Divine Wisdom, Human Agency and the fiṭra in Ibn Taymiyya’s Thought 53
emphasizes humans’ need to believe, trust, and pray. Like other ani-
mals, humans sway between hope and fear, he says, and therefore need
a trustworthy being, especially when they are in desperate situations.^54
Shiblī Nuʿmānī, too, quoting philosophers of religion including some
Westerners, affirms the role of the human fiṭra in believing.^55 İsmail
Hakkı, however, emphasizes societies’ general tendency to believe and
uses “the common belief argument” (itiqad-i ʿamme delili) instead of
the term fiṭra when discussing the same topic.^56 In more recent stud-
ies, contemporary scholars continued to examine the issue of human
nature and its being an alternative to rational proofs of the existence of
God.^57
As a comparison, it is interesting that in the history of Christian
thought some reformist theologians, such as Martin Luther (1483–
1546) and Johannes Calvin (1509–1564), emphasized the innate ability
of human nature to recognize the divine existence. Luther suggested
that God rightly situated beliefs in human hearts and that there was no
need for further rational activities and logical deductions in order to
prove His existence, since they would not provide additional strength
to religious faith.^58 Belief in God, in Luther’s approach, was imple-
mented in humankind spiritually, thus negating the need for rational
proofs. Similarly, in a chapter entitled “The Knowledge of God Has
Been Naturally Implanted in the Minds of Men”, Calvin writes:
There is within the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct, an
awareness of divinity. This we take to be beyond controversy. To prevent
anyone from taking refuge in the pretence of ignorance, God Himself has
implanted in all men a certain understanding of His divine majesty. Ever
renewing its memory, He repeatedly sheds fresh drops.^5954 Al-Qāsimī, Jamāl al-Dīn: Dalāʾil al-tawḥīd, Cairo 1986, pp. 23–31.
55 Nuʿmānī, ʿAllāmaʿ Shiblī: al-Kalām, Karachi 1979, pp. 158–163.
56 Hakkı, İzmirli İsmail: Yeni İlm-i Kelam, Istanbul 1920, vol. 2, pp. 44–45.
57 For some examples, see the works of al-Yasīn, Muḥammad Ḥasan: Allāh bayna
al-fiṭra wal-dalīl, Beirut 1972; Jawādī ʿĀmulī, Āyat Allāh: al-ʿAqīda min khilāl
al-fiṭra fī al-Qurʾān, Beirut 1994.
58 Luther, Martin: Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, edited by Timo-
thy F. Lull, Minneapolis 1989, pp. 13–20. Another comparison between Ibn
Taymiyya and Martin Luther is highlighted in the issue of the place of saints in
religion. See Olesen, Niels Henrik: Étude comparée des idées d’Ibn Taymiyya
(1263–1328) et de Martin Luther (1483–1546) sur le culte des saints, in: Revue
des études islamiques 50 (1982), pp. 175–206.
59 See Calvin, Johannes: Institutes of the Christian Religion, Philadelphia 1975,
vol. 1, pp. 43–44.
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