SALVATION THROUGH PATIENCE & PRAYER

Then God places the souls of each human being in their physical bodies whilst their spiritual state remains upon its natural disposition. Prophet Muhammad, peace, and blessings be upon him, said, “every child is born upon fiṭrah”. The word ‘fiṭrah’ which can be loosely understood as a ‘primordial state of innocence and purity’ is the sinless and pure state that every child is born into, thereafter, depending on the upbringing of that child and the life he/she leads they either incur sin or earn reward which in turn either strengthen the fiṭrah or cause it to decay and degenerate.

To understand the concept of fitra, another narration by Prophet Muhammad uses the same word in a different yet connected context, “ten acts are part of fiṭrah: trimming the moustache, letting the beard grow, cleaning the teeth using a miswak (tooth-stick/tooth-brush) cleaning the nose by sniffing water, clipping the nails, washing the knuckles, removing hair from the underarms, removing pubic hair, and cleaning the private parts with water.” In this narration the Prophet lists the cleaning or trimming of body parts that one is naturally disposed to do so, parts

that if they are not cleaned or trimmed can lead to irritation. Even though the word fitrah is being used in an entirely different context it still has that connotation of a ‘primordial disposition’ that inclines to one thing or another. Whilst the fiṭrah which is being used to refer to a ‘primordial state’ of human beings, is naturally disposed to incline towards the One True God, only He Who is worthy of worship.

Therefore, there are two aspects of the fiṭrah, (1) that all humans are created pure and sinless, and (2) that every human is naturally disposed to incline towards God in submission. Thus, every person is naturally disposed to gain salvation, except that he/she either steer further away because of sin or remain on course by leading a life of good and righteousness and as a result achieve greater reward.