سورة الفاتحة
Sura #1 | Makkah
1
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
2
Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds;
3
Most Gracious, Most Merciful;
4
Master of the Day of Judgment.
5
Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.
6
Show us the straight way,
7
The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is
not wrath, and who go not astray.
tafsir
1. Surah Al Fatihah (The Opening)
Name
This Surah is named Al-Fatihah because of its subject-matter. Fatihah is that
which opens a subject or a book or any other thing. In other words, Al-Fatihah
is a sort of preface.
Period of Revelation
It is one of the very earliest Revelations to the Holy Prophet. As a matter of
fact, we learn from authentic Traditions that it was the first complete Surah
which was revealed to Muhammad (Allah's peace be upon him). Before this, only a
few miscellaneous verses were revealed which form parts of `Alaq, Muzzammil,
Muddaththir, etc.
Theme
This Surah is in fact a prayer which Allah has taught to all those who want to
make a study of His book. It has been placed at the very beginning of the book
to teach this lesson to the reader: if you sincerely want to benefit from the
Quran, you should offer this prayer to the Lord of the Universe.
This preface is meant to create a strong desire in the heart of the reader to
seek guidance from the Lord of the Universe, Who alone can grant it. Thus
Al-Fatihah indirectly teaches that the best thing for a man is to pray for
guidance to the straight path, to study the Quran with the mental attitude of a
seeker- after-truth and to recognize the fact that the Lord of the Universe is
the source of all knowledge. He should, therefore, begin the study of the Quran
with a prayer to him for guidance.
>From this theme, it becomes clear that the real relation between Al-Fatihah
>and the Quran is not that of an introduction to a book but that of a prayer
>and its answer. Al-Fatihah is the prayer from the servant and the Quran is the
>answer from the Master to his prayer. The servant prays to Allah to show him
>guidance and the Master places the whole of the Quran before him in answer to
>his prayer, as if to say, "This is the Guidance you begged from Me."
[1-3] In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.1 Praise is only
for Allah,2 the Lord of the Universe,3 the All-Compassionate, the
All-Merciful,4 the Master of the Day of Judgment.5
[4-7] Thee alone we worship6 and to Thee alone we pray for help.7 Show us the
straight way,8 the way of those whom Thou hast blessed;9 who have not incurred
Thy wrath, nor gone astray.10
1Islamic culture requires a man to commence everything with the name of Allah.
If this is done consciously and sincerely, it will surely produce three good
results. First, it will keep him away from evil, because the very name of Allah
will impel him to consider whether he is justified in associating His name with
a wrong deed or an evil intention. Secondly, the very mention of the name of
Allah will create in him the right attitude of mind and direct him to the right
direction. Thirdly,he will receive Allah's help and blessing and will be
protected from the temptations of Satan, for Allah turns to a man when he turns
to Him.
2It has been stated in the Introduction to this Surah that AI-Fatihah is a
prayer. It begins with the praise of Allah to Whom it is addressed in order to
teach us the right way of making a supplication. We should not put forward our
request bluntly and abruptly without an appropriate introduction. The right way
is to acknowledge the excellences and the favors and the high position of the
One to Whom we address our prayer. That is why we begin our prayer with the
praise of Allah, for He is the perfection of all excellences and .is also our
Benefactor. We pay homage to Allah to show that we sincerely acknowledge His
excellences and also are grateful to Him for His countless favours. It should
also be noted that not only Praise is for Allah but also Praise is only for
Allah. This distinction is very important because it cuts at the root of the
worship of any of His creation. As none of them is worthy of praise, none is
worthy of worship. No man, no angel,
no prophet, no so-called god, no star, no idol, in short. none of His creation
inherently possesses any good quality. If one has any, it is given by Allah.
Hence the Creator of these qualities alone deserves devotion, worship,
gratitude, and none of His creation.
3The word Rab which has been translated into `Lord' stands for (a) Master and
Owner, (b) Sustainer, Provider and Guardian, (c) Sovereign, Ruler,
Administrator and Organizer. Allah is the Lord of the Universe in all these
senses.
4Although the Arabic word Rahman itself is in the superlative form and denotes
the attributes of beneficence and mercy in the highest degree, even this word
fails to express the boundless extent of these attributes of Allah. Hence
another word Rahim of the same root has been added to make up for the
deficiency.
5After saying that Allah is Beneficent and Merciful, it has immediately been
added that He is the Master of the Day of Judgment, so that the qualities of
mercy and kindness might not mislead anyone into forgetting that on that Day He
will gather together all human beings from the first to the last and require
each and every one to give an account of all of one's acts to Him. A Muslim
should, therefore, always keep in view the fact that Allah is not only
Merciful, but He is also Just. He has, however, full authority to pardon or
punish anyone He pleases, for He has complete power over everything. Therefore
we should have full conviction that it lies absolutely in His power to make our
end happy or sorrowful.
6The Arabic word ibadat is used in three senses: (a)worship and devotion, (b)
submission and obedience, (c) subjection and servitude. Here it implies all the
three, that is, We are Thy worshipers, Thy subjects and Thy slaves and We keep
these relations with Thee and Thee alone and "We make none else the object of
our worship in all the three senses."
7It means, We ask for Thy help because we know that Thou art the Lord of the
whole Universe and Thou hast all powers and Thou art the Master of every thing.
Therefore we turn to Thee for help for the fulfillment of our needs and
requirements.
8That is, "Show us that way which may lead us aright in every walk of life and
keep us absolutely free from errors and evil consequences and bring us success
in the end." , This is the request which the servant of Allah makes to Him when
he begins the study of the Qur'an. He prays to Him to guide him in every walk
of life and save him from the labyrinths of doubt and uncertainty, which result
from the lack of true knowledge. The servant also requests the Master to show
him the right and the straight way of life from among the many by-paths and
crooked ways.
9The straight way for which we are praying is the way which has always been
followed by the people favored by Thee and which has always brought Thy favors
and blessings.
10This is to show that the favored people are not those who go astray and incur
the wrath of Allah, though apparently they might be enjoying the transitory
good things of life. The really favored people are those who receive blessings
on account of their righteous living. From this it also becomes clear that by
favors are meant those real and permanent rewards, which result from righteous
living and from winning the pleasure of Allah, and not those transitory good
things of life which have been enjoyed even by the tyrants and worshipers of
mammon and which are being enjoyed even today by all sorts of evildoers who
have gone astray from the straight way.
