Al-Fatihah
Place of Revelation: Makkah, Verse: 7, Ruku: 0, Sajdah: 0
Naming
The surah is named in keeping with its original content. With the help of which a topic, book or thing is inaugurated is called 'Fatiha'. In other words, this word conveys the meaning of introduction and opening the speech.
The time of revelation
This is the Surah of the very first period of Prophethood of Muhammad (ﷺ). Rather, it is known from the reliable narration of the hadith that it is the first complete surah revealed to Muhammad (ﷺ). Before this only isolated verses were revealed. They are inserted in Surah 'Alaq', Surah 'Mujzhammil' and Surah 'Mudassir' etc.
Content
Actually this Surah is a supplication. When any person starts reading this book, Allah first teaches him this supplication. Placing it at the beginning of the book means that if you want to benefit from this book, then pray and ask for help from Allah, the Lord of the universe.
People naturally pray for the things that they need and desire in their minds. And he makes this supplication when he feels that the object he is supplicating for, he has it to whom he was supplicating. Therefore, at the beginning of the Quran, this supplication has been taught, as if people have been informed, read this book to find the true path, Turn its pages with a truth-seeking mindset and God, Lord and Master of the universe, is the only source of knowledge. Knowing this, start reading this book by seeking guidance from Him alone.
After understanding this, it becomes clear that the real relationship between the Quran and Surah Fatiha is not at the level of a book and its role, but rather at the level of supplication and response to supplication. Surah Fatiha is a supplication from the slave. And the Quran is the answer from Allah. The slave prays, O great Lord! show me the way. In reply the Lord placed the entire Quran before him saying - Here is the guidance and direction for which you have appealed to Me.
1. All praise is for Allah, lord of the worlds.
Islam taught people a special civilization and culture. Chanting the name of Allah before starting every work is a custom of civilization and culture. If you follow this culture with awareness and sincerity, you can inevitably get three benefits. (1) People will be saved from doing many bad deeds. Because the habit of chanting the name of Allah will force him to think before starting every work, whether he has a rightful right to chant the name of Allah in this work. (2) People's attitudes and mentality turn in the right direction due to saying the name of Allah while starting legal, correct and righteous actions. He always starts from the most accurate point. (3) The greatest benefit in this case is that when he starts working in the name of Allah, Allah's help, support and assistance will be with him. His efforts will be blessed. He will be protected from Satan's disaster and destruction. When the servant turns to Allah, then Allah turns to the servant, this is the custom of Allah.
As we said in the introduction, Surah Fatiha is actually a supplication. But the supplication is started by praising the entity to whom we wish to pray. In this way, the method of praying is being taught. That is, if you want to supplicate, you should ask in a polite and decent manner. It is not a sign of courtesy and politeness to open your mouth and present your needs first. It is polite to first describe the merits of the person being prayed to and acknowledge his gifts, favors and dignity.
We praise someone for two reasons. First of all, he possesses some special excellence and qualities by nature. It is not a big deal what influence those excellences and qualities have on us. Second, He is gracious to us and we ascribe His attributes in the emotion of acknowledging His grace. The praise of Almighty Allah has to be done for both reasons and from both sides. We will always praise him, a testament to his immense dignity and his infinite grace towards us.
And praise be to Allah, not only here it ends, but it is rightly said, "Praise be to Allah alone". By saying this, a great truth has been unmasked. And this is a truth which at its first blow uproots the 'worship of the creation'. In the world where there is any beauty, characteristic and excellence in any form, the essence of God is its source. No human, angel, statue, planet, star or any creation has any superiority in its own qualities, rather these are given by Allah. So if one claims the right that we should praise him, worship him, acknowledge his grace and be grateful to him and be his servants and slaves, then only the Creator of these excellences and attributes can do so. No human being can claim this right.
The word 'Rab' (lord) is used in three senses in Arabic. (1) Owner and Master. (2) Guardian, custodian, maintainer and conservator. (3) Possessor of sovereign power, ruler, director and organiser.
2. The most Compassionate, most Merciful.
It is human nature to use exaggerating words when something appears to be too much in his eyes. And after uttering a superlative word, when he feels that it is not possible to express the superfluity of the thing concerned with that word, he uses another word of the same meaning. Thus the abundance of inherent qualities of the word makes up for what he feels is a lack of expression. The same subtle principle is implied in saying 'Rahim' after the word 'Rahman' in praise of Allah. In Arabic, 'Rahman' is a superlative word. But the mercy and grace of Allah towards the creation is so great and wide and so limitless that the mind cannot be satisfied even after using the superlative and most extravagant words to describe it. So the word 'Rahim' has been said again to claim the right to reveal its excess. An example of this can be given when we use the word 'donor' to describe a person's philanthropic qualities, but when we feel dissatisfied, we add the word 'savior' to it. After saying the word 'white' in praise of the colour, we say 'white as milk' again.
3. The owner of the day of judgment.
On the day when all the previous and subsequent generations of mankind will be gathered together and their entire life activities will be accounted for, each person will be given his full karma, He is the sole ruler of that day. After using the words Rahman and Rahim in praise of Allah, saying 'He is the Master of the Day of Recompense', henceforth the meaning is revealed that He is not only kind and merciful, but at the same time He is the Just Judge. And he is the judge who will be the possessor of full power and authority on the day of final trial and judgment. If He punishes on that Day, no one will be able to prevent it, and no one will be able to prevent it even if He rewards. Therefore, because He nurtures us and judges us, we also fear Him and feel that our fate, whether good or bad, is entirely in His hands.
4. You [alone] we worship and You [alone] we ask for help.
The word Ibadat (worship) is used in three senses in Arabic, (1) To worship and glorify, (2) To obey and follow orders and (3) To worship and serve. Here all three meanings are revealed simultaneously. That is, we worship you, obey you, and also worship and serve you. And not only do we have these relationships with you, but we only have these relationships with you. No one else is our Lord in any of these three senses.
Our relationship with You is not only that of worship, but also our relationship of help is only with You. We know that You are the Lord of the entire universe. All power is concentrated in your hands. You alone possess all graces. So we pray only at your door to fulfill our needs and wants. We submit ourselves to you and rely on your help. That is why we have appeared at your door with this application.
5. Guide us to the straight path.
Teach us, in every branch and department of life, such rules of thought, action and conduct, which will be absolutely perfect, where there is no danger of wrong-seeing, wrong-doing and evil consequences, by which we may have proper success and good fortune. On the eve of reciting the Quran, the servant presents this request to his Lord and Master Allah. The servant submits a request, O Allah! You show us the way. Reveal to us the real truth from the maze of imaginary visions. Present before us the correct and accurate moral thoughts from among the various moral thoughts. Show us the easy, simple and clear highway of thought and action from the many paths of life.
6. The path of those You have blessed,
This is the identity of the straight path that we seek to gain knowledge from Almighty Allah. That is, the path on which your loved ones are always walking. That perfect highway, from time immemorial to the present day, the man and the party who walk upon it have obtained Your favor and their lives have been fulfilled in Your grace.
7. not those You are displeased with or those who are astray.
We have not identified all the people as recipients of 'grace', those who seem to receive your earthly favors temporarily, but they are the object of your wrath and punishment and thus they lose their way to success and fortune. In this negative interpretation it becomes clear that by 'grace' we mean proper and lasting grace, which is actually achieved as a result of following the right path and gaining the pleasure of Allah. Not the temporary and showy grace, which Pharaohs, Nimrods and Karuns enjoyed in the past and are still being enjoyed by great tyrants, miscreants and misguided people before our eyes.