Original Virtue not Original Sin


During Prophet Muhammad's night journey and ascension the Angel Gabriel brought him a vessel of wine and a vessel of milk and he was made to choose. He chose milk, to which Gabriel said, "You have chosen Fitra." Common definitions of Fitra include, "innate predisposition" or "primordial nature." This event occurred during the Meccan period before any prohibition of alcohol. So, we know that part of choosing Fitra is conformity to an inclination toward right action we have prior to instruction. It's also interesting to note that milk is the first food we have as infants. So, we know that part of choosing Fitra is preserving and trusting our earliest preferences. It is for these reasons that I choose to define Fitra as, "Original Virtue."

The Islamic concept of Fitra is that God has engraved upon the human soul an inborn tendency toward goodness, and a primordial sense in monotheism. That all human beings are born in a natural state of spiritual purity. This position apposes both the Doctrine of Original Sin proposed by Christian theology, and the Tabula Rasa proposed by the philosophers. As with all Islamic concepts, fleshing out the definition requires a look at the Arabic root, and it's use in the Quran. Thankfully, you already know everything there is to know about it, you just don't remember it yet.

The root verb, Fa-ta-ra, commonly means to split, or cleave asunder. Less commonly it means to knead and shape like dough and connotes repetition. Interestingly it appears in the Quran eight times, always translated simply as "created" as in "I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth." (Quran 6:79). Al Fatir is an attribute of God derived from this root which means, The Originator, or One who creates from nothing. This appears in the Quran 6 times, as in "Shall I take for my protector any other than God, The Creator of the heavens and the earth?" (Quran 6:14)

So, we come to see that the meaning of Fitra is that the reflection of God's beautiful attributes are scribed into the tablet of the human soul in preexistence, like fingerprints in clay.


Article by David Barker who writes for the Examiner from San Francisco. This article is part I of a V part article series.

Part I: Original Virtue not Original Sin
Defining Fitra from it's Arabic root.
Part II: Creation
An examination of Creation, both of the Universe and in the womb, from the Quran.
Part III: Adam
The Islamic perspective of the Fall of Adam and Original Sin 
Part IV: Children as teachers
Ruminations on how our children can teach us more about Islam then we can teach them
Part V: Reclaiming the natural state
How to act upon this knowledge and rediscover the original virtue beneath our scar tissue.


  Category: Faith & Spirituality, Featured
  Topics: Nature And Environment, Original Sin, Prophet Adam, Sin  Values: Morality
Views: 4546

Related Suggestions

 
COMMENTS DISCLAIMER & RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
The opinions expressed herein, through this post or comments, contain positions and viewpoints that are not necessarily those of IslamiCity. These are offered as a means for IslamiCity to stimulate dialogue and discussion in our continuing mission of being an educational organization. The IslamiCity site may occasionally contain copyrighted material the use of which may not always have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. IslamiCity is making such material available in its effort to advance understanding of humanitarian, education, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.


In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and such (and all) material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.


Older Comments:
MUHAMMAD SALAAM FROM USA said:
ASSALAAMU ALAIKUM
A very informative article,short and to the point,in accord with the sunna.
Excellent referrence.
2009-08-21