The Quran

بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ

Mir Ahmed Ali

This Sura contains the Quintessence of Qur’an. Hence it is also called the ‘Ummul-Qur’an’ i.e. the Mother (or the Essence) of the Holy Qur’an.
As no prayer can be complete without reciting this Sura, it can be called the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ of the Muslims.
Every verse of this sura is so comprehensive in its meaning that it is said that the meaning of the Holy Qur’an as a whole has been synthesised in this sura.
About the knowledge needed for man on earth, which has been accommodated in the Holy Qur’an, the announcement from the Lord is:—

‘There is nothing wet or dry which is not (accommodated) in (this) Open Book (the Holy Qur’an)’ (6:59)

This sura is the quintessence of the whole of the Qur’an. Before attempting to explain the Qur’an as a whole, with the satisfaction of having done justice to the venture, one must remember what is said in the following verses of the Holy Book:—

‘He (God) is it Who has revealed the Book (Qur’an) to you; some of its verses are decisive, they are the essence of the Book and others are ambiguous; so as for those in whose hearts is perversity, they follow the part of it which is ambiguous, seeking to mislead (people) and seeking to give it (their own) interpretation, but none knows its interpretation save God and those who are firmly established in knowledge’ (3:6)

‘Nay these are verses (of the Qur’an) in the breast of those who are gifted with knowledge’ (29:49)

As to those divinely endowed with the knowledge of everything, let the reader read the following verse:—

’Everything have We accommodated in the manifest Imam (Guide)’ (36:12)

Thus under the above divine declarations, man is definitely directed to have the knowledge of the Qur’an from the Holy Prophet and in his absence from the divinely commissioned deputies of his, called the Imams of his Holy House (the Ahlul-Bait).
The similitude of the Holy Prophet and the Book of God (the Holy Qur’an), is that of a doctor and the medicine chest, and the followers of the Holy Prophet (the Muslims) are comparable to the patients of the doctor. As the patients receive whatever the doctor dispenses with, and act upon the directions given by the doctor with all the care and strictness in the use of the drugs, so also the followers of the Prophet (the Muslims), have to receive whatever the Holy Prophet offers and act upon the guidance given to them, with implicit obedience and faith, and the same thing has been enjoined in the following verse:—

’—and whatever the Prophet giveth you, accept it and from whatever he forbideth you, keep ye away from it—’ (59:7)

‘But nay! by thy Lord! They believe not (in fact) until they make thee a judge in whatever they dispute about among themselves and then find not straitness in their hearts as to what thou decideth and submit (themselves) (to it) with perfect submission’ (4:65)

Therefore none can at any time have the right or the choice of using his own will, desire, or discretion against the declared guidance or the given orders of the Holy Prophet.
Sura-e-Fateha being the essence of the Qur’an, covers in its meaning the entire field of the fundamentals of the religious knowledge which mankind naturally needs to possess and practice. The importance of this Sura is quite evident from its being repeatedly revealed, once at Mecca and again at Madina, and its compulsory use in every prayers, and no prayer being perfect without it.
The excellence of the artistic arrangement of the verses in the order of ‘Luffe Nashre Murattab’ of the highest poetic order, using not only the sounds of the words but containing in it the glory of the inimitable beauty and the unfathomable depth or the extent of the meaning of each word employed in it, has been proved enchanting even to the enemies of Islam.
The spirit or the essence or the only object of Islam is to awaken the conscience in man with the correct belief and faith in the One and Only True Creator Lord of the universe, make him subservient to the Divine Will in his life on earth and thus enable him to rise from his earthly abode to the glorious heights of the heavenly bliss. Any intelligent reader of the Sura-e-Fateha can easily conceive the wonderful effect the passage creates on the mind of the one who repeats it several times in each of the several daily prayers, if it is done with the necessary concentration on the matter.
Through this one single sura man is educated with the essential knowledge of the basic fundamentals of his life in this world and the life hereafter. By reciting it repeatedly with concentration on the matter, man gets conditioned with sublimity and gradually becomes godly in his life on earth. And when his personality gets duly integrated with the divine attributes of God, divinity gets reflected from his conduct and character. Through this sura man is educated with the following factors :—

The Creator and the Nourisher Lord of the universe is One, and only One, and besides Him there is none even equal to Him.
The Pre-eminent attributes of God are Beneficencc and Mercy.
The one who is Merciful must necessarily be the Almighty Master of His own Independent Will, rather Himself be the Will-Supreme.
The one who is Merciful to one and all, can never be unjust or cruel. He will Himself be the force of Justice Absolute.
The one Merciful to every life must essentially be the Ever-Living Creator of life. Himself being the Life Real.
The One who creates life can never do it without knowledge; He must be the All-Knowing, Knowledge and Wisdom being His essence.
The one who is Beneficent and Merciful must naturally and essentially love one and all.
When one loves one and all, the love of one and all, will also naturally revert only to Him and to none else.
The One who loves all, and is essentially Beneficent and Merciful to every one, He and none else will respond to prayer, and prayer if it is to be heard, should be only to Him and to none else, for it will be in vain and effectless.
When God is the Only Lord of Beneficence and Mercy, i.e. when His Mercy envelops everything in the universe, He and none else will be bountiful and His bounties will be unlimited.
When the Beneficent and the Most Merciful One is also the Only Lord of the universe, all praise, all thanks and all gratitude will only be His and exclusively His, and of none else.
Man is assured that God is the Lord-Nourisher, Cherisher, Sustainer and Protector of not any particular tribe, community or nation but of the worlds i.e. the universe as a whole.
When there is only One Lord of the universe and besides Him there is none else, man with his faith in the one True God, is once for all liberated from the worry of his allegiance to the host of imaginary deities. In other words, man is liberated from the curses of polytheistic belief and its meaningless and wasteful practices.
When it is established that God is the Lord of Mercy and the Lord Supreme of the universe as a whole, it naturally suggests that He would never like or allow or tolerate the least cruelty done by any one of His own creation, to the other members of it. With this conviction man gets conditioned with the feeling of his fellowship with the other creatures of God and thus naturally becomes kind, merciful and charitable to his other fellow beings, to earn the favour of God by practising His divine attributes. This condition of his mind becomes the generative force for every kind of righteousness and he remains ever mindful to avoid the least possible displeasure to His Beneficent. All-Merciful and All-Just Lord, as well as to qualify himself fairness to his own goodness, to be goodly recompensed.
Having invoked the Beneficence and the Mercy of the Lord-Nourisher, Cherisher, Sustainer and the Protector of every one in the universe and having paid the sincerest allegiance to Him. man need not and should not bow before any one else and shall.no longer fear any one but the displeasure of his True Lord, and need not stretch his hand for any body else’s favour. Thus man becomes independent of every one else besides God, with his faith and conviction in the help and protection from Him.
That there is surely a day of Requital when justice in its fullness will be meted out, when none shall bear the burden of the other, when every atom of good shall be rewarded and every atom of evil shall be punishment. Every one is assured of the return for his good and evil. The conviction in this, makes a man work to have a desirable recompense from the All-Just Lord of the Awful Day.
So that any unintentional sinner may not be dejected against the divine justice, the All-Merciful Lord has kept the door of pardon to the sincerely repentant ones in this life, to give a chance to the sinners to be hopeful of the pardon and amend their conduct and character for future.
True guidance can be had from God. Hence man should always be prayerful to be guided aright or to be kept firm on the Right Path without being beguiled and tempted by the forces of evil, which are ever active in this world.
With the knowledge of the effective nature of environment and personal attachment, man while praying for guidance from the Lord, should also express his love for virtue and the virtuous ones and this is called the doctrine of ‘Tawalah’ which is prescribed by Islam as a compulsory article of the practice of the faith.
And while praying to the Lord to keep him away from evil, man has also to declare his hatred against evil and the evil ones and this is called the doctrine of ‘Tabarra’ which is prescribed, by Islam as one of the compulsory articles of its practice.

The one unique property which is the exclusive characteristic of this passage of the Qur’an is the grace endowed in the matter, and the comprehensive nature of the prayer which entitles the praying soul, not only for any particular kind of bounty or favour of the Lord but everything the All-Merciful Lord-Nourisher of the universe, Who is the Lord of all bounties and of Infinite Grace, can bestow upon His supplicant devotee.
Unlike the prayer taught by the Christian Church, the Qur’anic prayer taught by Islam:—

Does not address God as mere father who cannot by nature have the motherly love for his issues.
Calling God and addressing Him as father, cultivates the idea of the creation having been issued out of Him. Whereas the Islamic conception of God is that nothing can be subtracted from His Being, and also nothing can be added to Him.

A glance over the wording used as their Lord’s Prayer by our Christian brethren supplied to them by their Bible, helps us to assess the composite nature and the comparative merit or glory of the wording of the prayer that the Qur’an gives to the Muslims:—

The Biblical ‘Lord’s Prayer’ of our Christian brethren	The of The reasonable questions that arise out matter
Math. 6^th Chap. Verse:—
9. Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name.	Has God only the fatherly love without the motherly attachment? Is God only in Heaven and not on earth?
10. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.	Is earth now out of God’s Kingdom i.e. out of His hold or authority? If it is not God’s authority that prevails on the earth, who is then the present owner and ruler of the earth? If it is not God’s will that is always fulfilled on the earth and elsewhere in the universe, whose will is it that is being done on the earth now?
11. Give us this day our daily bread.	Is bread the all that man needs for his life in this world? What about clothes and the other amenities, essential for man’s stay on earth? Is there anyone else besides God to provide man with what he needs? If man has to ask the Lord only for bread for the day, is it that man does not need God’s help for the future?
12. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.	Can the one or two petty debts of no real worth or significance at all, which might be due to us from others, be ever compared to the innumerable and invaluable bounties we continuously receive from God? Can the worthless and insignificant debts of ours imaginably be worthy to ransom against our indebtedness to the infinite benevolence of the All-Merciful Almighty Lord?
13. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.	It is Satan who leads man to temptation and it is God Who can and Who docs protect man against it. Does God also lead his creatures to sin? Then who is Satan and what is his quality and work? The very second article of this prayer says ‘Thy Kingdom come’ and now in this article it is asserted saying ‘Thine is the Kingdom, the power the glory for ever,’ is it not a self-contradicting statement?

The fact is that any prayer composed by man for his use will naturally be imperfect, and even defective having in it the aspects of the acknowledged limitations of the human knowledge about Cod, and the conceptive limitation, to fully comprehend the incomprehensible infinite divine attributes. Man, when he asks for himself without any guidance from God to do it, will naturally ask for his own immediate demand in this material life in his earthly abode, and this has been proved true in the wording of the above prayer. Besides the prayers formulated by man in the days when he was yet to be educated with the fundamental knowledge in its fullness, about his individual self and the Universal One, about the vanity of this life and the reality of the Hereafter, can never be expected to be perfect, neither in wording nor in the concept. When progressive awakening dawned on man with the advent of Muhammad, the Last Apostle of God, the Final Warner, the Final Reformer and the Final Bearer of the glad tidings to man about the everlasting blissful life in store for him, the infinite mercy of the All-Merciful Lord revealed for man through His Final Word the Qur’an, the appropriate words and the proper method he should use to invoke the Divine Mercy for him and the things he needs to ask for his life here and hereafter.
Any impartial and intelligent observer can easily note that while the other religions invite mankind to separate Father-gods, Mother-gods, Son-gods, Daughter-gods, besides the other demon-gods of land and sea, some residing in heaven, some on earth and some inside it, some living on certain mountains, some taking the forms of rivers and huge trees and plants, some gods good in nature and some troublesome and wicked, some of them ever in conflict and quarrel with each other, the awesome ones among such imaginary deities demanding the offer of human blood for their food or to appease their fury—gods of seasons and the gods of diseases demanding wasteful sacrifices and meaningless rituals, Islam introduces mankind to the One, the Only True, All-Supreme, Absolute Being Who is the All-Merciful. the Eternal, the All-Knowing, the Almighty, the All-Wise Independent Master of His Ever-Fulfilling Will.
In short Islam educates man with the fact that all goodness put together is the essence of the Only True God Lord Creator of Universe Who is the only Nourisher, Cherisher, Sustainer and Protector of everything in the universe as a whole. He is not the one Whose Kingdom is to be awaited as that of the god of the Christian Church, whose kingdom to come, needs the blessings of the prayers from man every day and night. Islam invites mankind with the imperative assertion that the kingdom of the heavens and the earth is exclusively Cod’s and of none else.
The Will or the Authority which is ever active in the heavens and the earth, is only of God, the Only True God Lord of the heavens and the earth and everything in between them, and of none else besides Him.
Man, with his conviction in the above divine attributes of the Lord, and with the fullest possible consciousness of the bounties and the favours he enjoys, should always be acknowledging his indebtedness and gratitude to Him.
For his needs in this world and the next, man has only to invoke the mercy of God for His guidance on the right path, which prayer comprehends everything right and good which man needs for his life here and hereafter.
The concluding words of this sura give out the secret of the success of human life on earth, that is to be always good and to remain with the good ones, and to shun evil and be away from the evil ones.

In¹ the name of God²^,^I, the Beneficent³^,^II, the Merciful^III

This Sura or Chapter i.e. Fateha, contains the fundamentals of the faith ‘Islam’. Hence it is also called ‘Ummal Qur’an’ i.e. the Mother or the Essence of Qur’an.
As no prayer (i.e. the prescribed ‘Salat’) (in Persian or Urdu called Namaz) cannot be complete without reciting this Sura, it can be called the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ of the Muslims.
This Chapter guides towards the following important factors governing one’s individual belief:—
1. To begin every work in God’s Holy name.
2. That God is Rahman, the Beneficent and Rahim, the Merciful.
These two attributes of God the Creator Lord of the Universe are first presented to man to make him know that his Master, is in the first place and by Himself the Beneficent and also the Merciful, which two qualities automatically draw man near to his real Master and to love Him. Man runs away from objects dreadful, and when he yields to such objects he is compelled by his belief that he can appease them by his service, to escape the imaginary affliction or hurt from them. Man, by nature, loves one who benefits him and who would be merciful to him against his shortcomings. The yielding of man to a beneficent and merciful being will undoubtedly be out of love rather than the caution to be safe from risks of any tyrannical afflictions, against which he is assured of safety by the Being’s qualities of Beneficence and Mercy.
The several other religions and creeds in the world have tried their best to bring down God to man to reform man and to make him god-minded. But Islam offers guidance to man to rise unto God and get nearer and as nearer to Him as his individual efforts, strengthened by his personal sincerity, can take him.
Qur’an starts with educating man with the truth that his Lord is the most Lovable One Whose primary quality is Beneficence and Mercy. Rahman and Rahim are two different words depicting the two subtle different aspects of the main quality ‘Rahm’ i.e. Mercy.
Islam teaches man to start every good effort with the Holy name of God Who is Beneficent and Merciful, invoking His Mercy to bless his efforts with the success he aims at.
The goal of Islam is to make man god-minded. Islam wants man to believe, (and to act upon it faithfully) that he is nothing, can do nothing and can achieve nothing by himself, for himself or for anybody else, and there is none other besides the One Who alone exists and Who alone can cause anything to be or not to be. If man achieves the conviction that it is God’s Will that is done, and only He and none else can get realized anything and there is none who can resist His Will, that will be his greatest achievement, attainment and success. Hence it is said that the Chapter ‘Fateha’ is the quintessence of the Qur’an, and the letter ‘Ba’ of ‘Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim’ is the quintessence of ‘Bismillah’, the dot below the first letter ‘Ba’ which identifies the letter from the other letters of the language, is the quintessence of the first letter ‘Ba’ and Ali, son of Abu Taleb, the First of the Holy Imams is said to have said “I am the dot which is below the ‘Ba’ of ‘Bismillah’ ” which means that in Ali has been secured the whole of the Holy Book and the fullest expansion of it i.e., Ali has been endowed with the knowledge of the Qur’an with its external meaning and internal interpretation. The statement of Ali is testified by the famous, well-known and universally accepted declaration (Hadith) of the Holy Prophet:
‘I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate (Ana-Madinatul-Ilm wa Alyun Babuha).’
It is one of the unique features and distinguishing factors about the originality of Islam against the corruption and adulteration ruling over the other creeds that this term ‘Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nii-Rahim’ was never before used or known to any of the other creeds of the world. Rodwell, wrongly informed, states that Bismillah in its Qur’anic form, was taught to the Quraish for the first time by the poet Omyya (of Taif). This claim of Rodwell is thrown out by the unimpeachable evidence of historic authenticity that the term was totally unknown to the Quraish to such an extent that they even resented the use of it (Vide 25:60 H.Q.) Besides, even till late as in the 6th year of Hijra, the Quraish did not allow the term ‘Bismillah’ as used in the Qur’an, to be used in the treaty drawn between the Muslims and the Meccans at Hodaibiyah. At the use of the term ‘Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim’ Sohail bin Amru, the Deputy of the Quraish, objected saying that he did not know what it meant. Ultimately the term used was ‘Bismika-Allahanima, which was then current among the Quraish. There is nothing in the usage by the people of any other creed to show that this term was borrowed by the Holy Prophet. Besides, Islam does not claim to be a new religion preached for the first time to mankind. Islam’s claim is that the Truth was revealed to one and all of the human race in various stages in the respective languages of the different people; 14:4; the difference is in language and the presentation of the Truth in its fullness in all its details.
‘We sent not a prophet save with the language of the people’ (Wama arsalna berasulin illa be-lisne quameh) (14:4)
The merit and the beauty of a religion lies in its perfection, in its contents and the of its presentation and Qur’an in this regard is singularly unique. The various different creeds of the world might have been using some term or the other but the clarity and perfection with which the Qur’anic term Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim brings home to one, that God, the Lord of the Universe is not an awful, dreadful, cruel being, void of love and compassion, but His prime attributes are His boundless love and all-enveloping mercy which invites, attracts, encourages and even forces every sensible human being to rush to Him for the fulfilment of his demands and for succour in his helplessness.
The very act of any one starting his work in the name of God Whom he believes as the Beneficent and the Merciful, eloquently speaks of the individual’s obedience to the Great Being, who in return would naturally be reciprocal to the devotee’s expectation in seeking His pleasure and mercy. In this one act of starting a work in the name of God, several points of cardinal importance are realized viz.:—
1. The individual’s acknowledging of the Great Being as his Lord Master.
2. The individual’s acknowledging his own helplessness.
3. The individual’s believing in God as the Ever-Living, Omnipotent and All-Knowing.
4. The individual’s supplication to the Great Being, seeking His pleasure, mercy, calling Him with His mercy invoking attributes.
5. The individual’s conviction at heart and his confidence that if called, the Beneficent and the Merciful God will certainly not deny him His Mercy.
The words of ‘Bismillah’ i.e. in the name of God, have wide and comprehending implications. The words may mean not only ‘in the name of’ but also:
1. For the sake of
2. To the service of
These and the many other implications will go only to invoke the Mercy of God for the supplicant who so sincerely resorts to Him to be blessed.
It is our common experience that when a mother beats her child, while punishing him to correct his conduct, the child even while being beaten, rushes towards the bosom of his mother. Why? Is it not because the young human soul is sure, and in his own heart is convinced of his mother’s love and her being full of mercy for him and there is none else better than her in giving him the required protection even against her own self being offended with him. It is also seen many a time that when a child in a family is threatened by the parents enraged at any of his offences, he seeks protection with those of the members of the family who, he knows, love him and would surely give him the required protection. This same phenomenon works with the maximum force in it, according to the pressure of the need of a human individual for help in his daily life.
Who is there in the human race totally exempted from needs? The needs of one are only greater than the other. It is the inseparable natural need and the native helplessness of human beings that makes them resort to believing in some Supreme Protector. Islam, employing the native urge in man to attach himself to some supreme protecting providence at the very outset of its efforts to guide mankind, has assured mankind in the very first step towards the desired reformation, of the unbounded love and all-enveloping mercy as the prime attributes of God, the Lord of the Universe. Here, mere common sense in the ordinary man, convinces him of God’s love and Mercy saying, “What! when an ordinary man knows that his friend depending upon him and totally relying on him for help does not disappoint him, will not the Divine Beneficence and Mercy be moved to respond to grant the prayer of the crying devotee?” Islam, at the very outset, creates in man love and attachment for God and dependence upon the Divine Mercy and conviction of the surety of the achievement by invoking the prime attributes of Beneficence and Mercy of the Lord.
It is reported that once the Holy Prophet, while passing a graveyard hastened his companions from the place and on his return while passing through the same graveyard directed his companions to walk slowly. The companions enquired, “O’ Prophet of God! while passing this very same place a little while ago, you wanted us to make haste from this place and now you ask us to walk slowly.” The Holy Prophet answered, There is a being in one of the graves here who on account of his wickedness was being chastised and I being one of God’s apostles called the ‘Rahmatun-lil-Aalameni’ (i.e. the Mercy unto the worlds) found it unbecoming of me to stay at a place where one of God’s creatures was being tormented. But the same sufferer has left a child in this world and the child has been taken to a scholar to start his education. The master first made the innocent, utter Bismillah hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim. The Almerciful God commanded the angels chastising the soul of the wicked one in the grave, to immediately withhold the chastisement saying, “It is not becoming of My Mercy to chastise the parent whose issue calls Me the Merciful One.”
The divinely chosen members of the family of the Holy Prophet and all the scholars attached to the ‘Holy Ahlul-Bait’ are unanimous in their statement that ‘Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim’ is a separate individual verse by itself and is undoubtedly a part of Chapter 1 (i.e. Sura-e-Fateha) and hence the Sura-e-Fateha must be recited with Bismillah, and any prayer (Salat or Namaz) offered reciting the Sura-e-Fateha without Bismillah, the prayer being defective will be null and void.
Bismillah, is a part of this chapter and also of every other chapter of the Qur’an except Sura-e-Bar’at. This is the view of the school of Holy Ahlul-Bait and is supported by the most authentic sayings of the Holy Prophet, narrated by the other schools also: “La Salat illa bi-Fateha-tul-Kitab wa Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim Min Aayaatiha” i.e. There can be no prayer but with the Sura-e-Fateha and Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim as one of its verses. It is surprising that some of the founders of the other schools used their views against this well-known tradition of the Holy Prophet, to drop away Bismillah when the Sura-e-Fateha is recited in prayer. (A.P.)
The details about the doubts against the original and actual position of the verse Bismillah created by other schools need not be accommodated here for they are all personal conjectures against the doubtless evidence which establishes Bismillah as a separate verse of the Qur’an and a part of the Sura-e-Fateha. Abu-Hanifa the leader of the Hanafi School of Sunnism, though he did not hold Bismillah as a part of the Fateha yet had permitted the recitation of Bismillah along with the Sura-e-Fateha while using it in any prayer; but not aloud for he says that it had been established that the Holy Prophet always recited the Sura-e-Fateha with Bismillah, while he used the sura in any prayer (vide Tafsir-e-Kabir Maulvi Abdul Hai). This decision of Abu Hanifa is sufficient proof that he could not openly refute the unimpeachable evidence establishing the position of Bismillah as a separate verse.
However, to be brief within the limits of necessity, it will definitely be sufficient to convince anyone if anything is proved with the authority of the Holy Prophet and the divinely chosen members of the Holy Prophet’s family to whom the Prophet bequeathed the Qur’an while departing from our midst. It is a tragedy that people forget that the Holy Prophet left the Qur’an along with the Ahlul-Bait for its correct and authentic interpretation.
‘I leave behind (me) among you the Book of God and my Ahlul-Bait (to the end). (Hadithus-Thaqalain)
It is a declared fact that the Sura-e-Fateha consist of seven verses and the verses, including Bismillah are seven. But just to hold their own misconceived notion, some scholars omit Bismillah and make up the number seven by splitting the last verse of the Sura into two separate verses though the meaning and the construction of the verse does not warrant it.
The Recitation of Bismillah before the Sura is compulsory. Even dissenters including Abu-Hanifa acknowledge that the Holy Prophet always recited the Sura starting it with Bismillah. (Alaikamul-Qantara of Maulvi Abdul Hai).
The Holy Prophet has declared that any work started without Bismillah is bad and incomplete. The best work of man is prayer (Salat or Namaz which is called ‘Khairul-Amal’, the Best Work) and the Prophet had always recited Bismillah in every prayer.
Once in Madina, Moaviyah led the prayers and while reciting the Sura-e-Fateha gave up Bismillah. At the end of the prayer a hue and cry arose from all those who had participated in the prayer and shouted at Moaviyah saying:—
“What! You forgot reciting Bismillah before Fateha!”
Moaviyah repeated the prayer reciting Fateha following Bismillah. It is clearly established that the people prior to these later innovations, those who had seen and heard the Holy Prophet, were unanimous about Bismillah being an inseparable part of Fateha, and they knew that Fateha recited in any prayer without Bismillah, rendered the prayer null and void. (Fakhhruddin Razi-Kanzul Ummal).
Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim at one place forms a part of another Chapter of the Qur’an, used in the course of it—used as the starting passage of the letter which Solomon sent to the Queen of Sheba. In the Sura-e-Fatehaa it has been used as the starting part of the Sura. When the Sura-e-Fateha has to be compulsorily used in every prayer there cannot be any meaning in reciting the compulsory Sura of a prayer excluding some part of its text and mere common sense is sufficient to say that any defective or incomplete prayer can never be acceptable. Hence the prayer in which Fateha is recited without Bismillah leading the Sura is null and void.
Once when the Holy Prophet was in the Mosque at Madina, a man came and offered prayers reciting Fateha immediately following ‘Ao’ zu-billah’ omitting Bismillah. The Holy Prophet called him and said, “O man! You have rendered your prayer null and void by omitting Bismillah from Fateha. Do you not know that Bismillah is a part of the Sura-e-Fateha” (Durre-Mansur of Suyuti). One’s common sense tells him that doubts created by a number of the followers of the Prophet need not at all be considered in the light of clear decisions and the evidence of the practical life of the Leader himself (i.e. the Holy Prophet). Whatever be the argument of the dissenting scholars, it has been unanimously established that the Holy Prophet always recited the Fateha as it is in the Qur’an today and we all should, therefore, follow the Holy Prophet.
There is irrevocable evidence establishing Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim as a part of the Sura-e-Fateha. Anyone who sincerely desires to follow the Holy Prophet need not at all worry about the straying of any dissenters.
The actual meaning of Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim being ‘I begin in the name of God, the Beneficent and the Merciful’ has a significance in its effect. Firstly, it means the supplication of one who thus starts any good work. It means that the supplicant does the work in the name of or on behalf of God, and not for himself though his personal interest in the work exists but it is with the intention to serve the goodness in the work. Such an action on the part of the individual also means that he has dedicated his life and his interest therein to God, centering his own selfish interest also in service to goodness. It also implies the individual’s belief in the truth that all strength to do any work whatsoever, lies only with God and with none else and he believes himself to be helpless. By invoking the Divine pleasure in calling to God in the name of His Beneficence and Mercy, the individual is praying to the All-Merciful to come to his aid in completing his undertaking successfully. It appeals to common sense that when the individual starts a good work to serve goodness in the name or on behalf of the Lord of Might and calls Him to his aid, invoking His Beneficence and Mercy, it is quite natural that the Divine Beneficence and Mercy would rush to bless such a faithful one who starts the work expressing his own helplessness and crying for aid to achieve success. Should the individual start the work without Bismillah, the reverse argument will hold good i.e. the work may be completed but with the Divine pleasure having nothing to do with it. It is an undoubted fact that nothing can ever have effect or ever exist unless God wills it. Anything merely happening or existing will suggest the Divine Will but not the Divine Grace and the Divine Pleasure. The Divine Will does not interfere with the individual desires of any being but the question of anything being acceptable to the Lord or earning His Pleasure, depends upon the individual’s desire being itself, depending upon the Divine Will and surrendering itself to the Divine Pleasure. The Holy Prophet has made it known to mankind that anything done without invoking the Divine Grace by the recitation of Bismillah at its start, is not complete enough to earn the approval of the Lord. Otherwise it does not mean that nothing without the recitation of Bismillah can ever be done by anyone on earth. There is the world history before us that evils planned by the worst of men have been executed but they were works without the Divine approval. Hence those who planned the work were allowed by the Divine Will to execute it, not to earn the Divine Pleasure but to entitle themselves to chastisement according to the degree of the evil, the intention of the individual and the nature and the effect the work contained. Thus, if any work is not started with Bismillah, it has the negative force also in it. The work, even if it is not evil in its nature, will at least invoke the Divine Authority to chastise the individual for his being self-centered and forgetting the Lord of Strength and Grace through Whose help alone anything could ever be done. Avoiding to invoke the Divine Grace in starting any work undoubtedly implies the individual’s belief in his own individuality and relying upon it which is nothing but the individual’s setting himself against the One and Only Supreme Might, the Will of the Lord.
The starting of every chapter of the Qur’an with the verse ‘Bismillah’ evidently is to first make the reader of the Word of God, get conscious of his helplessness and dependence upon God and to realize his duty of obedience to the Lord. Besides, the Holy Name of God has wonderful efficacy which every religious-minded one knows.
Allah: Though the English word ‘God’ is used in translating this Holy Name but here again is a great handicap for a faithful or a correct translation of the Arabic word Allah; for there is no proper word in the English language or even in any of the other languages of the world, to be suitably used in the place of ‘Allah’ to convey the meaning which it comprehends in it. The conception of a supreme being, was already given to mankind by the various apostles of God but none of them, to be strictly in conformity with the intellectual development of the people of the earlier times, could give a single word for them to realize the all-comprehensive sense of the meaning of the word used as the name of the Supreme Universal and the Absolute Being. Hence most of the earlier apostles of God had used the word Father. But the word father can never convey the meaning of the Originator of the Universe. By introducing God to man as his father, man can never without further explanation, mean God to be the Father of heavens and the earth. Even if, by the word we mean the Creator of the whole Universe, the word father can never by itself imply the great attribute of Benevolence, Beneficence, Mercy of the Almighty. The first implication of the word will be that the father of the Universe must also have had a father and a mother for him to give birth, for the word father does not at all indicate that the father of the heavens and the earth had no father or mother to bring him into being. The word father does not all imply the self-existent aspect and the eternity of his existence unless one adds explanation to the word. The word ‘Allah’ is a compound word with the definite article with ‘Ilah’ meaning ‘That God’. Regarding the meaning of ‘Ilah’ whether the word is taken from ‘Waleha’ or ‘Aleha’ meaning puzzling, referred to, the word has been used in both the senses, and its use for a deity is justified in either sense. Hence it is used for any object of worship to which man can submit or surrender or devote his sacrifices. (A.P.)
Of the objects of human worship or devotion there is one which is known to everyone and common to all, and all are conscious of it, which is the ultimate object of reliance and dependence, which, beyond the limits of conception or the reach of human knowledge or intelligence of any degree, is known to all and yet undefinable in any language, and which is realised by everyone but could not be conceived by any one. The subtle sense of the word Allah is presented by the sixth Holy Imam Jafar ibne Muhammad As-Sadiq in his discourse with an atheist. He asked the atheist if he had ever been on a boat and been in the middle of the sea and had faced a storm and given up all hopes of any conceivable means of rescue and still tried for the rescue hoping to get it, and that unknown means of hope is God and the Qur’an puts it as given in (10:22). Even when all means are exhausted, still there remains the glimpse of hope in the ultimate source.
The word Al-Ilah is the pointing towards of something which is already in the mind or the realisation of every one beyond any concept or definition, and not limited or arrested by the concept of any. Thus it is universal and hence it is All-Merciful since it is universally connected with the whole as well as with the part. Therefore the controversy among the commentators as to whether the word Allah is a proper noun or a common noun with the article ‘al’ can be reconciled in this way that ‘ilah’ as common noun assumes definite sense with the definite article, which refers to something universally known and realised by every conscious being and that known being not confined to any form or concept, and that can never be two but one and hence it automatically becomes proper. Thus it is shortened in the form of ‘Allah’ denoting the unique unity of the sense of a proper noun. It has been said that ‘Allah’ is ‘Isme-Zat’, or the name of the person in his essence. It should be borne in mind that the Absolute in His essence can never be grasped by the limitations of consciousness and hence cannot be defined by any name. We can refer to Him only by personal pronouns of which the most appropriate is HE. But the sense which the word ‘Allah’ signifies stands for the Absolute in His essence as can universally be known in relation to our consciousness and it is called ‘Isme-Aazam’ i.e. the Greatest Name, the name for the being whose Unity implies the perfect total of all excellence with no defect.
It also may be noted that some of the modern commentators thought of the possibility of the derivation of the word ‘Allah’ from the word ‘Olooheem’ of the Hebrew language. Even if that be so, it does not disallow what has been said before for it takes the argument one step further to prove the etimological development of the word and its significance. Taking the resemblance into consideration ‘Allahumma’ is closer to the Hebrew word ‘Olooheem’ than ‘Allah’ and that was the reason that ‘Allahumma’ was more familiar to the infidels who were in contact with the Jews, than Allah which was a new development. (A.P.)
The word ‘Ilah’ for naming God had already gained currency among the people. The word has been divinely chosen for its being more suitable than the other words.
The awakening of the intellect of man also developed gradually. There was a time when man bowed in adoration to the great and the powerful manifestation of nature which gradually led him to idolize his imaginary deities. As the pantheon of man-made gods grew vast, the bewilderment of man also wanted to seek shelter of a supreme being as the chief of all the other domestic tribal and the other national gods. Each of the other imaginary subordinate gods was supposed to represent some particular quality and a different kind of authority over the destinies of men. The people’s mind was seeking a supreme being with all comprehensive authority. The fact is that God needs no praise, for a person likes to be praised for something extraordinary, novel or very important which he has acquired with a great endeavour which might not be possible for others. There is nothing of good in God which He had not in Him and which He has now acquired. He is goodness itself in its fullness or perfection. The praise in a prayer to Him is only to condition the praying individual with the love of the great attributes which are praised, for whatever a man prays, naturally covets to have it for himself.
Secondly God needs no petition expressing the needs of any one, for He is the All-Knowing Lord-Nourisher and the Sustainer. He knows the needs of each and every one of His creatures more than the creatures themselves know. He bestows His favours unasked for. His bounties are bestowed without asking. But the prayer is to discipline, educate and train mankind in their remaining attached to their All-Merciful Creator so that they may avail of the Divine Bounties conscious of the Universe being ruled by the One, the only All-Merciful, All-Just. Almighty, the Lord of Bounties and Grace.
The consciousness of the necessity of his praying to a supreme authority for his personal needs creates in man the consciousness of his dependency upon the supreme authority and this awakening consequently sublimates him to live necessarily submissive which condition among the members of a society or a race is essential for the establishment and the maintenance of peace and harmony among them.
The word ‘Ilah’ is derived from the word ‘Alaha’ which means astonishment or wonder. When ‘llah’ is derived from ‘Walah’ even then it means almost the same. If we add the letter ‘Al’ of the definite article in Arabic the word ‘Allah’ is coined which means the one who is ever beyond the approach of any conception, or even imagination, out of the range of the knowledge or intellect. This ever incomprehensive aspect of the divine existence of God is very well brought out in the opening verses of the ‘Dua-e-Mashlool’ edited by Ali, son of Abu Taleb, the first of the Holy Imams or the divinely chosen guides immediately succeeding the Holy Prophet Muhammad:—
“O’ He! O’ the one He! O’ the one, none knoweth what is He! and how is He, and where is He and in what state is He, save knoweth Himself He!” The more one attempts to understand that Absolute Being, the greater one gets the bewilderment. The quest which begins for knowledge about ‘Allah’ ends in increased astonishment and wonder and the seeker has to helplessly surrender all his native endowments of intellect and insight, openly and unreservedly confessing that with all his endeavour with the maximum amount of sincerity and effort at his command, he ultimately came only to know that he cannot know Him for He is the same as the Immediate, as He is found in the Ultimate. The name Allah stands to mean the Supreme One Who encompasses everything in the Universe and Whom nothing can encompass, Who alone is the Every-Living, the All-Knowing and Almighty—without any match or partner and Whose alone are all the Divine Attributes, and all goodly names are only His, and His is whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth and whatever is in between them. The Kingdom of the Universe is His, His alone is the Will that is done. None is there besides Him to be His associate or partner. He is the All-Seeing, the All-Hearing, the All-Just, the All-Merciful, the Almighty. He is the only Eternal, the only Infinite, the Essential. He alone is the First, the Immediate and the Ultimate.
The name Allah is called the ‘Isme-Zaat’ or the name of the Absolute Self. Here again one fails to get an appropriate English word to convey correctly the meaning of the Arabic word ‘Zaat’. The word ‘Self’ is used for the only Essential Being with all the Divine Attributes comprehended in it. The other names called the ‘Asma’ul-Husna’ (59:24) are appellative and descriptive, relating to various attributes, taking them separately in accordance with their respective application in God’s dealing with His creation.
Allah is the nearest to every being from the point of realisation and the furthest one from the point of view of conception. (A.P.)
Rabbul-Aalameen. (Lord of the Worlds). ‘Rab’ in Arabic stands for Nourisher, Cherisher and Sustainer for which there is no single equivalent word in the English language. The word Lord is generally adopted but there is a world of difference between the mere word Lord, and the actual meaning of the Arabic word ‘Rab’.
However, the commonly used word Lord is adopted for the word ‘Rab’. But ‘Rab’ actually means one who nourishes, cherishes, sustains and protects.
It is noteworthy that unlike the Christian way of addressing God, Islam did not use the word Father. A father is endowed with a particular aspect of love towards the children. Whereas God called ‘Rab’ is the one Whose Love and Mercy towards his creatures excels the love of both the father and mother together, of any individual. Even from the birth of everything in the Universe, as long as it lasts in its existence, it depends upon the ‘Rububiyat’ or the nourishing, cherishing, sustaining and the protecting aspect of the Mercy of the Lord of the Universe.
According to Raghib, an Arab lexicologist, the word Rab signifies ‘the fostering of a thing in such a manner as to make it attain one condition after another until it reaches its goal of completion’.
‘Rahman’ and ‘Rahim’. The words, ‘Rahman’ and ‘Rahim’ both point out to the one and the same essence of the Divine Attribute, ‘Rahmat’ meaning Mercy. The two words though relate only to one and the same prime attribute of God, give the two different aspects of the Divine Mercy. Mercy unreserved shown to one and all of His creatures, be they obedient or disobedient to their Lord, is known as ‘Rahmaniat’ and Mercy done specially to those faithful to their Lord, as a reward or in appreciation of the goodness of the souls, is called ‘Rahimiat.’ (A.P.)
‘Rahmat’ i.e. Grace, which is the root of both the words ‘Rahman’ and ‘Rahim’ is the most comprehensive attribute implied in the name of Allah as here stated before. This attribute stands as the source responsible for all His activities i.e. His creation, sustaining the creatures, guidance and legislation; all are the outcome of His Universal Grace. Grace means to give willingly without any expectation of any return. It is in this sense that God is Gracious in exercising His Creative and Legislative Authority. Whatever He does. He does it for no return but to benefit His loved creatures. No being is out of His Grace. ‘Rahman’ signifies the All-Penetrating, All-Enveloping Universal Grace of God. But inspite of the All-Pervadingness of His Grace, every one of His creatures does not and should not receive His Grace less or, more than its individual merit or capacity. To give more than what one deserves would mean to waste the grace and spoil the individual. Therefore the merit, deservability and reception on the part of the creature itself restricts or limits the measure of grace to be bestowed on each, and that implies the principle of justice which is as universal as grace itself. In short, as He gives to each and all with no expectation of return, His gift is grace. And as He gives each according to its merit and reception, His gift is justice, and this grace as restricted by merit is implied in the attribute ‘Rahim’. Both ‘Rahman’ and ‘Rahim’ represent the fact that grace and justice in divine activity are not two separate attributes which can be conceived one without the other but they are the two different aspects or the phases of one and the same universal attribute responsible for all the activities in the realm of creation and legislation. Every being in any stage and condition in the order of existence, represents His Grace as well as His Justice. This refutes and blows away the Christian conception of divine justice and grace as two separate attributes of conflicting nature. (A.P.)
One of the exclusive features of Islam is that its mission is to reform humanity not only through warning the wrong-doers against their sins and crimes in which they had become practically naturalized, but also by creating the love for God and attachment to Him, making man know that He is the true Benefactor of everyone and the Only Lord of the Universe. Humanity under the grip of the self-cultivated notions and misleading conceptions was practically lost in the belief in imaginary deities who were held as the most despotic, mercilessly cruel and unreasonably arbitrary against their offenders. Man worshipped his imaginary awful gods, to appease them as he believed them to be the dreadful rulers of the destinies of the people.
To reform the skeptic minds of the people and to reclaim them from the clutches of the fantasies of their faith in the demons and the devils and their own fanciful deities, Islam did not present any clumsy or complicated formula. It struck a death blow to all superstitions by introducing man to the True God as the Only Supreme, the Beneficent and the Merciful Lord of the Universe. It introduced man first to these attributes of God, which every human being sees, experiences and feels and which qualities surround everyone in their manifestation at all times since the birth of this world. The truer and simpler a statement, the more convincing it becomes to effect an impact on The Holy Prophet Muhammad though termed as ‘Nazir’ or a Warner but at the same time has been titled as ‘Basheer’ i.e. the bearer of glad tidings. The Holy Prophet was introduced to mankind as ‘the Mercy unto the worlds’.
‘We sent thee not (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) but Mercy unto the worlds (Wama arsalnaka illa Rahmatun-lil-Aalameen)’ 21:107.
The religion which had been sent for mankind i.e. Islam, means peace and the Prophet deputed by God to enforce the religion has been called the ‘Mercy unto the worlds’. Islam began its mission with removing the terror against the false conception of an awesome ruler of the destinies of mankind, for fear takes one away from the dreaded object and even if any one ventures to get near it, it will not be with any attachment of love but by the force of fear against the wrath of the dreaded one. Qur’an makes one love God with all possible sincerity at One’s command by starting One’s approach to God, invoking the Divine Beneficence and Mercy, assuring of the grant of it even to the sinners, for He is at the very outset spoken of as the Beneficent and the Merciful Lord of the Universe. Man, if he knows that God is the Lord of Beneficence and Mercy, would naturally love Him and readily and voluntarily submit to His will and pleasure, to earn more of the Divine Grace and Bounties. Qur’an convinces man of the two great attributes of God viz. the Beneficence and the Mercy.
Mercy of God is very easy to be seen or realised for even a man of ordinary common sense and average intelligence is aware of the innumerable and the invaluable bounties he enjoys in the very working of the natural phenomenon in himself and everywhere around him in the world. Thus with the average knowledge of the grace and beneficence which man undeniably enjoys, and when he is also informed that the Great Benefactor cannot be an awesome being but a Lord of unlimited love and all-enveloping Mercy, he automatically begins to seek the pleasure of such a Lord to earn furthermore Grace and Bounties from Him. Conditioned with the love of the Ruler of his destiny, man naturally and voluntarily surrenders himself to such a Lord with ever-increasing sincerity.
It has already been said that the Sura-e-Fateha is the quintessence of the Qur’an. Therefore, to deal with this sura is to deal with the whole of the Qur’an, for what is contained at length in the Holy Book has been concentrated in a nutshell in this chapter.
For its comprehensiveness or being the essence of the Book as a whole, this chapter is known with several different names. Besides its being called the ‘Al-Fateha’ or the ‘Opening’ it is called the ‘Fatehatul-Kitab’ the Starter or Inaugurator of the Book. The ‘Sab-a-minal-Mathani’or the Seven Oft-repeated verses, for this Sura is recited in every part or Rak’at of a prayer.
As the Sura-e-Fateha forms the essential part of the Muslim prayer, if is evident that it was revealed shortly after the start of the Apostolic Mission of the Holy Prophet in Mecca. It is a fact of history that the Meccans troubled, ridiculed, disturbed and interrupted the early Muslims while they prayed, and the Holy Prophet, had to take shelter in the house of Arqam, which incident dates back to the fourth year of his Apostolic Mission.

Arabic ‘Allah’.
Arabic ‘Rahman’.
Arabic ‘Raheem’.

Chapter 1

The Openingal-Fātiḥah ( الفاتحة )

Mir Ahmed Ali

The Opening
al-Fātiḥah ( الفاتحة )