Some thoughts on reflection and short benefits
of the verses of
Surah Al-Fatihah
Collected and Arranged
By
Ahmad Abdullah Al-Dusari
First Edition
1443 Hijri /2021 C.E.
Praise be to Allah for His great attributes and beautiful actions,
Worthy of praise, extolment and glory. I send peace and blessings on the best of His creatures and
seal of His messengers our master Muhammad.
To proceed:
This is the Surat Al-Fatihah, the Surah of guidance and grace, the
secret of creation and the command. It’s a clear favour and comprehensive goodness that’s a source
of light, guidance, grace and glad tidings for a believer.
In these pages we stand humbled before the majesty, the beauty and
the lights of praise, mercy, worship and grace, recommend each other for truth,
meditate, contemplate and reflect on some of the meanings and guidance of Surat
Al-Fatihah, the greatest surah in the Qur’an, rather, it is the mother of the
entire Qur’an
Surah Al-Fatihah came to liberate the human
mind from the dirt of polytheism, to keep it away from deviation and
misguidance, to implant in it the doctrine of monotheism, to direct it to the
Creator, the Judge, and to establish in it the roots of sincerity to the Most
Compassionate of this world and the Hereafter, and their Merciful One. It came
to delineate for a person, the purpose his life, and to guide him to the means
of achieving it, so that the believer would increase in faith and connection
with the Lord of the worlds.
Whatever the speakers spoke, the
commentators wrote, and the jurists and teachers lectured and taught throughout
the times and periods, the Surah Al-Hamd remains an inexhaustible source that
deserves to be invested with efforts in explaining its great significance,
purposes and secrets, and reformulating that statement in an easy way, away
from specialized scientific elaboration, in order to clarify and simplify it to
the general Muslims, and to remind them of virtue of the surah and its
guidance, for, it is the greatest revelation that ever descended from the
heaven. It is the secret of guidance, it is the secret of life, it is the chant
of the believer at all times.
Because of my interest in it and my
frequent reading about its secrets and contemplative meanings, I referred to a
lot of various sources and quoted often with some changes, a lot of what have
written about it, in more than one book, compilation, or Internet publication,
or what I heard from audio clips or YouTube videos from trustworthy scholars
who are known for their excellence. So, I collected what I found, and compiled
what I reassured myself with, hoping that I had done well in what I preferred
to collect. I was not keen on deep scientific material, as I eased some of the
restrictions and things that should be taken into account in writing scientific
books, away from the purely scientific academy language, with the intent to
clarify the reflective meanings and benefits directly, to motivate and relieve
the reader who is not specialized in Islamic science.
I wished to attribute each saying to the
one who said it, but could not due to the amount of time that this research
took. So, I ask for permission of everyone I quoted from him or took from him,
but did not mention his name, his reward is on Allah. It is sufficient for us
to spread knowledge and bring it closer to the people.
I do not claim anything for myself about
that, but the credit for all of that is for Allah Almighty Alone, and then for
the people of knowledge from whom I collected the best fruits, from those who
compiled and recorded, their names are well known, their books have been
published and their audio clips are available. But I strove and quoted from all
the best available benefits, subtleties, and reflective knowledge, and I
brought them out and arranged in the form of short sentences, in an easy way as
much as possible for me, so my role was limited to collecting and arranging.
The reader may notice some repetition when the
meanings of the noble verses have been explained, with change in the form and
style. That is due to the multiplicity of transmission from the sources. It is
also useful to simplify the meaning and clarify the deliberative explanation in
more than a way.
To conclude, it is a new attempt to spread
the beneficial knowledge, and to recommend it to each other, that we should
reflect on Surah Al-Fatihah as a method of faith and righteous deeds, it is the
way to salvation and the path that leads to Paradise. If I reached the goal, it
is from Allah, His Majesty, and to Him be praise and thanks, asking the Lord,
may He be glorified and exalted, to give the reward to those whom I collected
from, and to everyone who participated in a review or correction, so that the
benefit should spread. It is sufficient for me to spread knowledge and to
benefit my Muslim brothers.
Ahmad Abdullah Al-Dusri
Muharram 1443
dosar2022@gmail.com
*******
General Definition
Before the surah
Surah Al-Fatihah is the greatest
Surah in the Qur’an, and
it is the best thing that came down from the heaven to the earth. It has been
called ( (القرآن العظيم “the
Great Qur’an”, indicating that it is the greatest surah in it. He (the prophet
peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said: "هي السبع المثاني، والقرآن العظيم الذي أوتيته" (it’s seven often repeated verses and it
is the Great Qur'an which is given to me).
Allah did not reveal the like of it
in His books, it is the
mother of the book, which means that it sums up the essence of the whole
Qur’an. It is only in four lines, it is index of the Quran
(if my expression is true), so we should pay attention to every letter of it.
Surah Al-Fatihah covered the contents of the Qur’an from Qur’anic knowledge and universal
sciences. It includes its purposes, demands, and great meanings,
as well as it contains its secrets.
It bears the objective unity around which all the demands of the Holy Qur’an, and the
comprehensiveness of Islamic belief, Islamic perception, feelings and
orientations, revolve. It indicates the part of the wisdom behind its selection
to recite it repeatedly in each rak’ah (of the prayer), and that all prayers
are invalid if its recitation is missed.
It has comprehensive rules that
summarize the religion from its beginning to end, nothing that Allah Almighty wanted from His servants is missing in
this surah. So, everything that came in the Book of Allah is an explanation of
it, and a clarification of its meaning.
It contains the secrets of the world
and the Hereafter, so
it is necessary for us to make it a way of life, as it is
equivalent to the complete Qur’ān, and based on that, it comprises the
ultimate human perfection.
It is called Al-Fatihah, because the
Qur’an begins with it, because
it is the key of the Qur’an (i.e., its meanings), in which each of its surahs
begins. All treasures of the Qur’an lie in it. If a person understands
Al-Fatihah, he will understand all the chapters of the Qur’an that follow.
Placing Al-Fatihah at the beginning
of the Qur’an is an indication that it is necessary to start with the most
important before the important, and
with the fundamentals before the branches. Surah Al-Fatihah is a cure for the diseases of the hearts and
bodies, the heart’s need for it is emphasized, and the secret of healing in it
is the reverence of your heart and the certainty in it.
Praise for Allah is the one thing
around which the surah revolves, rather,
the first creation began with the praise, and the last thing that creation will
end with, is praise, the heavens and the earth have been created with praise,
and when the reward ends, there will be a praise, that is why, praise became
the greatest thing that the great book begins with.
It is a summary of the demands of
Allah, the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful, from the man, it is called Surat Al-Kanz because it is light in pronunciation,
but it is precious in results for those who strive to comply with it.
It is obligatory in the prayers, the prayer is invalid without it, it is sufficient, it suffices
from others, and nothing can suffice from it.
It is adequate, because it is sufficient for the meanings of the Qur’an, it is enough for the knowledge necessary for man as well as for
his happy ending and the goodness of life.
It is Surah Al-Hamd (the praise) because it begins with praise.
It is the seven
oft-repeated,
because it is repeated in each prayer.
It is the Opening of the Book (of Allah) as the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, called it,
and it is the initiator of all goods.
It is the healer; because if it is complied, the humanity will be cured from all its
physical and spiritual diseases. It is also a Ruqyah, as it has been narrated
in authentic Hadith by the Prophet, may peace and blessing of Allah be upon
him.
It is the surah of the prayer, it is all praise of Allah, you praise Allah Almighty with it, and
he praises you with it. The surah teaches a person how to deal with Allah. When
he intends to supplicate, it is desirable for him to praise Allah first, (He
should begin with the praise and glorification of Allah, then ask [Allah to
confer] blessing upon His Messenger), after that he should supplicate with what
he wills, for, his supplication is accepted with Allah’s permission.
It is the mother of the Qur’an, which has the proof of monotheism, the proof of the messengership with its result. It also has the division of people (the
ones who are blessed, and those who have earned [His] anger or those who are
astray) and the talk about the Last Day.
It is Surat Al-Munajat (Silent supplication to Allah), reciting Surah Al-Fatihah opens the greatest doors of honour for
you, that is the dialogue with Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, as the highest
and most honourable description in existence, is the description of slavery, "قال الله تعالى: قسمت الصلاة بيني وبين
عبدي نصفين" (Allah Almighty said: 'I
have divided the prayer between Myself and My slave into two halves)
You address with the word of slavery eight times, and whenever you recite Surah
Al-Fatihah, you feel that Allah Almighty responds to you. What honour is this
in a dialogue in which the Lord of Glory repeats your remembrance of slavery
and rewards you with an answer even though you did not bring anything new and
did not give anything from you.
It is the first surah in the Qur’an
on Active Participle form (Grammatical Term), and there is no opening until it
is closed, this means
that it is in the first surah of the Qur’an and the beginning is the opening...
It is a key for your closed heart. It is a key to understand the Holy Qur’an,
as a Muslim recites it in every rak’ah of his prayer.
It is a Surah of Al-Ubudiyyah (servitude), in the beginning of it, there is an invocation with praise, extolment
and extension for the One Who deserves to be worshipped, the Almighty and
Great. In the middle of it, there is a supplication, acknowledgment and
confession of servitude. And in the last of it, there is a description of the
way of servitude, a question, a request to get it and the guidance to be
steadfast on the straight path, and that there is no way for him to be
steadfast except by the guidance of his Lord to him; Just as there is no way
for him to worship Him except with His help, as well as there is no way for him
to be steadfast on the path except with His guidance.
It is Surah of Al-Tarbiyah
(discipline and education)
that teaches you to be thankful on His graces and it praises Him with all His
Names, Attributes and praiseworthy actions, then it brings you up on mercy that
is repeated four times, so that you know that your religion is mercy and that
your life can’t be straight except with mercy (If His mercy had not excelled
His wrath, He would have punished all of us.)
Allah Who is glorious and exalted,
has allowed His Messenger-Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him- to repeat it
in each rak’ah of the prayer,
Otherwise, the basic principle is that the worshipper is permitted to vary in
reciting the Qur’an, it means that he should not become accustomed to reciting
certain surahs so that he does not recite inadvertently or lose his submission
(to Allah).
It is a light, that was revealed specifically, to the Prophet -may peace and
blessing of Allah be upon him- without the rest of the prophets. The good news
of it, was revealed by an angel, and he -may peace and blessing of Allah be
upon him- has been promised to be given everything that it comprises, i.e.,
virtues and characteristics for him and his nation.
One of its secrets is that prayer is
not valid without it, that is to make it easier for the servants, it is sufficient for its honour that there is hardly a Muslim in
this world who does not memorize it, even the person who newly accepts Islam,
and utters the two testimonies, memorizes Surah Al-Fatihah before others so
that his prayer gets valid with it. And if a person confined himself to it in
prayer, his prayers would be valid. Anything (recitation of other Surah) except
it, is Mustahab (recommended), not obligatory.
The surah begins with: بسم
الله الرحمن الرحيم in the name of Allah,
the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Then, the Most Merciful, the
Compassionate, is repeated in the second verse. Since mercy is prominent in the
most beautiful names of Allah, so the first thing by which a person recognizes
his Lord is to recognize Him through His mercy and His goodness, so he loves Him
before hope and fear. Then the love with hope is superior to the feeling of
fear.
It has the three overall purposes of
the Qur’an: belief, worship, and morals, so, it includes the entire religion. The Qur’an, firstly, calls
for the correct belief, i.e., you have to believe in Allah Almighty truly on
sound foundations. Secondly, it calls for correct worship and the establishment
of rituals, at the same time it is a comprehensive and integrated approach to
the ethics and life.
The entire Qur’an after Surat
Al-Fatihah is either a clarification of beliefs, explanation of the meaning of (الحمد لله رب العالمين praise due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds),
the meaning of ( الرحمن
الرحيم the Most
Compassionate, the Most Merciful) and the meaning of (مالك يوم الدين the
Master of the Day of Judgment)… or it clarifies how we worship Allah Almighty (إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ - You ˹alone˺ we worship and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help.). Or
it talks about the methods on the earth, the ways of the aggressors and the
perished people, and the ways of the survivors, so we find many verses that
explain the meaning of (ٱهْدِنَاٱلصّرَاطَ
ٱلْمُسْتَقِيم Guide us to the straight path)
In His saying (الحمد لله رب العالمين.
الرحمن الرحيم) ([All] praise is [due] to
Allah, Lord of the worlds - the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful), is knowing
Allah with proof of monotheism, proof of the messengership, and hope, and
manifesting Allah’s blessings with the Creator’s love for His creation as well
as creation’s love for their Creator, so you remember Allah’s mercy on His
servants, which included the world and the hereafter, so you ask Him for mercy
and be humbled in your prayers.
In Surah Al-Fatihah, the person
knows his Lord, and knows himself also; For, if there is a Lord, then there must be someone who is lorded
over, if there is a Merciful, then there must be a person who receives His
mercy, if there is a Master, then there must be a slave, if there is a
worshipper, then there must be the One Who is worshipped, if there is a guide,
so there must be a guided one, if there is a giver, then there must be a person
who is given His blessings, if there is a one who has earned [His] anger, so
there must be the One Who receives anger, and if there is a person who is
astray, then there must be the One Who makes them astray.
It contains the origin of the most beautiful
names of Allah, with emphasis
on the names of Allah – the Lord – the Compassionate – the Merciful. The
relationship of our Lord with human is based on mercy, that is why He said
twice: the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.
The names mentioned after the praise and placing the praise
according to its content, indicate that the Almighty is praised in His
Divinity, Lordship, mercy and in his dominion. It is because, He is a praised
God, praised Lord, praised Merciful, and praised Master. So, He possesses all
the types of perfection.
In it, the Day of Judgment has been
mentioned with the focus on the importance of preparing for the Hereafter from rebuke and fear of Hellfire, the punishment of the
unbelievers, and the scenes of Resurrection in the Qur’an. So, you remember the
Day of Resurrection and its horrors, and you ask your Lord to ease the fatigue
of that day for you, so you will be humble in your prayers.
It includes guiding people to praise
God, extol Him, glorify Him, worship Him, seek help from Him in all their religious and worldly matters,
perform deeds sincerely for Allah, declare disassociation from those who are
around them and their strength, and seek guidance to the straight path that
leads to the path of happiness in both worlds
In it, the verse (إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين) (You ˹alone˺ we worship and You ˹alone˺ we
ask for help) has summarized for you the sincerity, the signs of striving, the
commands and prohibitions, where you feel at the word إِيَّاكَ (You ˹alone˺ ) that the
sincerity is renewed in your heart every day, and that there is no Lord but
Allah and no Helper but Allah, so you become humble in your prayers.
In it, the worship has been
preferred to seeking help,
because, O Lord, we worship you, not for the benefits of ourselves (i.e., Your
need of Allah to get His help), but, for Allah’s will from you (to worship Him). When
you prefer the will of Allah to the purpose of yourself, here you will achieve
the purpose of your existence.
In it, the verse (اهدنا الصراط المستقيم) (Guide us to the straight path), is the
entire Sharia. It includes all the verses of calling for steadfastness and the
Islamic rulings that lead to the Paradise and the righteous deeds that lead to
it along with the request for righteous companionship. So, you feel that you
have no one to guide you to righteousness in this world and make you firm on
it, except Allah Almighty, and you have no one who can guide you to the path of
the Hereafter and establishes your feet on it to cross it, except Allah
Almighty, so your closeness will increase to Him and your hope for His mercy
and your fear of His punishment, so you become humble in your prayers.
In it, there is the proof of the
Messengers, the Messages, and the Revelation. So, how do the slave praise Him, how do they worship Him according
to what He has instructed, how do they know the path of those who have been
blessed, beware of the people of misguidance and deviation except through the
Messengers and books, and how will they be rewarded for that except after the
clarification and establishing the argument.
In it, the verse (الذين أنعمت عليهم) (those You have blessed) is to inform about
what happened to the forerunners, and the stories of the people of truth in the
Qur’an from the prophets and their followers, so that your heart will look
forward to their status and companionship, and you would seek examples from
them.
In it, the verse (غير المغضوب عليهم ولا
الضالين) (not of those who have
earned [Your] anger or of those who are astray) is a summary of the stories and
fates of the people of deviation, unbelief, polytheism and misguidance, so you
realize that you need to request for safety and a good end.
Al-Fatihah teaches you to persevere and continue in your struggle and worship to obtain
the fruit (best result) (the perpetual of it, though it is less), it also
teaches you to focus on one of the doors of worship and pray to your Lord, in
order to keep walking on this path, being firm on it until you meet Him.
Al-Fatihah teaches you the spirit of
initiative, hasten to
worship before asking for help and guidance (إذ قاموا فقالوا) (when they stood up and
declared) and then came (و ربطنا على قلوبهم) (And We strengthened their hearts).
approach you first.... begin you first....and when you step on the road, you
will find guidance and conquest.
Al-Fatihah teaches you to strive
against yourself as much as knowing and loving Allah (الحمد لله رب العالمين –
الرحمن الرحيم) ([All] praise is [due] to
Allah, Lord of the worlds - the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful), as much as
our need and entrusting to Allah and glorifying Him (مالك يوم الدين) (Master of the Day of
Judgment) and as much as the state of the heart, sincerity and worship (إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين) (It is You we worship and You we ask for
help.).
The surah teaches you how to pray, i.e.,
praise and acknowledge the grace
([All] praise is [due] to Allah, Lord of the worlds) And you ask for help in
need of Him and what He has, then it is time to raise your question, praying to
Allah for guidance (Guide us to the straight path) and you have previously laid
out the reasons for the acceptance.
Al-Fatihah contains acknowledgment
and confession for Allah Almighty, that He has the perfection in all aspects, the grace, the favour, and the benevolence, with love and
veneration. It includes also acknowledgment of the servant for himself, about
his poverty and weakness, and his need to his Lord in religious and worldly matters,
with humbleness and submission. This is one of the most important and best type
of worship for Allah.
Al-Fatihah calls for achieving the
perfect servitude for
Allah Almighty, so he advances before his Lord with praise, extolment and
glorification, then turns to Him by acknowledging the servitude to Him alone,
asking Him for help about it. Since it is necessary in servitude to be sincere
to Allah Almighty, and (actions should) be (performed) in accordance with His
sharee’ah, and one who seeks help to be strengthened by it, he turns to
supplication and asks Allah Almighty for guidance to the straight path. For, it
is the way to salvation and to attain the pleasure of Allah and His Paradise.
For it is the path of the people of absolute grace, and to avoid the paths of
the people of deviation, misguidance, and following whims.
Al-Fatihah includes all three types
of monotheism. So, Tawheed
al-Asma’ wa’l-Sifaat (Oneness of the Divine names and attributes) is evidenced
by His saying (الحمد لله) (All praise be to Allah). The affirmation
of complete praise to Him requires the affirmation of all the praiseworthy
attributes of His perfection and attributes of His majesty that He affirmed for
Himself and established for Him by His Messenger-may the peace and blessing of
Allah be upon him- without denying (their reality), likening (Allah to His
creation) and making them similar (to others’ attributes). As for
the Tawheed al-Ruboobiyyah (Oneness of divine Lordship), it is taken from His
saying (رب العالمين) (Lord of the all worlds), so, He is alone
in creation, management and blessings. And as for Tawhid al-Uluhiyyah (Oneness
of Divinity), it is taken from His saying: (إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين) (You ˹alone˺ we worship and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help.) We do not worship but You with love, fear,
hope, obedience and veneration, and we do not seek help except in You,
trusting, depending and relying (on You). It is also called Tawheed Al-‘Ibaadah
(Oneness of worship).
Surat Al-Fatihah is the beginning of
mercy, the middle of which, is guidance, and the end of it, is a blessing, The true blessing comes with mercy and guidance. It was reported
from Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah: that when he prayed Fajr, he would stay in
his assembly reading Al-Fatihah and repeating it until the sun rose or the day
rose. It is the basis of remembrance and its contemplation leads to the
realization of the entire religion that Allah wants.
It contains secrets, sciences,
guidance and goodness that has no limit. The word ‘surah’ means the great and lofty status, like a wall. When
you cross the wall, it must be opened for you. So, it (Surah Al-Fatihah) must
be repeated many times a day and night, like the person who is knocking on the
door, is it enough for (him to knock) only one time?
Al-Fatihah began by defining Allah
Almighty with His
grace, mercy, dominion and glory, and gave four keys to conquests and happiness
in both worlds: the key of remembrance, praise, extolment, recommended Adhkar (Remembrance),
and seeking forgiveness permanently in: (الحمد لله رب العالمين) (All praise be to Allah,
the Lord of the Worlds) - the key of devoting (one's life to Allah), worship
and love of the virtues of deeds in: (إياك نعبد) (You
˹alone˺ we worship) - the key of invocation (with the righteous deeds) and
supplication in: (إياك نستعين) (and
You ˹alone˺ we ask for help.) - the key to high determination in seeking the
truth in: (اهدنا الصراط المستقيم) (Guide us to the straight path).
In it, the servants are taught to
turn to their Creator by presenting the means that their Lord has legislated
for them, and to draw
close to Him with sincere intentions to establish them on the laws of Islam by
holding on to the most trustworthy handhold, and the firm rope of Allah, which
His merciful servants adhere to, from the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of
truth, the martyrs and the righteous, and whose end is from Allah and the other
end is in the Gardens of Pleasure.
It has the best and most honourable
Dhikr (remembrance) i.e., praise to Allah, thanking Him, extolling Him and
glorifying Him with His names and attributes. The greatest thing by which a person draws close to his Lord,
Glory be to Him, is remembering and praising Him, knowing their meanings in his
heart. So, he has performed the best of deeds, because remembering Allah is
better than all other deeds - better than charity and jihad. Allah did not ask
for a lot of things like it, and it did not come (a lot) in the Qur’an except
with the remembrance.
It comprises the highest demands in
heartfelt devotion. The
first requirement is the perfection of the love of the Lord, the second
requirement is the perfection of desire and hope for mercy, and the third
requirement is the perfection of awe and fear. It also includes the principles
of attaining guidance (by praise, extolment, glorification, servitude,
humbleness, submission, seeking help, and supplication), then came the request
for guidance and help to the straight path.
Al-Fatihah included mercy, which is the first word, then the Almighty came with its most
special kind, that is the guidance, then came the most specific type of
guidance, that is the grace. So, he cannot be guided until Allah has mercy on him, and he
cannot be blessed until Allah guides him
It also included teaching and defining
the One Who is worshipped (الحمد لله رب العالمين) (Praise be to Allah,
the Lord of the all Worlds), it is an introduction so that you know Allah, and
if you know, then worship Him, then take help from Allah, for, if Allah did not
help you, then you would not be able to worship Him (لن تطاع إلا باذنك) (You will not be obeyed
except with your permission) (واذن لي بذكره) (And He allowed me to
remember Him).
If He, neither accorded him nor helped him, it means He did not allow him?
Allah wanted us that we should be
habituated to reading it in our night and day, calling him and begging him with understanding and the presence of
a heart for its meanings, so that it should be with us in all our conditions
and times in order to make a change in our lives... It collected the meanings
of revelation and the purposes of Sharia, so whoever contemplates it, as it
requires, all levels of guidance would be opened for him, and everyone will be
according to his faith.
The contemplation of Surat
Al-Fatihah leads to the position of Al-Ihsan (perfection or benevolence), where the first way to the perfect worship is that a person should
concentrate (on worship) with his heart when reciting Al-Fatihah.
If you reflect, you will find the
beginning of the surah starts with three things: by remembrance of Divinity, Lordship, and Kingship. These three
points are found in the last surah of the Qur’an: {قل أعوذ برب الناس} “Say, "I seek refuge
in the Lord of mankind,” Lordship, {ملك الناس} “The Sovereign of mankind,” the King, {إله الناس} “The God of mankind,”
Divinity. These are three attributes of our Lord, the Blessed and Exalted, He
mentioned them together in one place, in the beginning of the Qur’an; then he
mentioned them together in one place in the last of the Qur’an that comes to
your ears. It should be known that we are for the Most High and All-Aware, Who
did not combine them at the beginning of the Qur’an and then at the end of it,
except for what He knows exigency of the servants to
know it.
With the lordship of the worlds, the
heart of the believer is assured by this Lord Who is worshiped, his soul finds comfort in Him, and he completely submits himself
to Him. For, his Lord Whom he worships, is the Lord of All worlds, so, who will
come out from His lordship, subjugation and domination? He is also the Master
of the Day of Judgment. He owns that day in which everyone will be submissive.
He owns the world and the Hereafter, and He is Most Compassionate, Most
Merciful, we turn in His kindness, proceed to Him, ask Him for His mercy, we
turn to Him completely, and our hearts are attached to Him not others, He is
merciful to us, He is our Lord, He is our Master, so, to whom do we turn? If we
do not turn to Him - Blessed and Most High. He is the One Who created us and
brought us about, He is the One Who guided us, and He is the One who told us
that He is the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.
The word around which Al-Fatihah
revolves, is (اهدنا) (Guide us), So, when
the whole nation prays, it asks and calls for guidance. It is, as if all the
worshipers are praying for one another, and they have begged Allah Almighty
with all kinds of monotheism in order to seek guidance.
We should note that the word ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ
ٱلرَّحِيمِ “The Most Compassionate,
the Most Merciful” is repeated twice in the surah (بسْمِ الله ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ) (In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful) and
the Almighty’s saying:(ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ
ٱلرَّحِيمِ) (the Compassionate, the Most Merciful). This
makes us aware of the mercy of our Lord, which included the world and the
Hereafter... The first word “The Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful” came
after (ٱلْحَمْدُ لله رَبّ
ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ)، “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the all
Worlds.” So the all worlds; this world and others, are moving with the mercy of
our Lord Almighty, and the verse مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدّينِ “The Master of the Day
of Judgment” has come after the verse (ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ) (The Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful) to indicate that
the Last Day will also go with the mercy of Allah. This surah reassures one
that the origin of the universe is mercy of Allah, and that the origin of
Allah’s relationship with His servants is mercy.
In the next surah (Al-Baqarah), the
first verse of it, is (هدى للمتقين) (a guidance for those conscious of Allah). He described them
with their qualities, then He repeated that they are (على هدى من ربهم) (on guidance from their
Lord) as if, there was an answer to the question of the one calling for
guidance (اهدنا الصراطالمستقيم) (Guide us to the straight path). The
qualities of the guided people mentioned in Surah Al-Fatihah, have also been
described in the beginning of Surah Al-Baqarah, then the second category of (disbelievers)
of the verse (إن الذين كفروا) (Indeed, those who disbelieve) has been
mentioned in Surah Al-Fatihah in the verse (الضالين) (those who are astray),
and in the third category, are the hypocrites (المغضوب عليهم) (those who have earned
[Your] anger) because they know the truth and avoid the straight path.
Since the essence of the religion is
(servitude and asking for help), so,
your religion will not be complete for you unless you complete them. Here, your
standing before Allah, is in proportion to your need of Him. The verse وإياك نستعين “You ˹alone˺ we ask for
help” is like an introduction to confessing in front the Allah about the need
and the question of guidance (for my servant is everything that he asked) What
do you want, O My servant? He teaches him to pray for guidance (Guide us to the
straight path).
Since the first part of Al-Fatihah
includes praise, glorification, and extolment of Allah, and the last of it, includes censure of those who refuse to
believe in Him, and acknowledgment of obedience to Him – so, it indicates that
the beginning of good deeds, and the title of happiness, is in the turning to
Allah the Mighty and Sublime, and the emergence of evils, and the head of
transgressions, is in the turning away from Him- Glory be to Him- and being
away from His obedience.
Whoever established the meanings of
Al-Fatihah in terms of knowledge, learning, action, condition, and reality, has attained human perfection with the most abundant share, and
his servitude has become the special servitude of those whose rank is higher
than the common worshipers.
It is a surah that includes the
meanings of divine perfection. The
person (who recites it) evokes the praise of his Lord Almighty and the
perfection of his bounty and grace with this great Qur’an. He recognizes the
names of God and the attributes that indicate His perfection and majesty, so he
increases knowledge, love and closeness of his Lord. Then he confesses to his
Lord with right servitude, longs to ascend to the honour of its stages and
looks forward to the ranks of those who are close to Him. Here, he seeks help
from his Lord bringing up his weakness, his shortcomings, and his need for his
Lord in all his circumstances, especially to achieve his servitude as he likes
and is pleased with.
It included the lofty demands in the
principles of the three heartfelt acts of worship. There is no worship except with the three demands. The first: the
love of the Lord (praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds) with the belief that
Allah is Lord of the worlds. This is the key to the perfection of love, because
souls have been endowed with those who are good to them, and no one is better
to humans than their Lord Almighty (يا أيها الناس اعبدوا
ربكم الذي خلقكم) (O people, worship your
Lord who created you) the second: perfection of desire and hope of everything
that He has, and the third: perfection of awe.
Since He, Glory be to Him, knows
your weakness and exigency of your worldly life, He commanded you to pray as a channel of communication with Him,
Glory be to Him, the Almighty, He taught you how to have a conversation with
Al-Fatihah, so the beginning is praise, extolment and glorification, then affirmation,
declaration, fulfilment of your servitude to Him and seeking help with Him.
Then comes the question and request for guidance and success to Heaven, as He
has promised you about acceptance (of your good deeds) when you will be humble
and submissive with present heart, sincere intent, broken heart.
What is meant by prayer in His
saying, Glory be to Him, in the Qudsi Hadith (قسمت الصلاة بيني وبين
عبدي نصفين) (I divided the prayer between Me and My
servant in two halves),
is Al-Fatihah, it is the main essence of prayer which is not valid except with
it, because it is the essence and core
of prayer. It has two parts, one is for Allah Almighty and sublime, and one for
the servant: three and a half verses, are purely for Allah, and three and a
half verses, are purely for the servant, half is read on the earth and half is
read from above seven heavens. You should feel…
Surat Al-Fatihah has dealt with four
main themes:
1.
The creedal theme: To
believe in Allah and distinguishing Him with complete meaning of praise and
extolment, as a part of the defining Him -may He be sublime- and also to
believe that He is the Benefactor, Remunerator, to Whom we have to return and
go back, He has no partner and no equal who is worthy of worship. This theme
appears in the Almighty’s saying: (الحمد لله رب العالمين
الرحمن الرحيم مالك يوم الدين)([All] praise is [due] to
Allah, Lord of the worlds, The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful,
Sovereign of the Day of Recompense.). He -Glory be to Him- is the source of
everything that deserves praise. He is the Creator, the Initiator, the
Restorer, the Fosterer with all blessings and graces.
2.
The worshipful theme: The
noble surah called the worshipers to direct their worship to Allah alone, the
Mighty and Sublime, because there is no true Lord except Him. So, it was to
eradicate the roots of polytheism and idolatry that had spread throughout the
world, and to establish Tawheed al-Uloohiyyah (Oneness of the Divinity), which
is the most important thing for which the religion came. This theme has been
represented in the Almighty’s saying:(إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين) (You ˹alone˺ we worship and You ˹alone˺ we
ask for help.).
3.
The methodological theme: It is the theme, through which, the surah
clarifies the path of happiness, it is the method of the prophets, the people
of truth, the martyrs, and the righteous. Whoever adheres to it, will attain
the blessings of this world and the Hereafter, and whoever deviates from it,
will lose them. This theme has been represented in the Almighty’s saying: (اهدنا الصراط المستقيم) “Guide us to the straight path”.
The conceptual or narrative theme: Through this theme, the noble surah clarified the fate of the
monotheists who stood at the limits of Allah Almighty, who took the provisions
of His law, and describes the consequence of the polytheists who transgress the
limits of Allah Almighty, who reject the provisions of His religion. This topic
came summarized in the Almighty’s saying: (صراط الذين أنعمت عليهم غير المغضوب عليهم و لا الضالين)“The path of those upon whom You have
bestowed favour, not of those who have earned [Your] anger or of those who are
astray”.
A person's complete happiness
depends on the completion of his scientific, and practical volitional powers, and the completion of scientific power will be achieved only by
knowing his Creator and Inventor, by knowing His Names and Attributes, by
knowing the path that leads to Him, by knowing its problems, and by knowing
himself and his shortcomings. The completion of voluntary practical power can
only be achieved by observing His rights -Glory be to Him- over the servant,
and doing them with sincerity, truthfulness, honesty, kindness, following
(them), witnessing His pledge to him, and his failure to fulfil His right.
The completion of these two powers
is only achieved with His help, because,
He guides him (His slave) to the straight path, to which He has guided His
close servants and special (slaves), and He also protects him from deviation
from that path. That is either due to the weakness in his scientific power that
can make him astray, or due to the weakness in his practical power, which can
cause His wrath upon him.
His -the Almighty- saying: {الحمد لله رب العالمين.
الرحمن الرحيم. مالك يوم الدين} {Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the all
worlds, the Most compassionate, the Most Merciful, the Master of the Day of
Judgment” includes the first principle, which is the knowing the Lord Almighty
and knowing His Names, Attributes and Actions.
His saying: {إيّاك نعبد و إيّاك
نستعين} “You ˹alone˺ we worship and You ˹alone˺ we ask
for help.” implies knowing the path that leads to Him, and that it is nothing
but worshiping Him alone with what He loves and is pleased with, and seeking
His help to worship Him.
His saying: {اهدنا الصراط المستقيم} {Guide us to the straight path} explains that
the servant has no way to happiness except by being steadfast on the straight
path, and that there is no way for him to be upright on the path except with
His guidance.
His saying: { غير المغضوب عليهم ولا
الضالّين} {not of those who have
earned [Your] anger or of those who are astray.} includes the both groups who
have been deviated from the straight path. The deviation of one of the two
groups, is the deviation that leads to the misguidance, which caused by the corruption
of knowledge and belief, and the deviation of the other group, is the deviation
that leads to the anger which caused by the corruption of intention and action.
The beginning of the surah is mercy,
its middle of it, is guidance, and its end is a blessing. The servant's portion of grace is according to his portion of
guidance, and his portion of it (guidance) is according to his portion of
mercy, so, it all came back to His grace and mercy. The grace and mercy are the
essential parts of his Lordship, so, He is only merciful and gracious, these
(attributes) are the best evidences of His divinity, for, He is the true God,
though the deniers deny Him and the polytheists avoid Him. Whoever fulfils the
meanings of Al-Fatihah in terms of knowledge, action, and condition, he has
succeeded completely with the most abundant share, and his servitude has become
like the servitude of those whose rank is higher than the common worshipers,
this is Allah (alone) Whose help can be sought.
***
Part One
Praise and Tawassul (Seeking to approach Allah)
In the Name of Allah—the Most
Compassionate, Most Merciful.
I start asking Allah for help
The word Allah includes the meanings
of all beautiful names of Allah,
and denotes them in general, it includes the perfection of majesty and beauty
which indicates the divinity which is the worship with ultimate love,
veneration and submission.
Allah is the one Whom the hearts deify
in greatness and submission,
yearn for Him with love, longing and nostalgia in order to see Him, become at
ease with His remembrance and resort to Him in the times of need and
calamities. (وأسالك
لذة النظر إلى وجهك الكريم والشوق إلى لقائك) (I ask You for the pleasure of seeing Your Honourable Face and
the longing to meet You).
Allah is the one in Whom the minds wonder, so they cannot encompass Him in their knowledge and cannot come to
know about His being and reality except with what He-the Glorified- has explained
in His book. When they are amazed at some of His creatures, so what about His
being, the Mighty and Sublime. The intellect is unable to realize the essence
of Allah, the Mighty and Sublime ( ولا يحيطون به علما) (but they cannot encompass Him in ˹their˺
knowledge.) (Surah Taha 110)
Allah is the God Who is worshiped
and deserves to be worshipped alone, (هل
تعلم له سميا) (Do you know of anyone
equal to Him ˹in His attributes˺?”), (Surah Maryam 65) the mind and thought are
amazed at the realities of His attributes and at the wondrousness of His
creatures, the hearts do not find comfort except with His remembrance, the
servants have no refuge in calamities except to Him, He is the One Who ascended
and established Himself on the Throne, He is alone, Glory be to Him, worthy of
deification, devotion, and asceticism.
Allah is the name that includes the
oneness of Allah in the actions of the heart by the servant, such as fear and trust, and outward actions such as prayer,
slaughter, charity etc.
Allah is the name that carries the
sense of the perfection of His Lordship and Mercy, implying that His is the dominion and His is the praise and He is
Able to do all things.
If the heart of the servant
contemplates these great meanings of the name (Allah), it would necessitate for him to find tranquillity in his Lord, to
resort to Him, to stop the mind from thinking about Himself in order to reflect
on His Names and Attributes, and to think about His great creatures.
The believing hearts are about to
burst due to their excessive love for Him and their attachment to Him; it is one of those things that cause the connection of these
hearts to Him alone, not to anyone else, so the body does not fail to serve
Him, the tongue does not get tired of remembering Him, and it completely
necessitates the servant’s submission, humbleness and obedience to his Master,
and it also makes him place His pleasure over everyone and everything else.
How can the majesty of this great,
glorious name, be counted,
which has from every perfection, the most perfect, the highest, the widest, and
the greatest? Whenever this name was remembered a little, it made it abundant,
(when it was remembered) at the time of fear, it took it away, at the time of
anguish, it removed it, at the time of destress, it released it, and at the
time of hardship, it turned it away. When the weak attached himself to it, it
strengthened him, when the humiliated person got close to it, it gave him
honour, and when the poor got attached to it, it made him rich. Through it, the
blessings descend, supplications are accepted, ranks are raised, good deeds are
elicited, and bad deeds are repelled. There is nothing greater than the majesty
of (Allah), the Blessed and Exalted.
When the believer knows that Allah
Almighty is characterized by this great name, he should fulfil His right of
worship, which is the
perfection of love with perfection of humiliation and veneration. There is
nothing better for the servant, nor more delicious, nor beneficial, nor more
pleasant for his life and for his heart, than His love, the continual
remembrance of Him with his tongue and heart, striving for His pleasure, and
reverence and submission to Him, outwardly and inwardly.
The attributive name Al-Rahman (the
Most Compassionate), is the possessor of mercy encompassing all creation, it is a name derived from the attribute of mercy that exists in
Him, Glory be to Him, He has characterized Himself with it. The attributive name Al-Rahim (the Most
Merciful), is the One having the continuing mercy, for He, Glory be to Him,
gives mercy to His creation, and it is for the believers exclusively. The
attributive name Al-Rahman (the Most Compassionate) is an adjective, and the
attributive name Al-Rahim (the Most Merciful) is a verb, as His mercy
encompasses the things and includes all living things, so, all of the blessings
that they have, are from the effects of His mercy.
The name Allah and the attributive
name Al-Rahman (the Most Compassionate): You should feel the greatness of Allah Almighty and settle in
yourself the vastness of Allah’s mercy as he has paired his name with the grace
of vast mercy. So, be optimistic, assured and think positively of your Lord, in
your hardship that Allah will release you and in your pleasure that He will
perpetuate His mercy and grace on you.
The attributive name Al-Rahman (the
Most Compassionate): The
encompassing mercy (ورحمتي
وسعت كل شيء فسأكتبها للذين يتقون ) (but My mercy
encompasses all things." So I will decree it [especially] for those who
fear Me), (Surah Al-Aaraf 156) it indicates fullness of the attribute,
but it does not indicate its perpetuity (Drowsy, so when he sleeps, his
drowsiness goes away). God’s mercy on the people of the world, of the all kinds
of the creature, will be taken away from them on the Day of Resurrection,
because on the Day of Resurrection there will be a general wrath.
The attributive name Al-Rahim (the
Most Merciful), contains the mercy that is given to His servants, it is His action, the Most High, which He does whenever He wills,
and to whom His mercy has reached, will continue with him in this world and the
Hereafter (وكان بالمؤمنين
رحيما) (For He is ever Merciful to the believers) (Surah
Al-Ahzab 43) (إنه
هو البر الرحيم) (Verily, He is the Most Kind and Most
Merciful) (Surah Al-Tur 28) (سلام قول من رب رحيم) ([And]
"Peace," a word from a Merciful Lord) (Surah Yasin 53), it
indicates permanence (of it i.e. His mercy) even in the Hereafter (لا يحزنهم الفزع الأكبر) (They will not be
grieved by the greatest terror) (Surah Al-Ambiya 103) (نزلا من غفور رحيم) (As accommodation from
a [Lord who is] Forgiving and Merciful) (Surah Fussilat 32)
To begin it with the “Basmalah” (in
the name of Allah) means a request for help from Allah alone, hoping for the
blessings from Him,
indicating the perfection of Allah’s divinity, the Mighty and Sublime, Who has
the mercy. Therefore, the Muslim begins with it in all his life affairs,
seeking help and trust (from Him).
The letter Ba’ is to accompany and
to ask for help, i.e., I go
along with the majesty of Allah’s names throughout the life. The majesty of
Your names (O Allah) is in my heart. It is asking Allah for help, so that He
may open your heart to understanding the secrets of the Surah, it is asking
Allah for help so that He may open for you its lights that are full of mercies,
to fill your heart with faith and certainty so that you obtain the treasures
hidden in it.
When you come to interact with
anything in the universe, you have to begin with the name of Allah, who has
subjected this thing for you
because you have no control over a particular thing of the universe to force it
through your power to respond to you or to serve you, and because you have no
power and no knowledge, So when you approach it, you remember Allah’s gift to
you, mention His name on Every deed that you do and remember Allah’s blessing
upon you in subjugating that thing to you, so your remembrance of His name has
guaranteed you the reward of remembering Allah’s blessing.
Saying Bismillah (In the name of
Allah), likewise, raises modesty in the disobedient to Allah when he begins an
action, so let your
disobedience to Him not prevent you from starting every action in His name, He
is the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful (that is, you live your life with
manifestations of mercy). And when you begin by saying in the name of God, the
Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, a deed with a goal and a result, then if the
goal bears fruit, it would be appropriate to receive this result by saying,
“Praise be to Allah.”
Allah and Al-Rahman are the pillars
of Allah’s most Beautiful Names (قل ادعو الله او ادعو الرحمن) (Say, "Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Merciful
[ar-Raḥmān].) (Surah Al-Isra 110) The names of majesty refer to Allah,
which bring perfect fear, and the Names of Beauty refer to Al-Rahman the Most
Compassionate), which evoke perfection of hope (ورحمتي سبقت غضبي) (My mercy excels My
wrath) So,
the names of Allah do not exit from the ambits of Majesty and Beauty (يدعون ربهم خوفا طمعا) (they supplicate their
Lord in fear and aspiration), (Surah Al-Sajda 16), i.e., with His Names.
All the names of God Almighty are included
in (In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful). So, whoever says them, he has mentioned Allah with all His names,
for the Most Merciful is an attribute of mercy, that carries hope, and the word
of Majesty “Allah” is an attribute of divinity that carries fear.
When we begin with the Basmalah (in
the name of Allah), it becomes clear to us that all our actions and behaviours
should be based on two foundations: fear of Him and greed for what He has. And both foundations do not
exist except after knowledge of Him and the perfection of His love in the
heart. So, whoever knows Allah by His Names and Attributes, his heart would get
attached to Him with love, fear and hope, and deification is the perfection of
love, longing and kindness.
As the love in the Creator increases,
the fear of Him increases and the hope in Him gets more, because if the Beloved avoids, the one who loves Him, fears Him,
and if He (the beloved) comes forward the lover gets greedy of His approach (والذين آمنوا أشد حبا لله) (But those who believe
are stronger in love for Allah). [Surah Al-Baqarah: 165]
The mercy of Allah Almighty to His
creation is of two types:
mercy to all creation; believers, unbelievers, and all other creatures, His
mercy encompasses everything, and the second is a mercy that is specific to the
believers, it is the highest and most precious, because with it the light of
faith is completed and the servant is graded in the Heavens.
It (the Surah Al-Fatihah) began with
the Basmalah (in the name of Allah) here, it is not the verse of Surah Al-Fatihah according to the correct
view as it has been prescribed for the worshiper to read it, it is an independent
verse from the Holy Qur’an, and it is its first occurrence in the Mus’haf (the Quran).
***
الْحَمْدُ
لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
[All] praise is [due] to
Allah, Lord of the worlds
(My slave has praised Me)
This is the magnificence of the beginning (of Surah Al-Fatihah),
and the good praise for the Creator of the universe and the Manager of its matters,
Who created and provided sustenance, and showered kindness with the generality
of His mercy and His bounty, to Him the creatures go for the account as an
appropriate recompense. The essence of praise is to praise Him, Glory be to
Him, by remembrance of His great attributes and beautiful actions, which bring
forth the love and submission of the heart.
Praise be to Allah for the
manifestation of His authority, for His entitlement to His Majesty and Beauty, to Him be gratitude for his abundant benevolence, abundant
bounties, and exalted kindness. Allah’s Praise, Glory be to Him, for His Exalted
Existence, is due to the attributes of His perfection, and the creation’s
praise for Him, is for His bounties, majesty, and the beauty of His worthiness of
the attributes of exaltation, and His response to the attributes of glory and
sublimity.
This
initiation has a conclusion that there must be a praise in this universe in an innate way so
that the humanity should receive the torrent of blessings that overflow on the
creatures, and (the praise should be from them because of) the material causes,
animals and plants that are subjected to them, for their benefit and
livelihood.
Al-hamdu Lillah (All praise be to Allah) (Al) denotes
comprehensiveness in as much as this praise is directed exclusively to Allah
Almighty with all kinds of praises, what we know of them and what we do not
know, for Him alone, Who has no partner. It is correct to use the word “Kull”
(All) instead of that (the letter “Al”).
The letter “Lam” in (لله “to Allah”), is denoting the entitlement to all aspects and
types of praise, and no one deserves it, in this
great, pure, and comprehensive way except Allah. Everything that comes after praise is due to Him, so, He is God, He
is the Lord of the all worlds, He is the Most Compassionate, He is the Most
Merciful, and He is the Master of the Day of Judgment. He is worthy of praise
and deserves it because of His majesty, beauty and perfection, Glory and praise
be to Him.
“Al-Hamdu” (all praise) is the
complete praise for the favour and the comprehensive description of absolute
perfection. It is
acknowledging, before Allah, shortcomings, poverty, need for Him, and thanking
Him for His blessings and kindness to His servants.
“Al-hamdu Lillah” (All Praise be to Allah), is for deserving and
specializing, for He, the Most High, is worthy of all types of praise and all
kinds of complete extolment in all respects to Himself and His perfect
Lordship over His creation, for His Names, Attributes and Actions, His
creation, His blessings, His guidance, His decree and His destiny.
Allah Almighty’s beginning the surah
with the praise of Himself teaches us that no one can reach the perfection of His praise, and no one can
count His praise except He, the Most High, so that He educates His servants as
to how to praise Him (لا
أحصي ثناء عليك) (I cannot count Your
praises).
“Al-hamdu Lillah” (All Praise be to
Allah), it is the feeling
that is received by thought, settles in the conscience, and overflows with the
heart of the believer, then radiates into all his organs in forms of deeds and
thankfulness. So, the blessing is for all your being (تقشعر منه جلود الذين يخشون ربهم ثم تلين جلودهم
و قلوبهم إلى ذكر الله ذلك هدى الله يهدي به من يشاء ومن يضلل الله فما له من هاد ) (The skins shiver therefrom of those who fear their Lord; then
their skins and their hearts relax at the remembrance [i.e., mention] of
Allah.). (Surah Al-Zuamr 23) Then the circle expands outside you, so the
movement of life gets in harmony with what has settled in your belief, and
nothing comes out of you except as per the method of Allah which He has
approved.
Allah is the one who deserves to be
praised in His Essence because of His virtues, perfections and His actions that revolve between virtue and
justice. Even though the virtues do not reach you, His Essence, the Mighty and
Sublime, deserves to be praised before He created the creation (بديع السماوات والأرض) (˹He is˺ the Originator of the heavens and
the earth!). (Surah Al-Baqrah 117) He deserves to be looked at by His
creation with admiration, praise, glorification and praise because he has
created something without an example. So, how if you receive something from
this Divine Essence through the flow of lordship of the blessings that preceded
your existence and the present blessings that you are in or that await you with
mercy in the Hereafter (وقالوا
الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا) (Praise be to Allah Who
has guided us to this). (Surah Al-Aaraf 43)
He is the Lord of the worlds, so, beware of thinking that one of the worlds that serve you, O man,
will fail to serve you, because their forelock is in His hand, there is no god
for them but Him (لذهب
كل إله بما خلق) (Otherwise, each god would have taken away
what he created,), (Surah Al-Muminun 91) for it is the lordship of
mercy, not of power.
Praise be to Allah because He is God
in His perfection and
because He is the Lord of the worlds for the abundance of blessing from Him to
His creation… Your existence as a human being, since beginning and before your
existence (لم يكن شيئا
مذكورا) (each human is nothing
yet worth mentioning) (Surah Al-Insan 1) is nothing but an abundance of
divine grace that brings forth gratitude, praise and extolment and overflows on
limbs to mingle with existence in the form of love and mercy with those around
you.
Al-Hamdu Lillah (All Praise be to
Allah) is the recognition of grace, that you should praise Allah, glorify Him, thank Him for His
gifts, remember Him and glorify Him in all His Names, because whoever is
praised, he is not praised except for perfection and for the attributes of the
beauty and majesty, and to Allah are affirmed all His names, what is known of
them and what is not known.
The opening of the Holy Book with
Praise is an indication
that this word is the most comprehensive word in describing the perfection of
Allah the Mighty and Sublime, and that praise is one of the most complete types
of remembrance, and that the first thing that people receive from the word of
their Lord, is the word of praise, so it settles in their souls. The surah is
based on it, in terms of its indication to the perfection of Allah Almighty
signifying that He deserves the servitude and guides the servants until they
begin to praise Allah Almighty, extol Him, and glorify Him in all their situations.
Al-Hamdu (All Praise) is to inform
about the kindness and merits of the One Who is praised due to love for Him. His benevolences, the Exalted, are either
self-existing or manifest in His creatures.
Al-Hamdu (All Praise) is the description
of the praiseworthy with the attributes of perfection due to love and
veneration. If it is not with love and veneration, then it
will be considered hypocrisy, showing off, lying, flattery and reprehensible
praise. It is complete praise to Allah Almighty in His Essence, Attributes and
Actions, because He is the Creator and Owner of all creation, the Controller of
their affairs and their Educator with His general and specific blessings.
Al-Hamdu (All Praise) is the
description of His attributes of perfection, Glory be to Him and Exalted, along
with His love and contentment with Him. The silent lover or extoller without love cannot praise until the
love and praise get together for him.
Al-Hamdu (All Praise) is better than
Tasbeeh (glorifying Allah),
rather, it takes the place of Tasbeeh (glorifying Allah), because it contains
praise from the meaning of glorification, that is declaring Allah, the Mighty
and Sublime, (to be far above any shortcoming or fault). As for Al-Hamd, it is
an addition to exaltation, which is the affirmation of every perfection of the
Lord, the Mighty and Sublime, in action, description, name, and declaration of
His freedom from all evils, faults, and shortcomings. Since the glorification
is an exaltation, so, it comes often accompanied by either praise or one of the
names of Allah, the Most High, the Great (Glory be to Allah and praise be to
Him). Likewise, Al-Hamdu means praising Allah and giving thanks to Him, this is
an exaltation of Him and an acknowledgment that He deserves to be exalted,
glorified and praised, because, He is not deserving of praise unless He is free
from any shortcoming. Praise and glorification be for Allah.
Al-Hamdu (All Praise) is the most
general of knowledge and the broadest of sciences, it includes all the attributes of His perfection and attributes of
His majesty, the Mighty and Sublime, along with His love and submission, as it
includes His wisdom in all His actions and commands, He is praised, Glory be to
Him, in all circumstances, and over all that He created and legislated. Whoever
fills his heart with praise, his balance will be filled with it on the day when
he will meet his Master. He (the prophet, peace and blessing of Allah be upon
him), said (والحمد لله
تملأُ الميزان) (‘Al-hamdu lillah (all
praise and gratitude belong to Allah’ fills the scales,),
“O God, our Lord, to Thee be the praise in all the heavens and all the earth,
and all that it pleases Thee to create afterwards, All praise is due to You
until You are pleased, All praise is due to You when You are pleased, and All
praise is due to You after You are pleased.
He began with a description of
divinity (الحمد
لله) (All Praise be to
Allah) before specifying the description of the gift of Lordship (رب العالمين) (Lord of the worlds) although the latter is
more attached to the interest of the servants and related in a more complete
way to favours to them, it indicates that divinity is a mandate and in fact it
is a blessing worthy of praise with a method that straightens his life (الرحمن علم القرآن) (the Compassionate taught the Qur’an) (Surah
Al-Rahman 1-2)and because it necessitates the reward in the Hereafter, it
is an extension of your true life in the Hereafter, which does not miss you
here and even after the death.
The word Al-Hamdu Lillah “Praise be
to God” is the secret of the entire universe, (وإن من شيئ إلا يسبح بحمده) “there is not
a single thing that does not glorify His praises” (Surah Al-Isra 44) if
you understand and know. In adversity, all Praise be to Allah, by Whose grace,
the good deeds are accomplished, and in prosperity, all praise be to Allah in
every case. The praise is, in its entirety, a word that carries the meaning of
servitude, love, praise, thanks and gratitude with the heart, tongue, and
limbs. Whoever is reconciled to that, will feel Allah’s grace upon him by being
guided to knowing Him and accepting His oneness.
The truest and most correct word
that the servants said, is (الحمد لله) (All praise be to
Allah), which is the
best supplication, and fills the scales, and He, Glory be to Him, is worthy of
all praise and deserves it with the highest attributes of perfection. The
praise, remembrance of praise and glory to Allah Almighty, after rising from
(Ruku) bowing, are affirmation and repetition of what has been mentioned in
Al-Fatihah.
The perfection of praise includes
His Oneness, so, He is more
deserving of being worshiped, because He is more deserving of being praised,
and when praise requires acknowledgment of the perfection of Allah’s wisdom in
creating the creation and the perfection of His mercy by sending messengers and
revealing books. So, praise requires a testimony that there is no god but Allah
and a testimony that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
The الحمد (All praise) also
includes praise of the highest merits and affirmation of the attributes of
perfection, absolute majesty,
grace, benevolence, and outward and inward blessings of Him, the Exalted, in love
and honour to Him. So, it is the information about the merits of the One Who is
praised, along with the love for Him. The virtues include divine perfection in
His Essence, Attributes, and Actions, and their impact appears in His lordship
over His creation and His blessings upon them. So, He is praised, Glory be to
Him, for His divinity and lordship, and He is praised for His mercy, so the
repetition of praise here, is called extolment, and he is praised for His
dominion on the Day of Judgment, so the repetition of praise a third time is
called glorification. (حمدني
عبدني – أثنى على عبدي – مجدني عبدي ) (My servant has
praised Me- My servant has lauded Me- My servant has glorified Me).
The types of praises are many and
countless, if the servant
conjures them while reciting (الحمد
لله رب العالمين) (All praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds)
it opens for him the types and doors of love of Allah and His glorification,
His exaltation, and His best praise, and it also opens up to him the knowledges
and worships of the heart that only those who lived and recognized them can
know. (لك الحمد
بمحامدك كلها ما علمنا منها وما لم نعلم) (Praise be to You for all Your praises, what we know of them
and what we do not know)
And He, Glorified and Exalted be He,
is praiseworthy from the aspects which cannot be counted, from the sides that cannot be explored. He has names, attributes,
praises and extolments that neither a close angel nor a sent prophet knows. The
eloquences of the descriptors fall short of realizing their essence, thoughts do
not move with them, neither it comes to the conscience, nor does it appear to a
thinker, nor does it occur in his thoughts, for He is the Most High,
praiseworthy in the entire universe, always in His permanence, eternal with His
eternity, a praise that never fades in this world and the Hereafter.
Al-Hamdu (All praise) revolves
around five meanings:
1.
To praise Allah for His Lordship,
2.
To praise Allah for His Divinity,
3.
To praise Allah for His Names and Attributes,
4.
To praise Allah -the Almighty the sublime- for His creation
and innovation of the universe,
5.
To praise the Almighty for His Law and His Book.
الحمد لله رب
العالمين (All Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds),
includes the oneness of Allah in worship, which is, in fact, the meaning of worship. So, the slavery
revolves around two principles, which are its origin: complete love and
complete submission (أبوء
لك بنعمتك علي و أبوء لك بذنبي) (I admit to Your
blessings upon me, and I admit to my misdeeds).
The heart's desire for the blessings
and the witnessing of the blessings results in thanks and love for the guardian of blessings and benevolence, as
well as the glorification and contentment for him.
Examining one’s own faults,
shortcomings in deeds, and
sins beget humiliation, submission and humbleness to Him, Glory be to Him, as
well as needfulness and repentance (to Him) all the time, and he also sees
himself only as a bankrupt.
Al-Hamdu (All Praise) contains the
meaning of gratitude,
rather, it is more general than it, because it includes praise and laud in
times of prosperity and adversity. The gratitude is paid at the time of outward
grace only. Praise be to Allah Almighty happens in all cases, unlike
thankfulness. So, Allah Almighty is praised in every situation, even when
calamity befalls and harm and evil happen.
Al-Hamdu (All praise) includes
praise and laud for the one who is praised by mentioning His merits, whether it is a kindness to the one who praises Him or not, and
the gratitude is paid only for the benevolence of the One Who is thanked. From
this aspect, praise is more general than thankfulness, because it is for good
deeds and benevolence, for Allah is praised for what He has of the Most
Beautiful Names, and He is praised for what He has created. As for gratitude,
it is only for the blessing; It is more special than praise from this aspect.
Al-Hamdu (All praise) it has the
meaning of acknowledging the favour, in this he absolves himself from denial and refusal, which is the
first sin of Iblis because it is an acknowledgment by the servant, of his
shortcomings, his poverty and his need, and an acknowledgment of God Almighty’s
perfection, grace, bounty, benevolence, and his necessity to his Lord, the
Mighty and Sublime, and the perfection of his poverty and his need to Him, and
that in every atom of His atoms, the outward and the inward, there lie complete
poverty and a complete necessity to his Lord, Blessed and Exalted be He, and
that if he abandons him for the blink of an eye, he will perish and get a loss
that cannot be compensated, except that Allah Almighty returns it to him and
redeem him with His mercy. This is one of the greatest forms of worship, and
the servant does not enter upon his Lord through a wider and better door than
the door of submission to Him and humility and humbleness before Him.
Al-Hamdu (All praise) belongs to the
tongue, for this
reason, Allah made praise in words (وقالوا الحمد لله ) (and they said, “All praise be to Allah”) (Surah
Al-Aaraf 43) (وقل
الحمد لله الذي لم يتخذ ولدا) (And say, "Praise
to Allah, who has not taken a son) (Surah Al-Isra 111) Thank is given
with the hand, the tongue, and the heart. (اعملوا آل داؤود شكرا) ([We said], "Work, O family of David, in
gratitude.") (Surah Saba 13) the noble word is thanks, and the good
intention is thanks. Allah made praise the worship of the universe (يسبحون بحمد ربهم) “They are exalting
[Allah] with praise of their Lord” (Surah Al-Zumar 75) Al-Hamdu (All
praise) includes praise and thanksgiving. The beginning of everything is: In
the name of Allah, and the end of everything is: All praise be to Allah.
Everything glorifies with His
praise, and God made
the glorification of His servants with His praise a glorification of love for
He is the Lord of the worlds and He is the Most compassionate, the Most
Merciful, and He made the glorification of fear with the Owner of the Day of
Judgment, and praise be to God because He is the Lord of the worlds. If the
world had another god, it would be corrupted (لذهب كل إله بما خلق) (each god would have
taken away what he created) (Surah Al-Muminun 91) the entire universe is
run by one Lord.
And God Almighty deserves to be
praised for having guided us to the form of praise that He is pleased with, which includes all praise to Allah as He has described Himself. So,
He did not leave it with people due to differences in their mental and
intellectual capacities and unequal opportunities. May Allah have mercy on him
who is not able to praise because God has brought his servants out of confusion
regarding the form of praise. It is not possible for any human statement to
know the completeness of the One Who is praised, for it is infinite and you
cannot express it with your abilities of expression (لا أحصي ثناء عليك أنت كما أثنيت على نفسك) (I cannot count Your praises, You are as You have praised
Yourself).
Praise of Allah brings His mercy, it
should not be turned to anyone other than Allah, as Allah has allowed giving thanks (to others) not praise وأن اشكر لي ولوالديك) (So be grateful to Me
and your parents), (Surah Luqman 14), So praise is to Him alone, while
gratitude is for Him and His creation.
And praise is a rank of faith. You here make a covenant with your Lord to enter into a trial of
praise so that He may see whether you succeed in it or not. When you are
patient with the affliction of misery or adversity, and when you remain
steadfast in a state of satisfaction not deviating or transgressing, then you
are truly praising Him.
And the Lord is the Master, the One Who
is obeyed, the Sovereign, the Disposer, who is unparalleled in His dominion, and He has the Creation, the
Sovereignty, and the Management. He is in charge of educating His creatures and
reforming them with the blessings that He bestows upon them, and that He is the
Lord of the entire universe, and that all of these things do not dispense with
His bounties and Sovereignty for the blink of an eye in themselves and in what
surrounds them (A heart that beats and air that he breathes, and the graces
outwardly and inwardly) and this is only for Allah Almighty. One of the
requirements of this Lordship is, not to create the creation in vain and not to
leave them in vain, but rather to let them know all that is good for them in
their livelihood and in the Hereafter. The grace of Lordship covers the whole human
race, the believer, the unbeliever, and other creatures.
وإذا مس الانسان
ضر دعا ربه منيبا اليه) ) “And when adversity touches man, he calls
upon his Lord, turning to Him [alone];” (Surah Al-Zumar 8) (دعا ربه) “he calls upon his
Lord” the Lord is the master, the
Manager, the Administrator in the affairs of the slaves and their Owner, and
the One who brings them up with the various types of blessings related to the
upbringing of the body and souls with revelation. This is the proof of
revelation, prophecy, and the sending of messengers - upon them- be peace and
blessings upon them - He sends to them messengers and sends down books to them,
so, the fosterage, is for souls and bodies, for souls with revelation and
guidance, and bodies with what nourish them from the cosmic resources that
Allah has kept in the earth in the form of lawful and good livelihood. يا أيها الناس كلوا مما في الارض حلالا طيبا) (O humanity! Eat from what is lawful and good on the earth).
(Surah Al-Baqarah 168) He is -the Most High- the fosterer of all
worlds - and they are besides Allah – by His creating them, preparing for them
the senses of learning, and bestowing upon them great blessings, which if they
lose, they would not be able to survive. Whatever blessings they have are from
Him the Almighty.
And His upbringing of His creation
is of two types: general and
specific. The general: It is His creation of the creatures, believers and
unbelievers, their provision, and their guidance for what is in their
interests, which ensures their survival in this world. The special: His
upbringing of His slaves who believe in Him, so He brings them up with faith,
guides them to it, completes it for them, and repels from them the troubles and
the obstacles that stand between them and their Lord, and it’s in reality bringing
up the means for every good, and protection from all evils.
Perhaps this meaning is the secret
that this great name of great importance is dear to the hearts and souls of the
prophets. The most
frequent supplication of the prophets was with the wording of the Lord, because
it includes the meanings of beauty, majesty and perfection, as all their
demands are covered in His special Lordship. His saying: (رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ) (Lord of the worlds)
indicates that He is alone in creation, management, blessings, perfection of
His riches, and complete poverty of the worlds to Him in every aspect and
consideration.
The Lord is our refuge since Allah took from Adam’s children the
covenant on Lordship (ألست
بربكم قالوا بلى) ([saying to them],
"Am I not your Lord?). (Surah Al-Aaraf 172).
It is the first intimation before creation and it is the accompanying
intimation, because the Lord is the one who is in charge of creation and fosterage
and the Lord and the Master of everything. The name of the Lord also indicates
His reforming the affairs of His slaves; with beautiful care and with good
sufficiency.
The Lord is the All-Powerful, He is self-sufficient;
everything is done by him, He
is the base of every soul, with its good and its evil, He has established
Himself on the Throne, He is unique in managing His dominion, so, the whole
control is in His hands, and the fate of all matters is up to Him.
The Decrees of control come down from Him with giving and
withholding, lowering and raising, reviving and causing death, repentance and
dismissal, arresting and releasing, removing affliction, providing relief to
those in distress, and answering those in need;
﴿ يَسْأَلُهُ مَنْ فِي
السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ ﴾ “Whoever is within the heavens and the earth asks Him; every day
He is in [i.e., bringing about] a matter” (Surah Al-Rahman 29)
The worlds: are everything other than Allah Almighty from the types of existents,
because it includes the rational and the inanimate from the advanced and later
worlds of every kind in the heavens and the earth and what is between them.
And He is the Lord and Sovereign of
everything, the Lord of the heavens and those in them, the Lord of the earth
and whoever is in them, and the Lord of what is between them of what we know
and what we do not know. So, they cannot come out of His kingdom and
power, for all of them are subjugated and subjected, and His lordship is free
from all shortcomings and defects and includes every perfection and
glorification. And that this care of Lordship never ends, neither ceases, nor
disappears. Allah - Glory be to Him - did not create the universe to leave it
idle, rather, He disposes it with reform, takes care of it, and fosters it. All
the worlds and creatures are preserved and pledged to the care of Allah, Lord
of the worlds. So, let the obligated believer be assured that these worlds do
not come out of the ambit of His service, as they are in the permanent care of
Allah and His existing Lordship.
The word “Al-Aalameen” denotes a
pleasant meaning, as
Al-Fatihah - which is the first chapter of the Qur’an - began with ٱلْحَمْدُ لله رَبّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ “Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds,” while the last Surah in
the Qur’an (Surah Al-Nas) ended with His saying, مِنَ ٱلْجِنَّةِ وَٱلنَّاسِ “From among the jinn and mankind.” The Qur’an began with the
word of the worlds and ended with the word “mankind,” as if the meaning is that
this Qur’an is not for Muslims only, but rather that this Qur’an is for the
guidance of all mankind.
And the Lordship of God Almighty is
the greatest evidence of His divinity and that He deserves to be worshiped, not anyone else, it is the evidence of the
perfection of His richness, the completeness of their poverty to Him in every
aspect, and the inclusion of this Lordship for all of the worlds. So, the
oneness of Lordship necessitates the oneness of the Divinity. If you say: There
is no creator but Allah, there is no sustenance but Allah, there is no giver
but Allah, there is no benefactor but Allah, there is no giver but Allah, and
there is no one Who harms but God, then what is the need for other than Him to
be worshiped or sought, this requires that you turn to Him in worship, if He is
the one who possesses both benefit and harm, then worship and submission should
be directed to Him. So, it means that the oneness of Lordship necessitates the
oneness of the Divinity.
And if a person feels his weakness
and his need for the Lordship of His Master in everything, it would bring for him the love and submission to Allah, Lord of
the Worlds (مالك الملك) (“Lord over all authorities”). The
submission to and praise of Allah make you feel proud and increase your dignity
and highness in yourself. So, you feel the pleasure of servitude to Allah,
which is the true provision for freedom from the humiliation of creatures.
Allah,
the Mighty and Sublime, fosters His servants with what happens to them in terms
of predestination, for
the life of the believer involves a trial in which he is tested if he adheres
to Allah’s command, and it also involves a disciplinary action if he violates
Allah’s way. He knows that Allah promotes his interests for him from where he
does not expect, so he accepts Allah’s upbringing for him, gets satisfied with
it, and praises Him, if he hastened it for him in this world and did not delay
it for him in the Hereafter, if he was kind to him as he did not multiply His
affliction.
***
الرحمن الرحيم
The Most
Compassionate, the Most Merciful
"أثــنــى عــلــي عــبــدي"
“My slave lauded Me”
servitude of hope,
attachment to Allah’s mercy, and exposure to its causes.
When Allah, Glory be to Him, described Himself with
Lordship, which means that He
is the Master, Owner, Deity who has absolute control over His servants, and
from which the meaning of control and regulation may be understood; His description of mercy came after it, so that the hope of a servant
for forgiveness should increase, if he slips,
and his hope is strengthened if he falls into error, and also when He
Allah Almighty described Himself with lordship, He stated that His upbringing
of the worlds is not because He needs them, such as bringing benefit, or repelling
harm, but it is for the generality of His mercy, and the comprehensiveness of
His bounty.
As for his attributive names, Glory be to Him, (Al-Rahman, Al-Rahim) “The Compassionate, the Most Merciful,” they
combine the attributes of benevolence, generosity, mercy, tenderness, kindness,
compassion, and sympathy. The attribute has been repeated for its generality
and proven attachment. So, the grace of Allah in the form of His Lordship over
His creation and His favour upon them is
ongoing due to His mercy, gentleness, leniency, and kindness, for, with
His mercy He sent to them His Messengers and He sent down His books upon them,
with it He guided them, with it He made them dwell in the abode of His reward,
through it He provided their sustenance and well-being and bestowed blessings
upon them, with His mercy He placed mercy among His servants so that they may
be merciful with one another, by His mercy He provided His servants with
provision and created for them what would reform their worldly affairs, He
guided them to what would reform their Hereafter, and He ordained among them
what would complete their livelihoods.
Ar-Rahman (the Most Compassionate) is His most
comprehensive name, and the mercy is His vastest attribute. The Most High said: ﴿ الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ
اسْتَوَى ﴾{The Most Gracious established
Himself on Throne} (Surah Taha 5) So, He established Himself with His broadest
attributes over the widest of His creatures, and He wrote a book when He
created creation, which is with Him above His Throne:"أنَّ رحمتَه سبقتْ غضبَه"، “His mercy has preceded His
wrath”.
This great book is like a covenant from Him, Glory be to Him, with the whole
creation with mercy for them, excusing them, pardoning them and also with
forgiveness and overlook, cover and respite, forbearance and patience.
Reflect: Allah made mercy one hundred parts, so He held ninety-nine parts with
Him, and sent down one part on the earth. This mercy that you feel is 1% of
Allah’s mercy...
Have a look: These human beings, and the types of animals, birds, and vermin,
all of them, share a single mercy that has been distributed to them, …Oh Allah!
Oh Allah! How merciful You are! How merciful You are! glory be to You, and
praise be to You.
Here is the great, wide mercy that encompasses
everything and pervades every being, so you feel that the shades of mercy surround you and you pray from
every direction and you feel praise and supplication: (O Lord, O Most
Compassionate, O Most Merciful, enter me into Your mercy that encompasses
everything. I cannot afford not to have it for a blink of an eye). The world is
the abode of worries, afflictions, pains, and endless fluctuations, so, your
soul yearns and longs for the mercy of the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.
The mercy of Allah Almighty exceled His wrath as it
has been mentioned in a book placed on the Throne, and this book is of great importance as it is like a covenant from Him,
Glory be to Him, with the whole creation with mercy for them, pardoning them
and also with forgiveness, overlook, cover, respite, and forbearance. So, the
upper and lower worlds were established through the content of this book, which
if did not exist, they would have had another matter. His mercy covered even the
unbelievers; but that mercy is, bodily, physical, and worldly in forms of
sustenance, food, drink, housing, marriage, physical well-being, etc. As for
the believers, their mercy is more special and greater than this, because it is
a mercy of faith, religion, world and Hereafter.
He began with the Most Compassionate, because it is
the great name that belongs to Him only, the Most High. It’s general in sense and includes the attributes of
benevolence, generosity, and righteousness to all creation, believers and
unbelievers, by making their affairs easier in their lives and livelihood, so,
the causes and the forces of nature act upon them by His command and His mercy
for them, and by bestowing upon them His blessing in the form of reason. It is
from His mercy that He has established the proof against them and has removed
their excuses by sending the messengers. The name of the Most Merciful is among
the signs of His action in His creation that is specific to the believers (وكان بالمؤمنين رحيما) (For He is ever Merciful to
the believers.) (Surah Al-Ahzab 43). The word Al-Rahman has been
mentioned in the Qur’an 57 times, and Al-Rahim has been mentioned 114 times,
i.e., double of that (the word A-Rahman), Glory be to Allah, His wisdom is
exalted.
The Almighty has combined His Lordship and His
Mercy ﴿ رب العالمين ، الرحمن الرحيم
﴾ (Lord of the Worlds, the Most
compassionate, the Most Merciful) because the
remembrance of lordship and mercy leads to love, for the hearts have been made
to love those who are kind to them. The greatest thing that the servant can
draw forth from the mercy of his Lord is: to be broken in front of Him, and to
show his servitude, his submission, his inability and his poverty to Him. So,
mentioning the Lordship after mercy makes (us) feel the love, for He, Glory be
to Him, brings up His servants with His mercy before His wrath (رحمتي سبقت غضبي) (My mercy excels My wrath)
He is loved for His Lordship and His mercy, the hearts are made to love those
who are good to them. So, He encompassed all the worlds with his mercy.
The link of mercy and care that causes praise and
laud, is a link which is
based on tranquillity and pulses with affection, for praise is the innate
response to generous mercy. Mercy is a gift from Allah, the mercies of
creatures among themselves are an abundance of Allah’s mercy, therefore praise
came before for the blessing of mercy. Every mercy that comes from you or falls
on you is a gift from Allah Almighty, and the believer is left with no choice
before this gift but to praise God and be satisfied with Allah, it is a way to
His love.
And
mercy is Allah's first door. Whoever knocks at it gets it opened for him and
whoever avoids it, is called, if
he does not listen, there will be an alas for him (ياحسرة على العباد) (How regretful for the servants). (Surah
Yasin 30) Allah Almighty created them with mercy and provided them with
mercy and guided them with mercy, even if they got astray or disbelieved, He
called them with mercy and opened for them the doors of mercy to repent, He did
not make anyone despair of His mercy, it is the widest door to reach Him (ورحمتي وسعت كل شيء) (And My mercy encompassed
everything) (Surah Al-aaraf 156) and the Prophet of Mercy precedes the
punishment (وما كنا معذبين
حتى نبعث رسولا) (And We would never punish ˹a people˺ until
We have sent a messenger ˹to warn them˺) (Surah Al-Isra 15) Likewise,
the calamities and pains that befall the believers are messages of mercy until
they return or get disciplined or be polite and pray.
If a
person contemplates his condition with his Lord, how can he thank others and disobey His commands and perpetrate
His prohibitions? Then He, Glory be to
Him, showers them with His righteousness and kindness, guiding them and
afflicting them with good and evil, He gives them time, it should bring in his heart
a repentance, modesty, more love, attachment, and hope.
So
do we find this love in our hearts (passion, feeling and compassion)? the one
who loves his Lord cannot find himself where He forbids him, for he is more
ashamed than to fear because he is the one who loves (وخافون إن كنتم مؤمنين) (and fear Me if you are
believers) (Surah Al-Imran 175) because the names of Allah Almighty
indicating mercy, have preceded to his heart.
And
the combination between Al-Rahman and Al-Rahim (the Most Compassionate and the Most Merciful) indicates the
perfection of His mercy-the Exalted and the Most High- He is characterized
by mercy by virtue of existence, action and effect on creatures. The greatest
thing that the servant can draw forth from the mercy of his Lord is: to be
broken before his Lord, and to show his slavery, his helplessness, his weakness
and his poverty to His mercy, while thinking positively of Him.
And
everything that you see in the universe is from the effects of Allah’s mercy, and this Holy Book which is in our hands is from the impact of Allah’s
mercy, and the reality of duties is from Allah’s mercy. Everything that you see
and hear from Allah’s grace, law, and decree of the universe, is from the
effects of Allah’s mercy, so you do not know where is Allah’s mercy in sickness
and afflictions, for, it may be that God Almighty has saved for you, mountains
of good deeds, so, you would rejoice in this affliction. Your foot may stumble
in your life, which you may hate, but it might be one of the effects of God’s
mercy on you, if you see what is in the unseen. So, these are the
predestination of Allah. We live in every second and whatever is in our bodies
and whatever surrounds us are all the traces of the mercy of Allah-the
Merciful. These laws are all mercy, wisdom, kindness and help from Allah
Almighty.
These
three names: Allah, Al-Rab (the Lord) and Al-Rahman (the Most Compassionate),
are the essence of the Most Beautiful Names, so the name Allah includes the attributes of divinity (Allah’s
right over the servants, the Oneness of Allah and performing deeds only for
Him). And the name Al-Rab (the Lord) includes the attributes of Lordship (the
right of the servants over God and the singling out Allah Almighty with His
actions such as creation, kingship and management). The name Al-Rahman (the
Most Compassionate) includes the attributes of generosity, righteousness,
benevolence, and mercy, a reason that connects the Lord and His servants, so
He- Glory be to Him- has combined His mercy here with His Lordship over the
world, so, He- Glory be to Him- said: ﴿ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
﴾ “Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, Most Compassionate,
Most Merciful.”) He included all creatures in His mercy; His mercy encompassed
everything, and his grace expanded to every living thing, so his mercy reached
where his knowledge has reached, between Him and His creation is the cause of
servitude, between Him and them is the cause of mercy. He is the Lord of
everything, its Creator, and competent over it. Everyone in the heavens and the
earth is a servant to Him, in His grip and subjugation.
***
ملك يوم الدين
Master of the Day of Judgment
(مجدني عبدي)
(My slave glorified Me)
Glorification with the attributes of pride, greatness and kingship
Al-Deen
(Recompense), in this context, means reward with justice, It is the recompense of those who are accountable according to
their earnings, so the obedient and benefactor will be rewarded, the sinner and
disobedient will be punished, and a retribution will be taken for the oppressed
from the oppressor.
So,
when the Almighty described Himself with mercy, this could lead the servant to the predominance of hope over him;
He warned as the king for the Day of Judgment so that the servant should be
fearful in his deeds, and know that there is a day for his deeds, where its
fruits of good and evil will appear for him. And also, since lordship cannot be
complete except with a king who is enough for pride, coupled with awe resulting
in hold, subjugation and implementation of the command, He followed that by
saying: مَالِكِ يَوْمِ
الدِّينِ Master of the Day of Judgment in order to
intimidate him from the sways of His glory.
This
is the glorification in its greatest form, that is because He is the Master of the Day of Judgment (و تأمل العظمة)(reflect on the
greatness) the Master is the one who is characterized by the attributes of
kingship, authority and power, from whose effects He commands, forbids,
rewards, punishes, and disposes of His kingdoms in all kinds of actions. And
the Day of Judgment is the Day of Resurrection, a day when all creation will be
judged and held accountable for their deeds, both good and evil. Rather, the
word Malik (the Master) has been possessed (grammatically) to the Day of
Judgment, because there will be no one claiming other than Him, the Exalted and
the Most High, and no one can speak except with His permission, as He-the most
High- said: ( يوم
يقوم الروح والملائكة صفا لا يتكلمون إلا من أذن له الرحمن وقال صوابا)
“The Day that the Spirit [i.e., Gabriel] and the angels will stand in
rows, they will not speak except for one whom the Most Merciful permits, and he
will say what is correct. (Surah Al-Naba 38)
In
the verse there is the glorification and veneration of the Lord, the Exalted,
the Majestic, wherein the perfection of His kingdom, His justice, His
uniqueness with the Kingship on that day appears, and there will be
discontinuation of the possessions of creatures without a claim from anyone,
where the creatures will gather and will be devoid of possession and power.
He has
mentioned that He, the
Mighty and Sublime, is the King on the Day of Judgment after He is the Lord of
the worlds, it is an explanation that the Most High is their Lord in this world
and the Hereafter, and that His praise and mercy require that He will reward
people with His justice and fulfil all His deeds, so His power in His kingdom
revolves between justice and benevolence, wisdom, interest and mercy, and His
action does not depart from that.
In
it, is the proof of the Resurrection and the Last Day (لمن
الملك اليوم) (To whom belongs [all] sovereignty this
Day?)(لله الواحد
القهار) (To Allah, the One, the
Prevailing), (Surah Ghafir 16) and the Proof of the Resurrection, it
also has the Evidence of Messengers, Messages, and Books; Because that is the
Day of Resurrection, recompense and reckoning. Allah does not punish people
unless He establishes proof against them by sending messengers and sending down
the books.
And
in the world of reasons, Allah extends to whom He wills the means of dominion, but on the Day of Judgment the king and kingship will go away, (لمن الملك اليوم) To whom belongs [all]
sovereignty this Day? (Surah Ghafir 16) (والأمر يومئذ لله) (for all authority on
that Day belongs to Allah entirely.) (Surah Al-Infitar 19). He is the
Almighty, the Sublime, the owner of the affairs of this day, in all time and
place (لا يجليها
لوقتها إلا هو) (None will reveal its time except Him). (Surah
Al-Aaraf 187)
The word (اليوم) Al-Yaum (today) implies the day (سيروا فيها ليالي وأياما)("Travel between
them by night or by day in safety) (Surah Saba 18) because before the
Day of Resurrection, people will be in night and before that they’ll go through
coma of death, as if they are waking up during the day, and He, Glory be to
Him, (كل يوم هو في
شأن) “every day He is in
[i.e., bringing about] a matter.” (Surah Al-rahman
29) His matter does not end neither by night nor by day. One of the secrets
of astronomy is that at any moment a day begins and a night begins so that the
people of Paradise will take nap in Paradise that day at the end of it (وأحسن مقيلا) (better resting place).
(Surah Al-Furqan: 24)
The
believer recites the verse (ملك يوم الدين) “the Master of the Day of Judgment”. So, if he misses a reward in
this world, he will be assured that his reward in the Hereafter will not miss
him, which is the best benefit (وإنما توفون أجوركم يوم القيامه) (and you will only be
given your [full] compensation on the Day of Resurrection. (Surah Ali Imran
185) If you rejoice at the one who gives you, then you are
from the people of this world, and if you rejoice at the One Who takes from
you, then you are from the people of the Hereafter.
The
Day of Judgment (يوم
الدين) is
called that; Because it is the day of recompense with justice and the day of
subjugation, and it is a
day in which only obedience will benefit, the day people will rise from their
graves and the testimony of the messengers and angels will be established, the
day of true justice, the day when creatures are judged and rewarded and held
accountable for their deeds. He specified that with the Kingship because He
-glory be to Him- will be judge alone, and because that is the true day and
what came before it is like an hour, and because that is the destination and
the days of the world are stages to it;
its meaning, according to all the commentators, is what Allah, the Most
High, has explained in His saying, the Most High: ﴿ وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا يَوْمُ الدِّينِ * ثُمَّ مَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا
يَوْمُ الدِّينِ * يَوْمَ لَا تَمْلِكُ نَفْسٌ لِنَفْسٍ شَيْئًا وَالْأَمْرُ
يَوْمَئِذٍ لِلَّهِ ﴾ “And what can make you
know what is the Day of Recompense?, Then, what can make you know what is the
Day of Recompense?, It is the Day when a soul will not possess for another soul
[power to do] a thing; and the command, that Day, is [entirely] with Allah. (Surah Al-Infitar
17-19)
The
Day of Judgment has been singled out with the kingship because of its seriousness and greatness, and because it is the
conclusion of the days in which the full kingship of God appears, because in
this world there are many people who own something while they are also subject
to the kingship of Allah, but on the Day of Resurrection there will be no king
or Master but Allah Almighty. He also singled out the Day of Judgment with the
Kingship, even though He, Glory be to Him, is the Owner of all days, because He
has already informed that He is the Lord of the worlds, that includes this
world and the Hereafter, except for a great matter and for a major issue.
Because of its knowledge, the people of Paradise entered the Paradise, and
because of ignorance about it, the people of Hell entered the Hell.
Whoever
understands the name of the Master (the king) and realizes it, knows that every creature in this universe is submissive and
obedient to His command, no matter how much positions and money they possess,
they are in fact unable to act completely(فبهت الذي كفر) (" So the disbeliever was overwhelmed
[by astonishment],) (Surah Al-Baqarah 285) their Lord owns and overpowers them, so it
brings honour to the heart of the believer and the oneness of submission for
Allah is achieved, which is one of the pillars of slavery.
When
the worshiper reads “The Master of the Day of Judgment” he holds himself accountable at the stages of the prayers in which
he stands before his Lord in order to feel the greatness of the owner of the
Day of Judgment, So, he reconsiders what he did between the two prayers, of saying
or action, in order to realize in which side of the scales it will be placed,
and to realize that there is no success or prosperity except for the one whom
-the Most Merciful, the Compassionate- guides, takes his forehead to goodness
and obedience and establishes him upon it. And whoever takes the path of error
and follows his own desires and follows the people of deviation and
misguidance, it will lead him to wrath of Allah and His torment.
The
Day of Judgment is the day when people will be rewarded for their deeds, the day of recompense with justice in the matter of rights of each
other, if (the deed) is good, then (reward) will be good, if (the deed) is bad,
then (reward) will be bad. Therefore, believer finds a profound impact in
himself and in all his actions, in the affairs of life, in behaviour,
interaction and fairness with everyone, so he does good deed, is well prepared
and firm, and avoids (to violate) the rights of people, because he knows surely
that the appointed time is the great day, the day of judgment, the day of
recompense, (يوم
يقوم الناس لرب العلمين) “The Day when mankind
will stand before the Lord of the worlds?” (Surah Al-Muraffifin 6)(يومئذ يوفيهم الله دينهم الحق) (That Day, Allah will pay them in full their true [i.e., deserved]
recompense) (Surah Al-Nur 25) i.e.
the recompense of their deeds with justice.
It
is the day that deserves to be worked for and to be accounted for, not for the days of this world, but not for the whole world.
Therefore, we find the Holy Qur’an often combining the faith in Allah Almighty
and the faith in this day because it is the greatest incentive to be ready to
perform good deeds.
If
the blessings of God Almighty are worthy of praise, then his possession of the Day of Judgment is also worthy of
praise, for it deserves much praise. This ownership is a great blessing that
protects the rights of every weak or oppressed person in this world. It is from
the perfection and completeness of His kingdom, Glory be to Him, for He will
punish the one who tried to decrease His possessions (اليوم تجزى كل نفس ما كسبت .لا ظلم اليوم) “This Day every soul will be recompensed for what it earned.
No injustice today!”. (surah Ghafir 17)
The
belief in the Day of Judgment (the Last Day) is a crossroad between the bondage of desires and whims, and the
soul’s release from its bondage of desires to the vastness of servitude for Allah,
and a crossroad between submission to worldly concepts, values, balances, and
attachment to the divine values.
The
life of human beings is not upright on God’s approach unless they believe in the Day of Judgment and the
Resurrection, unless their hearts are reassured that their reward on earth is
not their last share, and unless the believer is confident that he has another
life worthy of striving for it, and that he has to sacrifice to support the
truth and goodness believing in the reward that He will be given on that day.
Whoever
is sure in his heart about the reality of “the Day of Judgment”, he’ll not let the fleeting worldly necessities have control over
him, so it will give rise to tranquillity in the soul of the believer, and his
good deeds will not be in vain (وإنما توفون أجوركم يوم القيامة) (and you will only be given your [full] compensation on the
Day of Resurrection.), (Surah Ali Imran 185) He would not have to worry
about achieving the reward of his quest in his short-limited life, and in the
confined field of the earth and he will be sincere for the sake of Allah with tranquillity
and trust in His promise and waiting for the reward as Allah decrees it, on
earth or in the home of the Hereafter, in tranquillity of God, in trust in the
good, in insistence on the truth, and in spaciousness, tolerance and certainty.
The
believers in the Hereafter and those who deny it are not equal in feeling,
character, behaviour, or action, for
they are two different types of human beings, and two different natures that do
not meet on earth in deed and do not meet in the Hereafter in reward. This is
the crossroad between them.
The
Day of Judgment, is the hope of the patient and those who strove to give up sins and evil deeds and were
patient about the desires in the world. They used to say: (إنا نخاف من ربنا يوما عبوسا قمطريرا) (Indeed, We fear from
our Lord a Day austere and distressful) (Surah Al-Insan 10). So, their
appointment on the Day of Judgment is the Day of Recompense and Reckoning. The
good tidings will come to them from the Most Merciful:"فوقاهم الله شر ذلك اليوم و لقاهم نضرة و سرورا " (So Allah will protect them from the evil of that Day
and give them radiance and happiness) (Surah Al-Insan 11)
The “Day
of Judgment” is the consolation of the oppressed and the deprived, the day when
the opponents will gather, and
there will be the Master of the Day of Judgment, the Helper of the oppressed
and the weak. And here the Muslim gets patient and satisfied, He surrenders,
his pain, his wounds and his tears subside, and he bears the injustice that he
suffers and the injustice that he lives in this world because he knows that he
will be a victor there (إن
ربك لبالمرصاد) (Indeed, your Lord is in observation.) (Surah
Al-Fajr 14)
The
first part of Al-Fatihah (the first three verses) has ended, and it included
the four attributes;
Divinity, Lordship, Mercy and Kingship. These are the base of all names and
include the pillars of belief in Allah, which are the causes for the
entitlement of slavery:
• Knowing and loving Him with praise of
divinity and lordship
• His hope and greed for the mercy that He
has, as He’s the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.
• His fear and His awe (قل إني أخاف إن عصيت ربي عذاب يوم عظيم) (Say, "Indeed I
fear, if I should disobey my Lord, the punishment of a tremendous Day.") (Surah Al-An’am 15) because He is the
owner of the Day of Judgment.
These
four names are: Allah, the Lord, the Compassionate, the Merciful, and the
Master, all the names
and attributes revolve around them, and all the perfections refer to them,
attributes related to divinity, those related to lordship, those related to
mercy, and the attributes related to kingship. It is the domain of His Names
and His Attributes, Glory be to Him, meaning that these attributes in their
breadth, comprehensiveness and perfection gather under them, the attributes of
majesty, perfection and beauty that are indicated by the rest of the names of
Allah. So, whoever contemplates its meanings, the doors of guidance and
knowledge will be opened to him.
Mentioning
these names after the praise and bringing
praise to its content and its requirement indicate that He is praised in His
divinity, praised in His lordship, praised in His mercy, praised in His
dominion, and that He is the praised God, the praised Lord, the praised Compassionate,
and the praised Master.
So,
reflect: the praise
leads you to love for this benefactor who is kind to you as He has created you
from nothing and brought you up with His grace. You are a minute part in His
kingship. He, before this kindness to you, is worthy of praise and glory. He
has praised Himself and lauded (الحمد لله فاطر السماوات والأرض) ([All] praise is [due] to Allah, Creator of the heavens and
the earth) (Surah Fatir 1) who is enhanced by greatness and pride and
unique in eternity.
If
you know Him and believe in Him, you have no choice but to love Him, the love
is not performing two rak’ahs or being with two days of fasting, love is a feeling that is not acquired, but is given by Allah (والذين آمنوا أشد حبا لله) (But those who believe are stronger in love
for Allah) (Surah Al-Baqrah 165) the love of Allah is attained by the
believer by bringing its causes, by recognizing his Master for his benevolence,
bounty, grace and favour and despite your recognition of this favour that
captures your heart, you are unable to thank Him, rather you are deficient in
His right, So, You have no choice but to be ashamed, and humiliate and despise
yourself. If this feeling possesses you, your heart will worship your Lord and
submit to Him, and you enter into the most important action of hearts that will
overflow on your organs. So, achieve this worship with the praise of your Lord
only.
And
the lover does not see discomfort in his action, if the lover is submissive for the one whom he loves and tries to
please him, even if he dislikes the wish of his beloved. So, he worships Allah
and feels His lights nurturing him and surrounding him from all sides. He
provides creatures with reasons for existence, sustenance, and mercy.
Allah
has imposed the humility of slavery on the people, whoever does not get humble willingly, Allah will humiliate him by
compulsion, may he be disgraced; he goes to what Allah has decreed for him (إن كل من في السماوات والأرض إلا آتي الرحمن عبدا) (There is no one in the heavens and earth
but that he comes to the Most Merciful as a servant) (Surah Maryam 93)
And
you are a well-bred creature in this world, groping your way, asking and hoping:
Lord, I love
you, and you are worthy of praise for your blessings and favours. So, let your
tongue swell with the praise and honour of your Lord, praising Him and thanking
Him. Then second glorification comes (the Compassionate, the Merciful). So you
rest assured, hope and look for His mercy that He will overlook your
shortcomings (أولئك
الذين نتقبل عنهم أحسن ما عملوا ونتجاوز عن سيئاتهم) (Those are the ones from whom We will accept the best of what
they did and overlook their misdeeds,) (Surah Al-Ahqaf:16). So, He
accepts a little deed with His mercy and overlooks the shortcomings with His
mercy (ورحمتي وسعت كل
شيء فسأكتبها للذين يتقون) (but My mercy encompasses all things) (Surah
Al-A’raf : 156)) So I will decree it [especially] for those who fear Me) (والذي أطمع أن يغفر لي خطيئتي يوم الدين) (And who I aspire that He will forgive me my sin on the Day of
Recompense) (Surah Al-Shu’ara 82).
No
one enters Paradise with his deed, as the Messenger of God confirmed it when he
said " لَنْ يُدْخِلَ أَحَدًا مِنْكُمْ عَمَلُهُ
الْجَنَّةَ " . قَالُوا وَلاَ أَنْتَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ "
وَلاَ أَنَا إِلاَّ أَنْ يَتَغَمَّدَنِيَ اللَّهُ مِنْهُ بِفَضْلٍ وَرَحْمَةٍ
" . ( None amongst you can
get into Paradise by virtue of his deeds alone. They said: Allah's Messenger,
not even you? Thereupon he said: Not even I, but that Allah should wrap me in
His Grace and Mercy) There
is nothing left but greed and hope in God: an obedient person hopes that his
deeds will be accepted. So, he does not leave a small or little deed, no matter
how small it is, but he does that, perhaps his salvation may be in it. A disobedient
person hopes that his sin will be forgiven. So, he is afraid. This causes a
break in the heart. If you spread the fingers of hope, He will show you the
reward of refraining from the forbidden. It will tempt you to leave it (sins).
Hope is servitude. When it exits from the heart, it makes a person despair.
Then
comes the glorification and third praise (مالك يوم الدين) (the Master of the Day of
Judgment), where the believer is reminded about the Day of Judgment and
Recompense, and the necessary fear of the torment of a great day. Fear and hope
are inseparable in the heart of the believer: (نبئ عبادي أني أنا الغفور الرحيم وأن عذابي هو العذاب الأليم)
([O Muḥammad], inform My servants that it is I who am the Forgiving, the
Merciful,* And that it is My punishment which is the painful punishment.)
(Surah Al-Hijr 49-50)
After
He has finished the certainty of the One Who deserves to be worshipped, his
heart gets ready to enter into worship and gets filled with the love of his Lord. So, he walks to Him with
the wings of hope and fear. The obedient believer is most concerned about a bad
end and that his deeds would not be acceptable (يؤتون ما آتوا وقلوبهم وجلة) (And they who give what they give while their hearts are
fearful) (Surah Al-Muminun 60). He is also afraid that his action will
not make him enter into Paradise, or it will not return to him with justice
from God, so he makes more effort in performing the deed again until he reaches
the roof of strength. Then, fear comes to him again; have you thanked Allah's
blessings upon you? He still fluctuates between fear and hope until he reaches
Allah with his top deeds, and the repentant sinner is more concerned about that
Allah will have mercy on him and forgive him.
This
first part of this great surah
makes the believer worship, For He is the Benefactor Who fosters His servants
with His grace.
***
The Middle Part
Acknowledgment
(إياك
نعبد وإياك نستعين)
“You
˹alone˺ we worship and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help”
“This
is between Me and My servant” (فاعبده وتوكل عليه) “So worship Him and put
your trust in Him” (Surah
Hud: 123)
This
is the second or middle part of this great surah. After He has mentioned that He adopts the best attributes of
majesty, glorification, praise, laud and thanksgiving to Allah, and when it has
been confirmed that He is worthy of all praise, endearing His servants to the
Lordship and exhorting them to mercy and terrifying them on the Day of
Judgment. So, it is necessary for a wise person to turn to Him and limit his
determination to Him necessitating that He deserves to be worshiped and asked
for help, He said: You ˹alone˺ we worship (for Allah glory and praise be to
Him) and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help (for the slave, the slave shall have what
he has asked for.). It is a great news for the worshipers that Allah answers
their request and responds to their supplication.
(You
˹alone˺ we worship and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help), it is the jewel from the
Fatiha of the Book, it is the middle, before it there are three verses, and
after it there are three verses, it is the covenant and promise between the slave
and his Lord. The slave says: “You ˹alone˺ we worship” the Lord says: “it is
between Me and My slave” and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help (My slave shall have
what he has asked for) i.e. after (recitation of) this verse, you can ask what
you want, (وإذا سألك عبادي
عني) (When My servants ask
you ˹O Prophet˺ about Me) (Surah Al-Baqarah: 186). Those who said “ You
alone We worship” with their hearts, with their tongues, with their actions,
and with their conditions in their lives, and those who also said “You ˹alone˺
we ask for help”, because if there is no help from Allah, they would not be
able to worship Allah.
The
secret of Al-Fatihah and its basis are these two words (إياك
نعبد وإياك نستعين) (You ˹alone˺ we worship
and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help). They are the orbit of worship, monotheism and
the secret of creation, command and the greatest purpose, it is the summary of
the message of the Beloved (Prophet), peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, for
describing and explaining which the Qur’an came.
(إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين) (You ˹alone˺
we worship and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help). In this verse, despite its
shortness, there are strange secrets and surprising meanings. Upon them is the
orbit of servitude and monotheism. They are the two words that are divided
between the servant and his Lord into two halves, so half of them belongs to
Him, the Most High, that is “You ˹alone˺ we worship” and half of them goes to
His servant “You ˹alone˺ we ask for help” because the first of them required
worshiping Him with commands, prohibitions, love, fear, hope, obedience and
veneration, and the last of them required His worship with help, trust, faith,
authorization, submission and reliance on Him.
The
ultimate goal is His servitude, and the best means is His help. He is worshipped through His Divinity and asked for help through His
Lordship. He guides to the straight path with His mercy. So, there is no deity
deserving of worship but Him, and no one can help to worship Him but Him, for
worshiping Him is the highest goal, and His help is the greatest means.
After
praising with the best attributes of Allah Almighty, the servant followed it up with the best of what he should do
towards his Lord and his God, who is characterized with these beautiful
attributes. So, he turned to Him with worship and asked Him for His help on it.
This is a tawassul (seeking to approach) with servitude and monotheism, after
he has sought approach (tawassul) with the Most Beautiful Names and the Most
High Attributes. The supplication cannot be rejected with these two Tawassuls.
When
he mentioned the one who is worthy of praise affirming, praising and
glorifying, and characterized
Him with great attributes that distinguished Him from all others, and got
attached to a certain known, he was addressed with: O Who has this matter and possesses
these Attributes, we single You out for worship and seeking help, so that it
should be more indicative of the specialization and of rise from proof to witnessing
and shift from absence to presence. It is as if the known has become witnessed
and present, the intelligible became seen, and the absent became present.
The
first consideration is to self-reflect whether this verse applies to you, i.e.,
do you comply with the commands so that you know the One Whom you worship? “Come to the prayer” it is an order from your Lord, an invitation
from your Lord. Your soul said to you, “Sleep.” Satan said to you: “Sleep.” So,
whom will you respond to? Do you respond to your own whims? If you want to
affirm the meaning of the verse “You ‘alone’ we worship” with your heart and
tongue, with your soul, with your conditions, you must be free, be away, be out
of the power of your soul over you, (إن النفس لأمارة بالسوء) (Indeed, the soul is a
persistent enjoiner of evil) (Surah Yusuf: 53). Do not follow its
command, for it commands evil. If the interests of world and Hereafter conflict,
there is the saying of the Almighty: (نحن نرزقك) (We provide for you). (Surah Taha: 132)
(إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين) (You ˹alone˺ we
worship and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help). This word brings together the secrets
of all books revealed from heaven; Because people have been created to be
commanded to worship, as He said: : ومَاخَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْانْسَ إِلّاَ لِيَعْبُدُونِ (I
did not create the jinn and man except to worship Me) (Surah Al-Zariyat: 56),
the messengers have been sent and the books have been revealed for that, so
worship is Allah’s right over His servants, and Allah’s servants have no power
over it, i.e., worship without His help; Therefore, this word was between Allah
and His servant, because worship is Allah’s right over His servant, and
assistance from Allah is a favour from Him to His servant.
(إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين) (You ˹alone˺ we worship and You ˹alone˺ we
ask for help), i.e., we single You out for worship and seeking help, we worship
You and do not worship others, we seek help from You and do not seek help from
others. When we want to obey You, worship You and get close to You, then we
entrust our affair to You and disavow those around us and our strength. If You
do not help us in that, we will lose and there is no might and no power for us
except through You... Indeed, you seek Allah’s help and call Him for assistance
(O, Lord, we rely on You, so help us in Your pleasure and obedience).
We
do not worship but You, submitting
to You alone, You have no partner, and we do not ask for help of anyone but
You, You have no partner, We worship You alone, We devote to You our
supplications, fears, hope, fasting, prayers, sacrifices, vows, and other acts
of worship, all for Allah alone, for He is the One who is called, hoped, feared
and sought proximity through prayer, fasting, Haj pilgrimage, vow, sacrifice
and other actions. He Almighty said: (قُلْ إِنَّ صَلاَتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلّهِ رَبِّ
الْعَالَمِينَ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَبِذَلِكَ أُمِرْتُ وَأَنَاْ أَوَّلُ
الْمُسْلِمِينَ) “Say, "Indeed, my
prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of
the worlds. No partner has He. And this I have been commanded, and I am the
first [among you] of the Muslims” (Surah Al-An’am: 162-163)
(إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين) (You ˹alone˺ we worship
and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help) hints at affirming the meaning of (لا إله الا الله) (there is no god but Allah) by denying
everyone who is worshiped besides Allah Almighty by preceding the word (إياك) (Thee) and by devoting worship to Allah Alone
in the word (نعبد)
(You Alone we worship).
إياك نعبد) You ˹alone˺ we worship) is based on the
Divinity and (وإياك
نستعين You ˹alone˺ we ask for
help) is based on the Lordship. This is the first condition for acceptance of
worship, which is sincerity: in the Almighty’s saying: (إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين) (You ˹alone˺ we worship and You ˹alone˺ we
ask for help). To mention the object (إياك) “Thee” (before the verb
نعبد ‘‘we worship’’) denotes the exclusivity (of
the worship to Allah only), and it announces the birth of complete and
comprehensive human liberation, the liberation from slavery to anyone other
than Allah. If Allah alone is worshiped, and He alone is asked for help, then
this is the liberation of humans from the humiliation of systems, situations
and people, and from the submission to myths, illusions and superstitions.
(إياك نعبد) “You ˹alone˺ we worship”
that we should begin with ourselves openly and clearly -everyone knows well
about himself- abstaining from all those who control our hearts and emptying
our hearts to our Lord, the Mighty and Sublime (فعلم ما في قلوبهم) (and He knew what was
in their hearts) (Surah Al- Fat’h: 18) (يؤتكم خيرا مما أخذ منكم) (He will give you [something] better than
what was taken from you) (Surah Al- Anfal: 70) Indeed A lover is
obedient to whom he loves.
(إياك نعبد) “You ˹alone˺ we worship” because if you
achieve it, you will find what comes after it, rather you are given what comes
after it, that is (وإياك
نستعين You ˹alone˺ we ask for
help). If you reach the reality of (وإياك نستعين You ˹alone˺ we ask for
help), know that (وإياك
نستعين You ˹alone˺ we ask for
help) is existing, present and available. (يتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه) “and My slave keeps on
coming closer to Me through performing Nawafil (prayer or doing extra deeds
besides what is obligatory) till I love him”
It means, I helped him in my worship, I made it easy for him, I made it
possible for him, and I drew him close so that there is no one in his heart but
me, and he only walks to my pleasure. (إن الذين قالوا ربنا الله ثم استقاموا) “Indeed, those who have said, "Our Lord is Allah"
and then remained on a right course” (Surah Fussilat: 30). So, your
saying "Our Lord is Allah" is easy, but steadfastness is difficult
because the factors of deviation are many.
(إياك نعبد) “You ˹alone˺ we worship”. He,
the Almighty is worthy of worship, because to Him is praise, and He is worthy
of worship with love and veneration before hope and fear.
Worship
can only take place if the deity is known. That is why, knowing (لا إله إلا الله) “there is no true god
but Allah” (is necessary) before every knowledge, before every action, and
before every intention or plan (فاعلم أنه لا إله إلا الله ) “So know, [O Muḥammad], that there is no
deity except Allah” (Surah Muhammad: 19). There is no true deity but
Allah, He the Almighty did not create this universe with its worlds except to
be worshiped alone, (وهو
الذي في السماء إله وفي الأرض إله) "and
He is a God in the heaven, He is a God in the earth"(Surah Al-zukhruf: 84), and there is no god in the world and there is no god in the
Hereafter but He only, He is the God of the first and the last.
(إياك نعبد) “You ˹alone˺ we worship” you say it, then you
visualize all the creation, and you look at the accuracy of the creation, the
strength of the creation, the beauty of the creation, and good manners (الذي أعطى كل شيء خلقه ثم هدى) (He who gave each
thing its form and then guided [it]) (Surah Taha: 50) and that the management of creation and the
kingship is in the hands of Allah (يدبر الأمر من السماء إلى الأرض) (He arranges [each] matter from the heaven to the earth) (Surah
Al-Sajdah: 5). He has created with knowledge and this knowledge is written.
“Praise
be to Allah” is unseen, “the Lord of the worlds” is unseen, “the Day of
Judgment” is unseen, so the context turned to the word (إياك) “You Alone” (and not إياه “to He Alone”) from the
unseen to the present. (He is) a God, a Lord, a merciful, possessing the
virtues of divinity, the virtues of lordship, mercy and dread in the verse “ملك يوم الدين” the Master of the Day
of Judgment. So, the unseen deity, with those previous facts became a deity
present to you by using the pronoun of the second person (instead of the first
person), because the place of Ihsan is that you worship Allah as if you see
Him, so you achieve Ihsan after you have achieved the faith. It was as if the
servant when he praised his Lord, lauded Him and glorified Him. He drew him
close. So, the method became unseen at the beginning, then it became presence
in front of his Lord. The secret of this attention is that when the one who
praises praised Allah Almighty and described Him with great attributes, the
idea reached its limit, so he imagined himself in the presence of the Lordship
and addressed his Lord, and therefore the speech turned from praise to
supplication, and supplication requires speech.
The essence
of worship is humility and submissiveness, from which the slave is called (Abd) a slave, due to his humbleness,
submission, calmness, reverence, and obedience to his Master and his Owner.
From this word is the phrase الناقة
الذلول the submissive
she-camel, i.e., comfortable and ready to ride in needs. There is another
phrase from the same word “الطريق
المعبد” which means “the paved
road” i.e., Easy to walk on it. So, it is worship, submission and humiliation
to Allah out of love and veneration. If a person makes his heart worship, the
texts of revelation reflect on him; in compliance with the command and
avoidance of the prohibition, and as hard as the heart is, it will be restless
and stubborn.
Worship
is everything by which Allah is worshiped, whether it is something that is obligatory or something which is
prohibitive, or something that is allowed to do, or something which is not allowed
to do. This includes what is permissible and what a person does for his
benefit, if it is intended to draw closer to Allah with righteousness in
obedience to Him or manifesting His grace.
Worship,
in the sense of devotion, has two conditions:
The first condition:
Knowing the Deity, the Mighty and Sublime, in
order to achieve humiliation and submission to the Deity. It is required that
His knowledge should be realized, and the way to that is the knowledge of the
names, attributes, meanings of Lordship and His Perfection-Glory be to Him.
Allah, Glory be to Him, has absolute perfection in every aspect and in regard
to His lordship over His creation by His grace and favour vis-a-vis the
servant’s shortcomings (كلا
لما يقض ما أمره) (No! He [i.e., man] has
not yet accomplished what He commanded him.) (Surah Abasa:23). So, he
loves Him and gets broken, humiliated, submissive and humbled for him.
The
second condition:
That
is the knowledge of his religion, for the condition of love is to follow the
commands of the deity and avoid His prohibitions. His commands and prohibitions
are His religion that He has revealed. It is not possible to follow His
religion except after knowing Him, and therefore knowledge of Allah’s religion is
a condition in worship.
Considering
the perfection of love with perfection of humiliation is the origin of
deification (worship) and
worship combines the perfection of love and the perfection of submission. So,
the worshiper is loving and submissive. The person who loves but does not
submit to the beloved comes out of the ambit of worship like the one who loves
to draw close to another beloved. Whoever submits to the one whom he does not
love is like the one who submits to the oppressor against his will. So, the
basis of worship is love and veneration, and worship is based on two great
things, which are:
1-
Love and submission to Him (because of His benevolence, favour, and the feeling
of shortcoming in His right).
2- Glorification
and praise (for His merits and perfections)
They
result in what’s mentioned in the verse: (إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْخَيْرَاتِ وَيَدْعُونَنَا
رَغَباً وَرَهَباً وَكَانُوا لَنَا خَاشِعِينَ) (Indeed, they used to hasten to good deeds and supplicate Us
in hope and fear, and they were to Us humbly submissive) (Surah Al-Ambiya:
90)
With
love there is desire and hope, and with veneration there is fear and dread. That is why worship implies commands and prohibitions: commands
are based on desire and seeking to reach the one who commands, and prohibitions
are based on glorification and fear from this Great Being.
If
you love God Almighty, you desire what He has, desire to reach Him, seek the path that leads to Him and obey Him in the most perfect
manner. If you glorify him, you will be afraid of him. Whenever you are intent
on committing a sin, you feel the greatness of the Creator, the Exalted, and
His watch over you, and you leave it. This is from the grace of Allah upon you.
when you are destined to commit a sin, you will find Allah before you, so you
are afraid and you distance yourself from the sin; because you worship Allah
with desire and fear.
God
Almighty has made slavery a description of the most perfect of His creation and
the most beloved of them to Him who
are prophets and messengers, just as He made it a description of the believers
whom He chose. He described His Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessing of
Allah be upon him, the best of his creation and the seal of his messengers in
the best of His places, which is the revelation of the book to him (أنزل على عبده الكتاب) (who has sent down upon His Servant [Muḥammad
(ﷺ)] the Book) (Surah Al-Kahf: 1) as
well as He described with that, righteous among the believers ( وعباد الرحمن) (and the servants of the Most Merciful) (Surah
Al-Furqan: 63). The Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessing of Allah be
upon him, declared ihsaan in worship to be the highest level of religion (أن تعبد الله كأنك تراه) (that you worship Allah
as if you see Him).
Worship
is not a hardship and difficulty for a Muslim to rest from, rather it is love and glorification of Allah Almighty, which sends
a sincere desire to God and arouses great longing for Him, Glory be to Him. The
Muslim humbles himself before his Lord and Master, calling Him and conversing
with Him, coming to Him, hoping for His mercy, begging for His bounty,
generosity, and nearness.
Loving
Him, Glory be to Him, necessitates worshiping Him, obeying Him, pursuing His pleasure, and exerting effort in worshiping
Him and turning to Him. This motive is the most complete and strongest of the
motives of servitude, even if it is assumed that commands, prohibitions,
rewards and punishments do not exist.
The
cause of creation is worship, and it is the first intent to make us happy and to regulate our movement, for He, Glory be to
Him, created to be worshiped. All creations are as slaves over whom compulsive
matters apply. But, His legitimate intention is to have servants and to include
in the servants everyone who gives up his choice in life to the will of his
Lord in the obligatory duties. So, among the servants, come those who bring
love, while they have options not to come (عباد الرحمن) (Servants of the Most Merciful) (Surah
Al-Zukhruf: 19) (ياعبادي
الذين أسرفوا) (Say, "O My
servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning],) (Surah
Al-Zumar: 53) (إلا
عبادك منهم المخلصين) (Except, among them, Your chosen
servants.") (Al-Hijr: 40)
Allah,
Glory be to Him, is worshiped, praised, and loved because He is worthy of that and deserves it. Rather, what He deserves from His servants is
something that their power or will cannot reach, nor can their minds imagine,
and none of His creation can ever worship Him as His worship should be, and
cannot fulfil His right of love and praise. That is why, he, the best of His
creation, the most perfect of them, the most familiar with Him, the most
beloved to Him, and the most obedient to Him, said: ( لا أحصي ثناء عليك ) “I cannot count Your
praises” And
he informed that his deed, PBUH, does not necessitate salvation, so he said: ( لن ينجي أحدا منكم عمله . قالوا : ولا أنت يا رسول الله ؟! قال : ولا
أنا إلا أن يتغمدني الله برحمة منه وفضل ) "The deeds of
anyone of you will not save you (from the (Hell) Fire)." They said,
"Even you (will not be saved by your deeds), O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)?" He said,
"No, even I (will not be saved) unless and until Allah bestows His Mercy
on me.”
May the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him as per the number of what He
created in the heavens, the number of what He created on the earth, the number
of what is between them, and the number of what He will create.
According
to a Marfu hadith (authentic Hadith), among the angels are those who prostrate to Allah and do not
raise their head since He was created, and among them are those who kneel and
do not raise their head from bowing since He was created until the Day of
Resurrection, and they will say on the Day of Resurrection: (سبحانك ما عبدناك حق عبادتك) (Glory be to You, we worship You, the right of your worship)
The
three verses before the verse
“You Alone we worship” are the foundations of worship with perfection of love
and praise, and require praise and thanksgiving, and it is only for grace,
because He is the Lord of the worlds. This requires the perfection of His love
and all the worlds are encompassed by His mercy, (وإن من شيئ إلا يسبح بحمده) " And
there is not a thing except that it exalts [Allah] by His praise” (Surah
Al-Isra: 44) and that there is nothing that does not glorify His praise and
praise is the evidence of His love. All beings love him, and if you see in all
the living worlds, you would see the love of God throughout this universe (قالتا أتينا طائعين) (They said, "We
have come willingly) (Surah Fussilat 11) and they are inanimate. And the
obedience requires love.
One
of the requirements of devotional love is that the servant should believe that he is not able to thank
God as is due to Him, for these religious blessings of faith, knowledge and fear,
and the worldly blessings such as health and money, in addition to the
blessings in the Hereafter, and the great reward for doing a little deed in a
short life and multiplying the good deeds by tens of folds. So, how can he fulfil
the right of thanksgiving, for thanksgiving itself is a blessing from God that
requires thanksgiving (سبحانك
لا أحصي ثناء عليك) (Glory be to You, I
cannot praise You)
Every
lover reaches out to his beloved with the hope from his heart that he will
accept, that he will
turn, that he will come near, and this is greed and hope, and there is a fear
that He would not look and would not turn. If the perfection of love, the
perfection of hope, and the perfection of fear are achieved, the highest places
of servitude are achieved, and perfections vary according to the knowledge of
the beloved, so knowledge of the beloved becomes the highest level of worship (شهد الله أنه لا إله إلا هو والملائكة وأولو العلم)
(Allah witnesses that there is no deity except Him, and [so do] the
angels and those of knowledge) (Surah Ali Imran 18). So, He placed them
with the angels because of their greatness.
So
if you are afraid of the Day of Judgment, you turn to worship the Lord of the
worlds (إنا نخاف من ربنا يوما عبوسا قمطريرا فوقاهم
الله شر ذلك اليوم) (Indeed, We fear from
our Lord a Day austere and distressful. So Allah will protect them from the
evil of that Day and give them radiance and happiness) (Surah Al-Insan:
10-11) because He is the Lord of the Worlds, because He is the Most
Merciful, because He is the King of the Day of Judgment, and because they said:
You do we worship. So, worship is based on love, and love is based on
benevolence. So, who is more benevolent to you than God? Whatever blessing you
have is from God.
He
is able, Glory be to Him, to make worship compulsory (إن
نشأ ننزل عليهم من السماء آية فظلت أعناقهم لها خاضعين) (If We willed, We could send down to them from the sky a sign
for which their necks would remain humbled). (Surah Al-Shurah: 4) But
worship comes with love and not with coercion, so whoever disobeys and
disbelieves is not outside of the will of God (إن أكرمكم عند الله أتقاكم) (most noble of you in the sight of Allah is
the most righteous of you) (Surah Al-Hujurat: 13) The highest of those
who attained the degrees of piety and servitude (meaning servants) are the
prophets and their master, Muhammad, -PBUH- where he is at the top. He is the
one who achieved the highest levels of worship to God as He loves it, and as it
appears in His saying (we worship).
The
reality of the slave of Allah is submission that frees you from submitting to
anyone else, for it is
slavery that bequeaths a freedom. So, do not pay attention to anyone else from
his creation, no matter how high their worldly rank and status is (وتوكل على الحي الذي لايموت) “And rely upon the Ever-Living who does not die” (Surah
Al-Furqan: 58). So, You Alone we worship and cherish our submission to this
praised God with His perfection and majesty. In fact, it is a mercy for them as
through this they are saved for the humility of servitude to others (It is
enough for my honour that I am a slave who is celebrated by his master without
fixed schedule… He is in His Most Honourable, most beloved position, but I meet
him when and where I love)
Among
the subtleties of the plural form in (نعبد) (You Alone we worship) is that it has the sense that if you see one of the Muslims more
worshiping of Allah than you, so rejoice that you enter with him into the group
(هم القوم لا
يشقى بهم جليسهم) (They are the people by
reason of whom their associate will not be miserable)
Whoever
has true knowledge of his Master, it is not right for him to rely on his
worldly affairs, rather his determination will take him to the path that leads
to his goal of the pleasure of his Lord and His paradise, so the servant traverses
it with worship, and from Him is the help; He Almighty said: ﴿إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ﴾ “You Alone we worship, and You alone we ask
for help”. Worship absolves of polytheism, and seeking help absolves of
strength and power, and an entrusting (the affairs) to God Almighty takes
place. To these two meanings the entire religion returns. This meaning has been
described in other verses of Qur’an, as He Almighty said: فَاعْبُدْهُ وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَيْهِ وَمَارَبُّكَ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا
تَعْمَلُونَ “so worship Him and rely
upon Him. And your Lord is not unaware of that which you do.” (Surah Hud:
123) قُلْ هُوَ
الرَّحْمَنُ آمَنَّا بِهِ وَعَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا “Say, "He is the Most Merciful; we have believed in Him,
and upon Him we have relied” (Surah Mulk: 29) رب الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ لا إلَهَ إلِاهُوَ فَاتَّخِذْهُ
وَكيِلًا “[He is] the Lord of the
East and the West; there is no deity except Him, so take Him as Disposer of
[your] affairs” (Surah Al-Muzzammil: 9) That is why some of the
predecessors said: Al-Fatihah is the secret of the Qur’an, and its secret is
this word.
The
verse ﴿إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ
وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ﴾ “You Alone we worship,
and You alone we ask for help” came between the servant and his Lord, and it is good that it comes immediately after what God Almighty
mentioned about the Day of Recompense where He will reward every person for
every deed. He also told His servants for what He created them and for what He
will reward them, i.e., His worship. It means that we devote to You Alone the
obedience, worship and seeking help.
﴿وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ﴾
“and You alone we ask for
help” We seek help from you in the sincerity of our servitude to you, although after that tyranny arises that comes between us and (our
servitude) from within our souls that is ever inclined to evil or from outside
it, then Allah teaches us not to feel defeated and humiliated, rather we should
seek His help at that time, and that we should prepare to face falsehood with whatever
external resources we have, and we should seek the help of Allah, for He
answers the call of the compelled who has exhausted all the resources that He
provided him with.
To
mention the deity Who is asked for help, in the word (إياك You Alone) (before the word نستعين), is to say that it has the respectful
gesture for Allah by prioritizing His name over the actions of the creatures,
and repeating the word (إياك You Alone) is to denote the strength and
necessity of specification, and this is appropriate for the condition of the
servant with His Lord. So, he is standing in front of Him, supplicating him
with submission and humility in the prayer, and he affirms submission in
conversing with Him, so it fits the condition of the present, not the condition
of the absent. We single you out for worship and seeking help from, implying
exclusivity, as if he says: We worship You, and we do not worship anyone else,
and we seek help from You, and we do not seek help from anyone else.
To
You, O our Lord, alone, we humble, submit, and turn, for You have taken over us with Your care and overwhelmed us with
Your mercy. We single out You with the request for assistance in Your obedience
and in all our affairs, we do not address with this request anyone but You. For
you are worthy of worship, you are competent over all things, and the
All-Knowing of the inner and outer things. Nothing is hidden from You, neither
a feeling nor an intention.
So,
you reflect: He used the word “we worship”, He did not use “I worship”. Because
it has humility, need, and submission, that is, I am one of your servants, so I am not worthy to come to
your great honour alone, but I join myself to all your servants. Perhaps my
worship may be accepted and my supplication may be answered, and if he had
said, “You Alone I worship,” he would have exalted himself and would have
entered the door of pride as if he was the only one in the field.
Teaching
this humility to the believers in the plural form by God Almighty is more
receptive to acceptance, blessing and an answer. The worshiper is deficient in himself, so he addresses his Lord in
the language of the group of worshippers. Even if a person is praying alone,
his prayer is not valid if he says "إياك أعبد" “You Alone I
worship” or "اهدني" “guide me”. He has to say ٱهْدِنَا وإِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ all
of it in plural form so that a person knows that he is a part of a nation and
that he is not alone in this universe. And it is a reminder that this religion
is a firm bond among the Muslims of different races, languages and distance
between their regions and their countries.
And
He repeated the pronoun (إياك) (you) again for generating
interest and as an
indication of the attachment of these matters to each of the two verbs.
Re-pronouncing the pronoun is due to the severe necessity, that cannot be
expressed if it is omitted. If you say to a king, for example, “You I love and
you I fear,” it has the exclusivity of love, fear, and care for him, which is
not in your saying “You I love and fear.”
Worship
has been mentioned before seeking help, because the first is a means to the second. Presenting the means
is a reason for achieving the demands, and it proves that they do not rely on
performing acts of worship, rather, it is Allah’s help that makes it easier for
them to perform it. He did not mention the deeds that are sought help on so
that the request includes all the righteous deeds towards which the soul of the
human being is directed.
And
prioritizing worship over seeking help is from the chapter of giving precedence
to the general over the particular and
also from the chapter of prioritizing the right of Allah Almighty over the
right of His servant, and because worship is the greatest purpose and it is the
end of creation and of the servant, and seeking help is a means to it. And that
whoever prioritizes Allah’s right over everything and strives for good and
achieves worship to Allah alone, Allah Almighty will grant him help and
guardianship and make it easy for him in this world and the Hereafter, and He
takes care of him with His kindness and mercy. His kindness protects him from
what He warns from, and His mercy satisfies him with what He appreciates. This
indicates that supplication after worship is desirable.
So,
“Thee we worship” is related to His divinity and His glorious name (Allah) and
(You Alone we ask for help)
refers to His Lordship and His glorious name (The Lord). So, He has mentioned
(You Alone we worship) before (You Alone we ask for help), just as the name
(Allah) preceded the name (The Lord) in the beginning of the surah, And because
(You Alone do we worship) is the part of the Lord and it is from the first
section in the surah in which there is praise for Allah. And (You do we ask for
help) is the part of the servant, so it is from the third section that he has
(Guide us to the straight path). Worship is performed only by the sincere,
while seeking help is performed by the sincere and insincere both, and because
worship is gratitude for His blessings upon you, and seeking help is His Providence
for you.
The
secret of combining worship and seeking help is that it cuts off the entrance
to polytheism in worship,
which is seeking help from other than God, and it is the door in which every
polytheist falls, for polytheism in divinity is the most dangerous form of
polytheism at all. Because the matter of lordship - which is the recognition of
Allah the Mighty and Sublime - is a matter that is close to the soul and
nature, and does not need a major evidence, and the deviation in the subject of
(His beautiful) names and attributes also has taken place, But it cannot be
measured by the deviation that occurred in the subject of polytheism, in the
monotheism of divinity; That is why we should take great care in calling people
to the oneness of divinity; Because it is the origin of religion, and the basis
of monotheism.
And
servitude is a great position in which man is honoured, for God Almighty has named His Messenger (His servant) in his most
honourable place in the Qur’an (أنزل على عبده الكتاب) (He revealed to His servant the Book) (Surah
Al-Kahaf: 1_ (أسرى
بعبده ليلا) (Exalted is He who took His Servant [i.e.,
Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ)]), (Surah Al-Isra: 1) it means
absolute liberation from all servitude to other than Allah Almighty.
Worship
is something in which the balance is achieved, where a person works for his Hereafter and works for his worldly
life too, while he is connected to Allah and loyal to Him, so he will be
rewarded for his purely worldly deeds if he intends by them to draw closer to
Allah. He is brought up on strength and resistance to desires. If the soul is
purified, gets high and clean, it flows with goodness, sacrifice, and generosity
towards those around it, so worship does not turn into a habit, rather the
social content of worship is achieved.
Know
that the worship becomes the (real) worship if it is taken from the two revelations and aims at getting the
pleasure of Allah alone, i.e., sincerity (You Alone we worship) and compliance to
His Messenger (Guide us to the straight path) – these two matters make up the
worship, as the Almighty and the Majestic, said (يا أيها الذين آمنوا اركعوا و اسجدوا واعبدوا ربكم وافعلوا الخير
لعلكم تفلحون) “O you who have believed, bow and prostrate
and worship your Lord and do good - that you may succeed”. (Surah Al-Hajj:
77)
إياك نعبد وإياك نستعين (You Alone we worship and You Alone we seek help) It includes
two types of monotheism, namely:
monotheism of Lordship and monotheism of Divinity, which includes worship in
the name of the Lord and the name of God. He is worshiped by His divinity, is
sought help by His lordship, and He guides to the straight path with His mercy.
The beginning of the surah is the remembrance of His name (Allah, the Lord and
the Merciful) in accordance with the request of the seeker of His worship, help
and guidance, and He is the only one to give all of that, no one helps to
worship Him but He, and no one guides but He.
Whoever
wants true happiness, let him adhere to the threshold of servitude (من
عمل صالحا من ذكر أو أنثى وهو مؤمن
فلنحيينه حياة طيبة) (Whoever does
righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer - We will surely
cause him to live a good life,) (Surah Al-Nahl 97). Whoever wants
happiness should do a lot of worship, for it is the closest path to God and to
God’s love for you. As for as your love for Allah is concerned, it is an innate
and natural matter, but that Allah loves you, the owner, the Creator, the
Self-Sufficient loves you, is the highest and greatest purpose. So, preserve
the obligatory duties more than the voluntary ones. Understand the
comprehensiveness of worship to make everything in your life an act of worship
( قل إن صلاتي و
نسكي و محياي ومماتي لله رب العالمين ) (Say, "Indeed, my
prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of
the worlds.) (Surah Al-An’am: 162). Your smile is a charity, a kind word
is a charity, an injurious thing that you remove from the road is a charity, you
are rewarded for the lust that you fulfil in lawful ways. The entire matter is
to complete the servitude to God, both outwardly and inwardly. So, the
movements of his soul and his body are loved by God. The perfection of the
servant’s servanthood is his obedience to his Lord in loving what He loves and
exerting effort in doing that, agreeing with Him in hating what he hates and
making effort in leaving it. This happens only with the reassured soul.
Worship
and seeking help are two correlates, one of which is not achieved without the
other, so worship is
not fulfilled without God’s help for the servant, and God’s help is not
obtained without His worship, with both of them faith and perfect obedience are
achieved. Salvation is by doing both. Pure worship is a disassociation from
polytheism, and seeking help from God alone is a disassociation from power and
strength, and complete submission to Him, the Mighty and Sublime. There is no
way to salvation except by performing them, and seeking help came after
worship, while it is included in that, because the servant, in all his acts of
worship, needs the help of Allah Almighty. For if Allah does not help him, he
will not get what he wants by doing commands and avoiding prohibitions, then
through them eternal happiness and deliverance from all evils will be achieved.
The
reality of seeking help is trust in God and reliance on Him, the origin of this is the knowledge of the heart about its Master,
and that He is the One who is alone in creation and management, harm and
benefit, giving and prevention, and that whatever He wills is done even if
people do not want it, and whatever He does not will is not done, even if
people will it. So, he should not depend but only on Him and should not entrust
His affairs but only to Him, and his heart should not be reassured except with
Him. The condition of the one who seeks help (of Allah) is like the case of a
child with his parents regarding what he hopes or fears. You do not find his
heart turning to other than his parents, and you see him fully trusting and
relying on them. This is the condition of the one who trusts (Allah), and who
is like this with Allah, Allah is sufficient for him. Allah Almighty said: (وَمَنْ يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ ) (And whoever relies upon Allah - then He
is sufficient for him.) (Surah Al-Talaq: 3), i.e., sufficient for him.
Trust
and seeking help are half of the religion, and the second half is repentance
and worship, the whole life
is nothing but worship and seeking help. Everything that a slave faces in his
life either calls Him to submission and surrender, or calls Him to ask and seek
His help. The most beneficial of them is seeking help in the pleasure of Allah
(اللهم أعنى على
ذكرك وشكرك وحسن عبادتك) “O Allah, help me to
remember You, to give You thanks and to perform Your worship in the best
manner”
(إياك نستعين) “You Alone we ask for help”
the believer understands from it that the world is governed by the law of
causes, and God, his Lord, has created the tangible, material causes in this
world, and they are all to be for him a friend, helper, and co-operator. Therefore,
illusions will not fill his mind or heart towards tangible and intangible
forces, and fears will not arise between him and them, because he believes in
Allah alone, worships Allah alone, and seeks help from Allah alone.
All
these powers are from the creation of His Lord (من
شر ما خلق) (from the evil of what He created) (Surah
Al-Falaq: 2), he contemplates them, becomes familiar with them, knows their
secrets, and seeks God’s help against them or seeks refuge with Him from their
evils. So, these (powers) give him their
help, and reveal to him their secrets, so he lives with them in a friendly
universe.
Although
seeking help is a type of worship and supplication is the most specific of its
conditions, the believer
knows for sure that he will not worship Him until after He helps him so he
supplicates to Him with that. (وإياك نستعين) (And you Alone we ask
for help) Here you have been overwhelmed with peace and tranquillity that you
have given him the reins of yourself to help you in doing good. And (إياك نعبد) (You Alone we worship) is the purpose, so you
will not be able to worship your Lord except with Him, and here comes the means
(You Alone we ask for help).
(إياك نعبد) (You Alone we worship) to limit and
singularize the foundation of monotheism of divinity and the individuality of
God in worship because it is
the basis of religion and a right of God Almighty over the servant. He
acknowledges it (هذا
بيني وبينك) (this is between me and
my servant)
and then he seeks help from God Almighty for that because he has no authority
even on monotheism, let alone other matters of this world and the hereafter
except with God’s help.
Since
the servant is weak and poor, he needed to ask God Almighty for help (He said, “You Alone we ask for help) and seeking help here is general,
so we seek help from you, O God, for everything., although its greatest purpose
is getting help in worship, as if he is saying: O our Lord, we want to obey
you, worship you, and draw near to you. If you do not help us, we will lose.
And
the Sheikh of Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may God have mercy on him, says: I reflected on the most beneficial supplication, then I found that
it was asking for help in matters of His pleasures, then I saw it in Al-Fatihah
in (It is You we alone worship and You we seek help alone), That is why, it was
narrated that the bearers of the throne were able to carry the throne with the
saying “There is no might nor power except with God.” And it has been narrated
in the Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet, PBUH said: (كنز من كنوز الجنة) “It is one of the
treasures of Paradise.”
And just as “You Alone we worship” absolves us from polytheism, so “Thee we ask
for help” absolves us from might, power, and strength, and entrusts us to Allah
the One, the Prevailing.
And
seeking help brings together two principles:
First: trust in God and attachment to His power and mercy. Second:
sincerity of trust, certainty, and reliance on Him. And with it, the heart
turns to God alone, not to causes, as if they are nothing in themselves if God
does not give benefit from them. So, seeking help is relying on God Almighty to
bring benefits and repel harm, while trusting Him in achieving that.
So,
we need a lot the doctrine of seeking help from God and relying on Him to be
engraved in minds and to be rooted in the hearts, so whoever trusts in God as he should trust him, He will be
sufficient, and whoever seeks help from Him, Allah will help and protect him.
Who
is the helper when problem
comes, the calamity descends, and famine surrounds all? (You Alone we ask for
help).
Who
is the helper if faith
weakens, the trials of time multiply, and the brothers are divided? (You Alone
we ask for help)
Who
is the helper at the loss of
the beloved, the death of friends and befalling of difficulties? (You Alone we
ask for help).
Who
is the helper if hearts
become hard and sins multiply and defects appear? (You Alone we ask for help).
Who
is the helper if pride spreads,
magic abounds, and poetry turns hypocrite? (You Alone we ask for help).
Who
is the helper if the
relationship becomes more corrupt, the debt multiplies, and the evil eye harms?
(You Alone we ask for help)
It is
a fulfilment of your saying (لا حول ولا قوة الا بالله) (there is no
might and no power but with God), in which you absolve yourself of strength and
power except by God’s permission,
(Thee
we worship) is a remedy
for show-off, because it is a reminder of the position of sincerity, and (Thee
do we seek help) is a remedy for arrogance because it reminds the servant of
his need for his Lord and his poverty towards him, because in his saying (and
You we seek help from), there is a fulfilment of the word (لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله) (there is no might and
no power but with God.
Among
the most dangerous diseases of the heart are two diseases that affect the
heart, damage and
corrupt it and take away faith from it: Pride and arrogance. If the hypocrite
contemplates the reality of slavery and the position of divinity, he would not
turn to humans; They have nothing of the matter, and if the arrogant looks at
the reality of seeking help, he would see his smallness, his inability, weakness
and need. So, the cure for hypocrisy is (You Alone do we worship) and the cure
for arrogance is (You Alone do we ask for help) because whoever is saved from
the disease of hypocrisy and the disease of pride and arrogance and from the
disease of ignorance and misguidance with (Guide us to the straight path), He is
relieved of his diseases and ailments, and the blessing has been completed upon
him.
And
religion is summarized in His saying (You do we worship). It has the pillars of Islam from the worship
of the hearts and all the limbs, and in all the emotions and movements of life
we need (You Alone we do seek help). Nothing is outside this verse. He feels
the saying (I draw near to You in worship and I need Your help, O my Lord, in
fulfilling all my needs, the most important of which is my worship of You.
Religion
and the world have been mentioned in His saying (You Alone we worship and You Alone we seek help from). So, prayer
is a worship, you need to be helped in order to perform it, and fasting is a
worship, so you need to be helped to do it. Even the things of the abstract
world need help, if you intend to perform them (You Alone we worship) by
drawing closer to God through them ( And You Alone we seek help in) and if you
seek God’s help to fulfil them.
The
aesthetics of (You Alone we ask for help) are the most important issues that
God is sought for help to
achieve it (Guide me, Lord, to the straight path) the path of Islam and the
Qur’an and adherence to the way of Muhammad, may God’s blessings and peace be
upon him, in worship and behaviours in every breath of my life, in the minutes
and details of life.
(You
Alone we ask for help) I do not seek
help except with You, and
do not resort to anyone except to You in revealing my distress and answering my
supplication, because You ask Your servants to ask You (You are near) Lord,
help me in the answer to my supplication, O my Lord, I need you, the greatest
need is guidance, fulfil it, my Lord, guide me to the right religion, make me
firm upon it, make me see it, teach me its completeness, its rules, and its
details in every movement and point, for Islam is the true blessing, and it is
uprightness on the path with those who have been rewarded. O God, I ask You for
help, O God (You Alone we ask for help) - guide us
Worship
is the excursion of those who intend, the comfort of the lovers, and the joy of
those who know, it brings
comfort to their eyes, and in it lies the joy of their hearts, and from it is
the comfort of their souls, to it the prophet, may God’s blessings and peace be
upon him, pointed by saying: (أَرِحْنَا
بِهَا يَا بِلَالُ) “O Bilal, give us rest by
it”.
Seeking
the help is your veneration for the attributes of His generosity, your descending into the arena of His goodness, and your
surrendering to the hand of His judgment, so that you go to Him with great
hope, and take a big step towards Him. Those who turn away from the place of
worship and seeking the help and those who are preoccupied with the
trivialities of the world shall be forsaken. O God, we seek your help, we seek your
guidance, we believe in you, we rely on you, we seek your forgiveness, and we
repent to you.
From
here, the directions of reaching appear in “You Alone we worship and You Alone we ask for help” as it has the
rightness of will and action. So, the goal of the servant gets clear for him in
his life, which is worship and he does not become preoccupied with anything
else, and the means that leads to it is to seek help, so he does not seek help
from anything else.
In
the Almighty’s saying “You
Alone we worship”, there’s a proof of prophethood, for the way of worship is
known only through His Messengers. In His saying “You Alone we ask for help” is
the faith in Destiny, because the servant asks Allah for help Who is competent
over all things and Who manages as He wills.
To
mention the sentence ﴿ إياك نستعين ﴾ “You
Alone we ask for help” just after the sentence ﴿ إياك نعبد ﴾ “Thee Alone we worship” indicates that
whoever strives for good, achieved worship for Allah, indeed Allah will provide
him with assistance, but the degrees of help and authority vary according to
people’s differences in worship. The more a person worships Allah, the more
help and support he receives, so if you adhere to His servitude and come under His
slavery, He will help you on it. And the more the servant completes his
servitude, the help of Allah will be more for him, and because the sentence إياك نعبد is for Him and the sentence وإياك نستعين is by Him, And what is
for Him is related to His love and contentment, and what is by Him is related
to His will, and the entire universe is related to His will, so what is for him
takes precedence over what is by him.
Whoever
is in a state between worship and seeking help, then success and guidance are hoped for him; ﴿ وَمَا تَوْفِيقِي إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ
وَإِلَيْهِ أُنِيبُ ﴾ “And my success is not
but through Allah. Upon Him I have relied, and to Him I return” (Surah Hud: 88).
Hence, there was the advice of the lover (the prophet), may Allah’s blessing
and peace be upon him, to his beloved Muadh bin Jabal, may Allah be pleased
with him: ((يا معاذ، والله
إني لأحبك؛ فلا تنسَ أن تقولَ دُبرَ كلِّ صلاة: اللهم أعني على ذِكرك وشُكْرك،
وحُسن عبادتك)) ((By Allah, I love
you, Mu'adh. Never miss to recite this supplication after every (prescribed)
prayer: "O Allah, help me in remembering You, in giving You thanks, and
worshipping You well."
An advice of the most useful supplication, which the slave needs in all his
circumstances.
Third Part
Supplication
Guid us to the right path
Asking
for guidance to the greatest demand and the most honourable desire
This
is the third and final part of Al-Fatihah. When worship and seeking help from God Almighty alone have been
mentioned, asking for guidance to the clear path came; because with the
guidance to it the worship gets valid, and whoever is not guided to the path
that leads to his goal, he cannot achieve his goal.
Sirat
is the way, it is the easy way.
Literal meaning of Sirat is the way that has five qualities: straight - easy -
traversed – wide – and it has ease and comfort. So, the straight path is the
widest path, and the straight path is the shortest and closest line connecting
two points, it is moderate and flat, without warping or twisting.
Siraat
is very clear path, and
the Sabeel is the path that emanates from it. The Subul are the roads that
branch off from the Siraat (the paths of goodness, the paths of evil), actually
the word Siraat (صراط) was witten in Arabic as (سراط) with the letter (س) which is from Sarata (سرط) that means “it has
swallowed” because it (Siraat the way) swallows those who walk on it.
Here
is an important benefit: The
English derived from the Arabic language a lot of Arabic words, so they say:
“Straight” and “street” which means way in English because Arabic is the oldest
existing language and the other languages are after it. There is no language
older than it.
Therefore,
the word Siraat has no plural in the Qur’an, and it has not been mentioned in
the Qur’an except in a singular form, because what is meant by it is Islam: (وَأَنَّ هَـذَا صِرَاطِي مُسْتَقِيمًا فَاتَّبِعُوهُ وَلاَ
تَتَّبِعُواْ السُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَن سَبِيلِهِ) “And, [moreover], this is My path, which is straight, so
follow it; and do not follow [other] ways, for you will be separated from His
way” (Surah Al-An’am: 153). This is the example of the religion of Islam
vis-à-vis all other religions. It (the religion of Islam) leads to Allah and to
a home that is next to Him, with its ease and spaciousness. And the rest of the
roads, even if they are many, all of them, with their narrowness and hardship,
do not lead to Allah, but cut off from Him and lead to the abode of His wrath
and anger, and the neighbourhood of His enemies.
There
is no way to your happiness except with your uprightness on the path of God, and there is no way for you to be upright except with your
guidance, for guidance to the straight path is a great blessing and a great favour.
In guidance, souls find their comfort, through guidance the hearts find
happiness and pleasure, for it brings together the interests of religion, the
world and the Hereafter. The Hereafter is the demand of everyone and we all
need it at all times, especially in a difficult time in which temptations,
delusions and deviations abound. O Lord, guide me to what you love and are
satisfied with in all the matters that confront me in this life, then
strengthen me and help me to act according to that you have shown me.
Guidance
is the good life: (قَالَ اهْبِطَا مِنْهَا جَمِيعاً بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ
فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ مِنِّي هُدًى فَمَنْ اتَّبَعَ هُدَايَ فَلا يَضِلُّ وَلا
يَشْقَى) “[Allah] said,
"Descend from it [i.e., Paradise] - all, [your descendants] being enemies
to one another. And if there should come to you guidance from Me - then whoever
follows My guidance will neither go astray [in the world] nor suffer [in the
Hereafter]” (Surah Taha:123) Among the meanings of “Guide us”:
• Lead us to you, take us to you, be our
guide, and ease our way to you.
•
Teach us, guide us, help us, and endow us with useful knowledge, so that we may
worship you according to what you have legislated.
•
Make us firm so that we do not deviate, turn away, and get astray with our
desires, so our Lord, strengthen us with guidance and increase our faith.
In
order to achieve guidance, it is necessary to know the ruling, and what God and His Messenger want from him, and to act on this
ruling by having a strong faith in the heart of the servant that leads him to
action. When the servant says, he calls his Lord and asks him saying, “Lord,
guide us to what you love and are satisfied with in all the matters of life
that confront us, then strengthen us and help us to act upon what we know, you
have guided us to and taught us.”
Guidance
has degrees, and those who are guided have classes, among them are those who reach the degree of friendship, and those
who are below that, according to their guidance, they walk on the path. For God
Almighty has two paths: a path in this world and a path in the hereafter. And your
walking on the path of the hereafter - which is the bridge erected on the board
of Hell that people will walk on according to their deeds – will be in
proportion to your walk on the earthly path: The earthly path is the path of
God by obeying Him in what He commanded and avoiding what He forbade. He
Almighty said: { وَإِنَّكَ
لَتَهْدِي إِلَى صرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ . صِرَاطِ اللهِ الَّذِي لَهُ مَا فِي
السَّمَوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ } “And indeed, [O Muḥammad],
you guide to a straight path -The path of Allah, to whom belongs whatever is in
the heavens and whatever is on the earth” (Surah Shura 52-53).
The
servant is in need of this guidance the most, otherwise he is cut off. So, he is in need of God’s guidance; to know the truth and realize
it, then to love it and to be capable over it, then to make it his purpose,
then to make him do it, then to establish him on it and continue with it, then
to remove from it the obstacles and barriers, all of this one needs to be
guided to the path of truth in general, then after that he needs a guidance
that is more special than the first to know its details and the details of its
positions, then he needs to be guided by his master to keep him away from the
path of those who deviate from the truth, the path of the people of anger who
have turned away from following the truth intentionally and stubbornly, and the
path of the misguided people who turned away from it due to ignorance and
misguidance, so whoever God guides to that, he has been guided to the one
straight path that all God’s prophets, messengers and their followers walked
on; of the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs and the righteous.
After
Twassul (to come close to Allah) to Allah Almighty, by praising Him, glorifying
Him, and lauding Him by His Names and Attributes and after Twassul to Him with His servitude and monotheism, after
acknowledgment of His servitude and His Oneness and disavowal from power and
strength except through Him, Glory be to Him, came the question of the most
important demand and the most successful desire (اهدنا الصراط المستقيم ) (Guide us to the
straight path). It’s related to his attainment of the most honourable talent
and the best gift, which is asking Allah for guidance! and this is evidence
that the Book of God Almighty is a book of guidance for those who seek it.
Guidance
is the most beautiful thing that is sought and the most honourable thing that
is bestowed. Therefore, God
guides His servants to two means with which hardly a supplication can be
rejected; Praying to Him by His Names and Attributes, and getting close to Him
by worshiping Him. The request for guidance comes. The believers vary in the
depth and sincerity of their realization and their certainty of the aforementioned
Tawassul, and hence God’s response to them varies according to each one. If you
achieve worship with praise and monotheism and asking Him for help, then seek
guidance in order to be upright until you reach the complete grace in Paradise.
His
description of the straight path is
an indication of its proximity, ease, clarity and peacefulness, unlike the
crooked path. This is an indication of the perfection, ease and softness of
Islam, and that it is the closest and easiest way to salvation that leads to
the goal. It is straight and connects directly. So, it is the path that our
Lord, the Blessed and Most High, is upon (إن ربي على صراط مستقيم) (Indeed, my Lord is on
a path [that is] straight.) (Surah Hud: 56) and it is the path that
leads to it (وعلى
الله قصد السبيل) (It is upon Allah ˹alone˺ to ˹clearly˺ show
the Straight Way) (Surah Al-Nahl: 9) meaning the moderate path.
And
the straight path is His religion, the Most High, which He has selected for His
creation, in which you
do not see hardship or distress, which is trodden by the righteous, whoever is
patient with it will reach his goal of pleasing God and Paradise. Its reality
is to single out Allah with worship and His Messenger with obedience (لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله) (there is no god but Allah and Muhammad-peace and blessing of
Allah be upon him- is the Messenger of Allah).
The essence
of guidance is that you ask Allah to guide you, teach you, and give you an insight into everything that He loves and is pleased with, in everything
that confronts you in the matters of this life. Then He, Glorified and Exalted
be He, endears you to the righteous deed that pleases Him about you,
strengthens you to act upon what you know in the manner that pleases Him, the Most
High. This is the second condition for achieving servitude, which is compliance:
because Allah does not accept deed unless it is in accordance with the straight
path, which is the path that God has blessed them with, and the first of them
are the prophets.
The
Guidance is of two types:
• Guidance of statement, instruction and
advice, and this guidance is general. God Almighty is a guide to the
servants, i.e., a clarifier to them and a guide (وأما ثمود فهديناهم فاستحبوا العمى على الهدى) (And as for Thamūd, We
guided them, but they preferred blindness over guidance) (Surah Fussilat:
17). Among the subtleties of that guidance is what happens in matters of
disagreement (اهدني
لما اختلف فيه من الحق باذنك) (Guide me to what is differed about the truth
with your permission)
and the messengers are guides to Allah Almighty.
• Guidance of success, inspiration and
opening the chest for acceptance and action, and it is an abundance and
blessings from God the Mighty and Sublime, which is specific to Him (ولكن الله يهدي من يشاء) (but Allah guides whom He wills) (Surah
Al-Qsas:56). It is the heart’s acceptance of the truth, its openness to it,
its love for it, and acting upon it.
The
supplication of seeking guidance is a proof of the prophethood of Muhammad, may God’s blessing and peace be upon him, and the necessity of
following him. If he performs as is due to obey the Messenger in what he
commands, his reward will be from the same kind (يهديهم ربهم بإيمانهم) ( (their Lord
guides them with their faith) (Surah Yunus: 9).
Whoever was guided by the evidence and guidance of the Prophet Muhammad, may
God bless him and grant him peace, to the knowledge of the truth and was guided
by God’s guidance to act and be firm (lead me and guide me to what you love and
are pleased with), God grants him complete guidance by making him witness his
shortcomings and sins so that he may repent to Him (وتوبوا إلى الله جميعا أيها المؤمنون لعلكم تفلحون )
(and repent to Allah all together, O believers so
that you may be successful) and so are all the messengers, all of them were
sent to guide and call people to the straight path, which is the oneness of
God, obeying His commands and avoiding His prohibitions.
Guidance
is showing way with kindness, so
whoever guides you to something with kindness has really guided you. And if He
guided you without kindness, He has commanded you. Our Lord guided us with
kindness by sending to us messengers and sending to us books and showing the
signs of the paths. So, He warned us from the paths of misguidance and showed
us the path of truth, which is Islam, which includes the happiness of this
world and the Hereafter. Our need for the continuation of that guidance and our
steadfastness on it until we meet it, is more than our need for food, drink and
breath, because it is salvation and the way to victory.
Asking
God Almighty for guidance is the most desirable and greatest purpose, for it is the best of this world and the Hereafter. If He guides
him to the straight path, He helps him to obey Him and abandon his
disobedience. He is in His protection, no evil has befallen him in this world
or in the Hereafter, so God Almighty made it obligatory upon all His servants
repeatedly throughout the day and night.
(Guide
us to the straight path) includes asking for two guidance: 1) Explain to us, guide us and lead us to the knowledge of the
straight path that leads to knowledge and righteous deeds, the shortest and
easiest path to your knowledge, your satisfaction, and your paradise. 2)
Likewise, inspire us with guidance and grant us uprightness on it and
steadfastness after its knowledge until we meet You.
So,
knowledge and righteousness both are fruits of guidance of God, His care and
mercy. Turning to God
in this matter is the fruit of the belief that He alone is the Helper. This
matter is the greatest and the first thing regarding which the believer asks
for His help. Guidance to the straight path is the guarantee of happiness in
this world and the hereafter with the certainty of achieving the purpose of
existence. It is in fact the guidance of human instinct towards God, Lord of
the Worlds.
Asking
for guidance means:
guide us, O our Lord, and guide us to what you love and are satisfied with in
words and actions, and make us firm and agree with us to righteousness and
sustainability. You ask your Lord to guide you to this path as a way of life,
to guide you to it, to teach you, and to make you firm on it so that we do not
deviate or divert: (لاتزغ
قلوبنا بعد إذ هديتنا) (Do not deviate our hearts after You have
guided us) (Surah Ali Imran 8) until you fulfil what you have promised
your Lord about worship and seeking help.
The
straight path is God’s religion, it
is God’s oneness and devotion to Him, and it is faith and righteous deeds in
this world, it is the worship that you are created for. So, the Messenger was
sent by God to guide you to a straight path.
Guidance: is to know the right of God upon you, and to know what God has
enjoined upon you, and to know what God has forbidden upon you. And to be
upright in performing what God has commanded you to do, and to leave what God
has forbidden you, and act in obedience to God, and beware of disobedience to
God, and stop at God’s limits, hoping for God’s reward and fearing God’s
punishment, and standing at His limits.
The
straight path is the fulfilment of the commands of God Almighty and the
abandonment of His prohibitions, and
that the servant at all times does what he is commanded at that time of
knowledge and action and does not do what he is forbidden. The greatest
commands are His oneness and devotion to
Him, and the greatest prohibition is polytheism; God has promised those who are
guided with happiness in the two worlds, in this world with mercy -may God have
mercy on them with success, guidance and reforming- and in the hereafter by making
them enter Paradise and being content with them. This is the reward for the
people of the straight path.
The
people of the straight path are the people of steadfastness in this world, out of love and desire, truth, sincerity to God, loyalty to God’s
friends, enmity with God’s enemies, patience in obedience to God, abstaining
from the prohibitions of God, advocating for truth, cooperating in
righteousness and piety, enjoining good and forbidding from false. This is how
the believers are, this is how the truthful are, this is how the people of the
straight path are.
And
the worshiper, when he supplicates and asks his Lord to make him follow (the
straight path), the path of
the people of Paradise, feels God’s grace, bounty and mercy when He makes him
aware of this path, so his heart increases in love for God Almighty and thanks
for His grace and asks Him for safety from the state of the transgressors, so
his fear about the paths of those who have earned anger or of those who are
astray, gets intensified, so he lives between fear and hope after knowledge and
love, and thus his servitude completes and his happiness is achieved.
It
is befitting for a Muslim to meditate day and night seeking guidance and
steadfastness upon it, for
if He guides you to this path, He will help you to obey Him and endear you to
worshipping Him and abandoning His disobedience. So, no evil will befall you,
neither in this world nor in the Hereafter, and that includes all kinds of
needs that cannot be counted.
Guide
us on the straight path means:
guide us to the path and guide us in the path, that is, guide us to the
adherence to Islam in its origin and religious details. So, he may be guided to
the essence but not the details. He may be guided to prayer, but not to focus
in it, and guidance is not complete unless you achieve knowledge of faith and
righteous deeds with what you have learned and the call to goodness and
patience on that at every moment. Every soul need guidance, so thank your Lord
for this great blessing, and be keen about this supplication, and bring your
heart to this supplication in prayer and the other things; This is the great
supplication that you need the most.
(And
this is my straight Path, so follow it); Means: adhere to it, and stick to it. (وَلاَ تَتَّبِعُواْ السُّبُلَ) (And do not follow the paths), which are heresies, and the
sins that God forbids from. The Subul (paths) are: heresies, sins, and
abominations that God has forbidden His servants from; So, it is necessary to
beware of it. ( ولكن
الله حبب إليكم الإيمان و زينه في قلوبكم
و كره إليكم الكفر والفسوق والعصيان أولئك
هم الراشدون فضلا من الله و نعمة والله
عليم حكيم ) but Allah has endeared
to you the faith and has made it pleasing in your hearts and has made hateful
to you disbelief, defiance and disobedience. Those are the [rightly] guided. (Surah
Al-Hujurat: 7). So, O God, to you be praise and thanks for the blessing of
guidance, for it is one of the greatest blessings, and this is the straight
path that no one in this world and the hereafter has been given better than it,
as God bestowed upon His Messenger, may God’s blessings and peace be upon him,
after the conquest by saying (و
يهديك صراطا مستقيما ) (His favour upon you and guide you to a
straight path) (Surah Al-Fath 2). So, O God, guide us to the straight
path, if heresies and superstitions spread and desires and lusts ravage people,
and O God, guide us to the straight path whenever minds and understandings go
astray, opinions and pens become blurred, and misguidance and darkness
intensify.
My
brother, bring your heart in every rak’ah that you kneel down and remember this great supplication. If God does not guide him,
who will guide him? It Allah does not make firm, who will make him firm? If
Allah does not protect him in such a time, who will protect him? So hold fast
to Allah and do not depend on your weak soul, no matter wherever you reach, for
God Almighty says: (وخلق
الإنسان ضعيفا) (and mankind was created weak) (Surah
Al-Nisa 28) ( و من
يعتصم بالله فقد هدي إلى صراط مستقيم ) (And whoever holds
firmly to Allah, he has [indeed] been guided to a straight path.) (Surah Ali
Imran: 101)
Declare
weakness and need and do more and more the supplication and submission to the
Mighty, the Forgiving.
There is no helper for you in walking on the straight path except God. There is
no protection for you from temptation but God. No one saves you in the time of
desires except God. Therefore, the Messenger, may God’s blessing and peace be
upon him, would say a lot in his prostration: ( يا مقلب القلوب ثبت قلبي على دينك) (O Controller of the
hearts make my heart steadfast in Your religion).
In another Hadith, He said: ( يا
عبادي كلكم ضال إلا من هديته استهدوني أهدكم ) “O My servants, all of you are astray except for those I have
guided, so seek guidance of Me and I shall guide you,” it contains the importance of supplication
and the etiquette of supplication, so, the surah concluded with supplication.
O
you who have walked on the straight path, who are striving to be steadfast on
it, be patient and rejoice, and do not be deceived by the abundance of those
who perish ( و ما
أكثر الناس و لو حرصت بمؤمنين) “And most of the people, although you
strive [for it], are not believers” (Surah Yusuf 103). This is how upright
people feel alienated whenever desires multiply. So, be patient, O you who have
striven against yourselves to abandon sins and evil deeds, and you have been
patient about desires. And your tongue says: إنا نخاف من ربنا يوما عبوسا قمطريرا “Indeed, We fear from our Lord a Day austere and distressful” (Surah
Al-Insan:10), so be glad when it is said to you: ( إن هذا كان لكم جزاء و كان سعيكم مشكورا) “[And it will be said], "Indeed, this is for you a
reward, and your effort has been appreciated” (Surah Al-Insan:22)
Guidance
has another rank, which is the last of its ranks, and it is guidance on the Day
of Resurrection to the path of Paradise. We ask God the Generous for His bounty. So, whoever is guided in
this abode to the straight path of God with which He sent His messengers and
sent down His books, he is guided to the path of His Paradise and the abode of
His reward. And to the extent that the servant’s feet are steadfast on this
path that God has set up for his servants in this abode, he'll have his feet established
on the path set up on the board of Hell, and according to the extent of his
walking on this path, he’ll walk on that path.
He
should look at the suspicions and desires that hinder him from walking on this
straight path. For they are
the hooks that are on both side of that path that snatch him and hinder him
from passing on it. If it increased here and became strong, so will be there,
and whoever adheres to this path in this world, he will cross the path in the
Hereafter. And the one who got worldly hooks and desires stuck to his heart
will find that the hooks of Hell set up on the both sides of the path snatch
him. We ask Allah to lead us to His straight path through His instruction and
guidance.
Whoever
has been guided by indication and instruction to the knowledge of the truth, and has been guided by the grace of Allah to action and
perseverance, and his guidance is completed by being guided to his shortcomings
and sins in order that he repents to Him, he will be among those whom their
Lord guides to their homes in Paradise; The Almighty said: :﴿ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا
الصَّالِحَاتِ يَهْدِيهِمْ رَبُّهُمْ بِإِيمَانِهِمْ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهِمُ
الْأَنْهَارُ فِي جَنَّاتِ النَّعِيمِ ﴾ {Indeed, those who have believed and done
righteous deeds - their Lord will guide them because of their faith. Beneath
them rivers will flow in the Gardens of Pleasure} (Surah Yunus: 9)
صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ
عَلَيْهِمْ وَلا الضَّالِّينَ
The
path of those upon whom You have bestowed favour, not of those who have earned
[Your] anger or of those who are astray.
(Details
of belonging to the winning team)
In
it, there is the attribution of grace to God Almighty alone in the guidance of
those He bestowed His grace upon;
Because it is a pure grace by God, and it is a detail after a brief description
of the Almighty’s saying: “Guide us to the straight path.” So, if the detail
comes after the brief description, it comes to a soul which is ready to accept
it and yearns for it. It has the evidence that the mind cannot comprehend the
details of the straight path on its own.
Rather, it needs Sharia in this. So, it is the feeling of longing to
belong, join and catch up with this winning team that is blessed, which
consists of the messengers and their followers, and on top of them is their
Imam and their seal, our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. The
secret of re-pronouncing the path again is to define it, to specify it and to
confirm that religion in itself is a great blessing.
This is their path, the path of the Blessed One. They deserve It, they are from those who have achieved perfection in their worship,
or Allah has provided them with that, they are from the people of beneficial
knowledge and righteous deeds, upon whom God has bestowed the favours of faith,
obedience to God and His Messenger, guidance and steadfastness. They knew the
truth, understood it, acted upon it, and called people to what they learned. So,
those who have been given the grace are the ones who knew the truth, held fast
to it and acted upon it. They are those whom God has guided to follow the right
guidance and the religion of truth. By God, it is the greatest and highest blessing.
It is the secret of happiness in both worlds.
Then
you too will intensify your longing for those who are blessed, if you know that
you will also escape from the other party, which consists of the wrathful ones and the misguided ones who
deny the right religion and the straight path either out of ignorance or
arrogance and stubbornness.
Those
who earned anger of Allah are those who knew the truth, deviated from it, did
not act upon it and denied it, so God became angry with them; Like the Jews and those followed their path from among the evil
scholars who know the truth and swerve from it, and do not lead to it. So, the
Jews worshiped contrary to knowledge and followed their desires out of envy and
oppression. They know that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, and that God sent
him with truth, but they deviated from the truth out of arrogance and pride, by
according preference to the world over the hereafter and due envy among themselves.
And
the misguided are those who have no knowledge and act without knowledge and
worship God in ignorance, and
they are the Christians, and those who follow their way from among those who
are ignorant of the truth and do not care about God’s religion, rather follow
their own desires.
The
Christians are ignorant,
ignorance and misguidance prevail over them, and they are closer to goodness
than the Jews; That is why a large group of people from them accept Islam all
the time. As for the Jews, rarely anyone of them accepts Islam. As for the
Christians, they often enter Islam because their hearts are closer to goodness
than the hearts of the Jews. The Christians are closer and their hearts are
softer than the hearts of the Jews. Because their cause is ignorance and
misguidance, and if they know and it is explained to them, many of them return
to the truth. As for the cause of the Jews, it is not ignorance, rather their
reason is envy, oppression and opposing the truth with knowledge. So, their reason
is malicious, namely: arrogance in following the truth, and envy for the people
of truth; For this reason, few of them accept Islam - we seek refuge in God
from that.
And
because the secret of misguidance lies in one of these two matters; knowledge
and action and falling
into the opposite of them – as ignorance is opposite to knowledge-, a person
may have the desire to do good, but he takes innovated ways and exerts himself
while he thinks that he is doing well because of his lack of knowledge and his
lack of guidance. And the opposite of the deed is desire. A person may be aware
of what pleases God according to His law, but he does not find the resolve, so
desires overwhelm him and he abandons the obligatory actions or act upon
forbidden things intentionally due to the weakness of his faith and deficiency
in his guidance.
Summary: The reasons for deviating from the straight path and falling into
the trap of doubts and desires are: either stubbornness and whims or ignorance
and misguidance, so the believing slave needs to be guided by God, as he may
have the determination and desire to do good, but he may be ignorant of the right
(Islamic) way and may take innovated ways (corruption of the worshiper) or he
may be knowledgeable, but he does not have a determination to act upon this
knowledge, so, desires overcome him, and he abandons the duty or commits the
forbidden because of his weak faith (corruption of the scholar), and both are
in danger.
So,
whoever is overpowered by underestimating the religion and deliberately
neglecting it, he is similar to the Jews, and they are the ones who knew the truth and left it, these two
things gather in them (anger and misguidance for killing the prophets), so they
had knowledge but they did not act upon it. So, their matter and their sin are
more serious. That’s why anger with regard to the Jews is more specific. Or he
may be a misguided person who follows his whims out of ignorance and
misguidance, not listening to the teachings of God. It cannot be ruled out that
stubbornness and persistence prevail over them consequently. Misguidance among
the Christians is especially because of their insistence that Jesus is the son
of God.
“Those
who have earned the wrath” have been mentioned before the misguided; as their
matter is more dangerous,
because if a person is in misguidance due to ignorance, then he rises with
knowledge. But if his misguidance is due to desire, he hardly returns or
repents, because he is more in opposition to the truth than the misguided one,
so it is difficult for them to return, unlike the one who opposes it out of
ignorance, because the most specific of the described people with wrath are the
Jews and the most specific of the described people with misguidance are the Christians.
Prophesy to the misguided are the Christians. The Jews preceded the Christians
in time.
In
His saying, the Exalted and Majestic, “You have bestowed blessing upon them”, the attributes of
generosity, praise and mercy are evident, and His saying “Those who have earned
the wrath” shows the attributes of honour and glory, and in it there is faith
in God’s decree and predestination, that all grace is from God, who gave the
guidance to those upon whom He has bestowed His grace from among the prophets,
the truthful ones, the martyrs and the righteous. They are the prophets and
messengers and their followers, and it is enough of a blessing for the believer
to be in the company of this blessed group. He’ll not feel lonely even if he is
alone and will not care about opposing those who disagree, because his
companions are very few and respectful. And souls are born on the dislike of
loneliness and on the love of the companion - God Almighty told about the
companion in this way and informed that they are: (الذين أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنَ النَّبِيِّينَ
وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ وَحَسُنَ أُولَئِكَ رفيقا) “those will be with the ones upon whom
Allah has bestowed favour of the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of truth,
the martyrs and the righteous. And excellent are those as companions” (Surah
Al-Nisa: 69) so that the seeker of guidance and follower of the path feels no
effect of the loneliness of his isolation from the people of his time and his
race, and he knows that his companions on this path are those upon whom God has
bestowed His grace. Thus, he does not worry about the opposition of the astray.
And
when the servant pleads with his saying: “You have blessed,”, i.e., You have blessed with guidance those
whom you have guided, and that was a blessing from You, so grant me a share by making
me one of those who are blessed by You. And in “You have blessed,” there’s begging
and pleading to accept the supplication (place me among those You have guided)
and do good to me in the group of those whom You have done well with. My Lord,
include me in this group, and make me a companion to them and with them. So, it
is begging God for His grace and favour; That is, as you have blessed them with
guidance, so grant me a share of this blessing, and make me one of those who
have received blessings upon them, and give alms to me among those whom you
have given in charity, and teach me among those whom you have taught, and do
good to me in the group of people whom Your kindness encompasses.
The
general blessing is for the rest of creation, but here it is the absolute, complete, and special blessing in
every respect, and it is for the one who knows the truth with useful knowledge
and does righteous deeds with it. So, he is walking on the straight path, among
the owners of absolute grace.
And
in His saying, Mighty and Majestic, He used the word (أنعمت You Blessed) and He did
not use the word (المنعم) like the word (المغضوب), it signifies that acts
of generosity and mercy are attributed to God Almighty, and that reward
necessitates mentioning the Benefactor, so it was more appropriate to highlight
the pronoun that includes His remembrance, Glory be to Him, and that grace through
guidance belongs to God alone. You alone are the Bestower who graces with this
blessing. As for anger, God, glory be to Him, is angry with everyone who is not
among the people of guidance to the path, and He commands the believers to have
enmity with them. This entails their wrath upon them in agreement with the
wrath of their Lord. It carries insult and debasement for those who earned anger
of Allah in omitting the doer of anger while mentioning the doer of the
blessing with which the one who is blessed has been honoured and commended.
Then,
grace is goodness and bounty, and anger foretells revenge and justice, and
mercy overcomes anger, so He
attributed to Himself the most complete, the first and the strongest of the two
things. This is the method of the Qur’an in attributing good deeds and
blessings to Him, and omitting the subject in their opposite, like the saying
of a believer among the jinn: وَأَنَّا
لَانَدْرِي أَشَرٌّ أُرِيدَ بمِنْ فيِ الْارْضِ أَمْ أَرَادَ بِهِم ْرَبُّهُمْ
رَشَدًا) “And we do not know [therefore] whether evil
is intended for those on earth or whether their Lord intends for them a right
course” (Surah Al-Jin: 10)
And
in the Almighty’s saying
(not of those who have earned [Your] anger or of those who are astray), there is
no such specification that requires the negation of every attribute from the
owners of the other attribute, for everyone who has earned [His] anger is a
stray, and every misguided has earned [His] anger.
We
feel that the path of truth is one, that is Islam, so we adhere to it, and that the true blessing in this world and the Hereafter is only
by obedience to God and true servitude to Him. And it is the path of the
prophets, the truthful ones, the martyrs and the righteous, and that a person
will be resurrected with the one he loves.
And
in this supplication, there is a statement and acknowledgment by the caller of
this belief and
affirmation of it and beseeching his Lord with this belief and informing him
that it is (the straight path) and that this path is the true one for those
whom God has singled out for His mercy, grace and dignity. Rather, the
description of what is required makes him demand it the most, want it the most
and look forward to repeatedly and perpetually ask for it the most.
And
since the perfection of the blessing upon the servant is through guidance and
mercy, they have two
opposites, which are misguidance and anger, so He commanded us, Glory be to
Him, to ask Him every day and night many times to guide us to the path of those
He bestowed grace upon them, and they are the people of guidance and mercy, and
to turn us away from the path of those who earned His anger who are in contrast
to the people of mercy, and from the path of the astray who are in contrast to
the rightly-guided. Thus, this supplication was one of the most comprehensive, most
beneficial and best supplications. We pray to God 17 times a day and night to
make us die on Islam, without altering or changing, and to save us from
deviation or temptation with the people of anger and misguidance or others.
And
when you notice their talents, intelligence, money, pleasure in their world and
the favourability of the causes of this world for them, while you have not obtained anything from that, then remember
God’s favour upon you that He guided you to the blessing (You have blessed),
the blessing of Islam, not due to your intelligence. So, commit to worshiping
Allah until you deserve His reward in the Hereafter (While the Hereafter is
better and more enduring) (Surah Al-A’la: 17) and be among those who
give what they give while their hearts are fearful, And don’t be reassured
about the ending how it will be?
And
whenever you read the verse “صِرَاطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ” (The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favour)
remember those upon whom He has bestowed favour before you. This huge number of
renewing meanings at the end of the surah imprints in the mind of the reader of
the Qur’an thousands of images of good examples, past and contemporary, and
thousands of images of bad ones, which give him a wonderful reverence, an
increase in closeness to Allah and adherence to His law, prayer after prayer,
and thus our prayer becomes alive.
تم بحمد الله وهو سبحانه من وراء القصد
It has been done with the praise due to Allah, and He-
Glory be to Him- is behind the intent
