Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 23 Issue 5

A Quranic Concept with Universal Appeal: The Innate Monotheistic Disposition ( Fitra ) Geneviève Gobillot Volume XXIII Issue V Version I 1 Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2023 ( ) A © 2023 Global Journals Author: Pr. Emerita, University of Lyon 3, France. e-mail: genevieve.gobillot@wanadoo.fr Abstract- This article aims to present some of the main issues relating to fitra - a term generally understood as designating an innate monotheistic disposition in humans - in the Qur’an alone, without any subsequent exegetical or traditional contribution 1 . On the other hand, it gives pride of place to the intertextual approach, which allows us to situate this notion in a thematic line going ba ck to Ancient Greece, and which gave rise to theories developed in various monotheistic circles of Late Antiquity, particularly Jewish, Judeo-Christian and Christian. T he Q ur'anic C o- T ext lthough the fields of thought mobilized by fitra are particularly numerous and extensive, the " brevitas " ( îjâz ), or "condensation of meanings", quality of the Qur'anic text, is such that much of them can be detected at first glance in verse (Q 30, 30) - the only one that mentions it - as well as in its immediate context. "Raise your face for worship as a pure monotheistic believer ( aqim wajhaka li-d-dîni hanîfan ) following God's original nature according to which He created humans ( fitrata-l-Lâhi allati fatara-n-nâsa ‘alayhâ ) . No change to God's creation ( lâ tabdîla li-khalqi-l-Lâhi ) (or: no change in the state conferred by God on humans). This is the unchanging worship ( hâdha-d-dînu- l-qayyimu ). But most people do not know it ( wa akthar an-nâsi lâ ya'lamûn )." In referring solely to the content of the verse, it is possible to highlight eight semantic fields relating to fitra , which appear in the following order: − The physical ability to raise one's face to the sky in order to render due worship to God. − The fact that this worship ( ad-dîn ) is the only authentic one, by differentiation from the multiple erroneous cults ( al-adyân ) that exist in the world. − The fact that this behavior is that of the pure monotheistic believer ( hanîfan ; complement of manner ( hâl ) in this sentence). − The fact that fitra , affixed to the preceding term, designates a way of believing, being, and behaving, and not an instituted religion. A 1 We have dealt with all these issues in our publication: G. Gobillot, La conception originelle, fitra, ses interprétations et fonctions chez les penseurs musulmans, Cahier des Annales islamologiques 18, Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, Le Caire, 2000. − The origin of fitra , which is "of God", an expression that can cover several levels of relationship and belonging. − The assertion that fitra is the direct result of an act of creation, designated by the same verbal root ( fatara ). − The fact that it is a specific characteristic of the human being ( insân plural : nâs ), both universal and impossible to modify, that leads to authentic and unchanging monotheistic worship ( ad-dîn al- qayyim ). − Finally, the fact that most human beings have no practical science (meaning of ‘alima in the Qur’an) - of this process, even when they have some theoretical knowledge of it. These semantic fields, which overlap and complement each other in the Qur'anic text, correspond to intertextual references from different periods and origins. For convenience, we will approach them in an order different from that of the verse, grouping them under headings that enable us to grasp their scope and thematic resonances. Fa .ta.ra in the Qur'an: Semitic origins and attestations in pre-Qur'anic religious corpuses F.T.R. is a triconsonantal Semitic root whose earliest attestation dates back to hieroglyphic texts, in which it designates the slits or "the openings of the celestial windows" through which the gods observe our worl d. 2 In Syriac it means " to open by separation", to get out by spiting a husk or bursting a pod and it is used for mushrooms and fruits that have just hatched. In Arabic, it refers to the appearance of a camel's tooth that has just pierced the gum 3 , or to the "emer ge nce" of a well dug by a Bedouin in the desert. In five verses (Q 19,90), (Q 42,5), (Q 67,3), (Q 73,18), (Q 82,1), F.T.R. takes on several nuances of this meaning in verbal forms such as tafattara or infatara : to split, to be dislocated, separated, shattered, used to describe the disintegration of the universe at the end of tim e. 4 In Hebrew, the meaning of aperture and opening extends to the designation of first-born children 2 Pyramid Text, 1078, A-C, Coffin Text, III , 215 B-C. 3 According to the definitions of the dictionary Lisân al-‘arab. 4 It is the case, for example, of verse (Q 73, 18), which speaks of 'the day when the sky will split' (as-samâ'u munfatir bihi ).