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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Shi'ite Creed Concerning Man's Original Nature (fitra) And His True Guidance (hidaya) Concerning Man's Original Nature (fitra) [^1] And His True Guidance (hidaya) Says the Shaykh Abu Ja'far: Our belief concerning this is that Allah has undoubtedly created man with a disposition towards (accepting) the unity of Allah[^2].

And this is (in consonance with) what He, the Mighty and Glorious, says: “The true faith of Allah, for the acceptance of which He has created man” (Qur'an 30:30) .[^3] And concerning His saying, exalted is He: “It is not for Allah to lead a people astray after He hath rightly guided them, until He hath clearly shewn to them what they ought to fear” (Qur'an 9:116) . Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq[^4] said: (He does not lead them astray) until He informs them of what pleases and what displeases Him.

And concerning the saying of Him, who is exalted above all: “And (He) inspired it [^5] (with the consciousness of) what is wrong for it and what is right for it,” (Qur'an 91:8) , he (Imam Ja'far) said: (That means) He made manifest to it (the soul) what (acts) are permissible and what sins are to be avoided.

And He, Exalted is He, says: “Verily We have shown him the way, whether he be grateful or disbelieving” (Qur'an 76:3) , and (concerning this) he (Imam Ja'far) said: (That is) We have made it (the true religion) known to him, whether he accepts it or not. And concerning the saying of Him, who is mighty and Glorious: “And as for Thamud, We gave them guidance, but they preferred blindness to guidance” (Qur'an 41:17) . Imam Ja'far explained: (And this) despite their knowing (the truth).

Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq was asked concerning the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Glorious: “And (did We not) guide him to the parting of the two mountain paths?” (Qur'an 90:10) . He said: (This refers to) the path of righteousness and the path of wickedness. And he said: That which Allah has kept from the knowledge of human beings is entirely set apart from them.

And he also said: Allah has adduced reasons to mankind for what He has given them and what He has made known to them.[^6] [^1]: Fitra is a term which has several meanings, e.g., "original nature", "natural religion", and finally "Islam". MC, 42 - 44, 214 sqq. [^2]: Sh. Mufid attributes this to Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq ( Mur. iii. 327), and says that Sh. Saduq has not explained its meaning. The first meaning of fitra is " .creation"; the second is the one explained in the text.