The Opening Argumentative Essay
- “In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.”
- “(All) praise is (only) Allah’s, the Lord of the Worlds.”
- “The Beneficent, The Merciful.”
- “Master of the Day of Judgement.”
- “Thee (alone) do we worship and of Thee (only) do we seek help.”
- “Guide us (O’ Lord) on the Straight Path.”
- “The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed Thy bounties, not (the path) of those inflicted with Thy wrath, nor (of those) gone astray.
“The Opening (Surah e Fatiha) has a different opening tone as compared to other surahs, its tone is extraordinary and has a particular style which is clearly different from others. The others surah of Quran includes commands for the mankind from Allah, whereas Surah e Fatiha is a way for the mankind to speak and communicate to their creator Allah Almighty without any mediator.It is a Mecci surah of Quran which means it was discovered by Prophet PBUH when he was in Makkah. It is kept at the the beginning of Quran and serves as a gateway to read the Holy Quran.
It consists of 7 surahs and it is also a way to salah. Surah e Fatiha is described as the Mother of the Quran and the Seven oft-repeated verses. It describes the basic tenets of Islam, belief in Allah, the Prophet Muhammad PBUH and the purification of the soul and character. In many ways, Surah e Fatiha is a summary of the main themes of the Qur’an.
The scholars have mentioned that the Qur’an is broadly divided into 3 main themes. Number one the Quran speaks about Allah, number two about the Prophets and past nations, and number three about the halal and haram.
- Allah: In the first three verses of the surah Allah Almighty tells about the very first principle that is to know Allah about His creation, His power, His attributes, His names. It gives us the message of Tauheed. It tells us that and most beneficent and that He is the owner of the day of Judgement.
- Prophet:In the next verses of Surah, the second principle is described. It tells us to follow the Prophet PBUH his sacrifices, his life, his way of living, his character. It tells us to follow the straight path, the path of Prophet Muhammad PBUH to follow his Sunnah. And that he is the best example to follow.
- Halal and Haram:After following the first two principles a person heart becomes pure and it allows a person to do only those things that Allah loves and follow the Sunnah and straight path of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH this helps a person to do halal deeds which leads to attain Allah’s grace, blessings and love.
Whereas if a person will not follow the first two principles it will lead to the creation of an evil person who does bad deeds and we only get Allah’s wrath and anger. There are many virtues of Surah e Fatiha such asIbn ‘Abbas narrated:”While Jibril was with the Messenger of Allah, he heard a noise from above. Jibril lifted his sight to the sky and said: “This is a door in the Heavens being opened, and it has never been opened before now.”
An Angel descended from that door and came to the Prophet and said: “Receive the glad tidings of two lights that you have been given, which no other Prophet before you was given The Opening of the Book (Al Fatiha) and the last verses of ‘al-Baqarah.’ You will not read a letter of them except that you will gain its benefit.” (Sahih Muslim).
Impact of Surah e Fatiha On the Life of Muslim
There are many impact of surah e fatiha on the life of a Muslim. It is a blessing and holds a great position in the heart of every Muslim. By accepting every single word of it a person submits himself to Allah and because of submission of a person to Allah SWT we shape our lives in every manner possible. We recite surah e fatiha 17 times a day and without it our prayer remains incomplete. It helps us solve all our problems in daily life and connect us to Allah. It creates a mentality in the believer that the road to every moment of happiness and contentment.
Every word of each verse nurture a sense of gratitude for the losses, hardships, and disappointments we face in life, by realizing that Allah offers us an opportunity to gain nearness to Him and forgiveness and rewards through patience during such events in life.
Tafseer of Surah e Fatiha
The first ayat of Surah Fatiha is: In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful. It is known as bismillah. It is good and necessary to recite before every action.
The Meaning of al-Rahman and al-Raheem
Both these names are derived from the same root letters: raa,haa, meem; which means to have mercy. They both similar in meaning and both are connected to Allah. The fact that Allah and mention of two of His Names which have to do with Mercy, rather than Might and Power, to show just how important this is. The difference between al-Rahman and al-Raheem is that al-Rahman refers to Allah mercy to all of creation.
It is His mercy which is extended to everything that exists. Al-Raheem refers to Allah’s mercy which is specific for the believers. It indicates the doing of actions. The second verse:The second ayat is: All praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. The word hamd means praise and thankfulness.
The meaning of hamd, is the same as shukr. Hamd is something which must be done with love and affection, but shukr does not need this. Shukr is done in response to a favour which is done to a person but hamd is done simply because the one being praised and thanked. The Meaning of Rabb and Aalameen:
- Rabb is usually means and translate as Lord but it is much more. The Rabb is the creator, the king, the master and the one who controls everything in this universe. It comes from the root letters raa, baa which means to have control over everything.
- Aalameen means everything which exists other than Allah that is mankind, jinn, angels, and devils. In short, all those things which have souls.
The third verse: The third ayat is: The Beneficent, The Most Merciful. The explanation of these two names has already been given. Why is it repeated? This is to once again emphasize the importance of the mercy. Also, when something is repeated in the Quran, then you should look at the ayat before it and after it, to see how they are related.
In this case, the previous ayah mentioned that Allah is the Rabb of all the worlds. So, repeating the words, al-Rahman and al-Raheem after that, shows us that being the Rabb He provides us mercy.The fourth verse:The fourth ayat is: The Only Owner of the Day of Recompense.The Meaning of Maalik.
Maalik means master and refers to “milk” that is the ownership of something whereas Malik means king, and it refers to “mulk” that is the dominion of a person. God is the Lord of the Day of Judgement. He will judge us He is powerful, that on the Day of Judgement no one will have the power either to resist the enforcement of punishments that He decrees or to prevent anyone from receiving the rewards that he decides to bestow. Hence, we should not forget that our ultimate happiness or misery rests completely with Him.
The fifth verse:The fifth ayat is: You (alone) we worship and You (alone) we ask for help. Now we are addressing Allah. Worship means to obey, it means to submit yourself before Allah and to His Will. The ayah tells us that lordship and worship is due to Him. “Iyyaaka nasta’een” means we seek help, support and success.
Usually, in most sentences the verb comes first and then the object but here the object of the verb is mentioned first and then the verb so to attach importance to it, to Allah refers the status of the slave and his worship which is lower so it will come after mentioning the Lord, Allah. The sixth verse:The sixth ayat is: Guide us on the Straight Path. This ayah is a dua which we make to show us the straight path and to guide us on it, so that we will get guidance and get closer to Him. We must prevent ourselves from doing bad deeds so that it doesn’t draw us far away from Allah The Meaning of Siraat and Mustaqeem:
- Siraat is a road or a path. The ways to fulfil a siraat is tareeq or sabeel which also mean a road. The conditions are that it must be straight,reach the goal, it must be the shortest route to get there, must also be wide and spacious enough for everyone who wants to travel it.
- Mustaqeem is derived from the word istaqaama, which means to be straight, upright.The adjective of mustaqeem is to emphasize again the straightness of this path. The seventh and final verse:The seventh ayat is:The path of those you have blessed, not of those with anger on them, nor of those who are astray.
So, the favoured and blessed people are the Prophets, the martyrs and the pious. And who are the people with anger on them and those who are astray? This is explained by the Prophet. ‘Adi ibn Hatim (RA) asked him about those with anger on them and he replied that it refers to the Jews. He then asked him about those who are astray and he replied that it refers to the Christians. This is reported by al-Tirmidhi and is authentic.
