Banjo, you stated:

“I do not know what a "fitra" is. As regards "instinct", a few words of wisdom come to mind, such as:

“[On Schopenhauer in Black and White] Schopenhauer's views of love are flawed. Love can't be merely an illusion of the mind to aid in procreation, but the path to redemption for an otherwise violently selfish species. Past human greatness has proven that when challenged, love can overpower impulsive instinct, and in essence, the vilest aspects of our nature.” (Tiffany Madison).”

Fitrah describes a primal human nature that is contrary to Madison view of a “violently selfish species”. Fitrah is “good human nature, the simple and good moral responses of someone who is natural; the soul's primal capacity to know Allah” (Sheikh Nuh Ha Min Keller “Sea without Shore”)

For those who want to reclaim their “good human nature”, fitrah, will take a path that is contrary to what your evolutionary model would predict. They will find happiness by disentangling themselves from the material world:

“How should a heart be illumined whose mirror but reflects created things? Or how should it travel to Allah when manacled by its desires? Or how should it hope to enter the presence of Allah when unpurified from the stain of its forgetfulness? Or how should it hope to understand subtle secrets when it has not even repented of its wrongs?” [Ibn ‘Atta Illah, Al-Hikam (Wisdom)]

cont...

...Banjo, you say:

“There is no good or bad, right or wrong in nature. There is only what is most efficient for survival and development. However, with the emergence of free-will in human beings, we have developed a greater degree of consciousness which allows us to make a choice in accordance with our moral values and/or those of society.”

We are all free to choose to be honest or dishonest, to keep a trust or backbite, honour our word or otherwise, to be humble or to show off, to display compassion or indifference to others suffering. People who are the lowest of the low in terms of behaviour and manners succeed in raising themselves to the level of saints, while others go in the opposite direction and debase themselves. These are choices that have been with us from our very beginning. they have not “evolved”.

Your “free-will” cannot be the product of your evolutionary model. How can someone who slavishly follows their material desires (as your evolutionary model would have it) be able to exercise free-will. Happiness is found by freeing ourselves from these desires not indulging them.

Those whose aspirations do not go beyond satisfying their desires and exalting themselves may acquire knowledge but will not acquire wisdom. They will act as your evolutionary model suggests, like animals, forever acquisitive in the material sense, but will never acquire wisdom.

Banjo, what do you understand by the term “wisdom”?

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Dear Grateful,

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Welcome back.

"However, the real issue is whether there is a right and a wrong, since there would otherwise be no need for a Creator to provide his creatures with guidance (through a fitra, “instinct”, and through Prophets)."
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To be guided "through a fitra, instinct and through Prophets", is to be guided, or, as you say, "enslaved", by external forces.

But, provided such submission or "enslavement" is voluntary, it is an act of free will. If it is not voluntary, then it is imposed on us by external forces which may take various forms, biological, psychological, educational, religious, cultural, social, etc.
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"How can someone who slavishly follows their material desires (as your evolutionary model would have it) be able to exercise free-will."
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The answer is contained in my statement on which you are commenting:

"we have developed a greater degree of consciousness which allows us to make a choice in accordance with our moral values and/or those of society."

This is not the case of most other animal species. Though some demonstrate remarkable qualities of altruistic behaviour.
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["People who are the lowest of the low in terms of behaviour and manners succeed in raising themselves to the level of saints, while others go in the opposite direction and debase themselves. These are choices that have been with us from our very beginning. they have not “evolved”.]

There were no saints at the beginning, 4 to 7 million years ago, when mankind broke away from his common ancestor with the chimpanzee.

The first religions were animist religions which are still largely present today. But for the large majority, even the gods and religions have evolved. Once they were many, now they are one.

Evolution is a law of nature. It is called "life". If you look back on your own life, I am sure you will see signs of evolution everywhere.
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" Those whose aspirations do not go beyond satisfying their desires and exalting themselves may acquire knowledge but will not acquire wisdom."

How right you are, Grateful.

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