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

Volume XXIII Issue V Version I 9 Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2023 ( ) A © 2023 Global Journals A Quranic Concept with Universal Appeal: The Innate Monotheistic Disposition ( Fitra ) them by authority. This is evoked by Lactantius through the image he gives of men dressed in skins, and by the Qur’an through the expression "like cattle". Following these initial observations, other passages that can be paralleled establish a clear difference between close and distant ancestors: Close ancestors are the progenitors and the few generations that preceded them over a limited period. They take the child away from his natural monotheism and educate him according to a false religion or even pagan polytheism. The distant ancestors represent the first people to populate the earth. They were not polytheists. They were true monotheists, as the Divine Institutions affirm. For the Qur’an, this monotheism was the object of a testimony directly inspired by God, which tradition has named "the first covenant" of the Sons of Adam: Divine Institutes II, 13, 12 They are mistaken who maintain that the worship of gods has existed since the beginning of the world and that paganism is prior to belief in God, which they believe to have been invented later, because they are ignorant of the source and origin of truth". IV, I, 4-5 "Men ceased to lift their faces to heaven, while their minds, nailed to the ground, remained fixed there by everything earthly in their possessions as in their religions. The result (of belief in the multiple gods represented by idols) was a division of mankind, as well as all kinds of deception and sacrilege. II, 13, 8 - 12 As for the direct descendants of the father, they were called the Hebrews; it was among them that the religion of God remained. But as their numbers multiplied enormously, they went into exile to seek new lands (...) The others (descendants of Ham) who were scattered over the earth (after the flood), contemplated the elements of the world with admiration and began to venerate the sky, the sun, the earth and the sea. In time, they began to build temples and statues for their most powerful kings, and decided to worship them with victims and perfumes. Thus were formed the nations (gentes) who have no knowledge of God. Qur'an (7, 172) "When your Lord drew offspring from the loins of the sons of Adam, He made them testify against themselves, 'Am I not your Lord?' They said: "Yes, we bear witness! And this is so that you will not say on the Day of Rectification (yawm al-qiyâma): We were caught unawares, or that you will not say: Our fathers were once polytheists, we are their descendants. Will you make us perish because of the deeds performed by impostors?". 2, 213 "Men formed a single community. God sent them the prophets (al-nabiyyîna) to bring them good news and to warn them". 7, 168 "We divided them (the Sons of Israel) on earth into communities, there are among them the righteous and others who are not". 7, 69 "Remember! When your Lord made you caliphs after the disappearance of the people of Noah, He developed your expansion in the world." (The Qur'an speaks here of the people of ‘Âd, i.e. ancient Arabs, to whom it attributes this expansion on earth. They will be followed by the Thamûd, then the Madian, all of whom will refuse Noah's inheritance of the true faith, which was intended for them). Both texts convey the idea that a fraction of the Sons of Israel, despite having received the true monotheistic religion, had a share of responsibility in the subsequent communal divisions of humanity. However, the Qur’an attaches greater importance to the fact that, after the Deluge, the torch of monotheism was first offered to the Arabs, who, having accepted from the caliphate only the earthly power conferred on them by God to exercise it, 34 disowned and persecuted the prophets sent to them (Hûd, then Sâlih), thereby delaying the triumph of Truth in the world. Finally, each corpus defines in its way the distinction between two categories of forefathers: those close to us, polytheistic or misguided, and the most distant ancestors, the first men on earth, monotheistic and united, according to the Qur’an, in a single community that later divided. Lactantius explains this phenomenon by the fact that men belonging to the generations that had succeeded the first Hebrews no longer "raised their faces to heaven," 35 i.e. no longer 35 Epitome of Divine Institutes ( Epitomé des Institutions divines ) 20, 4) "If they had raised their eyes and looked up to heaven (...) to worship 34 See for example (Q 41, 15) "As for the ‘Âd, they were unjustly proud on earth. They said: "Who will be more powerful than us? Did they not see that God, who created them, is greater than they in strength? Yet they denied our signs".