Quran 30:30 - The Primordial Lifestyle
“So direct your face towards the religion, inclining to truth. The primordial lifestyle (fitrah) of God upon which He has created people. No change should there be in the creation of God. That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know.” (30:30).
God created our body from clay and breathed His own spirit into us (15:29). Then God did not merely suggest the angels tip their hat to us, so to speak, as a mark of respect. Rather, He ordered them to prostrate to us (7:12), the act of utmost reverence that we perform in our daily prayers and feel is only befitting of God. We are barely a speck of dust in the universe, yet God gave each one of us unlimited access to His undivided attention (2:186). So God enshrined in mankind the highest conceivable status and validation. The Quran reveals a spiritual reality behind this material world, in which the nature and species around us glorify and praise God, in their own way that is beyond our perception (17:44). But we stand out as His special creation. God made this physical reality subservient to us (31:20), with a universe that can be understood and a human mind that can understand it, to fulfil our duty of being His authority on earth (2:30). This life is an exam to decide our eternal home in Heaven or Hell (67:2). The paradigm is encapsulated in one verse: God created us for no reason except to worship Him (51:56).
The Garden
We are a soul that temporarily inhabits a body on earth. Our worldly attributes like beauty and wealth are separate to our spiritual essence. So we should not identify with our worldly attributes, because they come and go for us. In contrast, heat and light are inherent to fire, for there is never a cold and dark fire. For God, His attributes like knowledge and power are inherent to His essence, but His actions like creating and forgiving are separate. God can choose to not forgive, but He cannot become weak. The Imams taught us this understanding, and warned us to not ponder on His essence, because it will only lead to bewilderment. This is how the modern atheists were misguided. They insist on discerning God through sensory perception, as if He can be seen with a telescope, whereas He can only be experienced with the heart. Hence the narration in Hadith al-Qudsi: “Neither My earth nor My heavens can contain Me, but the heart of a believing servant can contain Me.” Atheists claim to dismiss Allah for the same reason Muslims dismiss the thousands of gods throughout history - no evidence. Except those false gods are products of the mind. The workings of an imagination. The heart cannot perceive places, shapes, colours or multiplicity, to delineate an old man in the sky with a grey beard, or a variety of deities.
We inherently have a spiritual cognition of God. It was the experience of the scientist Albert Einstein when he said “everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe - a spirit vastly superior to that of man”. He felt the presence of God by pondering on the rays of His light, and said himself that he spoke for all scientists. It is difficult to accuse the man of being gullible, when he questioned and redefined our understanding of space and time, that people had taken for granted. It brings to mind a verse in the Quran: “And how many a sign in the heavens and the earth which they pass by, yet they turn aside from it.” (12:105). Perhaps the atheist scientists are in denial, like the Pharaoh who saw the sea split open in front of his own eyes, and then seemingly dismissed it as another magic trick from Prophet Moses, before drowning. The belief in God is not wishful thinking. On the contrary, it is being honest with yourself. The Quran conveying bodily features of God, such as He has eyes and hands and a gender, are symbolic because “nothing is comparable to Him” (112:4).
God told us in the Quran: “And when your Lord took from the children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them]: ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said: ‘Yes, we have testified.’ Lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection: ‘Indeed, we were of this unaware.’” (7:172). God is self-evident. We recognise Him without a rational induction or deduction. The universe too is self-evident. As the philosopher René Descartes put it, hypothetically the universe could be an illusion setup by a demon, similar to a dream, in which you do not live in the universe but rather the universe lives in your mind. It led him to his famous declaration: “I think, therefore I am.” He tried to doubt even his own existence, but realised he must exist in order to question if he exists. So, at the very least, he must be alive as a purely conscious being. We have no evidence to confirm or deny, if the universe is real or an illusion. You just know in your heart what you cannot prove in your mind. Even atheists recognise the universe to be real, because they demand that God is proven through it.
It is the wrong question to ask “what is the proof of God?”. Hence the Quran does not pay it much attention. Humans are subject to conditions that make us arise, transform and fall. God is the eternal and changeless who setup every condition. A contingent questioning the existence of the Necessary is an absurdity. The right question to ask is “if God is self-evident, then why are many people heedless of Him?”. Hence that is the underlying theme of the entire Quran, to pull us towards Him. The Shia scholar Nasir al-Din al-Tusi explained our unveiling of God with the analogy of coming towards a fire, in four stages. The first stage is to learn about the qualities of fire. The second stage is to observe the smoke that arises from it. The third stage is to feel the heat it emits and see the light it radiates. The fourth stage is to become inflamed and burn to ashes. It is the journey of purifying your heart that unveils His presence, so that wherever you turn you see the Face of God (2:115). Imam Ali said he saw God in everything. Your journey in life, from its ease and hardship to its rituals of worship and diversity of experiences, is towards this purification. It is intended to adorn your heart with the light of faith. Hence the Quran tells us: “He has succeeded who purifies it [their soul], and he has failed who buries it [in darkness].” (91:9-10).
God is free of need (35:15), so creating us was simply a gift from Him. Life is the gift of immersing yourself in God, through the experience of His names. To enact and appreciate oneness, truth, light, peace, love, mercy, beauty, justice, knowledge, creativity, wisdom, patience etc. The meaning of worshipping God is to “devote yourself to Him with absolute devotion.” (73:8). To join in unison with the whole of creation, by glorifying and praising God in prayer. To rejoice in His love by looking around in fascination and celebrating our remarkable luck together, as His special creation. To invite your family over for a meal and feel gratitude for His blessings. To travel the world He created for us, with a holiday where you reflect on history or stand in awe of nature, feeling the presence of God in time and space. To show patience in enjoining the good and forbidding the evil (9:112), leaving the world in a better place than we found it, since our duty to be the authority that reflects Him. To honour His creativity by pouring your heart, mind and limbs into an activity, then sharing it for others to benefit or enjoy, where the purpose of business is societal value and personal gain is based on justice, neither deceptive nor exploitative. Hence Imam Hussain said: “God did not create mankind but that they know Him, for if they know Him they can worship Him, and if they worship Him they will benefit from His grace.”
The Prophet founded a spiritual family, where the believers are “selves” (24:12). It is a model of human society oriented to God, and built on the moral compass He inspired in us (91:8). The concept of selves encircles us to create a group conscience and a sense of shared purpose. A spiritual solidarity, to see you in them and them in you, and recognise each other as souls. To feel joyful at meeting a person who has been honoured by God. To take care of everyone like they are your self. Hence the Prophet said: “He is not a believer whose stomach is filled while his neighbour goes hungry.” To think what you can do for others, not what they can do for you.
Morality is grounded in God. One of His names is Al-Barr (52:28), which means the source of goodness. His attributes, like purity and truth and justice, are His holy essence that is woven into the fabric of reality. Our purpose is to integrate into this fabric and embody His names. Evil is the absence of good, like darkness is the absence of light. So, whatever act turns to Him is good, whatever act turns away from Him is evil. To be moral is not a means to an end, that you apply if useful and abandon if obstructive. It is the end in itself, for what is holy must be honoured, even if it requires our sacrifice. To be like the Ahlul-Bayt: “And they give food, in spite of love for it, to the needy, the orphan, and the captive. [Saying] ‘We feed you only for the Face of God. We wish not from you reward or gratitude. Indeed, we fear from our Lord a Day harsh and distressful.’ So God will shield them from the woes of that Day, and grant them radiance and joy.” (76:8-11).
The primordial lifestyle is to feel connected to God, each other, our planet, and your own self. A taste of heaven while on earth. To believe in Islam is for our own benefit, because it is the orientation needed to accept this nurturing, spiritual paradigm. The purified heart is immersed in it, having undertaken the straight path to transcend their self, reaching absolute devotion to God. Modern spirituality is just a self-care, feel-good movement with practices like yoga and meditation, claiming we can strip away their religious dogma to reach spiritual enlightenment, whereas the Quran confronts your ego with toil, responsibility and accountability. The Quran is effectively the GPS navigation, illuminating the primordial lifestyle for us in a tumultuous world, and revealing to us the bigger picture.
God is hostile to disbelief, not because He is insecure and needs both our recognition and obedience, but because it leads to our tyranny. The essence of disbelief is the destruction of this primordial lifestyle, whether in some ways or in every way. Hence the Quran does not recognise that the different religions are still valid today (3:85). You do not reject the final revelation, that God sent down and preserved in His loving care for you (55:1-2), to pull you out of the darknesses and into the light (14:1). It is as if God calls each one of us to the burning bush of Prophet Moses. The believer responds: “Our Lord, let not our hearts deviate after You have guided us and grant us from Yourself mercy. Indeed, You are the Bestower.” (3:8). The unbeliever turns his back on God and walks away in defiance, as if to say “tell someone who cares”. As for the proof of Islam, it is the same now as it was in sixth century Arabia. You marvel at the Quran and feel struck by the realisation that it is a revelation from God.
The Fire
Satan was a believer from the jinn, who was in the company of the angels (18:50). He refused to prostrate to us as the angels did (7:12). So Satan was disgraced and expelled (7:18), becoming an unbeliever who now misleads mankind (17:62-63). He makes evil seem good to those who are off the straight path (29:38), and ambushes those who are on the straight path (7:16). Satan said he refused to prostrate to us because “You created me from fire and him from clay.” (7:12). He identified with the outward, not the inward. We did the same, by identifying with our worldly attributes that are not inherent to us. We created a social hierarchy, where everyone has a position decided by their wealth, beauty, fame, intelligence, charisma, race etc. Each person strives to protect and strengthen their position, competing over what is superficial and transitory, so they can climb the invisible ladder. The respect and effort we show to people is proportional to how useful they are to fulfilling our desires. An office worker turns their whole body when talking to a director, but not even turn their face when replying to a cleaner; rather than treating everyone the same. We ignore people who we deem are not worth knowing, because they cannot get us ahead in life. We view people as pieces on a chessboard that we move to win the game of life. The worship of the self, instead of the worship of God. The desire to feel important, as if you are a special edition that deserves to stand out. The constant preoccupation with seeking status and validation.
People dismiss God as a delusion. So they now have a God-shaped hole in their hearts, struggling to find meaning, fulfilment and contentment. People see each other as bodies without souls, abandoning the spiritual solidarity of being selves. So they are creating a society of individualism, breaking apart the family and community that gave warmth and support, leaving each person feeling alone and isolated, because they are too busy scanning the value of people they meet, instead of caring for their wellbeing. People forgot that God had already enshrined in us the highest conceivable status and validation, and our worldly attributes are just our unique exam set by Him. So they feel insecure, inadequate and depressed, drowning in negative self-talk and trapped in an inner battle, with no fight left in them and little concern beyond their self. People forgot our duty as His authority on earth. So corporations deforest the lands, farm the animals in factories, pollute the oceans and fry the atmosphere, to protect and strengthen their position. People disregarded the sanctity of human life as the special creation. So nations spend more money on fighting wars than eradicating poverty, to protect and strengthen their position. A taste of hell while on earth. Hence the Prophet told us: "the love of the world is the root of all evil". Rather than prostrate to us, Satan has us prostrating to him.
They have uprooted morality itself. At bottom, the universe is composed of elementary particles, like electrons. A particle is not good or evil. In this view, to murder somebody is just the movement and reconfiguration of particles. If evolution did not have the hand of God over it, then our moral compass is just its legacy architecture. It would mean our conception of good and evil has no basis in reality. A lion will kill another lion for his lioness, and then kill the cubs too. To raise his own bloodline, not assume the responsibility of his foe. Natural selection just favours the mutations that enable a species to survive and reproduce, like the white fur in polar bears that camouflages them in the snow. If we happened to evolve down a different path, due to the environment of our ancestors, then our moral compass could feel different. Science can determine pleasure and pain, but it cannot equate pleasure to good and pain to evil. It is the survival of the fittest. As if desacralising morality will create a moral society.
Since mental health is becoming less taboo, and its treatment is becoming better, more people are now getting the help they need. We should be seeing a downward trendline not an emerging crisis. The problem is that the modern paradigm itself is harmful, despite claiming to be the enlightened standard. It severs the connections of the primordial lifestyle that bring happiness, creating a life of dissociation and an unsettled soul. You become a fish out of water. It brings to mind the words of Imam Hussain: "What did he find, he who lost You? What did he lose, he who found You?" It has the appearance of a demonic enslavement, except Satan only invites by making evil seem good, and is unable to compel. The sense of social responsibility that we find around us, like in the facilities for disabled access, is the primordial lifestyle shining through in people. The individuals who, whether inspired by a faith or their moral compass, strive to do the right thing, instead of what is right for them. On the Day of Judgement, when the earth has perished and our souls arise in their final form, the king and slave will stand side by side, and everyone will realise the social hierarchy was an illusion. It was only ever the spiritual hierarchy that mattered.
Imam Ali said: “Oh God, I do not worship You out of fear of Hell, for that is the worship of a slave, nor do I worship You out of hope for Heaven, for that is the worship of a trader. I worship You because I found you worthy of being worshipped.” A hope for Heaven and a fear of Hell are highly encouraged in Islam, as the two wings we need to ascend to God. The criticism here is the slave and trader do not have humility, reverence and love in their worship. They view themselves as the main character in the story, and see God as a means to an end. If not for the afterlife, they would have no interest in worshipping God on earth. They glorify and praise Him as they bow and prostrate in prayer, but their tongue and limbs are not an expression of their heart. The slave and trader are Muslims with no sincerity, and imitate the polytheistic religions where you pray to a different deity depending on your need or want, because their purpose is to serve us. The hadith literature shows the Prophet felt a longing for God and found rest in prayer. Hearing Bilal ibn Rabah give the call to prayer was a relief for him. This world distracted him from having a complete focus on his Beloved. Amidst the myriad of different ideologies, there were only ever two modes of being: the worship of God and the worship of the self.
The Quran describes Heaven as an expansive garden and Hell as a raging fire. An expansive garden is humble - it nurtures life and welcomes people to feel at peace in its beauty. It was the character of the Prophet. A raging fire is arrogant - it rises up, expands its reach and imposes its will, bringing death and destruction to whatever gets in its way. It was the character of Abu Lahab. In a sense the afterlife is a personification, where your inward soul becomes your outward reality. It is your real home because it is a reflection of you. Life is a gift to actualise our potential and shape our own destiny. If God created us in the afterlife, we would be a seed that could never blossom.
Imam Ali said: “God, the Exalted, gave the angels intellect without desires, the animals desires without intellect, and He gave both to humans. So a man whose intellect prevails over his desires is better than the angels, whilst a man whose desires prevails over his intellect is worse than the animals." The believers are those who recognise the truth and accept it, choosing the path of God, to worship Him and embrace the light. The people who resemble the nurturing nature of a garden. The unbelievers are those who recognise the truth and reject it, choosing the path of Satan, to worship the self and fall into darkness. The people who resemble the destructive nature of a fire. The battle between good and evil is between the humble (28:83) and the arrogant (16:29).
Allah
There is no better conclusion than the beautiful description of God by Imam Ali, found in extracts of Sermon 186 in Nahjul Balagha.
“He who assigns to Him conditions does not believe in His oneness, nor does he who likens Him grasp His reality. He works but not with the help of instruments and without initiating any movement. He fixes measures but not with the activity of thinking. He is rich but not by acquisition. Imagination cannot reach Him so as to assign Him quantity. Understanding cannot think of Him so as to give him shape. Senses do not perceive Him so as to feel Him. He does not change into any condition. He does not pass from one state to another. Nights and days do not turn Him old. Light and darkness do not alter Him.”
“He is neither inside things nor outside them. Stillness and motion do not occur in Him, and how can that thing occur in Him which He has Himself made to occur, and how can a thing appear in Him which He first brought to appearance? If it had not been so, His Self would have become subject to diversity, His Being would have become divisible, and His Reality would have been prevented from being deemed Eternal. If there was a front to Him there would have been a rear also for Him. He would need completing only if shortage befell Him. In that case signs of the created would appear in Him, and He would become a sign instead of the signs leading to Him.”
“He conveys news, but not with the tongue or voice. He listens, but not with the holes of the ears or the organs of hearing. He says, but does not utter words. He remembers, but does not memorise. He loves and approves without any sentimentality. He hates and feels angry without any pain. When He intends to create someone He says ‘Be’ and there he is, but not through a voice that strikes is that call heard. His speech is an act of His creation.”
“He created the creation without any example made by someone else, and He did not secure the assistance of anyone out of His creation for creating it. He created the earth and suspended it without being busy, retained it without support, made it stand without legs, raised it without pillars, and defended it against crumbling and splitting. He fixed mountains on it like stumps, solidified its rocks, caused its streams to flow and opened wide its valleys. Whatever He strengthened did not show any weakness. He allotted all things their times, put together their variations, gave them their properties, and determined their features. He knew them before creating them; realising fully their limits and confines and appreciating their propensities and intricacies.”
“The creation of anything which He created and formed did not fatigue Him. He did not create it to heighten His authority. Nor for fear of loss or harm. Nor to seek its help against an overwhelming foe. Nor to guard against any avenging opponent with its help. Nor for the extension of His domain by its help. Nor for boasting against a partner. Nor because He felt lonely and desired to seek its company.”
Note: It is customary to write “peace be upon them” whenever mentioning the prophets and the household (Ahlul-Bayt). I refrained in this analysis, as it hinders the fluency of reading, but I share the admiration.