Fatihah

This surah is the Opening.

Not just a start but an opening onto the world of the Qur'an,

an opening of our hearts and minds,

an opening up of the future,

an opening into the rest of our life's way of life.

Ibn Kathir called it 'The Mother of the Qur'an'.

As with every other surah except one in the Qur'an it begins with a 'Bismillah',

though from the earliest days there has been debate over whether the 'bismillah' is a verse of each surah or a separate indicator of their start,

though most schools of law apart from Shafi'i and Ja'fari say that in the Salaat Fatihah should be recited without it.

According to some, the word Allah is unique, having no root,

though others like Tabataba'i suggest it is derived from 'al-ilah', 'the god',

and al-Kashani suggests that the order of God's Names in the bismillah show the levels of God's divinity in relation to the creation,

'Allah' referring to God's Essence or Self,

'al-Rahman' to the unity of God's Attributes expressed through the other Beautiful Names,

and 'al-Rahim' to the unity of God's Acts.

According to a famous saying attributed to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib,

The whole of the Qur'an is contained in the Fatihah,

and the whole of the Fatihah is contained in the Bismillah.

Al-Tabari says that with 'al-Hamd', Grateful Praise is made definite, 'The Praise', to show that all forms of praise and thanks are owed to God,

and al-Qushayri says that God uses these Self-reflective words of praise so that humans can praise God using the Words of God

as their own words will always be inadequate.

The word 'Rabb' is used to refer to Allah throughout the Qur'an,

and is a word which highlights the impossibility of translating the Qur'an into another language,

because 'Rabb' is often translated into English as 'Lord',

but 'Lord' is masculine and Allah is not.

It is perhaps better understood as 'The One Who commands all,

The One to Whom all owe allegiance',

Our Liege.

The phrase 'Rabb-ul-'alameen', the 'Rabb of the worlds' is used 42 times in the Qur'an,

and some say that 'the worlds' refers to the worlds of humans and jinn, angels and satans,

while Ibn Kathir and al-Qurtubi suggest that 'the worlds' refers to all things existing other than God.

Al-Razi says that 'the worlds' are all that humans can see and imagine as well as all that they can neither see nor imagine.

God is the Rabb of all existence, no matter what the nature of that existence might be.

With 'al-Rahman, al-Rahim' God's Mercy is then mentioned once more,

reminding us of God's essential nature before we face judgement at the end of our lives by the 'maliki yaum id-deen'.

Malik has two variant readings,

one with a long 'a' meaning owner, and one with a short 'a' meaning sovereign,

both of which are traced back to the Messenger by al-Qurtubi and others.

On the Day of Deen, your body testifies as to the way you have followed your deen,

your way of life.

Then with the next ayat the Fatihah suddenly changes,

from the praise and descriptions of God in the first ayats to addressing God directly,

using the word 'You'.

With this tiny word we understand that the Creator of the universe and all the worlds is not an 'It', but is a 'Who',

One with an awareness of Self and also our selves,

One with Whom we have a relationship.

Muslims need no priests, we speak to Allah directly.

And our relationship with God is twofold,

as we say 'iyyaka n'abudu' we say 'You alone we worship', but the 'abd is also a servant or slave.

Our whole lives should be lived in the service of Allah.

Ja'far al-Sadiq is reported to have said

'Some people worship God out of fear, and that is the worship of slaves,

others worship God seeking reward, and that is the worship of hirelings,

and some worship God out of love, and that is the worship of those who are free,

the most excellent of worship'.

Ibn 'Ajiba says that true worship involves the greatest degree of humility before God,

which is necessary to recognise our total reliance on God,

therefore 'n'abudu' comes before 'nasta'in', 'You alone we ask for help', because before we ask for help we need to acknowledge that God is the only One with the power to help us,

without God we don't even have the power to ask for help.

Now, having been given the possibility of asking God for help, in the next ayat we ask for something specific.

With 'Ihdina Sirat al-Mustaqim' we ask God to 'guide us on the straight way',

a way that Ibn 'Ajiba calls the middle way that avoids extremes,

a way of life that combines the outward way of the law with the inner way of the spirit,

so that our outer nature is spent in service while our inner nature is free.

And with that we request that our path be one on which we feel God's blessings upon us,

and that anger does not come upon us either from outside ourselves or from within.

And finally we ask for God's help to keep us from making mistakes and going astray.

So the Fatihah has a threefold structure,

the first three verses deal with the nature of God,

the middle verse deals with the relationship between God and humanity,

and the last three verses deal with the various states of human beings.

Al-Ghazali says that the verses of the Qur'an divide into six main groups with several sub-divisions leading to ten separate categories, from which are derived all the Islamic Sciences

and in a chapter entitled 'Secrets of the Surah of the Opening' he shows how all of these categories except two are contained in the Fatihah.

The Bismillah relates to God's essence, attributes and works,

then 'al-Hamdulillahi Rabb ul-'Alamin' contains the basis of praise, which is gratitude, and the beginning of the straight path along with patience.

The superiority of gratitude to patience is like the superiority of mercy to anger, as gratitude proceeds from joy, whereas patience proceeds from fear and awe, and is not free from distress and sorrow.

After that, 'Ar-Rahman-ar-Rahim' is not a repetition, as it has a different position and relates to the phrases on each side of it,

the two great channels of mercy, the created worlds of God as Rabb and the day of judgement in the afterlife, 'Maliki Yaum-id-Deen'.

'Iyyaka n'abudu' contains the spirit of the straight path, and the essential belief in Divine Unity, beautifying the soul,

while 'Iyyaka nasta'in' is purification from shirk.

'Ihdina siratal-mustaqim' is the marrow of worship,

and the rest of the surah is a reminder of God's favour to friends and anger towards enemies,

so that way encouragement is given, and awe excited in people's hearts.

Thus the Surah of Opening has verses involving eight of Al-Ghazali's ten divisions

God's Essence, Attributes and Works,

description of the life to come, and of the straight path together with both its sides,

purification of the soul and making it beautiful,

description of God's favour to his friends and of his anger towards his enemies,

and description of the resurrection.

There is a Hadith Qudsi reported by al-Tabari and al-Tabrisi in which God says

"I have divided prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves,

and My servants shall have what they have asked for.

When the servant says 'Al-hamdu lillahi rabb il-'alamin', God says: 'My servant has praised Me'.

And when the servant says; 'Arrahmanirrahim' , God says: 'My servant has extolled Me'.

And when the servant says: 'Maliki yawmiddin', God says: 'My servant has glorified Me'.

And when the servant says: 'Iyyaka na'budu wa iyyaka nasta'in', God says: 'This is between Me and My servant,

and My servants shall have what they have asked for.

And when the servant says: 'Ihdina sirat al-mustaqim, sirat al-ladhina an'amta 'aleihim, ghair il-maghdubi 'aleihim wa la daleen', God says: 'This is for My servant,

and My servants shall have what they have asked for'."