Every human being is born with an inner compass - a moral and spiritual instinct that points towards God. This natural disposition, the Fitrah, is not learned or inherited through culture, but is embedded within the very essence of our being. It shapes our sense of right and wrong, our yearning for purpose, and our recognition of God. This chapter explores how this universal human instinct forms one of the most profound evidences for the existence of God.
Universal Instinct
The Fitrah is an Arabic word used in the Qur’an to refer to the primordial nature of all human beings. It is the pure and pristine original state upon which God instils in all humans - the “default factory settings” with which every baby is born. The Fitrah is considered the pure, instinctive inclination toward faith, goodness, and the belief in God. It is the uncorrupted state of being. The Qur’an presents the most fundamental aspect of the Fitrah to be the spiritual inclination towards God, expressed through one’s love of Him in prayer and remembrance and through striving to come closer to Him. Ibn Taymiyyah explains that the truths necessitated by the Fitrah require no proof, as they are the most deeply rooted foundations of knowledge and the basis for all other understanding:
“The servants of God are inherently compelled by their Fitrah to love God, though amongst them are those who corrupt this Fitrah…and this love of God intensifies according to one’s knowledge of Him and the soundness of one’s Fitrah. And it diminishes with diminished knowledge, and the pollution of one’s Fitrah with corruptive vain desires.”(1)
Such knowledge, according to Ibn Taymiyyah, is inherent and self-evident, forming the “foundation of all foundations” that remains steadfast within a person’s very being.
The Universality of Fitri Principles
Here are some examples of moral principles that are universally recognised by all humans, regardless of background or culture.
- Natural empathy in infants: Even very young children display empathy, such as comforting someone who is upset, showing an innate understanding of compassion. A large volume of experimental research in childhood psychology has established that infants and toddlers demonstrate compassion, empathy, as well as a sense of fairness and justice. (2) Psychologist Paul Bloom provides copious evidence in his book, Just Babies – The Origins of Good and Evil. Bloom notes, “developmental psychologists have long observed that one-year olds will pat and soothe others in distress.” (3)
- Shared moral condemnation of murder: universally condemned across all societies and religions, pointing to a shared moral understanding of the sanctity of life.
- Theft: all societies consider theft morally wrong, even if specific laws vary, suggesting an innate respect for others’ property.
- Love for family and kinship: the inherent care for family members and close kin is found across cultures.
- Aversion to injustice: people worldwide react negatively to perceived injustice, whether it’s witnessing someone being cheated, oppressed, or mistreated, indicating an instinctive sense of fairness. (4)
- Natural inclination to tell the truth: honesty is valued across cultures, and people often feel guilt or discomfort when lying, suggesting an inherent respect for truthfulness.
- Sense of guilt and conscience: the feeling of guilt after doing something wrong is almost universal and is often seen as an internal moral guide.
- Taboos Against incest: All societies have taboos against incest stemming from an inherent sense of moral and social boundaries.
- Universal condemnation of betrayal: betrayal is condemned in almost every culture showing that loyalty and trust are universally valued.
- Sacredness of marriage: many cultures treat marriage as sacred, emphasising the moral importance of fidelity and commitment.
These principles reflect a universal moral framework that transcends background, geography, and time.
Belief in God’s Existence is Innate
From birth, humans are immersed in a deluge of visual and auditory data. The world is bright, loud, chaotic, seemingly indecipherable to the newborn. Yet, the human mind is not a passive vessel simply filled by sensory input. From the very beginning, it actively applies a “conceptual framework” to the world, filtering sights and sounds to transform chaos into meaningful elements: words, objects, people, values and beliefs.
Guided by the innate Fitrah, humans seek purpose, cry out for guidance and yearn for an existence worthy of Divine companionship. It is rooted in the Qur’anic account of the primordial covenant, “Ahd al-Alast,” where God gathered all souls and asked, “Am I not your Lord?” and they affirmed, “Yes.” (5) This event does not function as a conscious memory, but as a metaphysical imprint that creates an inner recognition of God and includes an openness to Divine guidance. So, while the Fitrah guides a person in the right direction, (6) Revelation from God completes this guidance by elucidating what is good, lawful, and prohibited.
Because of the Fitrah, the soul finds comfort in Islam as naturally as a hand fits in a glove, “the Qur’an does not discuss at length the matter of proving the existence of God, because it states that sound human instinct, and minds that are not contaminated with the filth of shirk (polytheism), affirm His existence (without any need for further evidence). Not only that, Tawheed or the affirmation of Divine Oneness, is something which is natural and instinctive.” (7)
Proof From History - The God Instinct
History is a testament that humans have instinctively believed in the existence of God in every age. While conceptions of the God differed, ranging from monotheism to the many gods of polytheism, no society in recorded history has ever universally rejected the existence of a higher power. (8) There are isolated instances of individual atheists in ancient texts, but they exerted very little influence beyond a handful of individuals. What we consistently find across cultures, eras, and empires, is that the belief in God has been affirmed by rulers, thinkers, and common people alike. This enduring consensus transcends time and geography, forming an unbroken thread woven through the fabric of human history. If we were to aggregate the beliefs of all humans throughout history, including those alive today, it would be reasonable to estimate that 99% of human beings believed in one Almighty God. They may have believed in many smaller gods also, but in their hierarchy there always would be the Supreme Creator – the ultimate source of all existence. Examples from history include:
- In Mesopotamian culture, there is the God Marduk of Babylon. The structure of Marduk’s worship, where he held a supreme position among the gods. (9)
- Zoroastrianism, founded in ancient Persia around the 6th century BC, have a single supreme deity, Ahura Mazda, considered the Creator and Sustainer of all things. (10)
- In ancient Egypt, while many gods were worshiped, Amun-Ra, was seen as the supreme God. (11)
- Ancient Greece: Zeus as King of the Gods - In ancient Greece, Zeus was revered as the “king of the gods” and was considered the most powerful deity, ruling over both humans and other gods from Mount Olympus. (12)
- In ancient Roman religion, they worshipped a pantheon of gods, like Mars, Venus, etc., but it was Jupiter who was the chief God and held the highest position in the Roman pantheon, particularly as a God of sky and thunder. He was regarded as the protector of the state and had a dominant role in Roman religion. (13)
- Hinduism developed a vast pantheon, incorporating local deities and manifestations of supreme gods like Vishnu, Shiva, etc. (up to 33 million gods). However, they believe in one supreme God, Brahman, who is the Creator and all other deities are subservient to Brahman who is the “ultimate, formless, infinite, and absolute reality.” (14)
Across human civilisations, belief in the existence of God stands as one of the most universal features of our collective consciousness. From ancient temples carved in stone to the oral traditions of remote tribes, humans have always believed in one Supreme Creator. This demonstrates that belief in His existence is rooted in the Fitrah.
(Taken from the book: ‘God: There is No Doubt!’)
(1) Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmu’ al-Fatawa.
(2) At a very young age, children display an innate ability to distinguish moral good from evil. In experiments with five-month-old infants, children were shown puppets that either exhibited positive behaviours (like helping to open a box or returning a ball) or negative behaviours (such as slamming a box shut or taking a ball away). The infants consistently favoured the “good” puppets. By eight months, children even demonstrate a basic sense of justice, preferring a puppet that acts harshly toward the “bad” puppet over one that treats it kindly. At just 21 months, toddlers go further, rewarding the “good” puppet with a treat and removing treats from the “bad” puppet, showing an early inclination toward moral reasoning and fairness. Hamlin, J. K., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. “Social evaluation by preverbal infants.” Nature
(3) Paul Bloom, Just Babies – The Origins of Good and Evil. Crown.
(4) Ibn Taymiyyah writes, “souls are naturally disposed to love justice and its supporters, and to hate injustice and its supporters; this love, which is in the fitrah, is what is meant for (justice) to be good.”
(5) Surah al-A’raf 7:172.
(6) From an Islamic perspective, the Fitrah also includes physical acts of cleanliness - including circumcision, removing pubic hair, trimming the moustache, clipping the nails and brushing teeth etc.
(7) Umar al-Ashqar, Belief in Allah.
(8) The sole significant exception in history was the Soviet Union, where the Communist regime imposed state-enforced atheism, an unprecedented experiment in ideological eradication of faith. Yet even this systematic suppression, lasting nearly 70 years, ultimately failed to extinguish belief in God. Like a river forced underground only to resurge with greater force, Russia’s Christian heritage reasserted itself immediately after the USSR’s collapse, with the vast majority of people reclaiming their Christian identity.
(9) Takayoshi M.Oshima, Babylonian Prayers to Marduk.
(10) Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Routledge, p.1.
(11) Erik Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife. Cornell University Press.
(12) Arthur Bernard Cook, Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion. Cambridge University Press.
(13) J. D. Hejduk, The God of Rome: Jupiter in Augustan Poetry. Oxford University Press.
(14) Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.9 “That which is invisible, ungraspable, without lineage, colourless, without eye or ear, without hands or feet, eternal, all-pervading, extremely subtle, and imperishable—the wise see that as the source of all beings.” Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6.9 “He has no master, no ruler, no superior. He is the cause, the Lord of all, the ruler of beings, the protector of all creatures, the overseer of all actions, and the self-existent.”
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