Fitrat Allah, Human Nature and the Conscience

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful

[30:31] And follow the nature made by Allah — the nature in which He has created mankind

In the Holy Qur’an Allah (swt) has instructed instructed us to follow “Fitrat Allah”, the nature made by Allah. There is a popular Hadith of Holy Prophet (saw) in which this nature is explained.

God is One and humanity is One. This is the Fitrat Allah or Dinal Fitrah - the religion which is rooted in the nature of man and to which he conforms and instinctively reacts. It is in this religion that a child is born but his environment, the ideas and beliefs of parents and the training he receives from them subsequently make him a Jew, a Magian or a Christian. (Sahih Bukhari)

Many are aware of this Hadith which is now known for the idea that people revert to Islam rather than converts. Unfortunately they have overlooked the more beautiful and deep concept conveyed in this Hadith, just as one who collects a pearl shell but is not yet aware of the pearl inside. Now to expound on the concept of Fitrat Allah I will turn back to the Holy Qur’an which says:

[91:8] And by the soul and its perfection —

[91:9] And He revealed to it what is wrong for it and what is right for it —

What is being conveyed here is that the right path is ingrained in human nature and soul is born pure. Not only is it born pure but it is taught the difference between right and wrong, and this which has been labelled today as “conscience”. It is wrongly believed today that “conscience” is taught by society, it is actually Allah (swt) who has ingrained it in our very nature. It is something that cannot be removed from our nature. So the question that follows is, why does it appear that this nature is not present among the whom the Qur’an has described as the asfala safileen, “lowest of the low” (95:6).

[91:10] He indeed truly prospers who purifies it,

[91:11] And he who corrupts it is ruined.

The reality is that the nature is always present in mankind and cannot be removed from it. It can only be covered by corrupting it. Just as the when the moon eclipses the sun it does not cease to exist but rather we are shaded from the light. Similarly this nature and conscious is always present by Allah's Rehmaniyyat (Grace) as the Sun is always present even if we are undeserving of it. This is why the Holy Qur’an warns those who corrupt their soul (91:11) that they will be ruined. Just as a plant deprived of the light from the sun meets its ruin.

[83:15] Nay, but that which 

they have earned has rusted 

their hearts.

The Holy Qur’an has referred to the corruption of the soul as the rusting or sealing of hearts and other faculties such as sight and sound. The Holy Prophet (saw), so beautifully explained the meaning of rusting of hearts in this verse in the following Hadith:

When a man commits a sin, a black spot is thereby formed on his heart. Then if he repeats and gives up the sin and asks God’s forgiveness, the black spot is washed off, leaving the heart clean. But if he repeats not and commits another sin, another black spot in formed on his heart and so on, until his whole heart is covered with a black covering, and that is the covering of rust to which the Qur’an refers in Sura Tatfif (Jarir).

To wrap this up, it is our own actions that ruins our soul and suppresses our conscience. Fitrat Allah, the nature made by Allah (swt) is always present within us. This brings us to the topic of the importance of repentance and prayers so that we can prosper by purifying our soul, I will leave it as a topic for a later post, InshAllah. One should also keep in mind that conscience is not created by society but rather it is corrupted by it, this is exactly what Holy Prophet (saw) said in the Hadith stating what changes us a man is “ his environment, the ideas and beliefs of parents and the training he receives”.

Unfortunately I am not capable of doing justice to this topic, I hope I have introduced it in good light. In order to truly understand this concept one must refer to the sources have learned and greatly benefited from. They are deeply rooted in the teachings of the Holy Quran and I am certain they will prove beneficial to all. First and foremost, is the lecture written by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), Philosophy of the Teaching of Islam. Second, the explanation of “Who and What is Satan” in a Question & Answer Session by Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad (ra), Khalifatul Massih IV. Third, the Commentary on Surah Baqarah Verse 8 by Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad (ra).

References

1. http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Philosophy-of-Teachings-of-Islam.pdf
2. http://www.reviewofreligions.org/2698/who-or-what-is-satan/
3. http://www.alislam.org/quran/tafseer/?page=38&region=E1&CR=EN,E2

Please note this is my first post sharing content and its getting late as I edit it for approx the 10th time. I will review it further as I feel it can be improved as time permits. If I had held the draft back I fear it may have fell off of my mental list of topics to research. JazakAllah to the friend whose post brought this topic back from my lost thoughts.

If there are any errors please let me know and I will correct them. InshAllah