Arsalan Majeed - Reflections On Surat Alfatiha

We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. All praises are for Allah. We seek Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's forgiveness for our shortcomings and sins.

We seek his assistance in all of our affairs and actions. And we seek refuge and protection in Allah from sinful inclinations within ourselves and negative consequences of our sins. Whoever Allah guides to the truth, no one can misguide.

And whoever Allah leaves astray, the one who chooses the path of misguidance for himself, no one can guide back to the truth. I bear witness and testify that nothing is worthy of worship except Allah alone. And that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam is his most perfect worshipper and final prophet and messenger sent to all humanity and jinn till the day of judgment.

Oh Allah, send your blessings upon Muhammad and the family and followers of Muhammad till the day of judgment. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he says in the Qur'an, dear brothers and sisters:

O believers, be mindful of Allah as he deserves. And make sure that you do not die except in a state of submission to him.

And Allah says:

O people, be conscious of your Lord who created all of you from one soul, Adam alayhi assalam. And from this soul, he created his spouse and mate and partner Hawwa alayhi assalam. And from the two, he spread countless men and women on this earth. Be mindful of Allah, the one in whose name you demand your rights from one another and make requests from one another. Beware of cutting off your ties of kinship. Surely Allah is always watching your actions.

And Allah says:

O believers, be conscious of Allah in your lives. When you speak, speak truthfully, justly and with good intentions and purpose. If you do so, Allah will rectify any deficiencies in your actions and bless your actions for you. And He will forgive your sins for you. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger in this life will achieve a great achievement. The achievement of paradise in the hereafter.

The Greatest Surah

As to what follows. Dear brothers and sisters, once the Prophet ﷺ was with one of his companions in the masjid. And he said to this companion that I will teach you the greatest surah before we leave the masjid. And before the Prophet ﷺ left the masjid, he taught this companion the greatest surah in the Qur'an. And that surah is none other than Surah al-Fatiha.

Surah al-Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Qur'an. The first surah in the Qur'an. In another narration, the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said that in the previous scriptures, no surah has been revealed like Surah al-Fatiha. In the Torah, in the Injil, the Bible, the Psalms of David, Zabur. And even in the Qur'an, no surah like Surah al-Fatiha has been revealed. It is the greatest surah that Allah has revealed to any of His messengers.

And in this short khutbah, we will go over some of the reflections of Surah al-Fatiha. This is a surah that we recite 17 times a day. 17 times a day we ask Allah for something. So it behooves us and it befits us that we ponder over this surah and we understand what we are reciting. So let's begin some of these reflections.

The First Ayah: All Praise Belongs to Allah

In the first ayah, Allah He says:

All praise, it belongs to Allah, the Lord of all creation.

The first point of reflection is Allah says الْحَمْدُ. الْحَمْدُ is praise. You praise someone because of beautiful qualities in that person or in that being. And the meaning over here is that all praise belongs to Allah. Now the question is, how does all praise belong to Allah? Don't we praise one another when we see something beautiful or something good or praiseworthy in the creation? Don't we praise that? So how does all praise go back to Allah?

And the answer to this is that anything in the creation that is praiseworthy, it is simply a possessor of praise. But it is Allah, the Exalted and the Great, who has created that praiseworthy quality in that creation. And therefore whenever we praise something praiseworthy in the creation, ultimately we are praising Allah who is the creator of that praiseworthy quality that we see. This is the first point of reflection. All praises ultimately they go back to Allah.

Four Beautiful Names of Allah

And the next point of reflection is Allah describes Himself with four things in this surah, in the beginning of this surah. The first one He says that He is رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. The second one is الرَّحْمَنُ. The third one is الرَّحِيمُ. And the fourth one is مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ. So let's ponder over these.

The first one is رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. Allah is the Lord of all creation. And what does this mean? This means that everything in creation you can basically divide it into two categories. You have Allah and you have everything else besides Him. Everything else besides Him is created by Allah. It is nurtured by Allah. It is taken care of by Allah.

No creature on the land. No creature in the sky, no bird in the sky. No leaf it falls down. And how many creatures there are they don't even carry their sustenance. Like human beings they store their sustenance. You know in our refrigerator we store our provisions for the next day or for the upcoming week. But Allah says in the Quran how many creatures there are. They don't store their sustenance like human beings. Allah provides for every single creature. Allah takes care of every single creature.

And also this is the meaning of رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. Actually these two words they give us a glimpse of Allah's might. Allah's amazing power and His ability to provide for the entire creation. Realize that Allah is your Lord. Turn back to Him for all of your needs. This is the deeper meaning inside of these two words رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ.

The next quality Allah describes Himself with is الرَّحْمَنُ. Allah is الرَّحْمَنُ. الرَّحْمَنُ means that He is merciful towards the entire creation. You know in human beings sometimes when there is a lot of power in a person that power goes unchecked. And sometimes that power can lead the person to doing things that are objectionable and wrong.

But Allah with His great power He is merciful towards the entire creation. He does not treat the creation with harshness. Rather the Prophet ﷺ he told us that Allah has written for Himself. Meaning Allah has decreed for Himself that His mercy it will overpower His anger and His justice.

And what do we learn from this? What is the point of reflection? The point of reflection dear brothers and sisters is be merciful to the creatures around you. Be merciful to humans around you, be merciful to the animals. And Allah the Exalted He will show mercy to you.

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4943)

The Prophet ﷺ he said those who show mercy will be shown mercy. Show mercy to those on the earth. To other human beings, to the animals and the one in the heaven He will show mercy to you. Meaning that if you show mercy to the creatures Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He will show mercy to you. This is the meaning of الرَّحْمَنُ. The one who shows mercy to the entire creation. Those who believe in Him and those who reject Him. He is merciful towards all of them.

And what is the meaning of الرَّحِيمُ now? الرَّحِيمُ means that He is especially merciful towards the believers. Because the believers, those who worship Allah, they have a special status in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Mercy to them is not like mercy towards others. Because there are others who reject Allah. They reject worshipping Him. But those who worship Him and choose to submit to Him. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala shows them a special mercy in the dunya by guiding them. And they will have a special mercy in the hereafter. Which we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He grants all of us.

The fourth quality Allah describes Himself with is مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ. He is the owner of the day of judgment. He is the king of the day of judgment. مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ. What does this mean? You know, after telling us about His mercy to make sure that no one gets carried away with the idea of mercy. Allah reminds us that there is a day that we will stand in front of Him. And we will be answerable for our actions. And we will have to face the consequences of our actions in this world. Whether they are good or whether they are bad.

And another point of reflection in this ayah is Allah is the king. Allah is the owner of that day. This should reassure us that no one will face any type of injustice on that day. Because أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِأَحْكَمِ الْحَاكِمِينَ Is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not the most just of all judges.

Three Psychological Paradigms of Worship

And another point of reflection. The Prophet peace be upon him, he taught us that the believer he worships Allah based on three psychological paradigms. The first one is love. The second one is hope. And the third one is fear. Fear meaning you fear that if you do something wrong Allah will hold you accountable.

In the first ayah الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. This encapsulates love. Because you praise someone that you love. الرَّحْمَنُ الرَّحِيمُ. This encapsulates mercy. We hope from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He will show mercy to us. And مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ. This encapsulates a sense of concern and fear. Because we are fearful that Allah will hold us accountable for our shortcomings on that day. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for His mercy.

The Ultimate Du'a for Guidance

The last point I want to conclude with and that is the crux or the epitome or the main message of Surah al-Fatiha and that is a du'a for guidance every day when we say this surah in our prayers we are essentially asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for guidance and when we ask Allah for guidance we are asking actually for three things:

Number one, oh Allah we ask you to show us the right path from the wrong path and help us to adopt the right path when it is shown to us because some people they are shown the right path but they fail to adopt it and the second thing we ask Allah is oh Allah once we have adopted that right path help us to increase in guidance because guidance is of levels it is not all one level just like iman is not all one level likewise guidance is not just one level and the third thing we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for is oh Allah help us to stay upon guidance until you bless us with entering your paradise in the hereafter these are the three things that we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for.

The scholars they have a beautiful statement and they say you know in Surah al-Fatiha you ask Allah for guidance now if you want that guidance open the rest of the Quran and read it the rest of the Quran it is a response to that du'a of guidance that you make every single day 17 times a day may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us wisdom and understanding.