An allegory for the Fitrah, is like a seed. The seed contains within it everything it needs to germinate, grow, and ultimately flower and bear fruit under the right conditions. But the earth contains many types of soils, some soils are too acidic, or have high salt content, others are too watery, and some soils are just right, but clouded over by tall trees that obscure sunlight. If the seeds are planted in the wrong soil, or in a dark place, the resulting plant will be weak, become diseased or even die before its time. Some soils will see the plant grow only to part of its full potential, and but other soils will allow the plant to reach everything it was intended to be from the seed. The Fitra, like the seed, is not passive, and can adapt to its limited circumstances, but only up to a point. A seed planted in a place with limited sunlight, will grow a plant which slants itself towards the sun to increase its exposure, some plant roots will actively grow towards water sources and increase its access to water, but if most seeds are planted in an completely arid desert, or in a totally dark place, they will never grow. The Aql (Intellect) is the Gardener, who can choose to replant the seed in the best place they can find, but many gardeners find it too difficult to uproot a plant, once its roots have grown, and some become dazzled with the one lone flower the plant produces, and do not know how many more would have been produced if only the plant were in a better soil. The Plant is therefore the ‘Nafs’ (the instinctual/emotional self, or ‘subconscious’) who having known only bad soil, and made its roots there, may be alarmed to be uprooted or have some of its bad roots or diseased leaves pruned to make way for healthier growth.

This is the condition of the Humans around the world, and the meaning of Fitra. We should grow ourselves like the wise gardener, and not be misled by the small growths we make which we find pleasing, at the expense of the higher potential we were meant to achieve when on the best grounding.

Categories: ISLAM, Islamic Beliefs (Creed), Reflections, WRITINGS