[Note: any comments
preceded by (ins) are taken from Vol. 10 of Adwaa
al-Bayaan in which the author discusses apparent
inconsistencies in Qur`aanic verses. I have included
them because we find some orientalists using these
verses in an attempt to shed doubt into the hearts
of the Muslims. Any comments surrounded by [] are
taken from other tafseers.]
Surah al-Faatihah
1)
With the Name of Allaah, the Most Beneficent,
the Most Merciful. 2) All the praises and thanks
are for Allaah the Lord of the Universe. 3) The
Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful. 4) Master of
the Day of Recompense. 5) You Alone we worship,
and You Alone we ask for help. 6) Guide us to
the Straight Path. 7) The Path of those on whom
You have bestowed your grace, not the Path of
those who earned your Anger, nor of those that
went astray
- The saying of
the Exalted, ‘all the praises and thanks
are for Allaah’: there is no mention here
as to when this praise is said or from where
this praise comes from, but in Surah Rum there
is mention that from amongst the ‘where’s’
are the heavens and the earth - in His saying,
‘and His is all the praises and thanks in the
heavens and the earth.’ (30:18). And in
Surah Qasas there is mention that from amongst
the ‘when’s’ are in this world and in the
Hereafter - in His sayings,
‘And He is
Allaah, none has the right to be worshipped
besides Him. To Him belongs all praise in the
beginning (i.e. this world) and in the end
(i.e. the Hereafter).’
(28:70).
And He said in the
beginning of Surah Saba’a,
‘His is all
the praise in the Hereafter, and He is the
All-Wise, All-Aware.’
(34:1).
The Alif and Laam
(i.e. the definite article ‘the’) in al-Hamd is
so as to include all the different manners of
praise, and it is an extolling with which Allaah has
praised Himself and ordered His servants to praise
Him with.
- The saying of
the Exalted, ‘the Lord of the Universe (Aalameen)’:
there is no explanation here as to what al-Aalameen
is but this is explained in another place with
His saying,
‘Pharaoh
said: and what is the Lord of the Aalameen? He
(Moses) said: the Lord of the heavens and the
earth and what is between them.’
(26:23-24)
Some of the
scholars stated that al-Aalam (world, pl. aalameen)
is derived from al-Allaamah (sign) because the
existence of the world is a sign, without doubt, of
the existence of it’s Creator who is described
with perfect and magnificent Attributes. The Exalted
said,
‘Indeed in
the creation of the heavens and the earth and
the change of the night and day are signs (Aayaat)
for the people of understanding.’
And in the language
ayah means allaamah.
- The saying of
the Exalted, ‘The Most Beneficent (ar-Rahmaan),
The Most Merciful (ar-Raheem)’: these are
two descriptions of Allaah the Exalted, and two
of the Names from amongst His Beautiful Names,
derived from ar-Rahma (Mercy) in a way to
express intense and exaggerated meanings. And
ar-Rahmaan is more intense than ar-Raheem
because ar-Rahmaan is the one endowed with Mercy
which extends to all of the creations in this
world and to the believers in the Hereafter, and
ar-Raheem is the One endowed with Mercy which
extends to only the believers on the Day of
Judgement - this being the understanding of the
majority of the scholars. And from the
discussion of ibn Jareer (at-Tabaree) one can
understand that there is an agreement on this,
and the tafseer of some of the salaf lends
weight to this understanding as was stated by
ibn Katheer, and the narration reported from
Eesa, as mentioned by ibn Katheer and others,
also indicates this - that he (upon him and our
Prophet be peace and blessings) said,
‘ar-Rahmaan: the One Who shows Mercy in this
world and the Hereafter. Ar-Raheem: the One Who
shows Mercy in the Hereafter.’{1}
And Allaah the
Exalted also points to what we have mentioned when
He said, ‘then He rose over the Throne,
ar-Rahmaan’ (25:59) and when He said, ‘ar-Rahmaan
rose over the Throne’.(20:5) So he mentioned
the Istawaa (Rising over the Throne) with His Name
ar-Rahmaan so as to embrace the whole of His
creation with his Mercy as was stated by ibn
Katheer{2}. And likewise is His saying, ‘Do
they not see the birds above them, spreading out
their wings and folding them in? None upholds them
except ar-Rahmaan’ (67:19) meaning: from his
Mercy to His creation is his kindness to the birds
and His holding them in the sky while they are
spreading out their wings and folding them in. And
from the clearest evidences pertaining to this is
His saying, ‘ar-Rahmaan. He taught the
Qur’aan…so which of the favours of your Lord
will you two deny?’ (55:1-13)
And He said, ‘and
He is Ever Most Merciful (Raheem) to the
believers’ (33:43) and hence particularised
His name ar-Raheem to them. So if it said: ‘how is
it possible to reconcile what you have thusfar
established with his (SAW) saying in the du’aa,
‘the Rahmaan of the world and the Hereafter and
the Raheem of them’? {3} The obvious reply - and
Allaah knows best - is that ar-Raheem is specific to
the believers as we have mentioned, but it is not
specified to them in the Hereafter alone, rather His
Mercy to them is included in this world as well. So
the meaning of ‘the Raheem of them’ would be
‘His Mercy to the believers in them’. And the
evidence that He is Raheem to the believers in this
world as well (as the Hereafter) is that this is the
literal meaning of His, the Exalted’s saying,
‘He is the
One who sends His Blessings (salaah) upon you,
and His Angels so as to lead you out of the
darkness to the light, and He is Ever Most
Merciful (Raheem) to the believers.’
(33:43)
Because His salaah
upon them, the salaah of His Angels and His leading
them out of the darkness to the light is Mercy to
them in this world, even though it be the reason for
Mercy in the Hereafter as well. And similar to this
in meaning is His saying,
‘Allah has
forgiven the Prophet, the Muhaajiroon and the
Ansaar who followed him in the time of distress
after the hearts of a group of them had nearly
deviated (from the Right Path), but He accepted
their repentance. Certainly He is Full of
Kindness to them, Most Merciful (Raheem).’
(9:117)
For the Mercy is
linked to the event that befell the Prophet, the
Muhaajiroon and the Ansaar, and also His forgiving
them was Mercy in this world even though it be the
reason for Mercy in the Hereafter as well. And the
Knowledge (of what is correct) lies with Allaah.
- The saying of
the Exalted, ‘Master of the Day of
Recompense (Deen)’: There is no
explanation here (as to what the Day of Deen
is), but this is explained in His saying,
‘And what
will make you comprehend what the Day of Deen
is? Again what will make you comprehend what the
Day of Deen is? It is the Day when no person
shall have power (to do) anything for
another.’
(83:17-19).
And the meaning of
Deen in the verse is recompense, as can be seen in
His saying, ‘on that Day Allaah will pay them
their deen in truth’ (24:25) meaning: the
recompense of their actions with complete justice.
- The saying of
the Exalted, ‘You Alone we worship’:
Indicating in this noble verse to the
realisation of the meaning of Laa ilaaha illaa
Allaah (there is none worthy of worship except
for Allaah) for it’s meaning is comprised of
two matters: negation and affirmation. So the
negation aspect means to remove every single
object of worship apart from Allaah in all the
actions of worship, and the affirmation aspect
means to single out the Lord of the heavens and
the earth Alone for all matters of worship in
the way that has been legislated by the
Sharee’ah.
This negation in
the laa ilaaha illaa Allaah was indicated by placing
the object of worship first in the verse hence, ‘You
Alone’, and it is established in ‘al-Usul’
under the discussion on ‘Daleel al-Khitaab
Alladhee huwa Mafhum al-Mukhaalafa’, and in
‘al-Ma’aanee’ under the discussion of ‘al-Qasr’:
that placing the object first (in a sentence) is one
if the ways of confining (the meaning of the verb to
the object alone).
And the affirmation
part of the kalima was indicated in His saying, ‘we
worship’.
And He, the
Exalted, explained this meaning which is indicated
here in detail elsewhere. For example His saying,
‘O Mankind!
Worship your Lord who created you’
(2:21)
Clarifying the
affirmation aspect with his words, ‘worship
your Lord’ and the negation aspect at the end
of this noble verse with His words, ‘so do not
set up rivals with Allaah while you know’
(2:22). And for example His saying,
‘We have
indeed sent a Messenger to every people saying:
worship Allaah and leave all that is worshipped
besides Allaah’ (16:36)
Clarifying the
affirmation with His words, ‘worship Allaah’
and the negation with His words, ‘and leave all
that is worshipped besides Allaah’. And for
example His saying,
‘And
whosoever rejects all that is worshipped besides
Allaah and believes in Allaah has held onto the
most trustworthy handhold’
(2:256)
Clarifying the
negation with his words, ‘whosoever rejects all
that is worshipped besides Allaah’ and the
affirmation with His words, ‘and believes in
Allaah’. And for example His sayings,
‘And when
Abraham said to his father and his people:
Indeed I am free of what you worship except He
who created me’ (43:26-27
‘And We did not
send a Messenger before you except that We
revealed to him: that there is none worthy of
worship but Me, so worship Me’
(21:25)
‘Ask those of
Our Messengers whom We sent before you: Did We
ever appoint gods to be worshipped besides Allaah’
(43:45)
And other verses.
- The saying of
the Exalted, ‘You Alone we ask for help’:
meaning that we do not seek aid from anyone but
You because the command/affair in it’s
totality is under Your control Alone, no one
else has even an atoms weight of control over
it. And in this statement’s following His
saying, ‘You Alone we worship’ lies
an indication that it is not permissible to put
our trust in anyone except the One that deserves
worship because no one else has control over the
command/affair. This meaning which is indicated
here is clearly explained in other verses, like
His sayings,
‘So worship
Him and put your trust in Him’
(12:123
‘But if they
turn away, say: Allaah is sufficient for me,
none has the right to be worshipped but Him, in
Him I put my trust’
(9:129
‘The Lord of
the East and the West, none deserves to be
worshipped but Him, so take Him as the Disposer
of your affairs’
(73:9
‘Say: He is
the Most Beneficent, we have believed in Him and
put our trust in Him’
(67:29)
- The saying of
the Exalted, ‘the path of those whom You
have favoured’: there is no explanation
here as to who are the ones that have been
favoured, but this is explained in another place
with His saying,
‘And
whosoever obeys Allaah and the Messenger then
they will be in the company of those that
Allaah has favoured: of the Prophets, the
Truthful Ones (Siddeeq), the Martyrs and the
Righteous - what an excellent company!’
(4:69).
Addendum 1: the
correctness of the khaleefate of Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq
(RA) can be derived from this noble verse because he
is included amongst those that Allaah has commanded
us, in the Great Qur’aan and the Seven
Oft-Repeated Verses - I mean al-Faatihah, to ask Him
that He guide us to their path thus indicating that
their path is the Straight Path.
This lies in His
saying, ‘guide us to the Straight Path, the
Path of those whom You have favoured’ and He
explained who these favoured people were and
included amongst them the Siddeeqeen. And he (SAW)
explained that Abu Bakr (RA) was from amongst the
Siddeeqeen, so it becomes clear that he is included
amongst those that Allaah has favoured - those that
Allaah has commanded us to ask Him to guide us to
their path. So there remains no doubt that Abu Bakr
as-Siddeeq was upon the Straight Path and that his
khilaafate was correct.
Addendum 2: you
have come to know that the Siddeeqeen are from those
that Allaah has favoured. And Allaah has made clear
that Maryam the daughter of Imraan was a Siddeeqa in
His saying, ‘and His mother was a Siddeeqa’
(5:75). So is Maryam included in His saying,
‘those whom you have favoured’ or not?
The answer: whether
or not she is included amongst them is dependent
upon a foundational principle which has a well known
dispute over it. This is - does the sound masculine
plural and it’s likes which occurs in the
Qur’aan and the Sunnah include the feminine gender
in all cases or only in those cases for which there
is a specific evidence?
A group of scholars
took to the opinion that it does - so according to
them Maryam is included in the above verse. And
these scholars depended upon two proofs:
- The consensus of
the people of the Arabic Language that the
masculine gender takes prevalence over the
feminine.{4}
- There a number
of verses which prove that the females are
included in the sound masculine plural, like His
saying concerning Maryam herself, ‘she
testified to the truth of the Words of her Lord
and His Books, and she was of those obedient to
Allaah (Qaaniteen - a sound masculine
plural)’ (66:12), and His saying concerning
the wife of al-Azeez, ‘O Yusuf! Turn away
from this! (O Woman!) Ask forgiveness for your
sin, indeed your were of the sinful (Khaati’een
- a sound masculine plural)’ (12:29), and His
saying concerning Bilqees, ‘And that which
she used to worship besides Allaah has prevented
her (from Islaam), for she was of a disbelieving
people (Qawm Kaafireen)’ (27:43),
and His saying, ‘We said: get down (ihbitoo)
all of you from this’ (2:38) and this
includes Hawaa by consensus.
And the majority of
scholars took to the opinion that the females are
not included in the sound masculine plural unless
there is a specific evidence, and they depended upon
a number of verses like His saying, ‘indeed the
male Muslims and the female Muslims, the male
believers and the female believers…Allaah has
prepared for them a forgiveness and a great
reward’, and His saying, ‘Tell the
believing men to lower their gaze and protect their
private parts. That is purer for them’ (24:30)
following this with, ‘and tell the believing
women to lower their gaze and protect their private
parts’ (24:31). So their following the mention
of the men indicates that they are not included
amongst them.
And they replied to
the proponents of the first opinion by saying that
the fact that the masculine gender takes prevalence
over the feminine is not a matter of dispute. What
is disputed is whether the masculine plural includes
the females in every case. And they replied to the
verses (the first group) used by saying that it is
known by the context of these verses and the meaning
of the wordings that the females are included in the
male plural - and that their inclusion in the male
plural in the case of their being an evidence that
they are included is not contended.
So according to
this opinion Maryam is not included in the verse.
And this difference
of opinion was pointed out in ‘Maraaqee as-Sa’ud’
with his saying:
‘There is nothing
untoward in including the feminine (amongst the
masculine gender)
For this is a
matter in which the Muslims have differed’
- The saying of
the Exalted, ‘not the Path of those who
have earned Your Anger, nor of those that went
astray’: the majority of the scholars of
tafseer said that ‘those who have earned
Your Anger’ are the Jews, and ‘those
that went astray’ are the Christians, and
their is the hadeeth of the Messenger of Allaah
(SAW) reported from Adee bin Haatim (RA)
concerning this{5}. And the Jews and the
Christians even though both of them are
misguided and both of them have Allaah’s Anger
on them - the Anger is specified to the Jews,
even though the Christians share this with them,
because the Jews knew the truth and rejected it
and deliberately came with falsehood, so the
Anger (of Allaah being upon them) was the
description most befitting them. And the
Christians were ignorant, not knowing the truth,
so misguidance was the description most
befitting them.
So with this the
saying of Allaah, ‘so they have drawn on
themselves anger upon anger’ (2:90) clarifies
that the Jews are those that ‘have earned your
Anger’. And likewise His sayings,
‘Say: shall I
inform you of something worse than that,
regarding the recompense from Allaah: those
(Jews) who incurred the Curse of Allaah and His
Anger’
(5:60)
"Indeed
those who took the calf (for worship), anger from
their Lord and humiliation will come upon them’
(7:152).
