Explanation of Surah
Al-Fatihah
1) In the Name of Allaah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
2) All the praises and thanks are for Allaah the Lord of the
Universe.
3) The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful.
4) Master of the Day of Recompense.
5) You Alone we worship, and You Alone we ask for help.
6) Guide us to the Straight Path.
7) The Path of those on whom You have bestowed your grace, not the
Path of those who earned your Anger, nor of those that went astray
The saying of the Exalted, ‘all the praises and thanks are for
Allaah’: there is no mention here as to when this praise is said or
from where this praise comes from, but in Surah Rum there is mention
that from amongst the ‘where’s’ are the heavens and the earth - in
His saying, ‘and His is all the praises and thanks in the heavens
and the earth.’ (30:18). And in Surah Qasas there is mention that
from amongst the ‘when’s’ are in this world and in the Hereafter -
in His sayings, ‘And He is Allaah, none has the right to be worshipped besides Him.
To Him belongs all praise in the beginning (i.e. this world) and in
the end (i.e. the Hereafter).’ (28:70).
And He said in the beginning of Surah Saba’a,
‘His is all the praise in the Hereafter, and He is the All-Wise,
All-Aware.’ (34:1).
The Alif and Laam (i.e. the definite article ‘the’) in al-Hamd is so
as to include all the different manners of praise, and it is an
extolling with which Allaah has praised Himself and ordered His
servants to praise Him with.
|
 |
The saying of the Exalted, ‘the Lord of the Universe (Aalameen)’:
there is no explanation here as to what al-Aalameen is but this is
explained in another place with His saying, ‘Pharaoh said: and what is the Lord of the Aalameen? He (Moses)
said: the Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between
them.’ (26:23-24)
Some of the scholars stated that al-Aalam (world, pl. aalameen) is
derived from al-Allaamah (sign) because the existence of the world
is a sign, without doubt, of the existence of it’s Creator who is
described with perfect and magnificent Attributes. The Exalted said,
‘Indeed in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the change
of the night and day are signs (Aayaat) for the people of
understanding.’
And in the language ayah means allaamah.
The saying of the Exalted, ‘The Most Beneficent (ar-Rahmaan), The
Most Merciful (ar-Raheem)’: these are two descriptions of Allaah the
Exalted, and two of the Names from amongst His Beautiful Names,
derived from ar-Rahma (Mercy) in a way to express intense and
exaggerated meanings. And ar-Rahmaan is more intense than ar-Raheem
because ar-Rahmaan is the one endowed with Mercy which extends to
all of the creations in this world and to the believers in the
Hereafter, and ar-Raheem is the One endowed with Mercy which extends
to only the believers on the Day of Judgement - this being the
understanding of the majority of the scholars. And from the
discussion of ibn Jareer (at-Tabaree) one can understand that there
is an agreement on this, and the tafseer of some of the salaf lends
weight to this understanding as was stated by ibn Katheer, and the
narration reported from Eesa, as mentioned by ibn Katheer and
others, also indicates this - that he (upon him and our Prophet be
peace and blessings) said, ‘ar-Rahmaan: the One Who shows Mercy in
this world and the Hereafter. Ar-Raheem: the One Who shows Mercy in
the Hereafter.’
And Allaah the Exalted also points to what we have mentioned when He
said, ‘then He rose over the Throne, ar-Rahmaan’ (25:59) and when He
said, ‘ar-Rahmaan rose over the Throne’.(20:5) So he mentioned the
Istawaa (Rising over the Throne) with His Name ar-Rahmaan so as to
embrace the whole of His creation with his Mercy as was stated by
ibn Katheer. And likewise is His saying, ‘Do they not see the birds
above them, spreading out their wings and folding them in? None
upholds them except ar-Rahmaan’ (67:19) meaning: from his Mercy to
His creation is his kindness to the birds and His holding them in
the sky while they are spreading out their wings and folding them
in. And from the clearest evidences pertaining to this is His
saying, ‘ar-Rahmaan. He taught the Qur’aan…so which of the favours
of your Lord will you two deny?’ (55:1-13)
And He said, ‘and He is Ever Most Merciful (Raheem) to the
believers’ (33:43) and hence particularised His name ar-Raheem to
them. So if it said: ‘how is it possible to reconcile what you have
thusfar established with his (SAW) saying in the du’aa, ‘the Rahmaan
of the world and the Hereafter and the Raheem of them’? The obvious
reply - and Allaah knows best - is that ar-Raheem is specific to the
believers as we have mentioned, but it is not specified to them in
the Hereafter alone, rather His Mercy to them is included in this
world as well. So the meaning of ‘the Raheem of them’ would be ‘His
Mercy to the believers in them’. And the evidence that He is Raheem
to the believers in this world as well (as the Hereafter) is that
this is the literal meaning of His, the Exalted’s saying,
‘He is the One who sends His Blessings (salaah) upon you, and His
Angels so as to lead you out of the darkness to the light, and He is
Ever Most Merciful (Raheem) to the believers.’ (33:43)
Because His salaah upon them, the salaah of His Angels and His
leading them out of the darkness to the light is Mercy to them in
this world, even though it be the reason for Mercy in the Hereafter
as well. And similar to this in meaning is His saying,
‘Allah has forgiven the Prophet, the Muhaajiroon and the Ansaar who
followed him in the time of distress after the hearts of a group of
them had nearly deviated (from the Right Path), but He accepted
their repentance. Certainly He is Full of Kindness to them, Most
Merciful (Raheem).’ (9:117)
For the Mercy is linked to the event that befell the Prophet, the
Muhaajiroon and the Ansaar, and also His forgiving them was Mercy in
this world even though it be the reason for Mercy in the Hereafter
as well. And the Knowledge (of what is correct) lies with Allaah.
The saying of the Exalted, ‘Master of the Day of Recompense (Deen)’:
There is no explanation here (as to what the Day of Deen is), but
this is explained in His saying, ‘And what will make you comprehend what the Day of Deen is? Again
what will make you comprehend what the Day of Deen is? It is the Day
when no person shall have power (to do) anything for another.’
(83:17-19).
And the meaning of Deen in the verse is recompense, as can be seen
in His saying, ‘on that Day Allaah will pay them their deen in
truth’ (24:25) meaning: the recompense of their actions with
complete justice.
The saying of the Exalted, ‘You Alone we worship’: Indicating in
this noble verse to the realisation of the meaning of Laa ilaaha
illaa Allaah (there is none worthy of worship except for Allaah) for
it’s meaning is comprised of two matters: negation and affirmation.
So the negation aspect means to remove every single object of
worship apart from Allaah in all the actions of worship, and the
affirmation aspect means to single out the Lord of the heavens and
the earth Alone for all matters of worship in the way that has been
legislated by the Sharee’ah.
This negation in the laa ilaaha illaa Allaah was indicated by
placing the object of worship first in the verse hence, ‘You Alone’,
and it is established in ‘al-Usul’ under the discussion on ‘Daleel
al-Khitaab Alladhee huwa Mafhum al-Mukhaalafa’, and in ‘al-Ma’aanee’
under the discussion of ‘al-Qasr’: that placing the object first (in
a sentence) is one if the ways of confining (the meaning of the verb
to the object alone).
And the affirmation part of the kalima was indicated in His saying,
‘we worship’.
And He, the Exalted, explained this meaning which is indicated here
in detail elsewhere. For example His saying,
‘O Mankind! Worship your Lord who created you’ (2:21)
Clarifying the affirmation aspect with his words, ‘worship your
Lord’ and the negation aspect at the end of this noble verse with
His words, ‘so do not set up rivals with Allaah while you know’
(2:22). And for example His saying,
‘We have indeed sent a Messenger to every people saying: worship
Allaah and leave all that is worshipped besides Allaah’ (16:36)
Clarifying the affirmation with His words, ‘worship Allaah’ and the
negation with His words, ‘and leave all that is worshipped besides
Allaah’. And for example His saying,
‘And whosoever rejects all that is worshipped besides Allaah and
believes in Allaah has held onto the most trustworthy handhold’
(2:256)
Clarifying the negation with his words, ‘whosoever rejects all that
is worshipped besides Allaah’ and the affirmation with His words,
‘and believes in Allaah’. And for example His sayings,
‘And when Abraham said to his father and his people: Indeed I am
free of what you worship except He who created me’ (43:26-2)
‘And We did not send a Messenger before you except that We revealed
to him: that there is none worthy of worship but Me, so worship Me’
(21:25)
‘Ask those of Our Messengers whom We sent before you: Did We ever
appoint gods to be worshipped besides Allaah’ (43:45)
And other verses.
The saying of the Exalted, ‘You Alone we ask for help’: meaning that
we do not seek aid from anyone but You because the command/affair in
it’s totality is under Your control Alone, no one else has even an
atoms weight of control over it. And in this statement’s following
His saying, ‘You Alone we worship’ lies an indication that it is not
permissible to put our trust in anyone except the One that deserves
worship because no one else has control over the command/affair.
This meaning which is indicated here is clearly explained in other
verses, like His sayings, ‘So worship Him and put your trust in Him’ (12:123)
‘But if they turn away, say: Allaah is sufficient for me, none has
the right to be worshipped but Him, in Him I put my trust’ (9:129)
‘The Lord of the East and the West, none deserves to be worshipped
but Him, so take Him as the Disposer of your affairs’ (73:9)
‘Say: He is the Most Beneficent, we have believed in Him and put our
trust in Him’ (67:29)
The saying of the Exalted, ‘the path of those whom You have
favoured’: there is no explanation here as to who are the ones that
have been favoured, but this is explained in another place with His
saying, ‘And whosoever obeys Allaah and the Messenger then
they will be in the company of those that Allaah has favoured: of
the Prophets, the Truthful Ones (Siddeeq), the Martyrs and the
Righteous - what an excellent company!’ (4:69).
The saying of the Exalted, ‘not the Path of those who have earned
Your Anger, nor of those that went astray’: the majority of the
scholars of tafseer said that ‘those who have earned Your Anger’ are
the Jews, and ‘those that went astray’ are the Christians, and there
is the hadeeth of the Messenger of Allaah (SAW) reported from Adee
bin Haatim (RA) concerning this. And the Jews and the Christians
even though both of them are misguided and both of them have
Allaah’s Anger on them - the Anger is specified to the Jews, even
though the Christians share this with them, because the Jews knew
the truth and rejected it and deliberately came with falsehood, so
the Anger (of Allaah being upon them) was the description most
befitting them. And the Christians were ignorant, not knowing the
truth, so misguidance was the description most befitting them.
So with this the saying of Allaah, ‘so they have drawn on themselves
anger upon anger’ (2:90) clarifies that the Jews are those that
‘have earned your Anger’. And likewise His sayings,
‘Say: shall I inform you of something worse than that, regarding the
recompense from Allaah: those (Jews) who incurred the Curse of
Allaah and His Anger’ (5:60)
"Indeed those who took the calf (for worship), anger from their Lord
and humiliation will come upon them’ (7:152).
And the saying of Allaah, ‘And do not follow the vain desires of people (i.e. the Christians)
who went astray in times gone by, and misled many, and have
themselves strayed from the Straight Path’ (5:77)
This clarifies that it is the Christians who are astray.
Read tafsir of Surah Asr |
