that the Messengers appeal both to the fiṭrah and to the ‘aql (reasoning) of the people. They began with “Can there be doubt about Allah?”, calling to the fiṭrah of the people, almost as to say that the people are already aware of this truth deep within themselves. This is followed by an appeal to intellect and reasoning when the Messengers say “The Originator of the heavens and earth.” This calls the people to observe and reflect upon God’s creation, from which no other conclusion can be made except that the universe and all creation within it were made with knowledge, intent, and wisdom. 

Even the strongest proponents of atheism are forced to recognize the extreme wisdom we see in the design of all things. Atheist scholar Richard Dawkins, author of “The God Delusion”, says in a debate concerning his book, “I think that when you consider the beauty of the world and you wonder how it came to be what it is, you are naturally overwhelmed with a feeling of awe, a feeling of admiration and you almost feel a desire to worship something. I feel this... We, all of us, share a kind of religious reverence for the beauties of the universe, for the complexity of life. For the sheer magnitude of the cosmos, the sheer magnitude of geological time. And it's tempting to translate that feeling of awe and worship into a desire to worship some particular thing, a person, an agent. You want to attribute it to a maker, to a creator.”

Here we see the fiṭrah in action, it is impossible to truly ever escape this feeling because it is something that is deeply imbedded within the human soul. Disbelief (kufr) takes place when someone deliberately prevents themselves from coming to this truth through arrogance and pride, or desire of this worldly life, or power and authority. This disbelief may be rationalized by the ones who fall into it through claims of scientific evidence providing explanations for that which can only be explained through the Creator. In reality, most of these claims are little more than conjecture, built upon naturalistic worldviews that are willing to take irrational theories over the innate truth of God. The more they attempt to explain away aspects of the universe and life, the more they illuminate the unbelievable complexity of the creation. The Muslim scholar, Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (May God have mercy upon him) said, “Whoever reflects upon the whole universe, its upper and lower parts and all of its domains will find it bearing witness to the affirmation of its maker, originator and owner."

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﴾ سَنُرِيهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا فِى ٱلْـَٔافَاقِ وَفِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ ٱلْحَقُّ ۗ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُۥ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ شَهِيدٌ ﴿

“We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. But is it not sufficient concerning your Lord that He is, over all things, a Witness?” (41:53).