Fitra

A visual rendition of the Islamic model of the soul showing the position of "'fitra" relative to other concepts based on a consensus of 18 surveyed academic and religious experts.

Fitra or fitrah (Arabic: فطرة; ALA-LC: fiṭrah) in Islam is the innate human nature that recognizes the oneness of God (tawhid). It may entail either the state of purity and innocence in which Muslims believe all humans to be born, or the ability to choose or reject God's guidance, with which both humans and jinn are endowed. Fitra is an Arabic word that is usually translated as "original disposition", "natural constitution", or "innate nature of any Muslim."

Root of word

The root verb F-Ṭ-R means to split or cleave, also found in Iftar (breaking the fast), Eid al-Fitr, and in the 82nd chapter of the Quran (Surah Al-Infitar - The Splitting). Arabic lexicographers also relate it to create. Fatir is usually translated as originator or creator, and thus fitra is also considered to refer to the "state of creation".

Quran, Hadith and interpretation

According to The Study Quran, the fiṭrah or primordial nature mentioned in the Quran (verse 30:30) refers to the innate recognition of God's oneness that is inherent in every human being. This recognition is considered to be the core of human nature, representing the essence of what it means to be human in the Islamic tradition. According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islam views humans as inherently possessing a primordial nature known as al-fitrah. Despite its existence, this nature can become obscured and deeply buried within individuals as a result of neglect and forgetfulness. The Quran recognizes that humans were created in the best possible form (ahsan altaqwim) (95:4), with the intelligence necessary to recognize and know God. The message of Islam is intended to address and reconnect individuals with their innate, primordial nature.

[Islam] is a call for recollection, for the remembrance of a knowledge kneaded into the very substance of our being even before our coming into this world. In a famous verse that defines the relationship between human beings and God, the Quran, in referring to the precosmic existence of man, states, “‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said: ‘Yes, we bear witness’” (7:172). The “they” refers to all the children of Adam, male and female, and the “yes” confirms the affirmation of God’s Oneness by us in our pre-eternal ontological reality. Men and women still bear the echo of this “yes” deep down within their souls, and the call of Islam is precisely to this primordial nature, which uttered the “yes” even before the creation of the heavens and the earth. The call of Islam therefore concerns, above all, the remembrance of a knowledge deeply embedded in our being, the confirmation of a knowledge that saves, hence the soteriological function of knowledge in Islam.

— William Chittick, The Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 2007

According to William Chittick, "Fitra is the divine form that God bestowed upon Adam when He created him; or, it is the divine spirit that, according to the Koran, God blew into the clay of Adam in order to bring him to life". In the Qur'an, the spirit that was breathed into Adam by God is referred to with the pronouns "His" (32:9) and "My" (15:29, 38:72). This spirit is known as the "attributed spirit" (al-ruh al-idafi), which implies that it has both divine and human characteristics. The spirit that God blew into Adam possesses spiritual and angelic attributes such as luminosity, subtlety, awareness, and oneness. The fitra constitutes "the very self of Adam to whom God “taught all the names” (2:31)". It is considered to be the foundation of human wisdom and knowledge, as it inclines naturally towards the belief in the oneness of God, which is the essence of tawhid. This belief is the basis for true understanding of God, the universe, and the self. In surah 30 of the Quran, the word is used in the context of the following verse: "Set thy face to religion as a Hanif in the primordial nature from God upon which originated mankind there is no altering the creation of God; that is upright but most mankind know not." This verse (30:30) links fitra to the concept of Hanif, who "is understood by most to mean in a straight and upstanding manner, neither inclining nor adhering to past religions that have been altered or abrogated". In the Quran, the term "Hanif" is often used in relation to Abraham, but in a broader sense, it refers to someone who turns away from misguidance and instead embraces faith in the unity of God.

If the term is understood to mean "divide", it might signify that God separates his creation into believers and unbelievers by means of the "true religion".

In the prophetic traditions (hadith), the term gets new attention: “No one is born except according to intrinsic nature [(fitra)], but their parents make them Jews, or Christians, or Magians, just as a cow gives birth to a calf that is whole do you find it mutilated?'" The Mu'tazilites argue that Islamic law is rational and given to every born child, thus fitra is identified with Islam. This viewpoint was also adapted by several canonical traditions. In others however, fitra refers to the pre-Islamic religion, originating in Adam, before any religious obligations have been revealed. According to the Maturidi scholar (ʿĀlim) Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi, humans and jinn are created with fitra, and thus obligated (taklīf) to follow God's law.

Revival of fitra

According to William Chittick, the Koran and the Hadith suggest that humans possess an innate capacity to understand reality as it is, but their environment obscures this ability. Prophets' role is to remind (dhikr) people of the knowledge they already have, while humans just need to remember (dhikr) it. Once they recall this knowledge, they return to their innate capacity, which has always been a part of them and never truly separate.

See also

• Natural law
• Ritual purity in Islam
• Shuddhi

Sources

• Chittick, William (1998). "Between the Yes and the No: Ibn al-'Arabi on Wujud and the Innate Capacity". In Forman, R.K.C. (ed.). The Innate Capacity: Mysticism, Psychology, and Philosophy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-511697-7.
• Nasr, S.H.; Chittick, W.C. (2007). The Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Library of perennial philosophy The perennial philosophy series. World Wisdom. ISBN 978-1-933316-38-3.
• Nasr, S.H.; Dagli, C.K.; Dakake, M.M.; Lumbard, J.E.B.; Rustom, M. (2015). The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary -- Leather Edition. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-112588-1.
• Chittick, William (2007). "The Traditional Approach to Learning". Sacred Web. 18: 29-47.
• Chittick, W.C. (2007a). Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul: The Pertinence of Islamic Cosmology in the Modern World. Oneworld Publications. ISBN 978-1-85168-495-3.
• Chittick, W.C. (1989). The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination. G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-88706-885-0.
• Rothman, Abdallah; Coyle, Adrian (2018). "Toward a Framework for Islamic Psychology and Psychotherapy: An Islamic Model of the Soul". Journal of Religion and Health. 57 (5). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 1731–1744. doi:10.1007/s10943-018-0651-x. ISSN 0022-4197.

Further reading

• J.M. Cowan (1994), The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic
• John Esposito (2003), The Oxford Dictionary of Islam
• M. Masud (1996), Islamic Legal Interpretation: Muftis and Their Fatwas
• Imam Ali, Nahjul Balagha: Sermons, Letters & Sayings of Imam Ali
• Al-Kulayni, al-Usul mina ‘l-Kãfi, vol. 2, p. 13; al-Bukhãri, Sahih, vol. 2 (Beirut: Dãr al-Fikr, 1401) p. 104