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MC Glossary
Fitrah
فطرةFitrah refers to the creation “upon” which Allah created every human being.
Divine Evidence
Surah Ar-Room : 30
فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًا ۚ فِطْرَتَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا ۚ لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ اللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
"So direct your face [i.e., self] toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fiṭrah of Allāh upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of Allāh. That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know."
— Saheeh International, Translation.
Epistemological Distortions
At Morality Central, we do not use “natural disposition,” “natural inclination,” “natural tendency,” or “natural orientation” to translate fitrah. For, neither adequately expresses fitrah as the creation “upon” which Allah created human beings.
Why not “Natural Disposition”?
If fitrah is understood merely as a disposition, it implies that it is an internal arrangement or positioning of traits "externally positioned" within a person. In Qur'anic usage, however, fitrah is not an externally rearranged internal state but the original creation upon which Allah has created human beings.
Why not “Natural Tendency” or “Inclination”?
A tendency can differ between individuals. Once fitrah is understood in this way, a person may begin to identify whatever they feel, prefer, or incline toward as their fitrah. This can occur when those feelings and inclinations have been shaped by corrupted desires, external influences, or distorted understandings.
The Danger: If personal feelings can be treated as evidence of one's fitrah, it becomes subject to individual interpretation rather than remaining grounded in what Allah has created human beings upon.
Why not “Orientation”?
An orientation is a direction toward something, but toward what? If the answer is left to the individual, then the direction itself becomes open to subjective interpretation. The word therefore does not tell us what the direction is objectively grounded in.
Purpose
Purpose refers to what Allah created human beings for.
Divine Evidence
Surah Adh-Dhariyat : 56
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
"And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me."
— Saheeh International Translation.
Thus, the purpose of human creation is to worship Allah. This provides the ultimate end toward which human life is directed and gives meaning to how human beings are to live, act, and use the capacities Allah has given them.
Spirituality
روحانيةAt Morality Central, “spirituality” refers to a person's felt state in relation to the unseen and metaphysical realities of existence.
It describes how receptive and connected a person feels to their fitrah (upon which they were created).
Thus, when we use the phrases “spiritually strong” or “spiritually weak,” we use them to describe the closeness of a person's connection to their fiṭrah and how this connection is reflected in their relationship with Allah and their Deen.
The Epistemological Shift
The term “spirituality” requires particular care because it is widely used by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. However, contemporary secular usage poses a severe threat to conceptual integrity.
The Secular Definition
In contemporary secular usage, spirituality can refer to subjective experiences of meaning, inner connection, transcendence, personal values, or a personal sense of right and wrong without being grounded in revelation or an objective source of moral truth.
The Danger
This creates a dangerous epistemological shift. If spirituality is understood primarily through subjective feeling, a person's internal experience can become the measure of what feels meaningful, true, right, or morally good.
What feels spiritually right to one person may therefore be treated as spiritually right for that person, even without reference to Allah, revelation, or the Deen.
The Morality Central Stance
This subjective definition is not the basis on which spirituality is understood at Morality Central. Human experience is not treated as the source that determines truth or morality. Rather, spirituality is understood within the framework established by Allah.
Therefore, we use “spirituality” as a functional term while strictly defining its meaning within the Islamic framework, rather than allowing contemporary secular usage to determine its meaning.
The Foundational Distinction
Fitrah
What Allah created us upon
Purpose
What Allah created us for
by Md Abullais