Sahih International
In the name of Allah , the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
Sahih International
The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray.This is the introduction to Allah and introduction to the Qur'an
HAMD=Praise and gratitude
You may praise something and not be grateful or you could be grateful and not praise something, but in hamd both things coexist.
And we say Praise be to Allah(Praise has always been around and will always be around, it is not dependent on US, all creations praise Allah)
A lot of movies such as terminator or Superman or Xmen etc show this theme that their is this outer power that wants to take over this world and that is more powerful and dominant, and people have to resist it and avoid getting enslaved to it, as it is a humiliating concept, we would rather die than be enslaved, and so we are agitated by the idea of a higher power and we hate anything that imposes a set of rules on us or CHAINS us, such movies even depict that higher power as something similar to God
But WE as muslims are slaves of Allah,and the Quran does impose a set of rules on us
There have also been many apocalyptic films which show that the world is going to end by a giant meteor or an invasion or whatever, Now our religion also talks about the End of the world on Judgement Day where everything will come to an end. But what do these movies always show? they always show that some people survive, human spirit is always strong enough to survive. And even if the world ends, we will find another planet. So all these movies show that humans will survive even if judgement day comes.
Praise and Gratitude belongs to Allah. It shows that it comes naturally and we do not force ourselves to do Hamd. Its natural. And then we say that to you we give ourselves in worship and slavery. Only you do we worship. SO in Surah Fatiha Allah is not FORCING US to do this. Allah is not saying worship me and enslave yourselves to me and praise me etc. It is as though its out inner voice that is saying this naturally.
In some video games, Role playing games, we have a character which has certain weapons, certain combos etc. and that character has to keep making progress in the video games and as he makes progress he upgrades himself and earns bonus and upgrades his character.
Just like that humans are also created with some basic abilities, some invisible spiritual powers of our Ruh, this gives us the power to be a decent person. It is not something we download later on, its something thats programmed into us. So we have inherent goodness in us.
Other religions like Christians belief that they are born into sin. But we believe our programming is good. What is the proof?If somebody does any favour to us, the least we do is thank them verbally or in our heart. We praise it or are thankful to it. e.g. we are grateful to our mothers even if we are nonmuslims, we just need to be a decent human being to be grateful. Then we thank our dad because he supported your mom. Then we thank their institute, the grandparents which made it possible for your father to get education and earn. So its a whole chain, you thank one thing and then another and then another. All of this leads to the thought that this chain must lead to something, and that is Allah. Allah is the ultimate source of all these blessings. Everything we are grateful for keeps going back to Allah.
Quran calls on that element of a human being, the spirit of gratitude that is within every decent human. Some people do lose that decency and think that they are completely independent and don't need to think anyone and just earned and deserved everything they have. Such people won't understand Islam. They have even lost that BASIC sense and basic ability. Some people either lose the sense of gratitude because they become too depressed that they cease to appreciate the beauty around them OR they associate everything with their own ability so they become selfish and full of themselves and self indulged.
Allah has given us taste buds, to enjoy food and appreciate it. We could have survived even without them but Allah gave us buds to enjoy it. Allah gave us this beautiful world and eyes to see it and eyes to see colours. We did not need it for survival. But Allah gave us this ability.Allah has given us a sense of smell . It wasnt necessary for survival. But Allah gave it so that we could appreciate things. Remember Kafir is someone who is not grateful.
Allah has given so many things, so many abilities. Imagine our father gives us a new car or a playstation or anything we love and gives us a few instructions and asks us to use it wisely. And we dont follow them. Wont that hurt him? And what do we do when we get that thing, we thank our Dad and we praise that thing. Imagine all the faculties Allah has given us. All the things Allah is doing for us consistently and constantly. Whenever somebody does something for us e.g. our mothers do so much for us, even if they dont ask anything in return, we do owe them at least some appreciation, and some respect, and do something for them. Suppose you give someone a gift and instead of thanking they complain about it. You get mad about it or feel offended and might say I would rather give it to someone who appreciates it. Yet Allah continue to give us although we are so ungrateful. Allah not only owns the things around us but He also owns us. We are not out own creator but Allah gave us this body and mind and heart. And not just me, but Allah gave the whole world their existence.
When you own something that does not do anything for you or what you expect from it, you throw it in the garbage or replaces it e.g. if your gadgets stop working. or something you own stops working.
Have we been doing anything for Allah?What right does Allah have now? Allah can replace us with something else the same way we replace something that does not do anything for us . No one can question Allah when he does that because HE has both the right and the power.Now Allah HAS the right to do it yet he still does not do it, the possibility is that either you are doing a good job OR that He is so loving and caring and so patient with you and willing to give you chance after chance after chance. There is no one else, not even our parents, who you disappoint over and over again but they still keep giving you chances, eventually people give up on you. But Allah does not give up on you even if you have ignored Him or not valued Him or even bothered to ask what He wants.
Rahman= means loving and caring.
Rahma comes from Rahm which is the womb of the mother
In the womb the child does not even know that he is being taken care of, the mother is going through a lot of pains, the child is doing nothing for the mother and the mother is doing everything of the child. Same implies to our relationship with Allah. There is nothing we can offer to Allah yet Allah is constantly doing so much for us
The child is completely surrounded by the care of the mother. As the child keeps growing it drains the mother more and more but the mother loves him even more and more. The mother loves the child even though the child caused her so much pain. This is similar to Allahs love for us.
Rahman means that Allahs love is extreme, but it is not forever. According to Ibn e Abbas,Allah is Rahman for all of us, until the Day of judgement, because Rehman cannot be forever. It is for all humanity.
Raheem means always loving and caring. It is special for believers so it is for Paradise when Allahs love and care will be constant. Allah says that He will say to the believers Salaam in Jannah from Rabbul Raheem
Suppose your parents keep giving and giving to you,fulfilling all your desires, and a moment comes when they dont give you something and you freak out, why do you go crazy at that thought? If Allah puts you under a trial or puts you in a difficult situation why do you go crazy and become ungrateful?
After mentioning Rahmah,Allah should have mentioned Punishment. But Allah mentions justice. Thats Allahs mercy.
You WILL be interrogated. Now maaliki yaumiddeen is mentioned
We often have such questions that why is there so much injustice in the world? Why is God unjust? Why did so and so thing happen to me?
This world is not designed to be perfect. The Quran openly declares it. You can never get perfect justice in this world. Even if we follow the Shariah law, it might not give perfect justice because even a reliable witness may lie!Suppose somebody committed 50 murders, whats the maximum you can do? You cannot kill him 50 times! So The Quran claims that there will come a day when perfect justice will be developed and people will have to pay fully for what they did. If you dont believe in judgement day you cannot believe in god because if there is no judgement day we are stuck with this imperfect unjust world and if the world is unjust that means Allah would be unjust and then there cant be any god MuaazAllah..So basically belief in Judgement Day strengthens the belief in Allah. There are some pains we suffered in this world which we shouldnt have suffered or some joys we enjoyed which we should not have enjoyed, we will pay for all of that. For example when somebody was ill the Prophet SAWW used to say to him that it is a means of purification, and when a person is purified he will receive so many rewards in Jannah.
When we come to all these conclusions we say that we give up ourselves to you in slavery, out of happiness.
I owe you a lot but I dont know how to pay back to you. So I ask you for your help in doing this.I dont think I can do so much. So Allah asks us to do little but it counts for a lot.
Technically when we are slaves, we should be slaves 24/7 every second. For example if we own a mobile phone, it is a slave to us 24/7. It doesnt work 9 to 5. But it isnt practically possible for us to do that. All other creations of Allah are in constant submission to Allah, but we cannot do that, although we have been blessed the most. So Allah makes ease for us and asks only for bare minimum. Just 5 namaz, just one Hajj, Just zakat once a year, Allah asks very little from us.
We can only be a slave if we know what our master wants, so now we ask Allah, guide us to the straight path because we dont know what to do.
Unfortunately as humans all of us are biased.We have certain emotional attachments and experiences.
1-Human judges can never be completely fair in every situation.Men are biased about women and women are biased about men. Both have a soft corner for their own gender. In conflicts they wont support the other side generally. (SOCIAL CONFLICT)
2-Bosses are biased about employees and employees are biased about their bosses. Bosses want to decrease pay and increase workhours. Employees have labour unions to do the opposite. (ECONOMIC CONFLICT)
3.Government and Citizens
Government wants more taxes, more laws,less freedom for citizens and literally want dictatorship, citizens want the opposite in fact they dont even want a government. (POLITICAL CONFLICT)
4-The biggest war is within ourselves. Ruh vs. Body. Ruh wants to do spiritual stuff. Body wants to do physical stuff. If we give preference to one, the other one suffers. Some people just want to take care of Ruh and others just want to take care of Body.(INTERNAL CONFLICT)
We asked Allah for a straight path, for guidance. It has to be the middle path. The only one who can be fair and can create a balance between these conflicts is Allah. Allah is the only neutral being which can create a balance between all these.
When we follow the rules and balance Allah has given, then the world will become beautiful. It cannot be absolutely perfect but it will become wonderful. For following that we need to have both fair laws and fair people to follow those laws without manipulation. The more important of the 2 is YOU being fair. When you are fair, the laws will automatically be fair and implemented.
If you are selfish you will not want this guidance, because if you are selfish you will not care about justice and you will only want everything for yourself, you wont care ab about others
Who are those Allah has favoured? We often think why everybody else is wrong and how come we are the right ones?Are we really the right ones?How can we be so sure?
Siraat is a word used for a wide path, a straight path,and the only path possible, there are no alternate routes
This word has NO plural in Arabic because its the ONLY road that goes to the straight path
Event the prophets that came before have always taught the same morals and beliefs, only the laws changed according to the need of the time as the societies developed and became more complex. Allah gave constitutions for nations.
Morals are about how to become better and better.
Laws are to prevent people from becoming criminals and to teach restraint. They define the absolute bare minimum. Abiding by law doesnt make people a good person, they are just law abiding citizens.Laws are just about things you must do and things you cannot do. Following laws just not make you an amazing person, it is just to prevent you from causing harm to others.
The first consitution was giving to Bani Israel when Hazrat Musa AS got them freedom from firaun.
Morals are personal and laws are enforced by Governments.And there have to be punishments for breaking the laws in order to enforce them. There needs to be a government machinery to enforce laws. for e.g. in Quran theres a punishment Qisas for murder or bloodmoney or forgiveness, so the family gets the option of making the decision. The family cannot do it themselves, there needs to be an authority to do it. We cannot take the law in our own hands.
In Islam there are spiritual laws and there are social laws. Spiritual laws include rules of fasting and halal/haram.
Social laws include inheritance laws.Wordly punishments are associated with social laws mainly. We dont need a government to abide by spiritual laws and we usually get punishment for them in Jahnnum.
Our role models for beliefs and morals are those Allah FAVOURED ( those from the past) and that includes all prophets. Allah does not talk about laws of other prophets in Quran but he talks about morals and beliefs.
For laws, the only one we follow is the Prophet SAWW. We can only follow his constitution.
So our true heroes are from the past, just like we get career counseling from those people who have already
been through that stage and not from our friends. So we follow those who are experienced.
Those are Anbiyaa(Prophets), Siddiqeen(Those who believed in prophets no matter what), Shuhada(people who gave their lives for their faith),Saliheen(people of great character) e.g. Luqman AS, and how amazing these people are in company (it means we will get to hang out with them in Jannah InshaaAllah ameen)
Allah says that He has recorded everything and videotaped it and it will be shown to us on the Day of judgement. That was really hard for people to believe back in the day but now with advancement of technology, its so easy for us to believe. Its no longer the matter of the unseen. Allah has shown us how its possible to record everything, to replay it, to use it as evidence.
MAGZOOB=people you are angry at because they know something is wrong and they do it anyway
Their knowledge does not translate into the right thinking. Abu Jahl and Abu lahb had a lot of knowledge, they knew Arabic yet they rejected the message.
Bani Israel had a LOT of knowledge, but Allah criticizes them that why dont you THINK and use your intellect.
These are the Jews
ZAALEEN= someone who had no idea it was wrong and they did it
They had the power of finding out. Yet they did not bother to make the effort. These were the Christians.
They are just doing certain things without putting in any thought and if you ask them why, they say thats how we always did it or thats how our forefathers did it.
This does not mean that every jew is magzoob and every christian is zaaleen, rather Allah is giving an example of their behaviours which were mentioned in the Quran to warn us not to do the same.
For example, when it comes to weddings why do we have 10 events, why do we waste food, why do we go in debt to have grand functions, whats the point! why do we need a gigantic hall? I dont know why we are doing it, we are just doing it. And I dont even want to think about it. Christians used to say that Jesus is Allahs son.Why? because he did not have a father. But Adam AS also did not have a father. I dont want to think! Okay if he is paying for my sins can I go rob a bank? NO you should be a good person. But why? He has already paid for my sins! I dont want to think..thats the problem Christians had. The Christians became all about the heart and NO knowledge and the Jews became all knowledge and forgot the heart.
The Quran gives us a path that balances heart and mind. Unfortunately Muslims have also developed groups where some groups are too dependent on the heart and some are too dependent on knowledge. Sometimes we become purely academic and our hearts become hard
Some Amazing facts about Sura Fatiha:
1)Surah Fatiha has 7 ayahs. The first 3 are about Allah. The Middle Ayah is common between us and Allah(what we are giving to Allah and what we want for Allah). And the last 3 are about us.
Iyyaka Nabudu is the conclusion of part 1(the first 3 ayahs) when we give up ourselves to Allah
Iyyaka Nastaeen is the conclusion of part 2 (asking Allah for help)
2)The first part was KNOWLEDGE because we learnt about Allah
The 2nd part is ACTION because it had to be with our amaal
Surah Fatiha talked about ihdinasiraatul mustaqeem(both knowledge and action), then about people who had EITHER just knowledge or just action, so its a complete picture
3)From a grammatical perspective, the 1st part is noun based (Jumla Ismiya) and nouns are timeless and they are about Allah and Allah is also timeless
And the last part is verb based(Jumla failiya) and it is time-bound(has tenses) and we are also timebound(not eternal) so its for us
And the middle part is although a verb based sentence but the noun is muqaddam over the verb, so its a mixture of a verb and noun based sentence
Such precision is not humanly possible
4) Link with Surah naas
The way Quran begins and the way it ends complements each other
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