FITRAH
It is Natural to Believe in God
For deists, there is no need to worship because our
purpose in this world is unknown. We find our own purposes and whatever we do
is okay as long as we do not harm others. The way to deal with this belief is
to stress that the need to worship is a natural instinct in all human beings.
The Prophet (r) related that when Allaah created
Aadam, He took a covenant from him in a place called Na‘maan on the day of
‘Arafah. (The 9th of the 12th lunar month known as Dhul-Hijjah.) Then He
extracted from him all of his descendants who would be born until the end of
the world, generation after generation, and spread them out in front of Him in
order to take a covenant from them also. He spoke to them face to face saying:
“Am I not your Lord?” and they all replied, “Yes, we testify to it.” Allaah
then explained why He had all of mankind bear witness that He was their creator
and only true God worthy of worship. He said, “That was in case you (mankind) should
say on the Day of Resurrection, “Surely we were unaware of all this. We had no idea
that You, Allaah, were our God. No one told us that we were supposed to worship
You alone.” Allaah went on to explain that it was also in case some people
would say: “It was our ancestors who made partners (with Allaah) and we are
only their descendants; will You, then destroy us for what those liars did?"" [Soorah al-A‘raaf, (7):172-3. The hadeeth is from
asaheeh (authentic) narration of Ibn ‘Abbaas collected by Ahmad. See
al-Albaanee’s Silsilah al-Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah,(Kuwait: ad-Daar as-Salafeeyah
and Amman: al-Maktabah al-Islaameeyah, 2nd ed., 1983) vol.4, p.158, no.1623.]
This was
the Prophet’s (r) explanation of the Qur’anic verse in which Allaah said:
“When your Lord
drew forth from the loins of the children of Aadam their descendant and made
them testify concerning themselves, (saying): ‘Am I not your Lord?’ they said,
‘Yes, we testify to it.’ (This) in case you say should say on the Day of
Judgement, ‘We were unaware of this.” Or in case you should say, ‘It was our
ancestors who made partners (with Allaah) and we are only their descendants.
Will you then destroy us for what those liars did?’” Soorah al-A‘raaf,
(7):172-3.
The verse and prophetic explanation confirm the
fact that everyone is responsible for belief in God and on the Day of Judgement
excuses will not be accepted. Every human being has the belief in God imprinted
on his soul and Allaah shows every idolator, during the course of his life,
signs that his idol is not God. Hence, every sane human being is required to
believe in One God who is without partners.
Man’s Natural Disposition : the Fitrah
Since Allaah made all human beings wear to His
Godhood when He created Aadam, this oath is printed on the human soul even
before it enters the fetus in the fifth month of pregnancy. So when a child is
born, it has with it a natural belief in Allaah. This natural belief is called
in Arabic the fitrah. (Al-‘Aqeedah
at-Tahaaweeyah, (8th ed., 1984), p.245.)
If the child were left alone, it would grow up aware
of Allaah in His unity, but all children are affected by the pressures of their
environment whether directly or indirectly. The Prophet (r) reported that
Allaah said, I created My servants in the right religion but the devils made
them go astray. (Sahih Muslim (English
Trans.), vol.4, p.1488, no.6853.)
The Prophet (r) also said, Each child is born in a
state of fitrah, but his parents make him a Jew or a Christian. It is like the
way an animal gives birth to a normal offspring. Have you noticed any (young
animal) born mutilated before you mutilate them? (Collected by Muslim, [Sahih Muslim(English Trans.), vol.4, p.1398,
no.6423) and al-Bukhaaree (Sahih Al-Bukhari (Arabic-English), vol.8, pp.389-90,
no.597)]
So just as the child’s body submits to the physical
laws which Allaah has put in nature, its soul also submits naturally to the
fact that Allaah is its Lord and Creator. However, its parents try to make it
follow their own way and the child is not strong enough in the early stages of its
life to resist or oppose its parents.
to be continued....
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