# 001-Surah Al-Fatihah # Verse 01 #### **In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.** In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, that is, I begin with every name of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala – Glorified and Exalted is He); this includes all the (beautiful) names of Allah. **Allah** – He is the One Who is worshipped, the only One Who deserves to be worshipped, because of the divine attributes He has, which are attributes of perfection. **The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful** – These two names indicate that He possesses great mercy that encompasses all things and includes all living beings, and He has decreed it for the pious, the followers of His Prophets and Messengers. Absolute mercy is for them; others have a share of it. It should be noted that one of the basic principles on which the early generations of the Ummah and its leading scholars are agreed is belief in the names and attributes of Allah and how those attributes are manifested. For example, they believe that He is Most Gracious, Most Merciful; He possesses mercy that is one of His attributes, and this mercy has an impact on His creation. So, all types of blessings are signs of His mercy. The same applies to all of His names. We may say concerning the All-Knowing that He has (unlimited) knowledge, by means of which He knows all things. Similarly, the All-Powerful is possessed of might and has power over all things. --- ##### **Glossary (Hinglish/urdu)** - **Gracious** – Wo jo har kisi par meherbaan aur bahut dayalu hai - Maths teacher bahut jyada Gracious hai, or wo har students ko pyar se samjhati hai or sare doubts clear karti hai. - **Merciful** – Bahut jyada rehem karne wala aur neimatein ataa karne wala - Har momin ko unka Taqwa ikhtiyar karna chahiye kyuki hamare Rabb bahut merciful hai. - **Glorified** – Wo sabse Aala hai aur saari taarifei sirf unhi ke liye. - Allah sabko palne wale hai, sari neimatein unhi ki hai jo aur koi nhi kar sakta wo akele saari taarifon ke layak hai glorified hai. - **Exalted** – Wo jo sabse uncha hai, Aala hai - Allah ka darja sabse exalted hai. - **Divine** – Wo jo akela har nuqs se paak se, aur sabse jyada taqatwar hai. - Qur'an Allah ki divine kitab hai, jo hidayat aur rehmat ka zariya hai. - **Attributes** – sifatein, kisi chij ko karne ka gunn - Allah ka har naam unki attributes (sifatein) batati hai. - **Possesses** – kisi ke pas kuch hona - Allah ne bahut badi rehmat possess ki hui hai. - **Encompasses** –kisi chij ko apne andar samaye rakhne wala - Allah ne is puri kaaenat ko ek bahut badi rehmat ke sath apne andar encompass kiya hua hai. - **Decreed** –Kisi chij ka aadesh dena - Allah ki rehmat specific taur par momino ke liye hai jo unka taqwa ikhtiyar karte hai aur ye Allah ne decreed kiya hai. - **Pious** – wo jo Imaan wale hai aur Allah ka taqwa ikhtiyar karte hai - Har pious Allah ki ibadat karta hai aur unke deen ke raste me chalta hai. - **Absolute** –Wo jo bilkul pure hai, kisi se mila hua nhi hai aur bilkul perfect hai - Allah ki rehmat absolute hai sacche Imaan walo ke liye. - **Principles** – kisi tarah ka rule - unke banaye principles ke according chalna afzal hai. - **Generations** –pidhiyaan - Allah ne alag alag generations pe alag alag nabiyon ko bheja sahi rasta banane ke liye. - **Leading** – - - **Scholars** – - - **Manifested** – - - **Impact** – - - **Creation** – - - **Applies** – - - **Concerning** – - - **Similarly** – - - **Might** – - # Verse 2 & 3
ArabicTranslitrationTranslation
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَAlhamdulillahi Rabbil-AalameenPraise be to God, the Lord of the worlds
ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِAr-Rahmaan-ir-RaheemThe Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
**Alhamdulillah - Praise be to God.** This refers to praising God for the **attributes** of **perfection** and for His actions that are based on **generosity** and **justice**. So to Him be perfect praise in all ways. **Rabbil-Aalameen - The Lord of the worlds** The Lord is the One Who **sustains** all **creatures** - which refers to all beings other than God - because He created them, **granted** them everything that they need and **bestowed** great **blessings** upon them; if they were **deprived** of those blessings they would not be able to **survive**, for whatever blessings they enjoy come from Him. He sustains His creation in two ways, **general** and **specific**. In general **terms**, this refers to His creation of all creatures, His granting of **provision** to them and His **guiding** them to that which is in their **best interests**, which enables them to survive in this world. In specific terms, it refers to His **cherishing** of His close friends, by means of **instilling faith** in their hearts, guiding them to it, perfecting it for them and **warding** off from them **distractions** and **obstacles** that come between them and faith. In real terms, this means guiding them to everything that is good and protecting them from everything that is bad. **Perhaps** it is for this reason that most of the **supplications** of the Prophets used the word Lord (Rabb), since all their requests and needs came under His special cherishing. The phrase "the Lord of the worlds" indicates that He alone has the power to create, and He alone controls His creation, bestows blessings and is completely independent of means, whilst all of creation is dependent upon Him in all respects. # Verse 4 ##### **مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ** ##### **Master of the Day of Judgement.** ##### The Master (Malik) is the one who possesses the attributes of sovereignty, one of the implications of which is that He enjoins and forbids, rewards and punishes, and controls His subjects in all ways. This sovereignty is connected to the Day of Judgement, which is the Day of Resurrection, the day on which people will be judged on the basis of their deeds, both good and bad. On that day, His perfect sovereignty, justice and wisdom will become completely clear to His creation, and they will realize that created beings have no sovereignty at all. On that day, kings and subjects, slaves and free, will all be equal and will submit fully to His might, awaiting the reckoning, hoping for His reward and fearing His punishment. Hence this day is singled out for mention; otherwise, He is the Master of the Day of Judgement and of all other days. # Verse 5 **إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ** **You \[alone\] we worship, and You \[alone\] we ask for help** that is, we single out You alone to worship and ask for help. Putting the object at the beginning o f the sentence conveys the meaning o f exclusivity. In other words: we worship You, and we do not worship anyone other than You; we ask You for help and we do not ask anyone other than You for help. Worship is mentioned before seeking help by way o f mentioning what is general before what is specific, and also to give precedence to Allah’s dues over those o f His slaves. “Worship” ( ‘ibadah) refers to everything that Allah loves and is pleased with o f actions and words, both outward and inward. “Seeking help” refers to relying upon Allah (4s) when seeking to attain what is beneficial and ward off what is harmful, whilst trusting that one will attain that. Worshipping Allah and seeking His help is the means o f attaining eternal happiness and salvation from all evils; there is no other way o f attaining salvation apart from doing these two things. True worship can only be that which is learned from the Messenger o f Allah (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam - blessings and peace be upon him) and done with the intention o f seeking the pleasure o f Allah. If it includes these two things, then it is worship. Seeking help is mentioned after worship, even though it is a part o f worship, because in offering all types o f worship the individual needs the help o f Allah (4«); if Allah does not help him, he will not attain what he wants to o f fulfilling commands and heeding prohibitions.