Surah Fatihah, Your way to Life! Part-2

Assalamualaikum Dear Brothers & Sisters,

Please read PART 1 HERE.

‘The sweetness of this life lies in remembering Him, the sweetness of the next life lies in seeing Him! The next time you proceed for prayer, go because you love Him, go because you miss Him and long to be with Him. Feel your heart flutter. Only then, will you be on your way to attaining that inner peace and comfort salah was prescribed for’. [Mishari Al-Kharraz]

Let us brief about the interpretation of the blessed verses.

Allah says: And certainly, We have given you seven of the oft-repeated (verses) and the grand Quran. (Surah Hijr 15:87)

Interpretation

بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ﴿١﴾ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّـهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ﴿٢﴾الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ﴿٣﴾ مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ ﴿٤﴾ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ﴿٥﴾ اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ﴿٦﴾ صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ ﴿٧

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. (1) [All] the praises and thanks to be Allah, the Lord of the worlds – (2) The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, (3) Master (of) the day (of) Judgement. (4) You alone we worship and you alone we ask for help. (5) Guide us to the straight path – (6) (The) path (of) those You have bestowed favors on them, not of those who have earned [Your] wrath on them and nor of those who go astray. (7)

1. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Here, it is advised to take Allah’s name before any work. It has many benefits few are listed below.

• We will be saved from many bad deeds because the habit of taking of Allah’s name will make us think before doing anything, is this work worth taking Allah’s name?
• Taking the name of Allah before doing any Halal, right or good deed/work will make that work easy and we will have proper guidance and a good start.
• Most beneficial point is that when we start our work with Allah’s name then with its blessings & benefits there will be lots of Barakah in the work.
• Lastly and most importantly, we will be saved from the Satan’s tactics, Insha Allah.

2. All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds

Surah Al Fatihah is a supplication (Dua) that we ask Allah but the start of this Dua starts with the praising of Allah Swt, the Almighty, the listener who is always there by our side. Even in our worldly life, we like to praise the person first before asking help. So, Allah possesses all the rights to be praised.

3. The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

When we must talk about something that amazes us a lot, we use most prevailing & intense words to stress the talk.

Ex: when you are informing your friend about your country team winning the world cup, you don’t just say ‘we won the world cup’ rather you express the feeling by adding some intense and powerful words. Likewise, if we are talking about the Mercy of Allah Swt, we don’t just say ‘He is Rahman’ to add the intensity (which Allah has is His name) we add ‘Raheem’ as well to complete the powerful sentence.

4. Master (of) the day (of) Judgement

Day of judgment is the day of accounting of our good/bad deeds which we have earned in this world. Thus, we must be hopeful from His Infinite Mercy and, He will pardon us for our wrong doings and equally fearful of His severe anger. Because, on that day He will take an account of each & everything.

5. You alone we worship and you alone we ask for help

Worship has three meanings, obedience to Allah, being dutiful to Allah’s commands and being servant of Allah. All these 3 actions are to be done together. Here we are declaring to Allah that; we do all these only for You and that there is no one else besides you who own these rights. Thus, we ask Him only and seek only His help.

6. Guide us to the straight path

Here, we are requesting Allah Swt to guide us to His path, which is the only true path and to save us from any deviations, as He is the only one who has the power to do so. This world is full of Fitnah and direct/indirect deviations so, we are requesting Allah Swt to make us firm on His path. This supplication is the beginning approach to seek Allah’s help. There are plenty of paths of which we have no knowledge, which one is true, which one is worth following or which we must stay away from. So, in short, we are asking Allah to guide us to true path and keep us firm on it.

7. (The) path (of) those You have bestowed favors on them, not of those who have earned [Your] wrath on them and nor of those who go astray

As the knowledge of straight path is unknown, the path, which is acceptable in the sight of Allah, a path Allah has kept reward (Jannah) for. A path by following which many has gained His pleasure. So, we are asking guidance for the same from Allah.

We are also requesting Allah to save us from the deviated path which was followed by many and they ended up earning Allah’s anger & displeasure. They man have seen success in this world but their hereafter is in total loss. And we are also asking Allah to help us stay away from such path which was followed by many and led them astray, even after guidance came, they followed the wrong path which ultimately led them away from the true path and losing the hereafter.

The beautiful conversation between Allah and His slave

It is narrated in a Hadith-e-Qudsi that: Allah SWT says, “I have divided the prayer (Al-Fatihah) between Myself and my slave equally and My slave shall be granted what he asked for.”

Therefore, when the slave says;

• ‘[All] praise is [due] to Allah, Lord of the worlds

Allah says, ‘My slave has praised Me’

• When he says, ‘The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful’.

Allah says, ‘My slave has glorified Me’

• When he says, ‘Sovereign of the Day of Recompense’.

Allah says, ‘he has related all matters to Me’

• When he says, ‘it is You we worship and You we ask for help’.

Allah says, ‘This is between Me and My slave and My slave shall have what he requested’

• When he says, ‘Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray’.

Allah says, ‘This is for My slave and My slave shall have what he asked for’. (Sahih Muslim 395)

3 Main Elements in Surah Al Fatihah

1. The first 3 verses teach us about the Aqeedah (Tawheed)
2. The next 2 verses teach us about Ibadah (Worship)
3. And the last 2 verses show us the Methodology of everyday life

Our takeaway from this Surah

1. Remember that all praises are due to Allah alone
2. Evoke Allah’s countless blessings, favors & bounties and show Him gratitude
3. Call Him with His beautiful names & attributes
4. Be sincere to Allah in His obedience
5. Next time you recite Surah Al-Fatihah in prayer pause and reflect each ayah
6. Stay firm on the true path & never forget the hereafter
7. Fear Allah’s anger as well as never lose hope from His mercy
8. Teach others this practice

I pray this small collection will benefit us in some way, Insha Allah.

May Allah keep us to the right path and reward us with Jannat-ul-Firdous, Aameen Ya Rabb!

Muneer bint Fayaz

JazakAllahu khair

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