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

© 2023 Global Journals Volume XXIII Issue V Version I 14 Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2023 ( ) A A Quranic Concept with Universal Appeal: The Innate Monotheistic Disposition ( Fitra ) Divine Institutes , II, 4, 7: "Where is truth? ( Ubi ergo veritas est ?) Where no constraint can weigh on religion ( Ubi nulla vis adhiberi potest religioni ), where nothing can fall victim to violence ( ubi nihil quod violari possit apparet ), where there can be no sacrilege. But everything that falls under the eyes or under the senses, all that, because it is perishable, remains totally foreign to the notion of immortality." This passage is preceded in Divine Institutes by a critique of the fragility of idols, which, as material objects, are liable to destruction, fire or plunder, and the author concludes: "How can one seek protection from that which cannot protect itself?" This is followed almost immediately by the assertion that: "Only he is God who has not been made, and who, for this reason, can destroy others, but he himself cannot be destroyed. He will therefore always remain in the state in which he was, because he was not begotten from outside, and his origin and birth do not depend on any other thing, which could modify and destroy him. God is as he willed to be: impassible, immutable, incorruptible, blessed and eternal" Divine Institutes , II, 8, 44. This same idea is completed in another passage, which adds the assertion that "There is no need for violence and injustice to convince, because religion cannot be born of constraint ( non est opus vi et injuria quia religio eogi non potest ). We must use the verb rather than the rod if we are to achieve a voluntary act. This is why no one is ever held back by us in spite of himself, and yet no one moves away, for truth alone holds back our ranks." ( Divine Institutes V, 19, 11-13) Qur’an (2, 255-256): "God, there is no God but He, the living One, He who subsists by Himself! Neither slumber nor sleep has any power over Him! All that is in the heavens and on earth belongs to Him. Who can intercede with him without his permission? He knows what lies before men and what lies behind them, while they embrace from his knowledge only what he wills. His throne extends over the heavens and the earth: their continuance in existence is no burden to Him; He is the Most High, the unapproachable. (256) No compulsion in religion. The right path is distinct from error." The logical succession of ideas, condensed in the Qur'anic text and developed more fully in Lactantius, is nonetheless identical in both texts: the only true religion is that which worships a god who can undergo neither constraint nor change: he neither sleeps nor tires, the maintenance of his creation in existence does not weigh heavily on him (reminiscent of Psalm 121:4). 46 Everything depends on him, since even intercession can only be heard and achieved with his approval (Q 20:109). In other words, the truth of a religion that recognizes a transcendent God is self-evident and unambiguously distinct from error. It imposes itself on the mind of every human being, like a priori knowledge, corresponding to the natural religious tendency. It is, therefore totally superfluous to use violence to impose it. What's more, a monotheistic community acting in this way would be degrading itself to the rank of polytheists, and doing irreparable harm to the true worship due to God. 47 46 Ephrem of Nisibe mentions, in his Hymns on Paradise (VI, 10) ; Hymnes sur le Paradis , Introduction and notes by Fr. Graffin, Collection Sources Chrétiennes, no. 137, Le Cerf, Paris, 1968, first edition, p. 85: "Power without effort And an arm without fatigue Planted Paradise". 47 "Les Pères de l'Eglise et la pensée de l'Islam", contribution in homage to G. Troupeau, L'Orient chrétien dans l'empire musulman , Les éditions de Paris, October 2005, pp. 59-90. From this, Lactantius' expression Ubi nulla vis adhiberi potest religioni corresponds point by point to the Qur’anic injunction: lâ ikrâha fî-d-dîn : the only true religion is that which is addressed to a totally transcendent God, who is not subject to any constraint. Consequently and jointly, this true religion has no need to use violence to impose itself. It spontaneously attracts the support of all those who become acquainted with it. And they remain faithful to it, without the need to hold them back by force. This same idea is expressed in the pseudo-Clementine Homilies: "Truth springs from the intelligence, which is innate and pure, and is given by reflection to the good." 48 So to engage in violence of any kind for religious reasons is to attribute error and weakness to oneself; in other words, it is to display the falsity of one's religion for all to see. The rationality of Qur'anic thought therefore dictates that, contrary to those who have claimed the contrary, even for commentators who accept the principle of the abrogation of the Qur'an by the Qur'an, this verse is intangible since it sets out the necessary condition that the "right" worship must fulfill if it is to lay claim to truthfulness. 49 "No compulsion in 48 Homilies , XVII, 17, 5. 49 However, not all commentators read it in this way, and it even led to a chain of enlightening reactions following Pope Benedict XVI's