Tafseer Surah Fatiha

Ep 1

Al-hamdulilah

• Does Fatiha begin with ‘Bismillah’ or with ‘Al-Hamd’? It starts with Al-Hamd because of the hadith said by the Prophet (saw) telling us what Allah said about Fatiha. “I divided the prayer between me and my slave in 2 parts”. As the hadith goes on it starts with Al-Hamdulilah – this could be an indicator that Fatiha starts with Al-Hamdulilah.
• Now what does Al-Hamdlilah mean?

‘Hamd’ means Praise & Thanks 

• You can have Praise without Thanks → such as praising a nice car, you praise it saying “wow, such a beautiful car” but you do not pat the hood and thank it for existing.
• Just as Praise without Thanks, you can also have Thanks without Prise → we can see this from the story of Musa (as). When Musa (as) returned to Fir’oun, Fir’oun was astonished asking “How can you do/say this when I did so much for you.” Musa (as) acknowledges all the help Fir’oun has given him and Thanks him for everything. But he does not Praise Fir’oun for it.
• Hamd means Praise & Thanks – combined, together. This is because our attitude to Allah is comprehensive. We have reason to praise Allah and then on top of this, Thank him for all he has given us. 
• In order to give ‘hamd’ we have to have a positive attitude as we can not give truthful praise & thanks without a positive mindset. Allah chose to begin Fatiha, the beginning of the Holy Book with a positive start.This selection of wording portrays the optimism of our faith.
• When do we say thanks? Well when someone helps you with something you give them thanks. Therefore applying appreciation is a reaction; an answer given. However Allah’s Hamd is not limited to a reaction! It is gratitude that exists whether or not you acknowledge what Allah is doing for you. It’s not conditioned to us and will always exist showing our dependance on Allah. 
• Technicalities:  A noun and a verb. What are the conditions given to a noun & a verb?

Noun = 1) Does not have a tense which means it is timeless. 2) It is independent as it does not need to be done.

Verb = 1) It must have a tense: past, present or future. Therefore it is limited by time. 

2) It also needs to have a do’er to complete the action meaning it is dependent.

• Al-hamdulilah is a noun. Through this Allah shows us that He is timeless and does not need our praise, he doesn’t need us to do the action of praising him. Allah is independent – he doesn’t need our praise or thanks for Hamd to exist, it always will.
• Now why did Allah use Al-hamdulilah, he could’ve used words like ‘lilahilhamd’. Lilahilhamd = Hamd only belongs to Allah (It doesn’t belong to anyone else). We use the word only when we want to persuade or to convince someone of a belief. Using the word only would say that a debate is present but Allah doesn’t do that, he states that there is no need to use such phrasing as there is no debate. Hamd only belongs to Allah.
• Introductions are important. Like when we are introducing ourselves we start off saying “Hi my name is __”. We don’t introduce ourselves with one of our qualities such as “Hi I am an engineer”. Allah has many, many attributions (his 99 names) but he doesn’t introduce himself with one of his qualities, he starts with Alhamdulillah acknowledging all of his many attributes just by using His proper name. He also describes his complete self because if he used words like “Lord” he could be describing a God but Allah is only unique to Allah, the creator.
• Why is ‘Al’ used? Seeing a beautiful mountain, we praise it by saying “Subhanallah”. Here we praise the mountain but in reality our Hamd is given to Allah. Al clarifies that all Hamd, no matter where directed, is to Allah.
• When we say Al-hamdulilah what mindset does it produce? It produces a positive mindset. Our book begins with an attitude which is positive. So when people accuse Islam to be this oppressive, controlling and depressing religion, He contradicts this by beginning Our holy book with an optimistic start. Allah begins with this complete, correct lens, portraying himself exactly as He is. A being which has and deserves Hamd, but will nevertheless exist without a do’er, and it does not depend on us to forever have existence.

Ep 2 

Rabb Al-Alamin

• What does Rabb mean? Well to completely understand, you have to assign a couple of meanings to it: The owner, The one in charge, The one who cares and The giver of gifts. 
• Allah gifts us, he doesn’t owe us, he gifts us with blood running through our heart and our ability to see
• He’s a incredibly generous giver and there’s no way to contemplate him 
• Allah is the master, we are the slave, connoting a negative aura, this negative mindset..
• But this isn’t necessarily true because: The slave, even when “free”, are still enslaved by society, told to do, or be or act a certain way. There are restraints. But being a slave to Allah, the only thing this is necessary, that is mandatory is to please Allah
• The type of slavery that actually frees you from everything else = The only true freedom.
• Humans enjoy freedom → The only freedom we can actually have is enslavement to Allah
• “Meen” = used to talk about people (humans, jins, angels). What is Allah saying in this word?
• He is the master, the caretaker, the authority, the owner, the one who ensures development and growth: The one who holds together every culture, every society, every generation around the world.
• Why does Allah use Al-alamin? Because its particular to people, Fatihah is about us. He doesn’t want us to think of how Allah (swt) is the owner of the sky, sun and moon, the one who controls the sea. His ownership over us, personalised to people. This is important because Islam is a personalised conversation, not an abstract thing or a philosophy debate. It starts with: 

Ep 3

Ar-Rahmaan. Ar-Raheem

• Uses both because they both have two different meanings, everything Allah says is important. Ar-Rahmaan. Rahma: Womb of a mother
• Mercy is correlated with negative energy that we get saved from. That’s a problem: Rahma has nothing to do with a bad situation
• Rahma (womb of mother) = there is no worry for anything, for food, shelter, protection.
• We have no idea how many ways Allah protects us = unknowingly we are protected → We don’t even remember him and he constantly takes care of us: We are just as ignorant as the baby in the womb of the mother.
• Rahma: Allah “Love & Care”
• Ar-Rahmaan = At an extreme rate, happening right now
• Allah is extremely loving and caring right now
• Ar-Raheem = Permanent (always) but not necessarily happening right now* Through this Allah says that he’ll take care of the immediate needs first, not a little either, a lot: and then we think about future wonder, what about tomorrow, the week, month after, will Allah take care of me then then?
• To what Allah says Al-Rahee: Always will take care of you. So…
• Ar-Rahmaan = Take care of present, for the people of this life – Temporary 
• Ar-Raheem = Take care of future, for the people of the Aakirah – Permanent
• Shows the perfection of the words, can’t even flip them over as Allah would be taking care of our future, then our present and HE knows we are impatient beings
• * You can do something in this world which will take the Rahma of Allah away.
• We can never imagine what the Rahma of Allah is like – Beyond human imagination
• Hamd ← Rabb → Ar-Rahmaan and Ar-Raheem
• Master → the quality of that master is that he is unimaginably loving and unimaginably caring. What other master is associated with love and care, now and forever other than Allah?
• Everything he asks from us is for us = we benefit, allah does not need it.
• Brings us peace, happiness, lightens our burden

Ep 4.

• When Allah is extremely loving and caring, always loving and caring, we tend to take advantage of that love & care
• Story of master & slave: The slave can do anything he wishes but can’t go over the fence, but gradually day by day he gets closer to the fence, one time accidentally tripping over the line. He quickly looks to see the master’s reaction, but sees nothing, no reaction. He continues to cross over the fence, eventually forgetting or not caring over the years. In the end the master punishes him for every time he crossed the line, not heading the master’s words.
• The human creates this relationship with Allah and the master creates these lines that should not be crossed. Sometimes we accidentally cross the boundaries, other times we do it on purpose to “see” the punishment. Over the time, crossing the becomes easier and we take advantage of his unimaginable love & care. 
• So HE added one thing to balance the equation “Maliki Yawmi D-din”
• First description of Allah: Rabb includes malik but also includes, maintainer, in charge, take care giver of gifts 
• Malik does not include gift giver. 

Allah does not say 

AL-hamdu lilahi rabb al-alamin

Ar-rahman ar-rahim

Rabbi Yawmi d’din

He decides to say Maliki Yawmi d’din

• Because on that day (day of judgement) the only thing you need to worrying about is his ownership

The Rahma is being removed from the conversation 

• Annunciation of the word malik:

Maalik = Owner → of thing that are small

Malik = King → of things that are big

Being a King you have control over the macro, the big decisions. As for being an owner, you can own a pen, a jacket but you wouldn’t declare yourself as the “king” of these items, therefore you have control over the micro.

• On judgement day Big things will happen: The oceans will boil over, the sun and moon collide, the earth flattened, entire human species herded.
• But also every single deed will be accounted for. So Allah takes complete control by using the pronunciation of Maalik and Malik. The big and the small things together in complete control of Allah.
• He doesn’t just own judgement, he owns the Yawm = day. Master of the day (vestige of time) of Judgement 
• Human beings have had a grasp, an understanding of ownership, we own items, but never time. Allah takes ownership of something only he can take ownership over.
• By using Yawm his complete ownership is captured 
• Din = Allah is the owner of the day of everything will be dealt with. Why should we feel Hamd towards the day of judgement? – Because allah will make sure that no good deep you didn’t get recognised for, no injustice of this world is overlooked. (Alhamdulillah) -Will make us for the incapability of true justice in this life.
• Ar-rahman Ar-Raheem ← Judgement → Punishment
• Here we see that Allah combates this positivity with mutuality not punishment
• So we should pray for the Rahma of Allah on that day, not his judgement (which would ultimately lead to punishment)
• Allah goes easy on those who obtain the book in their right hand = have Allah’s Hamd. Those who receive the book in the left = obtain his judgement
• Allah is so kind, so gracious, he gives us many chances, we should never take advantage 

He balances the equation out 

Shows how perfect his wording is

Ep 5

Iyyaka na’budu wa iyyaka nasta’in

• First three ayat describing himself.

Iyyaka na’budu wa iyyaka nasta’in = You alone we worship.

• Messengers came to connect the people to Allah.
• A king can broadcast to the crowd this meaning that important people talk to the crowd but the crowd, the people do not usually talk to the important person, to the kind.

• Here Allah states that the people talk. Fatiha teaches us to have our own relationship with Allah (swt). First he speaks, then we do.
• We don’t say Nabudu-Ka = We worship You. We say ‘Iyyaka na’budu = You we worship’

Having it in this arrangement brings out the word ‘only’ = Only you we worship

• Al-hamdulillah → emotional and informational
• The conclusion we arrive at is: It is only to you that we willingly give ourselves in slavery and worship. Heart and mind both, we came to the conclusion that we are going to give ourselves in slavery & worship. 
• Fundamental truths of Islam: We must go back to why we are Muslim over and over again. Fatiha refreshes our commitment to Allah.
• Salah is our reminder to keep ourselves before the lines, not to cross the boundaries, the rules, the lines
• Making a commitment to the highest of authorities of course is not an easy thing so, as imperfect beings, we realise we are going to make many mistakes, we are going to forget & cross the lines at times. We establish that we will need help.
•  Iyyaka nasta’in = We seek your help and only your help.

If you want to be a slave of Allah you don’t have to look for help- Its already there for you in Fatiha.

• Nasta’in = We seek your help only
• Istiana = Help when you’ve exhausted yourself but you have too put the work in first
• You fulfil your job first: Slavery (Iyyaka na’budu) and only after then, you will receive the benefits: Help (Iyyaka nasta’in)
• First you become a slave to Allah, you fulfill your duties, take the first steps and only after trying your best (Istiana), then turn and ask Allah for help

You make the effort

Allah will provide results 

• Two extremities often seen:

-Only because I made efforts results came

-No matter how much effort is made all results come from Allah

We should be careful to not fall easily into these mindsets as either are wrong

• As a human, when we ask for help we specify what the help is, how to complete it.

Here when saying help (nasta’in) we say:

1. We want help in everything. The magnitude of things needed is too many
2. There is desperation in the words = Of not losing guidance.

We realise the most desperate thing you need out of everything is guidance.

• Guidance is not something that is automatically given, we have to seek it out because we need it, and  constant, over and over.

It’s so desperate, so quickly removed that even the messengers of Allah have to ask for it every day in salah. Seventeen times a day, 119 times a week, 43435 a year.

• Unfortunately, simply just reciting the words is not enough. You can recite Fatiha but not ask for guidance, your heart has to be in it and committed. Allah doesn’t look for the bare words, he listens in the attitude the words are delivered. It has to come from the heart. 
• Iyyaka na’budu + Iyyaka nasta’in = The commitment 
• Knowledge = The ideas, the belief but not the feeling

-Can be increased, kept and lost

Guidance = Not one act, constantly making choices and destinations to be reached -Only in the hands of Allah

•  Ihdina sirat al- mustaqim = Guide us to the straight path. 
• Sirat Qualities: 

1. Straight path
2. Wide path
3. Long road

When asking for guidance to a destination, we would ask for directions to get to our destination but we would not ask for directions to the road itself. Here we ask Allah to guide us to the straight path. This shows that in this Dunya, our destination is the road, the continual constant improvement and progress made!

• The people with us on this wide, straight, long path, we tend to confuse their knowledge for guidance and can compare ourselves.

Don’t compare yourself and your place with others.

Only compare yourself with YOU from yesterday.

• Seek knowledge but always keep your goal in mind, the goal of guidance.
• Mustaqim = Straight up (the nature of this path) 

Following deen we go up (important imagery in Islam) 

Going up is difficult, gravity pulls us down. That gravity being the greed, hypocrisy and all these things always here, meaning we should always constantly be seeking guidance.

• Allah gives ease and results so we don’t forget the results of people who have climbed this path -So teaches us to give value to those who have already made this journey → The stories of the prophets. 
• Show us the path of those who have walked before. To gain comparison we look to all those stories 
• Al-maghdubi alaihim wala ad-dalin = Keep me away from: Those on whom anger was directed.
• The people who Allah favoured we should look for in the past 

The people who receive the rage of Allah we should look for in the present and future, we don’t want to be anything like them

• When someone does something wrong knowing its wrong → there’s a right to be angry at them but when it’s done unknowingly → the anger exists but is lost

Knowledgeable people doing wrong →  Allahs rage + people who followed rage = the ones who receive anger, which we do not know how much or many. 

• So we beg Allah, don’t make us of the people who know and still do the wrong thing → On the other hand we don’t want to be lost “If we know we’ll be responsible” But Allah says stay away from “wala duhn” 
• Our book, perfect balance.
• Praise and Thanks = Hamd
• Ar-rahman Ar-raheem —