Al Fatihah

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. AlFatihah 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
1 Islamic 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.
2 It 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.
3 The 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.
4 Although 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.
5 After 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.
[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
6 The 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."
7 It 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.
8 That 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.
9 The 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.
10 This 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.

Al Fatihah

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Al Fatihah

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Al Fatihah

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

1.

Surah Al Fatihah (The Opening)

[1-3] In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.1 Praise

[4-7] Thee alone we worship6 and to Thee alone we pray for

You might also like