Tafseer Faizan ul Quran Daras No 3

3rd January Dars-e-Faizan-ul-Quran No. 3

Surah Al-Fatiha

Summary of Surah Al-Fatiha:

Surah Al-Fatihah is a Makki surah. It has 1 rakuh, 7 verses, 27words and 140
letters. It is the 1st surah of the Holy Quran according to the present sorting of the
Holy Quran and is the 5th surah according to revelation.
Verse 1 to 3:
It deals with the praise, Mercy Beneficialness and Loudness of Allah
Almighty.
Verse 4:
It mentions the worship and helping. It means that only Allah be worshipped
and being called for help.
Verse 5 to 7:
It mention the supplication in which a man drays for the right path. He prays
to be included in the rewarded personalities, Prophets (A.S) truthful, Martyrs and
pious. He also seeks refuge from the person of astray (disbeliever, Jews, hypocrites
and polytheists) He also says Aamen to strengthen his prayer; to be accepted.

أَعُوذُ بِٱللَّهِ مِنَ ٱلشَّيۡطَـٰنِ ٱلرَّجِيمِ

﷽

ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ٢ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ٣ مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ ٤ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ ٦ صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ ٧

Translation:

1. All praise unto Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.2. The Compassionate, the
   Merciful.3. Sovereign of the Day of Requital.4. Thee alone do we worship and of
   Thee alone do we seek help,5. Guide us Thou unto the path straight6/7 The path of
   those whom Thou hast favoured. Not of those on whom is indignation brought
   down, nor of the astray.

Summaries:

As we have already explained, the character of this surah is that of a prayer. The
prayer begins with praise of the One to whom our prayer is addressed. This
indicates that whenever one prays one ought to pray in a dignified manner. It does
not become a cultivated person to blurt out his petition. Refinement demands that
our requests should be preceded by a wholehearted acknowledgement of the
unique position, infinite benevolence and unmatched excellence of the One to
Whom we pray. Whenever we praise someone, we do so for two reasons. First,
because excellence calls for praise, irrespective of whether that excellence has any
direct relevance to us or not. Second, we praise one who, we consider to be our
benefactor; when this is the case our praise arises from a deep feeling of gratitude.

God is worthy of praise on both counts. It is incumbent on us to praise Him not only
in recognition of His infinite excellence but also because of our feeling of gratitude to
Him, arising from our awareness of the blessings He has lavished upon us. It is
important to note that what is said here is not merely that praise be to God, but that
all praise be to God alone. Whenever there is any beauty, any excellence, any
perfection-in whatever thing or in whatever shape it may manifest itself- its ultimate
source is none other than God Himself. No human beings, angels, Demigods,
heavenly bodies-in short, no created beings-are possessed of an innate excellence;
where excellence exists, it is a gift from God.

Thus, if there is anyone at all whom
we ought to adore and worship, to whom we ought to feel indebted and grateful,
towards whom we should remain humble and obedient, it is the creator of
excellence, rather than its possessor.

In Arabic the word Rabb has three meanings: (i) Lord and Master; (ii) Sustainer,
Provider, Supporter, Nourisher and Guardian, and (iii) Sovereign, Ruler, He Who
controls and directs. God is the Rabb of the universe in all three meanings of the
term.
Whenever we are deeply impressed by the greatness of something we try to
express our feelings by using superlatives. If the use of one superlative does not do
full justice to our feelings, we tend to re-emphasize the extraordinary excellence of
the object of our admiration by adding a second superlative of nearly equivalent
meaning.* This would seem to explain the use of the word Rahim following
Rahman. The form of the word Rahman connotes intensity. Yet God’s mercy and
beneficence towards His creatures is so great, so extensive and of such an infinite
nature that no one word, however strong its connotation, can do it full justice. The
epithet Rahim was therefore added to that of Rahman.

God will be the Lord of the Day when all generations of mankind gather together on
order to render an account of their conduct, and when each person will be finally
rewarded or punished for his deeds. The description of God as Lord of the Day of
Judgment following the mention of his benevolence and compassion indicates that
we ought to remember another aspect of God as well-namely, that He will judge us
all, that He is so absolutely powerful, that on the Day of Judgment no one will have
the power either to resist the enforcement of punishments that He decrees or to prevent anyone from receiving the rewards that He decides to confer.

Hence, we ought not only to love Him for nourishing and sustaining us and for His compassion
and mercy towards us, but should also hold Him in awe because of His justice, and
should not forget that our ultimate happiness or misery rests completely with Him.
The term ibadah is used in three sense: (i) worship and adoration; (ii) obedience
and submission; and (iii) service and subjection. In this particular context the term
carries all these meanings simultaneously. In other words, we say to God that we
worship and adore Him, that we are obedient to Him and follow His will, and also
that we are His servants. Moreover man is so bound to none save God, that none
but He, may be the subject of man’s worship and total devotion, of man’s
unreserved obedience, of man’s absolute subjection and servitude.

Not only do we worship God, but our relationship with Him is such that we turn to
Him alone for help and succor. We know that He is the Lord of the whole universe
and that He alone is the Master of all blessings and benefactions. Hence, in
seeking the fulfilment of our needs we turn to Him alone. It is towards Him alone
that we stretch forth our hands when we pray and supplicate. It is in Him that we
repose our trust. It is therefore to Him alone that we address our request for true
guidance.

We beseech God to guide us in all walks of life to a way which is absolutely true,
which provides us with a properly-based outlook and sound principles of behaviour,
a way which will prevent our succumbing to false doctrines and adopting unsound
principles of conduct, a way that will lead us to our true salvation and happiness.
This is man’s prayer to God as he begins the study of the Qur’an. It is, in short, to
illuminate the truth which he often tends to lose in a labyrinth of philosophical
speculation; to enlighten him as to which of the numerous ethical doctrines ensures
a sound course of conduct; to show which of the myriad ways and by-ways is the
clear, straight, open road of sound belief and right behaviour.

This defines the ‘straight way’ which we ask God to open to us. It is the way which
has always been followed by those who have enjoyed God’s favours and blessings.
This is the way which has been trodden from the beginning of time by all those
individuals and communities that have unfailingly enjoyed God’s favours and
blessings.

This makes it clear that the recipients of God’s favour are not those who appear,
briefly, to enjoy worldly prosperity and success; all too often, these people are
among those whom God has condemned because they have lost sight of the true
path of salvation and happiness. This negative explanation makes it quite clear that
in’am (favour) denotes all those real and abiding favours and blessings which one
receives in reward for righteous conduct through God’s approval and pleasure,
rather than those apparent and fleeting favours which the Pharaohs, Nimrods and
Korahs (Qaruns) used to receive in the past, and which are enjoyed even today by
people notorious for oppression, evil and corruption.

Dive into the profound journey of the Quran’s initiation and uncover its historical and spiritual significance 2nd January Dars-e-Faizan-ul-Quran No. 2

وآخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين