Primordial Nature (Fiṭrah) and Its Place in Explaining the Meaning of Life from Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai’s Viewpoint

In Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai’s view, primordial nature or ‘fiṭrah’ appears to be the cornerstone for philosophical analyses related to the human being. In this paper, using a descriptive-analytical method, Tabatabai’s theory of fiṭrah has been explained, and some of its implications in terms of the meaning of life have been inferred. Then, its impact on the conceptual analysis of ‘meaning’ in the different theories of the meaning of life, especially ones that are based on ‘purpose’ and ‘value,’ is investigated. The result of this study shows that Tabatabai defines fiṭrah as the unique creation of each creature. Additionally, value and purpose are conceptual components of each other, that is, a human being who gives meaning to his/her life by a purpose, finds that purpose necessarily valuable, and on the other hand, by any valuable thing he/she is going to find meaning, inevitably considers it somehow as his/her purpose. Moreover, purpose and value cannot be conceptually analyzed without the theory of fiṭrah. This means, according to Tabatabai, every purpose and every valuable matter, regardless of their instances, are necessarily defined in accordance with human fiṭrah. This point indicates the importance and necessity of the ontological discussions about human fiṭrah, its requirements and its place in existence, for adopting a theory in the meaning of life.