Surah 1 : The Opening - Study

The first Surah in the Glorious Quran entitled Al - Fatihah ( The Opening ). This Surah is recited by all Muslim at least 17 times a day in the daily prayers. It is compulsory for every Muslim to recite this Surah in the daily prayers. If it is not, their prayers may not be complete.

The Quran is authored by God, as I mentioned in my earlier post. This point is very clear with every verse is a dialog of God and Muhammad s.a.w. Every verse except the verses in the first Surah which is Al - Fatihah. This is a special Surah not only because it is the first one in the book or because it is recited in prayed. It is also a very special Surah because it is the only Surah that portrays a dialog between us and God.

To me, this Surah shows that Allah s.w.t. is actually teaching mankind on how to praise Him and also on how to ask for help from Him. A lot of people usually Inserts material stuffs in their prayers when asking God for a favor. " God please give me wealth, God please give me good results in my exams, God please make my Sultan lives longer ( Usually in Friday Prayers ) and so on. To me this is a big mistake and an absolute wrong thing to do.

Imagine an adult and a small kid is talking. Obviously the adult will have a far superior knowledge then the small kid. Then the small kid suddenly telling the adult on what he think is best for him.

He says " I think I should have more allowance money, because I study hard everyday."

The adult with a superior knowledge of the world obviously already know what is best for the small kid. For the small kid to actually tell the adult on what to do is actually questioning the adult's judgement and intellectual on how to take care of him.

The same thing goes with God, if we keep on asking for material stuffs from God, it is like we think we know better then God on what is best for us. We are questioning God's judgment on us. When the truth is that God knows everything and Allah s.w.t. is the most just, if we deserve something we will be given. There is no question about that. If God knows what is best for us and He is the most just, why do we need to tell God on what is best for us?

For me the only thing we should ask from God is,

Suran 1 The Opening, Verse 6 - 7 says : Show us the straight way, The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

The right path or the straight way is everything good for us and best for us.

This is actually the second part of the Surah which teaches us on how to ask God for help. The first part of the Surah is actually describing God to us and teaching us on how to praise him.

Surah 1 The Opening : Verse 1 - 5 says :

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,
The Beneficent, the Merciful.
Owner of the Day of Judgment,
Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help.

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

The beneficent and the Merciful is the most known attributes of God. To me all Muslim have to recite this before doing anything, and by anything I do mean ANYTHING. Everything that we do have to be in the name of God and God alone. Everything that we do needs to be something that is a benefit for us to worship Him. Even from our prayers to driving. By this we would not do any bad things or sinful things we will only do things to worship Him. Only by this we will be guided on the "Straight Path", SirratulMustakim.

Of course this is actually a reason or intention we need to embed into our hearts. If it is already embedded we don't need to recite it anymore.

If you go to a motivation camp, they will ask you to shout "I Can!" or something like that several times. They even ask you to go to the mirror ans shout "I Can!" several times. This is to actually embed into your mind and heart that you can actually succeed.

The same theory applies on reciting Gods words several times. It is actually to embed the meaning into your heart.

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,

This verse is telling us an attribute of God. He is the lord of the world, or some translation would say Universe. We should praise Him.

By Worlds or Universe, to me it means everything, the Universe and everything in it. He is the master and everything in the Universe should praise Him. By the word " praise" it means that, not only praising Him with our mouths but also our hearts. By this it means that we should do as he commands, and his commands is to worship him. The meaning of the word worship can also be define better but I am afraid to run to far from the topic, so I might blog about this some other time.

Everything in this Universe is already submitting to him commands. The planets circling its orbit to tiny animals completing the chain of nature. Only us human beings are a bit stubborn to submit to Him, just because we are granted with a brain. As humans being humans, with a little bit of knowledge we tend to be arrogant.

The Beneficent, the Merciful.

This is again the most known attributes from the 99 God has. This may be a repetition from the first verse we discussed. But if you look closely, this verse is inserted in between verse 2 and 3.

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,
The Beneficent, the Merciful.
Owner of the Day of Judgment,

After saying that He is the lord of the worlds, He says that He is "

The Beneficent, the Merciful." and after that "

Owner of the Day of Judgment,".

This is actually to compliment the first verse and the third verse. Yes He is the Lord of the Worlds and Yes He is the Owner of the Day of Judgment. But at the same time He is most Beneficent and Merciful.

Picture this, If there is a King that has absolute power over us. He could do anything to us. He can take away our lives and even he can make us suffer if he wants to. We would be terribly afraid as we know someone has the power on our future and our life. We are afraid that the King might miss use his powers and do harmful things to us.

That is why it God Mentioned although He is the Lord of the Worlds and and also Owner of the Day of Judgment. He is also Most Beneficent and Merciful. We do not need to be afraid of Him, unless we disobey him of course.

Owner of the Day of Judgment,

In some translations it is also mentioned Master of the Day of Judgment. By the word Owner and Master, to me it means "has full control". He may bring forth the Day of Judgment to us anytime he pleases. In the Day of Judgment His say is the ultimate say and no other say may go above it. But keep in mind he is also the most Beneficent and Merciful. As discussed earlier, although He has the power over the Universe and the the Day of Judgment, he rules with the attributes of Beneficent and Merciful.

Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help.

This verse shows us that we should worship Him alone and Him alone can give us a helping hand.

We should not ask help from another human being nor other then God as only Him can help us to the right path. Even if there is another human being helping us to do something, we should know that Allah s.w.t. is the one that made him help us. Without Allah s.w.t. , no one will be able to help us. We should always ask help from God first then only seek others. When we are out of a problem, thank God first then only others.

This completes our study on the first Surah, thou there is still a few things that confuses me. Why did He mentioned Lord of the Worlds, with an "S". Does this mean this world and the world of the Jins? Another thing is he mentioned Lord of the Worlds and Owner of the Day of Judgment. I was thought that there are three stages of a human being, first the world we live in today, the world when we are dead and the Day of Judgment. But here it is only mentioned two of the three I mentioned. I will study more on this and will blog about it when I think I have got the answer.