Lessons from Surah Fatiha - Sheikh Abu Abdillah Yunus Mahmoud

Lessons from Surah Al-Fatiha

You'd find the change in this individual's life. You definitely find the change in this individual's life. Now, the goal is that we tackle the surah, we explain the surah more from an Imani perspective. How can we contemplate over the surah? How can we change our lives using this surah? And the goal is not to look into the linguistics or the Arabic syntax or Arabic grammar or anything similar to that.

Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen — All Praise Belongs to Allah

So Allah starts off this surah by saying, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. The Alif Lam in Al-Hamd — the scholars mentioned that this encompasses, this includes every type of praise for Allah.

And some of the scholars, like Imam Ibn Jarir At-Tabari rahimahullah ta'ala, he says that what's meant is that all thanks are due to Allah for His unbelievable amount of favors and bounties that He has blessed us with. And if a person contemplates over the amount of bounties — because first of all, it's not possible for us, even if we were to think all night and all day, to count how many blessings Allah has blessed us with. We're just moving and transferring from one blessing to another blessing.

But by far the greatest blessing a person can be blessed with is his hidayah, his guidance from Allah. There's no doubt that there's nothing greater than that. Even if a person has lost his sight, has become crippled, paralyzed — the fact that the individual is still guided, that is a ni'mah by itself.

As the Sahaba, as found in Sahih Muslim, they would say:

"By Allah, if it wasn't for Him, we would have never been guided, nor would we have ever performed any prayer, nor would we have ever given anything in charity." All credit goes back to Him. There's no doubt concerning this, and a person needs to remember this.

And once a person has been guided to Islam, then Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah ta'ala — he says, when talking about miracles and how the people of the Sunnah believe in miracles — he says that the greatest honor and the greatest miracle that Allah can give to His slave is istiqamah, steadfastness. That a person commits himself, he enters into the religion completely — meaning a person doesn't follow parts of the religion and leave the other parts, or practice the religion at his own convenience. Rather, a person enters into the religion completely. And he says that the fact that Allah has blessed this person and aided him to do nothing except that which pleases Allah — this is by far the greatest honor Allah can bestow upon any of His servants.

The Meaning of Rabbil Alameen

رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ generally carries three main meanings: that Allah is the Creator, the Sustainer, and the Controller of all of the affairs. However, this nurturing is of two types. There is one which is for everyone — that Allah has created everyone, provided for everyone, and guides everyone to that which benefits them. And then there is a special one, an exclusive one, a specific one — one which is not given to everyone. This is the fact that Allah nurtures the people who believe, upon their faith, upon Iman. Secondly, He completes the Iman, meaning He increases them in guidance. And thirdly, He removes any obstacle which gets in the way between them and guidance. If there is anything that is going to make you deviate, He will remove it — any obstacles that will make you deviate from the right path and from guidance, Allah removes them from the path.

Then Allah carries on and He says الْعَالَمِينَ — Al-'Alamin is everything other than Allah jalla wa 'ala. And when a person truly knows that Allah is the Lord of everything that exists, the Lord of the universe, then if a person has any greed or stinginess, it should be removed — because they know who is truly giving whatever He wants to give.

Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem — The All-Merciful, The Most Merciful

Then the question comes: if we know that Allah is the Lord, the question comes to mind — what is this Lordship based on? Is it based on retribution and revenge? Or is it based on mercy and compassion? And the answer is found in the next verse immediately. Allah says الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ — Ar-Rahman, the One who has the attribute of vast mercy, vast mercy. And Ar-Rahim, that He causes this mercy to reach the creation.

And when a person looks around, every little thing that they see — generally speaking, you find the mercy of Allah prevalent and apparent in His creation. But one of the greatest things that a person can think about is the fact that we're always doing wrong. We're always doing wrong. And Allah pardons us for a lot of our shortcomings, a lot of our shortcomings.

The Hadith of Abu Dharr — The Mercy of Allah on the Day of Judgement

An example for this is found in the hadith of Abu Dharr in Sahih Muslim, where the Prophet ﷺ says: a man will come on Yawm al-Qiyamah. Then Allah will say: move all of his major sins and present to him his minor sins. So it will be said to him: you did such and such sin on such and such day, you did such and such sin on such and such day — again and again and again. And the person is just going to affirm. He can't do anything other than affirming. And then he is going to start to think — this is what the Prophet ﷺ says — he's going to start to think: this is just my minor sins. What about my major sins? When am I going to be presented my major sins? And then Allah will say: for every bad deed, I am going to replace it with a good deed. And then that person is going to say: Oh my Lord, there are many sins that I can't even see that I've done.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 49, Hadith 2)

The Hadith of Ibn Umar — The Secret Conversation

And in the hadith of Ibn Umar in Sahih al-Bukhari, again on Yawm al-Qiyamah — the secret conversation between Allah and His slave — Ibn Umar mentions that the Prophet ﷺ said: Allah will bring His slave and then He will place a screen. It will be said to him: you did this sin on such and such day — and he will affirm. You did such and such sin on such and such day — and the person will affirm, until the individual feels that he is doomed. It's the end, game over. And what happens? Allah will say to that person:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2441)

"I concealed your sins in this dunya, and today I shall forgive them."

Never Give Up on Tawbah

My dear respected brothers and sisters, most of us commit sins, but then we repeat the same sin again and again. This is the human being. We are not angels. So this is one thing we have to acknowledge. The fact that you keep falling into the same trap again and again — you need to look at the reasons, the causes. How do you fall into that particular sin? Is it that when you go to a particular place, you end up doing the sin every time? You need to pay attention to this so you can stop going to such places. Or if it's when you spend time with certain people — you're always sinning with them — you need to look for alternative company, a substitute. But the reality is, every time you sin, you need to make sure you make tawbah.

Like the hadith of Abu Hurairah in Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ says: Allah, when His slave commits a sin, then he says: "Oh my Lord, I have sinned, so forgive me." So Allah says: "My slave knows that he has a Lord who forgives and punishes. So I shall forgive My slave and I do not care." And then after some time, the same happens again. The individual commits another sin and then he says: "Oh my Lord, I have committed a sin. Please forgive me." So again Allah says: "My slave knows that he has a Lord who forgives and punishes. So I will forgive My slave and I do not care." And this happens a good few times.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 7507; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2758)

And Hasan al-Basri rahimahullah ta'ala, from the Tabi'een, from the second generation of the Muslims — some of the people came to him and said that sometimes they feel embarrassed: they're just doing the same sin again and again, and they feel embarrassed to make tawbah, to repent to their Lord. So he said: if you do this, the shaitan will be very happy that he has succeeded in his task. Rather, never give up in seeking forgiveness for your sins.

And obviously, this is just one aspect. Otherwise, in terms of the mercy of Allah, it is very great and encompasses everything.

Maliki Yawm id-Deen — Master of the Day of Reckoning

And in some of the authentic ways of recitation, He says مَلِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ — Malik, the King of the Day of Reckoning. So a person may ask: Allah is the King even now — we're in this dunya too, not just on that day. And that is the reality. But on that day it will be made very apparent.

Allah will even ask: where are the kings of the earth? Where are the arrogant people? No one would dare to speak on that day. In the verse, Allah says:

"Today, who does the kingdom belong to?" And no one would dare to speak. And then Allah will speak Himself and say:

"It belongs to Allah, the One, the Prevailing."

So here — this is an indication — every time you recite this verse, every time you recite Surah al-Fatiha, it is reminding you that your time is very close. When you're born, generally speaking based on your lifespan — however long you're decreed to live — if a person is decreed to live for 70 years, for example, when a person looks at the lifespan it seems quite long. But every hour is getting shorter and closer together, and you have no idea when your time is to leave and depart. So in this verse, Allah is reminding us of one of the six pillars of Iman: belief in the Final Day. Yawm ad-Deen — the Day of Reckoning, the day where you are given your good deeds if you've done good, and if a person has done bad, he'll be awarded accordingly.

Remembering Death — Lessons from the Salaf

In the Shari'ah, in our religion, we find that the Prophet ﷺ encourages greatly for a person to think of the inevitable end. That's why, for example, in the hadith of Buraidah in Sahih Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ says: "I used to prohibit you from going to the graveyards, but now go and visit them." Why? "For they remind you of the Akhirah."

(Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Hadith 2130)

And when we look at the people of the past, the first few generations of the Muslims, we find them very focused in regards to this specific aspect — the inevitable end. Thabit al-Bunani rahimahullah ta'ala, from the Tabi'in, from the second generation of the Muslims — he mentions how the people of his time used to react when they would follow a janaza. He says when we would go to follow a janaza, we would find the people falling into one of two categories. He says the first type is a person who is mutaqanni'an bakiya — covering his face, crying. And the second one is a person who is covering his face in deep reflection and deep thought — mutaqanni'an mutafakkira.

Most of us, when we go to the graveyards — unfortunately — this is like some hotspot or some place where it's like some get-together. This is when we normally meet our family or friends. We need to make sure we make some changes in regards to this.

Al-A'mash, Sulayman ibn Mahran rahimahullah ta'ala, from the first few generations — he says: "We would go to a funeral procession and we would not know who to give condolences to." Look at this — he says we would go to a funeral procession and we would not know who to give condolences to. Because everyone's grieving. Everyone's upset. Who knows who lost his family member? Where are they? That's what he's trying to say.

And Abdul Ghani al-Maqdisi rahimahullah ta'ala, al-Hafidh Abdul Ghani — from the scholars of the past, approximately seven to eight hundred years ago — he would go to the graveyard and he would cry so much that the earth would actually get wet with his tears, and then he would say: "My heart feels peace when I am in this place." This is where he was — and he was also buried there later on.

Yahya ibn Abi Kathir rahimahullah ta'ala, from the first few generations — when he would attend a janaza, a funeral, he would not eat his dinner that night, that same night. Why? Because this individual was affected. It's not that we're promoting not eating food or anything similar to that. What we're trying to say is that these individuals would reflect. They would see it as a reminder. That's how we're supposed to see this thing. It's supposed to be a reminder. That's what the Prophet ﷺ says — go and visit the graveyard, for it will remind you of the Akhirah.

So insha'Allah, next time we go to a graveyard, or next time someone dies, pay attention to these things insha'Allah ta'ala, and let us try to benefit from this and maybe reevaluate our lives and make a change insha'Allah ta'ala.

Iyyaka Na'budu wa Iyyaka Nasta'een — You Alone We Worship, You Alone We Ask for Help

Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullah ta'ala says that he contemplated and was thinking of the most beneficial du'a, and then he said he found it in Surah al-Fatiha — for it is the du'a where a person is asking Allah to grant them help and aid to execute that which pleases Allah, so that they draw close to Allah.

In this verse, we find that we are saying: You alone we worship, and You alone we seek help and aid and assistance from. So the right of Allah has been given precedence over the right of the creation. And also when a person masters servitude and draws very close to Allah, then even their actions — their standard acts of obedience — multiply greatly.

That's why Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah mentions, he says:

"The actions — one action is not made more superior to another based on its description, its apparent look, nor based on the number of times you practice the action. Rather, one is made superior over the other based on the superiority of one's heart over another person's heart." And then he gives an example — he says you will find two people in one masjid, in one row, in fact next to each other, and the difference between the two is like the difference between the heavens and the earth. Maybe they're performing the exact same prayer. When you look at them, you can't tell the difference. He says the difference between the two is like the difference between the heavens and the earth.

Never Underestimate Du'a — The Story of Imam al-Bukhari's Eyesight

And Allah carries on: "You alone we seek help from." The people of the past, even in the most smallest of things, they would always make du'a to Allah. As for the things which a person normally finds far-off and far-fetched — these things they would also never give up on.

We find Imam al-Bukhari rahimahullah ta'ala — when he was young, he lost his eyesight. This is Imam al-Bukhari, the author of Sahih al-Bukhari. We're not talking about any other Bukhari — Imam al-Bukhari himself, the author of Sahih al-Bukhari, when he was young, he lost his eyesight. What did his mother do? His mother carried on crying profusely and making du'a excessively until one night she went to sleep and she saw Ibrahim alayhi salam. And Ibrahim alayhi salam said to her: "Oh so-and-so, your son's eyesight has been restored because of your excessive crying" — and in a variation: "because of your excessive du'a." This is mentioned by Imam al-Dhahabi rahimahullah in his masterpiece Siyar A'lam al-Nubala — the 27-volume masterpiece, the biography of the noble people — and it is also mentioned by Ibn Kathir rahimahullah in Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah.

She made du'a and she was granted it. Most of us will probably run from hospital to hospital, and when they say there's no hope, we'll leave it at that. But it's your Lord who can do whatever He wants to do. All your job is to make du'a. If Iblis asked for respite and was granted it, then how about one of us? Do we not have more right? Should we not feel more encouraged by this — that even Iblis was answered — that we should definitely ask Allah for something, and with Allah's permission, He will give it to us.

Ihdinas Siratal Mustaqeem — Guide Us to the Straight Path

Allah then carries on. He says: guide us, direct us to the straight path. A person might say: what am I doing here then? I'm a Muslim already, alhamdulillah. So what's the wisdom behind this du'a? For starters, one of the wisdoms is that a person may be guided right now, but what guarantee do you have that you're going to remain upon guidance when it's time for you to depart from this world? This is one thing.

A second point is that when you're calling other people who are not so practicing in the religion — as Allah says — do not forget this point. According to one of the tafseers from the first few generations when explaining this verse, he says: likewise, you also used to be in misguidance. You were not always guided. Likewise, you also used to be misguided. So don't forget that. But Allah favored you by guiding you. It was because Allah favored you — not due to yourself. And this is an important point for a person not to forget — that whenever they do any good deed, or the fact that they've been protected throughout their youth and their vulnerable young age and never committed any grave sins — all credit belongs to Allah alone, not due to anyone else, not yourself. Do not forget this point.

Even some of the greatest Sahaba — like when the Prophet ﷺ, in Sahih al-Bukhari, started to mention some of the gates of paradise and said: those who used to perform lots of prayers can enter through the gate of prayers, those who fasted through the gate of fasting — and he carried on — then Abu Bakr as-Siddiq asked: "Is there anyone who will enter through all eight of them?" And he said: "Yes, and I hope that you are one of them."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1897)

The same individual who was upon guidance, upon the greatest type of guidance — a person entered into Medina, performed the Maghrib prayer behind Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiallahu ta'ala anhu, and found that in the third rak'ah, after he recited Surah al-Fatiha, he started to recite:

"Our Lord, do not deviate our hearts after You have guided them, and bestow upon us Your mercy. Indeed, truly You are the Bestower." He is asking this in the Maghrib prayer — he's worried that he might still be misguided. And a person should never feel complacent just because he is guided right now. We have no guarantee that we are going to remain like this until we depart. So we always need to ask Allah for thabat — to keep us firm upon this guidance — and along with that, for an increase in guidance. Just as we are guided, we need an increase in guidance.

The Sirat Above Jahannam

Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah ta'ala — before we move on to the next verse — he says that the Sirat which is mentioned in the hadith of Abu Sa'id in Sahih Muslim in the Book of Iman — the Sirat which is like a bridge on top of the Hellfire — is thinner than a hair and sharper than a sword, and people will be crossing it based on their actions. Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah mentions in Madarij al-Salikin in the introduction that based on how you are in this world — how steadfast you are — you are going to be crossing the Sirat above Jahannam in the same fashion.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 299)

So he says that every person knows how well he is doing in this world. Are you practicing all the time? Is it sometimes you're like this, sometimes you're like that? Everyone knows himself better than anyone else.

Sirat alladhina An'amta Alayhim — The Path of Those Whom Allah Favored

The question comes: who are these guided people that we are asking to be like? And the answer is given in the next verse — those upon whom Allah bestowed His favor. Again, remember this: bestowed — meaning they were not guided by themselves. It was Allah who bestowed His favor upon them.

We find an indication in this verse — to think about who our role models are. Who are your role models? This is the question. Many of us practice, but we don't have suitable role models.

You Are with Those Whom You Love

Listen to this hadith — a Bedouin came to the Prophet ﷺ. This is in Sahih al-Bukhari on the authority of Anas ibn Malik radiallahu anhu. He said to the Prophet ﷺ: "When is the Hour?" So the Prophet ﷺ asked him: "What have you prepared for it?" He said: "Nothing. I haven't prepared anything. However, I love Allah and His Messenger." Now, I'm sure most of us probably know this hadith. But let's listen to the reaction of the Sahaba when they heard it.

Anas comments — because the Prophet ﷺ replied to him saying: "You will be with the one whom you love" — Anas says: "We never rejoiced like when we rejoiced upon the Prophet ﷺ making this statement: 'You are with the one whom you love.'" Why? Because Anas says: "I love the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr, and Umar, and I hope to be with them — because of my love for them, even if I don't perform the same amount of actions that they performed."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3688; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2639)

Just because of your love — and obviously a person needs to follow them. Obviously, that is proof that they genuinely love them. And also they need to learn all the details concerning their biographies so we can emulate them and follow them.

Not the Path of Those Who Earned Wrath or Went Astray

Allah ends the surah. He says: and not to be like those people who earned the anger and the wrath of Allah upon them, nor those who are misguided, who went astray. Who are these two sets of people? We are told not to be like them. The first set of people are those who have knowledge but they don't want to act upon it. They know the truth but they refuse to act upon it. And the second are those who are ignorant and they oppose the truth and are not interested in removing the ignorance. So they worship Allah upon misguidance. They are astray, they are misguided. So we are told not to be like any of these people.

Closing Du'a

Wallahi, if we could, we would go for a lot longer and mention a lot more benefits. But obviously, as we know, time does not permit. So insha'Allah ta'ala, what we've mentioned — and I ask Allah to accept it from all of us, all of those who have heard and myself who has spoken — and to make it weigh very heavy on our scale of good deeds when we meet Him insha'Allah ta'ala.

Barakallahu feekum.