SURAH AL FATIHA

Surah Al-Fatiha

TRANSLATION

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.

It is the fifth Surah in order of revelation, the first Surah of the Holy quran and the first Surah which had all its seven ayats revealed at one time.

Hazrat Abdullah bin Abbas reported:

                One day a loud sound was heard from  the sky. The Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) looked up and a door opened in the sky which had never opened before and an angel descended on earth who had never before descended on earth. The angel gave salutations (said Salam) and gave the glad tidings of two ‘Noors’. The angel informed that only the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h)  has been blessed with these ‘Noors’ and no one before him has been blessed with them.

The ‘Noors’ in the above narration refers to the seven verses of Surah Al-Fatiha and the last two verses of Surah Baqarah. According to a Sahih Muslim revelation, any prayer or invocation said after these Noors will definitely be answered.

Abu Huraira has heard God's messenger declare that God most high had said, " I have divided the prayer into two halves between me and my servant, and my servant will receive what he asks."
When the servant says, " Praise be to God, the Lord of the universe, " God most high says, " My servant has praised me."
When he says, "The compassionate, the Merciful," God most high says, "My servant has lauded me."
When he says, "Possessor of the day of judgment," He says," My servant has glorified me."
When he says, "Thee do we worship and of Thee do we ask help," He says, "This is between me and my servant, and my servant will receive what he asks."
Then when he says, "Guide us in the straight path, the path of those to whom Thou art generous, not of those with whom Thou art angry nor of those who go astray," He says, "This is for my servant, and my servant will receive what he asks."

One day a man praying behind the Holy Prophet(p.b.u.h) said “ALHUMDULILAH” (praise to be Allah) after ruku (bowing). After the namaz (Salah) the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) turned and said , ‘Who was it who said that because more than 30 angels came forward to collect that Praise of Allah.’

These seven ayats have also been used as a source of shifa and according to a narration by Tirmizi the Surah has been called the Mother of Quran ( Umm-ul-Quran).

A Sahih Bukhari hadith narrates ‘ Say amen after the imam has recited the last verse of the Surah Al-fatiha’. And whoever’s amen coincides with the amen of the angels, all his previous sins are forgiven.’

In the last verse of the Surah we are asking for guidance to the straight path, the path of those who are the beloved of Allah – the prophets, martyrs, companions of the Prophet (p.b.u.h) etc. Not the path of those people who face the anger of Allah and those who are on the wrong path,

The question is, who are the people who instigate the anger of God? They are the people who:

·         Claim to have done something yet they haven’t.  How many times have we lied about things we haven’t done just to ‘keep our face’ in front of people? We don’t realize that at the same time we are instigating His anger and wrath.

·         Don’t intend to do something, yet they say they will. How many times do we say inshAllah for something we don’t intend to do? Something we need to correct within ourselves.

magzuubi 'alay him refers to those people who go astray even after having knowledge and knowing what’s right and what’s wrong. We know the path we are taking is wrong, yet we continue walking on it placing ourselves in the category of people who knowingly go astray. This is not directed at any particular race or ‘qaum’.

Zaaalliin refers to those people who are unaware, who have no knowledge of the Truth, who are in complete darkness. This primarily includes those people who are not willing to take a step towards gaining guidance and then ‘claim’ that they are unaware of such. These people can gain guidance if they want to.

Summing up, in this surah we are asking for the path of the righteous people and not the path of those who:

·         Face the wrath of Allah

·         Have the knowledge yet go astray

·         Are unware and in their ignorance they go astray.

One other important point that Dr Farhat made in this lecture is that we keep blaming others for our misfortune. Most of our time is spent in finding our conspiracies and planning of the enemies of Islam but have we ever thought that what have we done wrong? God is displeased with the Muslim Ummah then there must be something we have done wrong and that’s why the Muslim Ummah is facing such severe times.  We claim that we love Allah, we love the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) we make statements that show our love for the Prophet but do we follow even a single Sunnah?  Those of us who state that we have gone astray because we are unaware of the truth then it DOES NOT spare us from His wrath rather it places us in the category of Zaaalliin.