by Qazi Emaduddin
The concept of “fitrah” had always been a mysterious black box for me. Sure, I have grown up with the usual set of ahadith and ayaat on the topic, such as the saying of our Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam) that every child is born upon the fitrah. And I knew that generally, fitrah in Islam means a belief in tawheed. But I’ve always thirsted for more.
The recent ISIP sessions by Professor Dr Yasien on fitrah were quite illuminating. I am eternally grateful to him for sharing his knowledge on the topic.
However, what has really captured my attention recently is a hadith about fitrah that is rarely mentioned during lectures on this topic. It is narrated by Al-Baraa Ibn ‘Azib (RA), and in it, the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam) teaches him a way of going to sleep such that if he were to pass away in his sleep, he would have passed away in a state of fitrah.
The invocation taught to him gives us great insight into what the fitrah really is. It outlines the various components of our fitrah. We will go through each of these in detail.
Before getting to it, I should point out that in the narration, Al-Baraa (RA) repeats the invocation to the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam) in order to memorise it. In one place, he says Rasool instead of Nabi, and the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam) corrects him; this indicates that it is not a random invocation, but something divinely ordained.
Here is the hadith in full, as narrated by Bukhari:
One final thing to note before moving on to the hadith: it is clear that any conception of fitrah must have two dimensions of universality.
One, it must be applicable across the entire lifespan of a person—including the time before coming to this world—given that we all took that covenant with Allah in the realm of the spirits. So fitrah cannot include any bodily actions, right? If actions were part of fitrah, then a soul could never have been upon it!
Two, our conception of fitrah must be universally applicable to all humans, regardless of which era they were born in. From the time of Adam (AS) to the last person born before the Hour, every human is born upon fitrah, as per the hadith. So we cannot include anything in fitrah that is specific to our shariah.
Let us now go through the hadith one part at a time.
- Ablution and sleeping on the right side:
Performing ablution cleanses your body and, more importantly, it cleanses your soul from your sins. Although our actions do not constitute our fitrah, as this would go against our first principle of universality, they still impact the state of our nafs. A nafs that is upon fitrah naturally stays away from haraam, as we see in the case of various companions who would not indulge in idol worship or drinking, even before the advent of Islam, because they were upon the fitrah. Likewise, a nafs that is corrupted by sins cannot be upon fitrah—the more you sin, the more you move away from Allah. Hence, chances are that your nafs is no longer upon fitrah.
Making ablution purifies you and gets rid of your sins, as mentioned in ahadith, and thus helps bring your nafs back to fitrah. Just as our souls were sinless and pure in the realm of spirits, this is our origin, and this is what we must strive to return to—giving another layer of meaning to: “We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return.”
The right hand holds great significance in Islam. All good actions are performed with or begin from the right. A hadith even mentions that both of Allah’s hands are right (Sunan an-Nasa’i, 5379). As to why this is so, I have not come across any authentic explanation. Be that as it may, orienting towards the right also prepares you to enter the state of fitrah.
- Saying: “I surrender to you”
A more literal translation would be: “I surrender my face to You.” This is the first component of our fitrah according to this hadith. It is not just a mere recognition of the Oneness of Allah, but rather, a full and complete surrender. Just as our souls surrendered completely to Allah before, for they had no power to act or affect the world around the, we must also realise that despite our apparent independence, we are, in fact, utterly and completely dependent upon Allah.
In other similar narrations, we are told to say: “I surrender my nafs to You” and “I face my face towards You” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 6315). This adds another layer of meaning: we are being told to turn our attention toward Allah. The visual image of turning one’s face toward Him implies a constant awareness of Him, and being oriented toward Him at all times. To live our lives with the knowledge that Allah is watching us—not just watching, but observing us through every sensory channel known to us, and even more that are beyond our comprehension.
- “And I entrust all my affairs to You”
This goes beyond passive surrender. It is a realisation that we cannot hope to achieve anything or be protected from anything except through the will of Allah. All our decisions depend on His permission. He guides us through life like a puppet master guides his puppets.
Choice, in this view, is an illusion. Though we will only have what we have earned, the will to struggle and earn is itself a blessing from Allah—one He may take away at any moment. Just like in the realm of spirits, where our souls depended on Allah for whatever He willed to do with them, so do we.
- “and depend upon You for Your Blessings both with hope and fear of You.”
A more literal rendering of the first part is: “I present my back to You.” This creates the image of a slave presenting his back to his master, ready to receive either punishment or reward. In the same way, when we entrust our affairs to Allah, we do it knowing He may punish or reward us, and even if He punishes us or reduces our blessings, we have no right to complain. Everything we have is from Him.
Yes, we hope for His goodness, but at the same time, we fear that He might hold us accountable for our misdeeds—and indeed, our misdeeds are plentiful and frequent. It is only His mercy that forgives most of these missteps and allows Him to remain kind to us.
The greatest test of whether we are upon fitrah often comes during loss and sorrow. Are we still grateful and obedient to Him in times of distress?
(Notice how, in the same supplication, we say that we face towards Allah and present our back to Him—something that’s impossible to do with anyone else, except Allah, who surrounds us from all sides!)
- “There is no fleeing from You, and there is no place of protection and safety except with You O Allah!”
When a mother is angry at her child, the child runs toward her and clings to her tightly. This is the kind of relationship we must develop with Allah to return to our fitrah. We must feel safety and protection in our connection with Him.
It is a powerful image, one that drives home the total and complete dependence upon Him. Again, this part further elaborates on that which came before. There are times when we receive a ‘scolding’ from Allah, in the form of Him taking away a portion of our blessings in order to shake us out of our ignorance.
Those who remain upon fitrah will, through this hardship, end up drawing closer to Him.
- “I believe in Your Book (the Qur’an) which You have revealed and in Your Prophet (Muhammad) whom You have sent”
Out of all the parts of this dua, I found this one the most difficult to reconcile. Remember that our conception of fitrah must be universally applicable to all human beings. And from the time of Adam, every person could hope to achieve such a relationship with Allah as described earlier. However, if accepting Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam) as Allah’s messenger and believing in the Qur’an as Allah’s book are part of our fitrah, then what about the previous nations?
One response to this dilemma could be that in various parts of the Qur’an, it is mentioned that some of the previous messengers gave glad tidings of the coming of the final Messenger. And perhaps accepting this was part of fitrah for them.
However, I believe a more satisfying explanation is that the Qur’an and Sunnah together form the ultimate guide to practising Islam. The final book of Allah is the complete manual on how to obey Him. It describes the core characteristics of an ideal Muslim and gives examples of both those who followed this ideal and those who did not. It also offers practical advice on how to achieve this ideal. Every book that came before it conveyed the same essential message, as mentioned in various verses of the Qur’an itself.
And Muhammad (Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam) was the living, breathing example of every good mentioned in the Qur’an. He was the “best of character,” in that he attained the highest potential that any human could ever achieve in terms of being a slave of Allah and aligning oneself with one’s fitrah. It is this potential that our souls are preprogrammed to be drawn toward. When our nafs is aligned with our fitrah, we gravitate toward achieving this ideal state of being.
Of course, none of us will ever fully attain this state except Muhammad (Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam), but we are all tasked with coming as close to it as we can, and adopting as many of his blessed characteristics as possible in our lives. The relationship between fitrah and these characteristics is two-way: the more we adopt them, the closer we get to our fitrah, and the closer we get to our fitrah, the more attractive these characteristics appear.
And so, people whose nufoos are aligned with their fitrah recognise and accept the message of the Qur’an when they receive it, and they recognise the character of Muhammad (Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam) as the highest form of goodness achievable by mankind.
There is much more to be said on this topic—such as why the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam) corrected Al-Baraa and told him to say nabi instead of rasool—but for now, I will stop here. Hopefully, some of those who read this will point out my mistakes and errors.
May we all have the pleasure of being in Allah’s company. Ameen.