He expands this definition to include terms such as "innate disposition, natural inclination, instinct, character, drive, and divine guidance." In a broader sense, fitrah refers to "the way Allah has created beings with the ability to recognize Him."Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi further elaborates on fitrah, describing it as "being created upon a certain essence." The essential qualities of creatures—their capacity for change and development, their life cycles, ther deaths and their subjection to various laws and constraints—all constitute the content of their fitrah.

Fitrah is like the general framework of all the abilities, functions, and divine purposes within things. In his small treatise Nokta (The Point), Bediuzzaman discusses four magnificent proofs that are considered countless evidences of divine unity. He enumerates them as:

a) Muhammad (peace be upon him), 

b) The Universe as the great book and the greater human

c) The Qur’an as the miraculous book and the most sacred speech, 

d) The fitra endowed with consciousness, known as conscience, situated at the intersection of the world of the seen and the unseen." 

He explains that fitrah and conscience serve as windows to the intellect, shedding light on the rays of divine unity.

In philosophical terms, conscience is not viewed as a distinct, structured element of human identity, as often described in religious texts. Instead, it is seen as a skill that emerges and becomes refined through the development of the soul. Humans judge the behaviors based on their experiences, knowledge, and beliefs; this ability to judge is referred to in metaphysics as "conscience."

Modern psychology generally evaluates "conscience" through a Freudian lens. Freudian thought discusses three stages in the formation of the psychoanalytic structure of the human mind:

-       The id (inferior ego)

-       Ego

-       Superego

The id represents the primal instincts, a simple identity that begins with instinctual elements; it describes a phase where humans, not yet fully aware, constantly seek satisfaction.

The ego is the stage where some of the elements of the id become more defined, while others remain in the background. It refers to the personality that enables humans to distinguish themselves from others, mediating between the id and the superego throughout life. This phase of personality demonstrates characteristics of developing willpower, increasing management abilities and beginning to understand the principle of reality.

The emergence of the superego occurs when a child begins to differentiate from their parents, when he/she says “yes, but..”, to learn the concepts such as right and wrong, good and evil; he/she becomes slightly a person. It is in this stage that the child starts to participate in society, adopting value judgments from their surroundings. The superego governs much of the human's metaphysical life, controlling actions, making judgments, forgiving, blamingand understanding the concepts of reward and punishment. The concept referred to as "conscience" in religious texts is explained through the superegoIn Freudian psychology. As seen, in psychological terms, the ability to control one's immature aspects in a mature personality is referred to as "conscience/superego."

Allah (The only God and Exalted is He) has created each being upon a certain fitrah. This fitra is like a summary of all the abilities, functions, wisdom, and purposes embedded in their creation. No being can escape this fitrah, as it describes the program of destiny related to creation. The lives of creatures begin, develop, and end within this fitrah; both their lives and deaths are included in it. For example, within the fitra of a seed lies the "inclination to grow"; it has no other option, chance, or goal but to become a tree. Similarly, an egg contains an intense desire to become a chick. This inclination, love and sense of duty in creatures arise from the all-encompassing nature of fitrah. Gender, illness, organism, laws of nature, rules of physics and mathematics, birth, and death—all of these things reflect the forms that fitrah manifests in the universe. The divine names that operate over creation work in accordance with the laws of fitra.

All creation, from the simplest to the most complex forms, exists according to a fitrah. Among all visible and invisible beings, known and unknown, the human being, who is charged with representing God's caliphate on earth, is the most complex and detailed in terms of fitrah. This fitra reflects all divine attributes and names in the most perfect way. The fitrah of a human can be understood in two ways: as a biological entity, a human shares the basic fitrah of the animal kingdom, with functions like procreate, eating, drinking, sleeping, experiencing pleasure, fearing, and sustaining life. The automation that keeps all organs functioning in humans is a manifestation of the inclinations (propensities) embedded in fitrah. The state of a person in a coma is perhaps the simplest and most comprehensive explanation of this aspect of human fitrah related to biological life."Humans live in nature with a heart that beats, lungs that breathe, ears that hear, eyes that see, and all these organs functioning in an almost automatic manner, as if driven by passion."

Well, so how does a human, living within the wildness of nature, differentiate from other living beings? It is now well known that humans, who seek to change nature, which exists in its natural state, and arrange it according to their desires, possess certain additional traits. Along with intellectual faculties such as reason, imagination, memory, paranoia or baseless suspicionand creative intuition, humans also have certain inner qualities like premonition (déjà vu, clairvoyance, discovery, presentiment), which are not yet fully understood, and motivation (drive, enthusiasm). These faculties, placed in human nature, are ‘tools’ that allow the realization of concepts such as the ‘Great Humanity’ and the ‘Perfect Human,’ enabling a human to rise from an ordinary animal organism to the rank of caliphate of Allah in the earth."

Among the faculties that can be considered unique to humans is conscience, described as a fitrah endowed with consciousness. Conscience is an awareness of one’s Creator, a communication channel and protocol between the human soul and its Creator. From the moment a person is born, conscience acts as an inner guide, leading the soul towards what is right and in line with its fitrah. It provides the human soul with a measuring tool, a "divine ear" capable of understanding the language of Allah, and a conscious library containing the norms of innate morality and servitude.

The human’s biological sideis subject to certain laws, such as eating, drinking, and sleeping. These natural inclinations operate in harmony with nature. However, the more elevated features of human fitrah, which aid the human soul, seem to originate from a higher dimension. Conscience, which is part of this higher aspect of human fitrah, gently urges the soul to know, recognize, and remember Allah. It is a conscious fitrah, as it has the capacity to receive divine knowledge and inspirations, and it performs these functions with awareness. Thus, conscience is an internal proof of the existence and attributes of The Creator. The human intellect, often constrained by the material world due to its reliance on the five senses, can, through conscience, reason, and imagination, understand the divine attributes and recognize Allah’s work in the world.With the help of conscience, one can turn the justice that naturally manifests in other beings into a norm in social life. The natural life, which is observed to continue in a state of balance, can be shaped into a civilized form.

Through conscience, humans can transform natural laws of justice, observed in the balance of nature, into social norms. The intellect formulates legal norms, but it is only with conscience that one can grasp the concept of justice, which is the essence of law. While the positive intellect can only reach concepts such as "ethics," true justice is understood through conscience.

The soul learns the knowledge of its Creator through the fitrah endowed with conscience. It is as if every human being has an inner guide, like Muhammad al-Amin (peace be upon him). The soul understands the theoretical aspects of divinity through conscience, while it perceives the manifestations of divine names and attributes in the material world through reason, senses, and other faculties.

Humanbeings have a unique fitrah, and conscience is a precious branch of this fitrah. In conclusion, conscience is both a witness to and a reflection of divine unity, guiding humans toward truth and morality.

Author: Mustafa Eren Bozoklu – [email protected]