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. 6th 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.