Imam Khomeini’s innovation on the issue of natural disposition (fitrah)

Imam Khomeini is amongst the few thinkers who paid attention to the issue of natural disposition (fitrah) and discussed it comprehensively. In Imam Khomeini's system of thought, the issue of fitrah has a special place. He, following the teachings of transcendent philosophy and his teacher, the late Mohammad Ali Shahabadi, has discussed issues related to fitrah that are not found in the works of his predecessors. Contrary to some thinkers, who consider fitrah to include some knowledge and inclinations, Imam Khomeini believes that everyone’s fitrah belongs to the category of inclinations and tendencies and considers it to be love for absolute perfection and aversion to imperfection. But it is clear that inclination is not possible without knowledge. However, knowledge that lies in the inclination is a type of knowledge by presence and not acquired knowledge. Imam Khomeini's innovative thoughts that have been proven in this article include: the innateness of belief in the existence of an origin, the innateness of belief in divine guardianship (wilayah), the innateness of belief in resurrection, a new presentation of the ‘proof of natural disposition’, new style of explaining religious ethics, the role of natural disposition in political movement and the introduction of terminologies. The present research, with the descriptive-ijtihad approach, has discussed and investigated the innovations of the late Imam Khomeini with regard to his works.