Chapter 1

The Meaning of Firah

In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful

The subject of the discussion is firah. The topic of firah, on one hand, is
a philosophical discussion...
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The important topics of philosophy are these
three, viz. God, the universe, and man. This topic is a discussion related to
man and it can be said that from one perspective and from one dimension,
it is related to man and God. One of its primary concerns is man and the
other is God. In Islamic sources, that is the Quran and the Sunnah, the
essence of firah has been much emphasized, and in this session I shall touch
on some of them which I have taken notes of before. That the Quran
acknowledges the human being having firah (natural disposition) is a kind of
unique perspective on the human being.
What kind of word is firah, and prior to [the revelation of] the Quran,
was there anyone who had used it in relation to the human being, or is it
among the things which the Quran has used for the first time in relation to
the human being? Apparently, this word had no precedence prior to the

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Interruption in the audio cassette recording.
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Quran and it has been used by the Quran for the first time in relation to the
human being. I shall present later its Quranic references.
At the outset, we must first try to know what kind of word firah is, and
we must acquire its exact root-word.
Another concern which we must touch on here is this is the human
being in general has a series of firahs which we will define or not and
does he lacks any sort of firah?
1

Our third discussion is about the nature of religion. Is religion innate [in
human nature] or not? The Quran has explicitly mentioned that religion is
indeed innate [in human nature]. We must have an academic discussion on
man and religion and let us try to find out if religion is basically innate [in
human nature] or not.
Natural disposition (firah) and upbringing (tarbiyyah)
Of course, this issue has many ramifications in various fields; one of
which is the discussion on training and education which is a broad
discussion. If the human being has a series of firahs, it follows then that his
training must definitely be done by taking into consideration this set of
firahs. The root of the word tarbiyyah if ever it is used consciously or
unconsciously is also grounded on this, because tarbiyyah means to bring
up and to train, and this based upon the acknowledgment of a set of talents
and in todays parlance, a set of characteristics in the human being.
Tarbiyyah (training) is different from anah (craftmanship) for in
anah, the reckoning is that of building [or making something]. That is, a
person has a purpose in mind. Then he uses a set of materials in order to
realize his objective in mind while not paying attention to each of these
materials whether it maximizes its potentials or not with this function that it
performs; [it makes no difference for the craftsman] if a material maximizes
its potentials or not. My purpose must be realized.
The objective of a carpenter, an architect, or a builder whose work is a
sort of construction must be provided for. It is not important for him if he
enhances the essence or nature a certain amount of lumber, steel, cement, and
the like, thereby maximizing its potentials or not. In fact, sometimes it is
necessary for him to minimize the potentials of a material so as to use if for
his own purpose.

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We do not consider other [Persian] words such as sarshat and the like as its
synonyms because we have not yet completely defined the word firah.
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While having his own purpose or objective in mind as well as particular
interest, however, the work of a gardener is based upon the enhancement of
the flower or plants nature. That is, he takes into consideration the flower or
plants nature. He knows the way to its growth and perfection as provided by
nature, and nurtures it along the same natural, and in a sense intrinsic, way
and makes use of it.
I have mentioned this example before. There is a time when a person
regards a sheep as something for itself and there is also a time when he
considers the same as something for a human being. If we want to consider a
sheep according to its own interest, is it to its own interest to be caponized?
Not at all. By caponizing it, first of all we devalue it and [secondly] we make
it imperfect. That is, we take out from it one of the essential tools which
nature provides for it and which must be there and makes it perfect, and we
regard it as something for ourselves. We do not care if the sheep is perfect or
imperfect; [we say,] I want to fatten it and get more meat out of it; as such, I
have to caponize it so that it will no longer look for a female sheep and
concentrate only in chewing; it would eat more, become more fat and have
more meat so that when I slaughter this sheep, it could give us more meat.
The same is true in the human beings. A person can be moulded in two
ways:
1. To build him in the way same things are built or constructed. That is,
the builder only takes into consideration his own objective. He moulds a
person in such a way that would advance his own objective. He wants to
attain his objective either through the imperfection of what he moulds, or the
opposite.
Those who believe in the primacy of the collective and this primacy of
the collective ends up in the primacy of a particular class which is the same
ruling class want to mould human beings in such a way that could serve
better the interest of the ruling class, or in their own words, in a way that
would be beneficial to the society. We will discuss this point in the future
is there any contradiction between individual and collective perfection, or
none? Are we compelled in many instances to render an individual imperfect
so as to pave way to the societys perfection, or there is no such thing? They
say that the society is in need of such and such individuals. What type of
individuals? For example, they say that the society is in need of absolutely
disciplined soldiers who unconditionally obey the order from higher
authority and who do not think of anything else other than the order of their
commander. Now, if a person wants to have the primacy of freewill and
intellect in the sense that he must have independence in terms of reasoning
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and thinking, and to think why he is doing a certain thing, or to have a set of
human emotions, then he could not be of any use in this function [of being a
totally soldier], and in their own words, He is of no use for the society. In
their opinion, the individuals who are useful for the society are those who
devoid of intellection and emotion. If they give him a bomb and tell him to
go and drop it in a city, he would not think about the sin or offence that the
people committed, if ever they did; he would no longer think who will be
killed male or female, old, young or child. He should neither think [of these
things] nor have an iota of emotion. Just as they caponize the sheep so as for
it to get fatter and produce more meat, they rub an individual of his or her
human emotions and feelings, thereby rendering him or her like a preying
animal (istisb)
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which is totally bereft of any independence or autonomy to
think [for its own safety]. It is only then that a person would be totally useful
for them.
This, however, is not based upon tarbiyyah in its real sense. Tarbiyyah
signifies nurturing of the real potentials of a person. If he has rational or
intellectual potentiality and he has the ability to question matters, these must
be nurtured, instead of eradicating these potentials. If ever he has a human
affection (like compassion), this must be nurtured. Of course, these must be
moderated.
My intention is to explore the compatibility between the issue of firah
and that of tarbiyyah, which we will discuss separately.
One of the important issues in todays philosophy of man and sociology
is the issue of evolution of history. If we believe in the human being as
having firah, we must justify the evolution of history in a particular way,
and if we do not subscribe to firah as many of todays schools of thought
totally negates firah for the human being we must justify the evolution of
history in a different way. These are discussions which I concisely pointed
out.





1
The Persian word istisb is used to refer to a preying animal (such as rabbit) which
upon facing a predator (such as a lion) tends to lose its composure to realize that it
is facing a predator and to find a way to escape and save its life and to remain
standing as the predator approaches and sometimes even to approach its predator. It
signifies self-defeatism, lack of self-confidence and loss of willpower. [Trans.]