Our God — Page 40
40 carry on with his desired act and not only hides it from his par- ents but on their questioning tells a lie and denies the act. Thus the innate quality—to tell the truth in all cases—continues to be suppressed under the veils of darkness till, as it were, he totally forgets his fi t rah. At this stage, it is said that his fi t rah has died. Though, in fact, fi t rah never dies; it only becomes obscured and veiled under external influences. The same applies to other innate emotions. For instance, love, hate, clemency, wrath, forgiveness, revenge, bravery, fear, chastity, lust, desire for progress and hatred for decline, and other similar emotions are naturally ingrained in human fi t rah, but external influences suppress or augment them. That is to say, these emotions can be taken to the highest or lowest extremes, and at times practiced in moderation. Given these circumstances, therefore, the voice of fi t rah represents a very delicate and difficult issue. Apart from those whose emotions are in a state of moderation, people are gener- ally deceived about their own fi t rah. In spite of all that, undoubt- edly, fi t rah is an undeniable reality. Each innate quality makes a demand that is called its voice. For instance, truthfulness is an innate quality and it demands that one should describe an event exactly as it happened, neither contrary to it nor anything addi- tional. This demand is called the voice of fi t rah. To keep this innate voice alive, Allah the Exalted says in the Holy Quran: 1 ْمِقَاَف َكَهْجَو ِنْيِّدلِل اًفْيِنَح١ؕ َتَرْطِف ِهّٰللا ْيِتَّلا َرَطَف َساَّنلا اَهْيَلَع 1. S u rah ar-R u m, 30:31.