1. الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
   1. الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ
      1. Praise + Thanks
         1. not merely a declaration of thanks--- since thanking does not require nor imply praise
         2. Ibrahim alayhi as-salaam thanked his father because Allah commanded him to do so, but he did not praise him
         3. Allah is worthy of being praised and thanked at the same time
      2. All Inclusive
      3. Tip
         1. verbal-noun ‘praise’ is mentioned here as a noun and not a verb
         2. nouns imply permanence and verbs imply time-constraints and temporariness.
         3. the praise of Allah is timeless, it was there before we were here, it is here now, and will remain here after us.
         4. independent of us
      4. All Praise + All Thanks for only ALLAH ,timeless and independent of us
   2. رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
      1. رَبِّ
         1. Master(ALLAH)
            1. Master guides slaves
            2. Slaves needs guidance from Master
            3. Guidance = Gift
            4. guidance is the greatest gift for someone lost (as in desert)
            5. In the Quran, the word Rabb is frequently mentioned in close proximity to the word guidance
         2. Master is just one Colour/aspect of the Spectrum of meaning of RABB
      2. الْعَالَمِينَ
         1. Slaves
            1. General = All Creation
            2. Particularly= mankind+jinn
      3. Relationship b/w Master and Slave
         1. Who is Slave of Master
            1. ask instructions from master
            2. obey instructions from master
         2. If Slave obey instructions from master
            1. Guidance
            2. misguidance
      4. This is why we immediately ask for guidance after declaring Allah as our Rabb
   3. All praise and thanks be to Allah, the Master of all things and beings created by Him
2. الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
   1. الرَّحْمَٰنِ
      1. Tip
         1. when synonyms are used in the same sentence in Arabic, they are intended to join their unique qualities.
      2. Linguistic
         1. Derivative of root Rahmah (Mercy/Womb)
         2. Suffix = 'aan'
            1. Literary Deivce=Hyperbole
            2. Adds to basic meaning ->Unimaginable+Exteme
            3. Live
            4. Its happening/manifesting right now
            5. Temporary
            6. Something will cause it to go away
            7. Like Hunger goes away when one eats
      3. Allah is ar-Rahman and that means that He is extremely merciful to us right now, but He could stop being merciful to us (if we disobey Him)
   2. الرَّحِيمِ
      1. Linguistic
         1. Derivative of root Rahmah (Mercy/Womb)
         2. Permanent/Perpetual
         3. Not necessarily happening right now.
            1. That is, Allah is always merciful and His mercy is perpetual, but He may not be merciful to us at this moment.
   3. ALLAH's Complete Mercy = ARRAHMAN+ARRAHEEM
      1. az-Zamakhshari
         1. ARRAHMAN
            1. like the huge towering waves of the ocean,
         2. ARRAHEEM
            1. like the calm sea
         3. Unimaginable at the same time
         4. Complete Understanding is Beyond our limited capacity
            1. Wrong Conclusions
            2. Why is there violence in the world if Allah is Merciful?
            3. Allah is extremely Merciful and will excuse us all for all our mistakes
            4. Right Approach
            5. We can only praise Allah at just the limited amount of knowledge that He has given us about His mercy through those two words and their linguistic miracle
      2. Ibn Abbas
         1. Arrahman
            1. for all the creatures in the universe
         2. Arraheem
            1. only for the believers
         3. perpetual mercy and reward in the afterlife is only for the believers, even though everyone and everything is able to make use of Allah’s blessings in this world
      3. if Allah left out either one of ar-Rahman or ar-Raheem, there would be chaos in the world with either the lack of the common blessings or that of accountability
   4. Order
      1. ARRAHMAN
         1. Present
            1. it is what we would need first, what we would need right now, and so it is mentioned first
      2. ARRAHEEM
         1. Future
            1. Once our present worries are taken care of, we start worry about the future, and then ar-Raheem takes care of our future worries
      3. you are concerned with the present state, and need help in the present. Once your present worries are settled, you start worrying about the future
      4. Allah created us and knows best what we need and how and when we need it. This verse is a clear indication of that
   5. ALLAH is unfathomably, extremely merciful right now, and is perpetually merciful, but while His mercy is always going to be available, it may not necessarily be bestowed upon us in the present and may be taken away from us if He wills
3. مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ
   1. Continuity
      1. while Allah is extremely and perpetually merciful, He is also the Owner and the King of the day of judgement, lest a person misuse Allah’s mercy to commit sins
   2. مَالِكِ
      1. a comprehensive description of Allah and His relation to the day of judgement
      2. Malik
         1. king
            1. Allah is the King of the great things that will happen on the day of judgement, that is a great day and will last for a great amount of time
            2. MACRO
            3. ownership on a massive-level: lands, countries
      3. Maalik
         1. owner
            1. Allah is the Owner of the people’s small deeds that are going to be counted
            2. MICRO
            3. ownership over smaller things: property, houses.
   3. يَوْمِ
      1. on the day of Judgement there will be no owner nor king, nor sovereign, except Allah subhanahu wa ta’aala.
      2. Allah owns the ‘Day’ of judgement, then naturally and logically He owns whatever is going to happen during that time as well
   4. whole concept of judgement/accounting/reckoning on that Day.
      1. Types of People on day of Judgment
         1. Those upon whom Allah bestows His mercy
         2. Those who are given justice
      2. While Allah mentioned His mercy in the previous ayah, He did not follow it up with mention of punishment, rather He described it as justice.
   5. MILESTONE 1-3AYAH
      1. Cover everything a person needs to know about Allah .
      2. This is a complete introduction to Himself
      3. And this knowledge, just like any other, should lead to results
      4. All these descriptions of Allah lead us to the next ayah.
4. إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
   1. Continuity
      1. thought-process of the believer.
         1. 1st ayah: should suffice for us to declare our enslavement to Allah, Who is the Rabb, the Master.
         2. 2nd ayah:If that is not enough, then He is the extremely Merciful, who is being merciful to us right now, and His Mercy is always there for the believers but can be taken away from us if He wills
         3. 3rd ayah: furthermore the fact that He is the King and the Owner of the day of Judgement, when there will be no king or owner of anything, except Him.
   2. إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ
      1. نَعْبُدُ
         1. sum of
            1. (slavery)عبد
            2. ( worship)يعبد
         2. a person may appear to worship Allah, but not necessarily act like His slave;
            1. This is the case of a person who only takes from Islam what pleases him
         3. worship and slavery are not the same
         4. True slave = only does what his master asks him to do
      2. This ayah =declaration of slavery, to none other than Allah.
         1. so that we truly free ourselves
         2. Otherwise we are either enslaved to entertainment, culture, peer-pressure, false ideologies, fashion, and so on.
         3. To be free from all that is by being a slave of Allah, the Creator, the Only One worthy of being enslaved to. The only One we need to impress is Allah.
   3. إِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
      1. نَسْتَعِينُ
         1. From Root (عون)
            1. not merely help
            2. a type of help that you seek when you are already struggling with something
      2. When we are told to seek help from Allah in this verse, it is the help in matters we are already making considerable effort in, and struggling to complete.
         1. In reality, if one is not struggling, then it may be even be appropriate for that person to seek help.
            1. A common example of that is a person who complains about not being a good Muslim, complains that Allah is not helping him be one, but does not make effort to actually be one. Such a person is not struggling and so is not technically doing istiaana
      3. a warning from Allah to only ask for help if we are sincerely struggling, and need it desperately
         1. Ibrahim alayhi as-Salam was first thrown into the fire and then the fire was cooled by the will of Allah
         2. The outnumbered believers first went to the battlefield of Badr and then the angels descended to help them
         3. If we understand this, it would change the way we act and seek help. Put this into perspective, how bad it is to lie to a human being, and how often we insincerely seek help from Allah in our prayers when we recite this ayah
      4. Gem
         1. absence of the subject
            1. Allah did not mention what it is that we seek help for. This would be necessary as you need to inform the one you seek help from, what it is that you are struggling with
            2. the One we ask help from already knows what we are struggling with---Allah is The all-knowing, The all-aware---and does not need to be told what the problem is.
            3. The list of things we need help with is so long that it is easier to just ask for help without listing them.
            4. This is true as we have uncountable challenges in our lives that we need help with.
            5. this cry for help is a cry of desperation
            6. the cry for help to Allah in extremely desperate situation we are speechless. We cannot even come up with words
            7. In reality, all those are different ways of understanding the reality of our situation and the reason why we say to Allah, iyyaka nasta’een.
   4. Slavery to ALLAH
      1. a challenge
         1. a difficult task
            1. tempted and seduced by shaytaan and his followers
      2. ask Allah for help
         1. If you intend something that is extremely difficult,
            1. it would be normal to ask for assistance in performing it
   5. HELP
      1. not limited to help in being slaves of Allah
         1. because the wording is not restricted in any way
      2. first thing that we would need help with is slavery to Allah
         1. slavery is the first thing we seek help with,
         2. we seek help in all matters,
         3. but once slavery to Allah is taken care of, everything else is taken care of
   6. Response
      1. Once we ask Allah for help in being His successful slaves,
      2. He responds, in the next ayah, with what we are supposed to seek
5. اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
   1. Continuity
      1. Allah directs us to ask Him to guide us to the siraat al-Mustaqim.
      2. immediately after a declaration of seeking help from Allah alone, we ARE TO SEEK help in guidance,
         1. another reminder of the master-slave relationship.
   2. Guidance(اهْدِنَا)
      1. We could have asked for help in a number of good things: forigveness, rizq, easy life, a ton of other things,
         1. but GUIDANCE is the most valuable of them all,
         2. with guidance everything else is solved.
      2. real success was with the ones who were rightly guided, regardless of the worldly false standards of a ‘good-life’.
      3. اهْدِنَا
         1. plural first-person
            1. Allah asks us to live this life together
            2. The collective life of a Muslim is extremely important
            3. encourages one to do good deeds and discourages evil
            4. rewards of collective good deeds are multiplied
            5. angels descend upon a gathering in which the remembrance of Allah takes place
            6. fact that we ask Allah for help in a gathering is not to be taken lightly
      4. Side Note:
         1. recite al-Fatiha at least 17 times each day
         2. each time we go through this ayah where we beg Allah to guide us to the straight path
         3. the reality of our lives in relation to guidance
            1. Imagine you were unable to get water from anywhere
            2. would you be in a state of desperation?
            3. Would you cry out for water?
            4. Would you keep repeating your cries for water until you received it and were satisfied?
            5. Similar is the case with guidance
         4. We beg for guidance over and over each day
            1. yet fail to realize that this is because we don’t own guidance
            2. We need guidance
            3. we are desperate for it
         5. our situation is comparable to a person who is unaware of some internal physical injury
            1. This person might not get treatment for it because they may not realize the magnitude of their injury.
            2. Like that, we, fail to truly reflect upon the implications of the constant repetition of al-Faitha in our lives,
         6. from the day salah becomes mandatory upon us to the day we die,
            1. we are to repeat this surah, and beg Allah for guidance.
         7. if we ask Allah for guidance at Fajr, and lest we get misguided by noon, we ask Allah again for guidance at Dhuhr, and lest we forget it by the afternoon, we do so again at Asr, and so on.
         8. We are to ask Allah for guidance our whole lives
         9. we recite al-Faitha in the first rakah, and we bow down to Allah, and rise up and ask for guidance again, as if we were prone to have not been guided during the time we were praying
         10. In essence, our lives are the times we pray, the hours between are times when we see whether we have been guided or not
      5. Difference between knowledge and guidance
         1. Many people have knowledge, few are guided by it
         2. Knowledge is easy to obtain, guidance is only from Allah.
         3. Whomsoever Allah guides, no one can misguide, whomsoever Allah leaves to go astray, no one can bring back to the path of guidance
   3. الصِّرَاطَ
      1. Arabic
         1. comes from ‘suraat’, which means a long straight sword
         2. there can only be one ‘siraat’
            1. Siraat is a kind of path, from A to B, without any alternate route(only possible route)
            2. If you got deviated ,you have to rejoin the point of the siraat that you deviated from, there are no shortcuts
         3. it doesn’t even have plurals, unlike sabeel (subul), tareeq (taraaiq), shari’ (shawaari’), and so on
      2. Linguistically
         1. there can only be one siraat
         2. it has to be straight
         3. it also has to be wide
            1. benefit of wide path
            2. accommodate more travellers
      3. Historically
         1. a siraat is very dangerous
            1. straight, simple, predictable, and without many turns
            2. it would make caravans vulnerable to attacks
            3. a siraat makes it easy for its users to be attacked.
   4. الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
      1. Mustaqim is related to istiqaamah
         1. means to seek straightness (when something stands straight)
         2. related to qaamah, which means to stand (like how it is used in the iqaamah
      2. Allah is telling us to tread a path that is going straight up, a spiritual jouney to Him.
         1. Literally, this path is going up like a ladder, leaving this dunya
      3. We are basically struggling against the gravity of the worldly life, on our journey to Allah
         1. this gravity of this dunya, its temptations, seductions will always be there till we die and end our initial journey
         2. It doesn’t matter how much worship we have done, this gravity is always going to be there with us while we are alive
         3. In reality, the higher you are up the ladder, the harder you will fall once you slip
         4. And the more Allah has raised you with His blessings, and you still disobey Allah, the harder you are going to fall
            1. Allah has compared such a person to likes of a dog (not even a direct comparison with a dog, perhaps implying this person is below the dog).
            2. surah al-A’raaf (v.176),
            3. If it had been Our will, We should have elevated him with Our signs; but he inclined to the earth, and followed his own vain desires. His similitude is that of a dog: if you attack him, he lolls out his tongue, or if you leave him alone, he (still) lolls out his tongue. That is the similitude of those who reject Our signs; So relate the story; perchance they may reflect.”
         5. the trick of the shaytaan, who slowly brings the human to a path of disobedience, as Allah describes his action in surah surah al-A’raaf (v.22)
            1. that he slowly got them into what he wanted; like someone raising a bucket from a well, slow and steady.
      4. this path is straight, long, wide, difficult, heading upwards, and now we know where we have to go
6. صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ
   1. Continuity
      1. Now that Allah made clear to us where we have to go
      2. Allah makes us describe the previous people who were successful in crossing the straight, long, difficult journey upwards to Allah
      3. in this ayah we ask for the path of those people upon whom Allah has already showered His blessings
      4. side-note
         1. this is in past tense, which subtly shows that the real role models of Islam are not the ones who are still alive, rather the ones who are gone.
         2. The ones who are alive are as volatile as us and as prone to the dangers of the shaytaan
         3. The graduation ceremony is death
         4. We ask Allah to show us the path of those who have graduated from this life successfully
   2. أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ
      1. associating guidance with Allah,
         1. only Allah owns guidance
         2. only Allah can bestow upon whom He wills and take away from whom He wills.
      2. أَنْعَمْتَ
         1. comes from nu’uma, which refers to softness/relaxed state
            1. cows and sheep are called an’aam in Arabic
            2. when they move are very relaxed, unlike a tense animal such as a cat
      3. Remember that Allah described this path as a hard path and the tasks as difficult task, and that the higher up the ladder one goes, the harder it becomes to stay there and keep climbing. But Allah then says that the ones who succeed this stage are those upon whom relaxation is bestowed, they are now calm
   3. غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ
      1. in Arabic when you want to say that everyone is mad at someone, you call that person, ‘maghdub alayhi’, which basically means that the one upon whom the anger descends.
      2. When such a statement is mentioned, and the doer is not mentioned for the action, is it not possible that there might be more than one doer?
         1. So not only is Allah angry at them, but the angels are angry at them, the believers are angry at them, the previous and later generations are angry at them, to such an extent that such are the people upon whom anger is thrown
      3. Another reason why Allah may not be mentioned in this phrase may be that these people receive so much anger that Allah does not want His name mentioned anywhere near them. And Allah knows best.
      4. So, the maghdubi alayhim are those who knew what was right and wrong, yet they still chose to disobey Allah,
   4. الضَّالِّينَ
      1. people who are lost
         1. While this is a lesser degree of failure than having everyone’s anger flung at you, it is still failure as they did not get Allah’s guidance
      2. Ignorance is not equal to innocence
   5. And according to some ahaadith, the maghdubi alayhim are the Jews, while the daalleen are the Christians. Even in the Quran, certain behaviours of the Jews are highlighted that show how they were at times arrogant despite being knowledgeable, and disobedient as a result. While many times when the Christians are mentioned, they exhibit behaviours of people who didn’t really know any better and were lost. And the Quran is a teaching for us to not become like either of them . Also, by leaving the description open-ended, this category could include anyone, even from the Muslims. This is why we ask Allah for guidance and safety from being amongst the failures
7. Gems
   1. Balancing Knowledge and Action
      1. Begin of SURAH
         1. Introduction to ALLAH
            1. Knowledge
            2. Leads to Action
            3. Knowledge of ALLAH
            4. Action on Our part
            5. Decision to be Slaves of ALLAH
      2. as-Siraat al-Mustaqeem
         1. If we do have the action, then we are on the straight path
         2. a path people took before us---people of knowledge who turned it into action
      3. guidance
         1. when we balance knowledge with action
      4. misguidance
         1. 2 Types
            1. One is when we have knowledge by no action, or action without knowledge
            2. people who have action but no knowledge
      5. The surah begins with knowledge, then it talks about action, then when they are both together it talks about guidance, then it tells us not to be like people who have knowledge by no action
   2. Symmetry
      1. The Prophet of Allah described in a hadith qudsi, that Allah calls the fatiha something that is between Him and His slave
         1. The first part is for My slave
         2. the middle is between us
            1. So the middle part of the surah is iyyaka na’budu wa iyyaka nastaeen
            2. If we divide this verse into equal parts
            3. the first part is us proclaiming our worship to Allah alone
            4. the middle part is ‘wa
            5. the second part is declaring our dependence on Allah alone
            6. again dividing the verse between Allah and us
         3. and the last is for Me
   3. A Mix of Nouns and Verbs
      1. nouns are permanent
      2. verbs are temporary
      3. In Arabic 2 Types of Sentence
         1. that begin with nouns (nominal)
         2. that begin with verbs (verbal)
      4. Distribution
         1. The first part of the surah is about Allah
            1. The first part contains only nominal sentences, and this part is about Allah, and it is only befitting to describe Allah in a permanent sense
         2. the middle part is about Allah and us
            1. As for the middle part, that is supposed to be between us and Allah, it is both a verbal sentence and a nominal sentence.
         3. the last part is about us
            1. The last part is composed of verbal sentences, and we humans are temporary, we were created by Allah and we eventually die---again this usage is suitable.
      5. All of this was revealed at once to the Prophet, there was no editorial process anywhere. This is another proof of the perfect speech of Allah
      6. Also note, the surah begins with Allah’s sovereignty over people, and the ending is how people should be divided---not by ethnicities, or languages, rather on their actions, knowledge and results.
   4. Individually Collective
      1. Personal Aspect
         1. Hamd is something subjective to what we are used to
         2. Every one has their own way of praising and thanking Allah
         3. Also, we are individual slaves of Allah, and our relationship is between us and Him, and we all have a personal experience of this
         4. Also, we all experience mercy in ways that are specific to us
         5. Also, everyone will come to Allah individually on the day of judgement
      2. Collective Aspect
         1. collective proclamation of worship to Allah alone and dependence on Allah alone
         2. a collective seeking of guidance from Allah, and protection from being unsuccessful.
      3. This surah is a balance between individual Iman and collective action
      4. Knowledge and personal relationship with Allah are in the heart, but our actions will be with other Muslims
      5. The life of the Muslim should be in balance
         1. Umar bin Khattab described taqwa as having a sense of balance
   5. Continuum in the Quran
      1. The last surah of the Quran, in order, is surah an-Naas. And often when the Prophet would recite an-Naas, he would immediately go to al-Fatiha, as if the Quran didn’t have an end.
      2. Al-Fatiha
         1. Begins with
            1. praise, something positive
            2. a noun
         2. Maalik
         3. we mentioned mercy
         4. we enslave ourselves to Allah and declare His tawhid in being worshipped using a verb/nouns combination (iyyaka na’budu)
         5. we mentioned two types of bad things: maghdubi alayhim and ad-Daaleen
         6. the verbs were all plural
         7. collectively we get evil influences from failed nations
            1. in al-Fatiha, the negative influences are from the failed nations
      3. an-Naas
         1. Begins with
            1. something negative, seeking refuge (from evil)
            2. a verb
         2. Malik
         3. we seek protection from evil
         4. we mention a noun (illah an-Naas)
         5. we mention two evils, the waswaas from the Jinn and those from the people (naas)
         6. all verbs are singular
         7. Individually we get evil influences from Shaytaan
            1. in an-Naas the evil influences are individual influences from shaytaan and an- Naas
8. Conclusion
   1. we haven’t really understood the Quran, we have to enjoy what it has to offer, we cannot approach it with extreme emotions or preconceived conclusions, rather we must come to it hoping for guidance. Aw kama qaal.