Fitrah

Islam is also called 'Deen al-fitrah', the religion of human innate nature, because its laws and its teachings are in full harmony with the normal and the natural inclination of the human fitrah to believe in and submit to the Creator.

Human beings are born with the fitrah or an innate inclination of tawhid (Oneness), which is encapsulated in the fitrah along with compassion, intelligence, ihsan and all other attributes that embody what it is to be human.

1) Tawhid is the doctrine of worshiping "the oneness" of God. It is the religion's most fundamental concept and holds that God is One (Al-ʾAḥad) and Single (Al-Wāḥid). To attribute divinity to a created entity, known as shirk, is an unpardonable sin according to the Qur'an.

2) Compassion is the emotion that one feels in response to the suffering of others that motivates a desire to help. Compassion is really the act of going out of your way to help physical, spiritual, or emotional hurts or pains of another.

Compassion is a process of connecting by identifying with another person. This identification with others through compassion can lead to increased motivation to do something in an effort to relieve the suffering of others.

3) Intelligence has been defined in many different ways such as in terms of one's capacity for logic, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, communication, learning, emotional knowledge, memory, planning, creativity and problem solving.

Human intelligence is the intellectual capacity of humans, which is characterized by perception, consciousness, self-awareness, and volition. Intelligence enables humans to remember descriptions of things and use those descriptions in future behaviors.

It gives humans the cognitive abilities to learn, form concepts, understand, and reason, including the capacities to recognize patterns, comprehend ideas, plan, problem solve, and use language to communicate. Intelligence enables humans to experience and think.

4) Ihsan, also spelled ehsan, is an Arabic term meaning "perfection" or "excellence". It is a matter of taking one's inner faith (iman) and showing it in both deed and action, a sense of social responsibility borne from religious convictions.

In Islam, ihsan is the Muslim responsibility to obtain perfection, or excellence, in worship, such that Muslims try to worship God as if they see Him, and although they cannot see Him (due to the belief that Allah is not made of matter), they undoubtedly believe that He is constantly watching over them.

"Direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth. Adhere to the fitrah of Allah upon which He has created all people. No change should there be in the creation of Allah . That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know".(QS 30:30)

"Every new-born child is born in a state of fitrah. Then his parents make him a Jew, a Christian or a Magian..."(Sahih Muslim)

Islamic scholar al-Sayyuti said:
"The best explanation of fitrah is that it is the Sunnah of all of the Prophets which is in agreement with the revealed Laws, indicating that it is a response to naturally created inclinations.



Wallahu'alam