Ar-Room (The Romans)

30. “So set your face to the religion being upright, the nature (framed) of Allah, in which He has created mankind. There is no altering of Allah’s creation. That is the right religion, but most people do not know.”

The Arabic word /Fitrat/ in lexicon means: creation and tearing the curtain of non-existence for the creation of a being. It seems that Allah has created man in a form that he inclines for the Truth and repudiates from wrong. It is just like the mother’s love to her child, which is not something taught but it is natural and instinctive.

Yes, walking along the path of religion is walking along the path of nature. The man’s natural affairs may decrease or increase, but they will never be abolished absolutely, and also the truth seeking wishes, which are hidden inside of man, will not change by the change of place and time.

Up to here, we have had some detailed discussions about Monotheism and theology by the way of observing the system of creation and using it for proving an origin of knowledge and power in the world of super nature through the noble verses of Monotheism in this Surah.

Next to them, in the first holy verse out of the verses under discussion, the words are about the natural Monotheism. In other words, it pursues the same subject from the way of inside and innate observation, and through necessary apprehension of conscience.

It says:

“So set your face to the religion being upright, the nature (framed) of Allah, in which He has created mankind. There is no altering of Allah’s creation…” “…That is the right religion, but most people do not know.”

The Arabic word /wajh/ means ‘face’, and here the purpose of it is the innate face, and the face of the heart. Therefore, the objective meaning of it is not attention only by the face, but attention with the entire entity, because the face is the most important limb of the body and its symbol.

The Arabic term /’aqim/ is derived from /’iqamah/ here in the sense of ‘to straighten’ and ‘to establish’.

The Qur’anic word /hanif/ is derived from /hanaf/ with the sense of inclining from falsehood toward the truth and from crookedness toward straightness and it is, of course, contrary to the Arabic word /janaf/ with the sense of inclination from straightness to aberration.

Therefore, ‘the religion upright’ means a religion which has inclined from crookedness, deviations, superstitions and aberrations toward straightness.

This sentence on the whole means that we must constantly turn our attention toward the religion which is far from any crookedness, the religion of Islam, the pure religion of Allah (s.w.t.).

The above verse emphasizes that the pure religion which is free from any polytheism is the religion that Allah has created in the nature of all human beings and it is a permanent and unchangeable nature, though a great deal of people do not pay attention to this fact.

The abovementioned verse points to some facts:

1. Not only theology but religion, as a general rule, and in all dimensions, is also something natural; and it must be so, because monotheistic studies tell us that there should be an agreement between the system of genesis and divine religion. Whatever is found in religion has certainly a root in nature, and whatever is in creation and man’s ego is a complement for the religious laws.

In other words, ‘genesis’ and religion are two powerful arms that act harmoniously in all fields. It is impossible that you find an invitation in religion the root of which is not in man’s nature; and it is impossible that there can be something in the depth of man’s entity but religion opposes it.

No doubt religion defines some limits and conditions for the leadership of nature so that it does not fall in the way of deviation, but it never struggle against the principle of natural demand, and it will guide it by means of a lawful way, else there will appear a contradiction between religion and creation which is not consistent with the basis of Monotheism.

In a more clear statement, never Allah, the Wise, does some contradictory deeds in a way that His creation command says: ‘Do’, and His religious command says: ‘Do not do’!

2. Religion in the form of a pure fact, and free from any pollution, exists in inside of the man’s soul, and deviations are some casual things. Therefore, the duty of Divine prophets is to wipe out these casual affairs and let the noble nature of man have possibility of development.

3. The Qur’anic phrase: /la tabdila li xalqillah/ (there is no altering of Allah’s creation) and next to it the sentence: /ŏalika dinul qayyim/ (that is the right religion) are two other emphases on the fact that religion is natural and the lack of possible change of this Divine nature, though, as the result of the lack of enough development, a lot of people are not able to comprehend this fact.

It is also necessary to pay attention to this point that the Arabic term /fitrat/ is originally derived from /fatr/ in the sense of splitting something from its length, and in those instances it is used in the sense of ‘creation’, as if, at the time of the creation of beings, the curtain of non-existence were cleft and they appear.

However, from the first day that man comes into the world of existence, this Divine light is flaming inside his soul.

The Islamic traditions, which have been narrated upon the commentary of this holy verse, verify what was said in the above, which will be referred to later in addition to other discussions on the subject of Monotheism as being natural.

A Few Traditions Upon the Nature of Theology

Not only in the verses of the Qur’an, but also in the Islamic traditions there are some considerable explanations about the ‘knowledge of Allah’ and ‘Monotheism’ as being natural. In some of them the ‘monotheistic nature’ is emphasized, and in some other concerning traditions, this meaning has often been discussed under the title of ‘gnosis’ or ‘Islamic gnosis’ or ‘knowing mastership’.

An authentic tradition, which the famous scholar Kulayni has narrated from Husham-ibn-Salim, indicates that he said:

“I asked Imam Sadiq (as) about the purpose of the Qur’anic phrase:

/fitrat allah-illati fatar-an-nasa ‘alayha/ (the nature (framed) of Allah, in which He has created mankind),

and he (as) answered:

‘Its purpose is Monotheism’.”1

Also in the same book, Kafi, it has been narrated from one of the companions of Imam Sadiq (as) that when he asked the Imam about the commentary of this verse, Imam said:

“It is Islam”.2

A similar tradition from Imam Baqir (as) indicates that in answer to Zurarah, one of his learned companions, who had asked about the commentary of this verse, Imam (as) said:

“Allah set their nature on knowing Him.”3

A well known tradition narrated from the Prophet of Islam (S) indicates that he said:

“Every new born child is born with the nature of Islam, (a religion free from any polytheism) but the child will be brought up by his parents in a deviated way such as Jewish and Christianity.”4

Upon the commentary of this verse, Imam Sadiq (as) also said:

“The purpose of ‘nature’ is mastership (and accepting the leadership of the saints of Allah)”5

In the first sermon of Nahj-ul-Balaqah Amir-ul-Mu’minin Ali (as), in a short but expressive sentence, says:

“…then Allah sent His Messengers and series of His prophets (one after another) towards them to get them fulfil the pledges of His creation, to recall to them His forgotten bounties, to exhort them by preaching, and to unveil them the hidden virtues of wisdom…”

According to the abovementioned narrations, not only ‘the knowledge of Allah’, but also the whole Islam, in an intensive form has been put in man’s nature, including Monotheism to the leadership of Divine leaders and true successors of the Prophet (S), and even ‘the articles of the Practice of the Faith’.

Therefore, according to the meaning mentioned in Nahj-ul-Balaqah, the prophets’ job is to get men fulfil their nature and to recall to them the forgotten bounties of Allah including the monotheistic fate and to unveil the treasures of wisdom which are covered and hidden inside the soul and thought of man.

It is interesting that the Qur’an, through numerous verses, mentions the afflictions, difficulties, and painful events that may happen in man’s life as a preliminary factor for arousing and developing the religious sense, among them is that it says:

“So when they ride in the ships they call upon Allah sincerely vowing worship (only) unto Him, and when He brings them safe to the land, they associate others (with Him)”.6

In this field, of course, we will explain more vastly when commenting on the next verse of this very Surah which is fairly similar to the verse of Surah Al- ‘Ankabut.