This religion must be based on the ‘fitrah’ [^2]...

This religion must be based on the ‘fitrah’ [^2]—man’s primordial, innate nature—and so the followers of such a religion, for example, abstain from lying and committing crimes against humanity. This rule is also applicable to the Ahlus Sunnah to whom the truthfulness of Shi’aism has not been explained correctly. [^1]: al-Kafi, v.1, p.25, no. 22 [^2]: Fitrah: Allah says in the Qur`an, “The divine nature by which Allah has created mankind” (30:30).

Therefore, the fitrah in every person is the root of all spiritual matters and goodness. Imam Rida (ع) has said, “And it is by means of the fitrah that His proof is substantiated” (al-Saduq, al-Tawhid, pg. 35. That is, whatever Allah has as argumentation is of no use without the fitrah.

By this explanation, it becomes evident why in the terminology of Islamic philosophers and theologians the fitrah is referred to as the origin of all spiritual matters and goodness, in contrast to tabi’ah (nature), which is referred to as the origin of all material and instinctive matters.

Man is a being of free will that continuously chooses the path of the fitrah or the way of tabi’ah, and it is with this free will that he determines his life in the Hereafter, as indicated in the famous hadith: “The World is a plantation for the Hereafter.” Previous…