THE CHILDLIKE SPIRIT IS THE ISLAMIC TRUTH!

Christians and philosophers often talk about the childlike spirit. What is this childlike spirit?

I did a Google search and I was amazed at what I discovered.

I have no room to write in detail about my findings here but I will write posts on this topic soon, if God wills.

For now, we are going to see what Islam says about the childlike spirit!

Islam has a lot more to do with this spirit than other religions and because of that no one can claim to know the childlike spirit better, let alone define it better than Islam does!

Every human being is born innately knowing that God is One and therefore with a natural belief in the Creator. This attribute is known as "al-Fitrah" in Islam. It means premordial nature or innate disposition. It can also be defined as true human nature or natural religion.

Every child is born in this Natural Religion as Allah, Glorified be He, told Prophet Muhammad (pbuh):

"I created My servants in the right Religion but the devil made them go astray"

God has created mankind with the knowledge of Him being the only God and creator. The first stage of human consciousness of God is in man’s spiritual condition before he entered this world.

"And when your Lord brings forth their offspring from the loins of the Children of Adam, He calls them to bear witness unto themselves: "Am I not your Lord?". "Yea, indeed we do witness (that you are our Lord" [Quran 7:172]

The above verse tells us that the souls of mankind were made to witness unto their selves the actuality of God’s lordship and by their own admission they had sealed a covenant with God acknowledging Him as their absolute owner and sustainer. This testimony of faith is the same testimony a person utters in order to embrace Islam:

"I bear witness that there is no God except Allah...."

The second stage of human consciousness of God is at the level of man's inborn knowledge. Thus, every child is born as a Muslim (one who submits oneself to God alone). In harmony with the first stage, when man is manifested in this worldly life he will, if rightly guided (if not tempted by the devil), remember his covenant and act accordingly making his worship, piety, life and death for the sake of God alone.

The final stage of human consciousness of God as the
creator-sustainer in this world is when God provided mankind with His revelations via His Messengers and Prophets who are raised from almost every people in their own language. These Messengers have conveyed one and the same faith and religion since the dawn of mankind.

13. "The same religion has He established for you (O Muhammad) as that which He enjoined on Noah - the which We have sent by inspiration to thee - and that which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses, and Jesus: Namely, that ye should remain steadfast in religion, and make no divisions therein: to those who worship other things than God, hard is the (way) to which thou call them. God chooses to Himself those whom He pleases, and guides to Himself those who turn (to Him)."
[Quran 42 :13]

Unlike Christianity which lied that mankind was born in sin and in an impure state, Islam proved that God had created mankind Innocent, Pure, True, Free, inclined to Right and Virtue, and endued with understanding about his own position in the universe and about God's Wisdom and Power! That was his/her true nature.

This is why children are regarded as being pure and sinless and Islam proved this natural premordial goodness through them! They do not lie unless they are taught to. They do not hate unless they are taught to. Their hearts are inclined to Right and Virtue until they become influenced directly or indirectly by the environment. This simple goodness of children completely knocked out the idea of the "original sin" that the Christians invented for themselves out of despair at God’s Mercy and Forgiveness!

All the children, more or less, are affected by the environment. They are caught in the meshes of customs, superstitions, selfish desires, and false and biased teachings.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said:

“Every child is born on Al-Fitrah (natural belief in the Oneness of God) but his/her parents convert them to Judaism, Christianity or Zoroastrian, as an animal produces a perfect young animal. Do you see any part of its body amputated?".

《Since many infants are born with  physical deformities, the amputation referred to in this saying is not meant in the physical sense; it means that all children are born spiritually pure, in a state of Fitrah. The reference to animals born intact should be viewed as an analogy to show the parallel spiritual wholeness of children at birth.》

Just as a child’s body submits to the physical laws which God has put in nature, its soul also submits naturally to the fact that God is its Lord and Creator.  But its parents try to make it follow their own way and the child is not strong enough in the early stages of its life to oppose its parents. So they learn and follow what their parents do or practice.

If children are allowed to grow without any external influence, if they are not affected by any environment, any changes that occur in the world, including the whispers and temptations of the devil, they will be able to recognise their Lord, and follow the natural instinct of worshipping only one God. God revealed in the Quran:

"I have not created the spirits and mankind but that they should worship Me (alone)." (Quran 51:56)

But because of the condition of this world children are never allowed to exercise their free will in all matters.

If humans are perfect beings then why did God test them and why did Adam and Eve disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit?

God did warn Adam and his wife against the devil, as He said:

“O Adam! Verily, this is an enemy to you and to your wife. So let him not get you both out of Paradise, so that you will be distressed”
[Quran 20:117]

Then the devil whispered to Adam and his wife, and tempted them to eat from the forbidden tree:

“Then the devil whispered to him, saying : ‘O Adam! Shall I lead you to the Tree of Eternity and to a kingdom that will never waste away?" [Quran 20:120]

Adam forgot and could not resist the temptation, so he disobeyed his Lord and ate from that tree.

Their Lord called to them and said:

“Did I not forbid you that tree and tell you: Verily, the devil is an open enemy unto you?”
[Quran 7:22]

Adam and Eve regretted what they had done, and said:

“Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You forgive us not, and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the losers”
[Quran 7:23]

The sin of Adam stemmed from desire, not from arrogance, hence God guided him to repent and He accepted that from him.

This is what God meant when He said that He created mankind in the right, perfect religion but the devil led them astray by making them follow their own whims and desires.

In the Islamic literature, Jesus (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to his disciples:

"Man is created into this world in four stages, in three of which he feels secure and in the fourth of which he is ill-disposed and fears that Allah will forsake him.

In the first stage, he is born in three darknesses: the darkness of the belly, the darkness of the womb, and the darkness of the placenta. Allah provides for him in the darkness of the cavity of the belly. When he is brought out from the darkness of the belly, he falls upon milk which he does not advance toward on foot or leg, or obtain with his hand or move strongly toward, but he is forced to it and rewarded with it until flesh and blood grows upon him. Weaned from milk, he falls upon the third stage: food provided by his parents, who earn it lawfully or unlawfully. When his parents die, people take pity on him, one person feeding him, another giving him drink, another sheltering him, and another clothing him. When he falls upon the fourth stage and has grown strong and upright and has become a man, he fears that he will not be provided for, so he attacks people, betrays their trust, robs their belongings, and carries away their wealth, fearing that God Almighty might forsake him."

The above saying teaches us that crime is the product of despair at God’s bounty and this despair and greed fight against the Fitrah (true nature) of a person as he leaves childhood behind to become an adult.

The adult must now live in the midst of a struggle between his Fitrah and his desires in order to find the right road.  If he chooses his Fitrah, God will help him overcome his desires even though it may take most of his life to escape, for many people enter Islam in their old age although most tend to do so before that.

As all these powerful forces fight against the Fitrah, God chose certain righteous men and revealed to them clearly the right path in life.  These men whom we call Prophets or Messengers were sent to help our Fitrah defeat its enemies.  All the truths and good practices present in societies around the world today came from their teachings, and if it were not for their teachings, there would be no peace or safety in the world at all.  For example, the laws of most Western countries are based on the “Ten Commandments” of Prophet Moses, like “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not kill” etc., even though they claim to be “secular” governments, free from the influence of religion.

CHILDREN IN PARADISE

Islam recognises that all children are born pure, sinless and predisposed to belief in One God, whether born of Muslim or non-Muslim parents. It also guarantees that all children go to Paradise if they die before attaining the age of discretion.

It is related that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that he saw in a vision an old man at the front of a large tree and around him were children and in the vision he was told that the old man was Abraham and that the children who were around him were those who, before attaining the age of discretion, had died. At this, some Muslims had asked him:

"And the children of the polytheists too, Messenger of Allah?"

The Prophet (pbuh) replied: "The children of the polytheists as well."

Being with Abraham meant being in Paradise, and this includes children of polytheistic families. It is clear, from the Quran and from the hadîth, that every child is born with a pure nature, as a Muslim.

FREE WILL AND DIVINE WILL

Fitrah is an active inclination and a natural innate predisposition to know our Creator, to submit to Him and to do right. This is man’s natural tendency in the absence of contrary factors. Although all children are born in this state, the influence of the environment is decisive; parents may influence the religion of the child by baptizing him a Christian, Jew or Magian. If there are no adverse influences, then the child will continuously manifest his Fitrah as his true nature.

Every human being is given the choice between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, Islam and disbelief. There was NO ONE in this world who had not been given this choice.

“29. And say: ‘The truth is from your Lord.’ Then whosoever wills, let him believe; and whosoever wills, let him disbelieve. Verily, We have prepared for the polytheists and wrongdoers, a Fire whose walls will be surrounding them (disbelievers in the Oneness of God). And if they ask for help (relief, water), they will be granted water like boiling oil, that will scald their faces. Terrible is the drink, and an evil dwelling, resting place!

30. Verily, as for those who believed and did righteous deeds, certainly We shall not make the reward of anyone who does his (righteous) deeds in the most perfect manner to be lost.

31. These! For them will be ‘Adn (Eden) Paradise (everlasting Gardens); wherein rivers flow underneath them; therein they will be adorned with bracelets of gold, and they will wear green garments of fine and thick silk. They will recline therein on raised thrones. How good is the reward, and what an excellent dwelling, resting place!”
[Quran 18:29-31]

Man can use his choice, free-will and intellect to overcome the negative influences of the environment and attain to the highest level of psycho-spiritual development which is in Arabic "an-nafs al-mutma’innah" meaning ‘the Self Made Tranquil’.

At this level, his inner and outer being, his soul and body, are able to conform to the requirements of his Fitrah and the dictates of the Islamic shariah (Divine Laws). He actualises his Fitrah, and attains psycho-spiritual integration and inner peace.

Parental and other social influences cause man to change and become alienated from his Fitrah. However God says in the Quran 30:30 (‘There is no changing in the creation of Allah.’) suggests that Fitrah is universal unchanging given of the human constitution. It cannot change, and it exists at birth in all human beings.

Because of the elements of intellect and free-will, people may decide and choose to conduct themselves in a wrong or unlawful manner. All the children of Adam, including those who deviated from the right path, possessed Fitrah. Civilisations which have been condemned and destroyed by God because of their practice of polytheism and unbelief, possessed Fitrah. Fitrah is a universal and immutable given of the metaphysical human constitution, and as a rule, cannot be corrupted or altered. No wrong action can pollute the Spirit created by God which He has blown into man despite the many generations of polytheism and unbelief.

28. Behold! thy Lord said to the angels: "I am about to create man, from sounding clay from mud moulded into shape;

29. "When I have fashioned him (in due proportion) and breathed into him of My Spirit, fall you (O angels!) down in obeisance unto him." [Quran 15:28-29]

Both polytheism and unbelief represent the antithesis of Fitrah by undermining its very object and raison d’etre.

When an individual commits polytheism or unbelief he denies his own nature and contradicts his own self. Fitrah which is integral to man’s spirit also known as the "childlike spirit" was created by God so that he can acknowledge Him as the Lord Who has power over all things. Belief in the Oneness of God which is the Islamic Monotheism is intrinsic to man’s Fitrah (true nature) because Allah in His infinite wisdom intended for man to know Him as the One God. This is why man was able to acknowledge his Lord before his existence on earth, that is, in pre-existence state.

"Set your face to the Religion (Islam) in sincerity which is Allah's Fitrah (the nature made by Allah) upon which He created mankind. There is no changing in the creation of God. That is the right Religion but most people know not."
[ Quran 30:30]

Indeed most people know not that Islam is the childlike spirit.

NOTE:

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