Section Fatiha, part 8
Section Fatiha, part 8
Recap: We all worship and declare the same Source of Existence. The One who takes care of my needs, educates me with opportunities to enhance my human qualities/skills to get to know Him, owns the vast universe. This One is the Owner of my eternal existence after I die from here and is described as the Owner of Retribution. There are two aspects to Him being the Owner of the Day of Retribution. One aspect gives us comfort that there will be a continuity to our existence beyond what we experience here. The other aspect is somewhat frightening because we will face the consequences of what we sowed here, and we will be judged and considered for our actions. We try our best to fulfill the purpose of our existence while we are living here. No one can claim to be sinless as we all have shortcomings. The only salvation left for us to secure an eternal perfect existence is to ask for sincere forgiveness by acknowledging our mistakes and negligence. While we turn to our Creator and ask for help to get to know Him better so that we will keep our connection with Him, we utter “iyyaka na’budu wa iyya ka nastaeen”, which means “You alone we worship and You alone we seek help from.”
The Speaker in the Quran introduces Himself to us in Section Fatiha. All scholars present to us various understandings about the meaning of Section Fatiha. The meanings and blessing of Section Fatiha from the Quran has been mentioned on various occasions in Hadith narrations, none of them are wrong, because they all have an aspect of truth in their presentation. Section Fatiha is the introduction to the Quran, and the Quran is the introduction to the religion of Islam. Hence, section Fatiha is the core of the message of the Quran.
In my prayers while reciting Section Fatiha, I use the word “we” when I say, “You alone we worship and, You alone we seek help from” Why am I using “we” rather than “I”?
In Arabic, verbs often incorporate the subject directly into a single word. This means the verb form changes depending on the subject (I, you, he/she, we, etc.), and you don’t need to use a separate pronoun.
For example, in Arabic:
- نعبد (naʿbud) means “we worship.”
- أعبد (aʿbud) means “I worship.”
- يعبد (yaʿbud) means “he worships.”
In contrast, in English, we use separate pronouns and verbs:
- “I worship.”
- “He worships.”
- “We worship.”
In some other constructs, English uses forms of “to be” whereas Arabic might still use a single word. What this signifies for the Quranic structure of the language is that whatever action you do, it is not separate from you. In other words, the action and the pronoun referring to the actor are combined in one word in Arabic, contrary to English where it may be two words.
Therefore, going back to the verse, “You alone we worship and, You alone we seek help from.”, this tells us that you are together with the “we” part of your action, it’s all one event, the action is not separate from you. That is, you are in the action when you say “we”. So, what do we mean by “we”?
Who are “we”?
Although we all have our own universe, human capacity encompasses the whole universe. Hence, we cannot separate ourselves from the rest of creation and how it exists with all the actions within it. Everything in the universe is also worshiping in the way they exist. When I utter “we worship”, it includes the worship of the beings in the universe as well. The way things exist reflects the qualities of their Creator. As conscious beings, we have the capacity to understand these reflections and engage in communication with them. Depending on one’s perspective, a person may perceive the world either as a mere assemblage of matter or as a meaningful creation. Only those who recognize the universe as a purposeful existence can truly “read” what is inscribed within it and learn from it.
In this sense, the universe becomes a “teacher” that speaks to human consciousness, fostering a profound exchange between the “teacher” and the “student.” This relationship is one of love: as the student learns from the teacher, he realizes that the Creator is the ultimate source of all the qualities manifested in creation. With this understanding, the student turns to the Creator, reciting what he has learned from the universe. He and the universe together bear witness to their existence, rejoicing in it and expressing gratitude to their Creator.
This is the essence of worship. The Qur’an calls upon believers to take what they have learned from the universe and turn to God, acknowledging His absolute ownership over all existence. Thus, a believer declares with conviction: “Only You do we worship.”
This is incredible as the value human beings are given to represent the whole universe, being their representative and spokesperson.
Let us investigate the following verse from the Quran:
وَمَا مِن دَآبَّةٍۢ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَا طَـٰٓئِرٍۢ يَطِيرُ بِجَنَاحَيْهِ إِلَّآ أُمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُم ۚ مَّا فَرَّطْنَا فِى ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ مِن شَىْءٍۢ ۚ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يُحْشَرُونَ
“All living beings roaming the earth and winged birds soaring in the sky are communities like yourselves. We have left out nothing in the Book. Then to their Lord they will be gathered all together.” (An’am, 6:38)
Everything in creation is a community (ummah). For example, the ants have their own community. The sheep form their own community. The flock of birds fly as a community demonstrating their skills and providing us with a spectacular show. What is orchestrating such a harmonious display? Unlike human beings leading their communities, we do not notice a bird letting the other birds of its kind know what move to perform while showcasing their skills altogether in communion. Only human beings cause corruption by wanting to lead and impose their power on others, the rest of creation work peacefully in harmony with each other. A rational mind can never speculate that species of beings evolve in harmony as a result of randomness or chance. Therefore, next time when you utter “iyyaka na’budu wa iyya ka nastaeen”, include the communities (ummah) of other species as well in your consciousness and acknowledgment to your Lord.
The “Book” in the verse above not only refers to the Quran, but also all of creation in the universe, including human beings. The universe is a book where every creation in it, including the various communities in it is like a sentence that we are reading. All books convey the same meaning and correspond to each other, regardless of their format (hardcopy or digital). Every human being is a book and conveys the meaning of all the qualities manifested in it by corresponding with the universe and the meaning of the Quran. In other words, we may adjust ourselves according to the meaning that the universe conveys under the light of the meaning of the Quran. Every book declares the glory of its Lord together with the other books regardless of its format.
Whoever gives us existence will take us back into another creation by giving death. Here, we are experiencing the manifestation of our Creator’s qualities in limited form by doing actions and following the order in creation. However, in an eternal life, we must experience the Creator’s qualities in an infinite form appropriate to the requirements of our spirit. For example, when you make your salad, you must go through the process of cutting the various vegetables and fruits. In eternal life, you will be presented with the salad without going through a process of cutting the vegetables and following the order. The next creation will present us with anything that we like right away as we desire it to be. Hence, our understanding of “iyyaka na’budu wa iyya ka nastaeen”, must include such comprehensive meaning to our existence, and we must include the worship of all communities that we come across.
Let us investigate another verse from the Quran:
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُۥ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱلطَّيْرُ صَـٰٓفَّـٰتٍۢ ۖ كُلٌّۭ قَدْ عَلِمَ صَلَاتَهُۥ وَتَسْبِيحَهُۥ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌۢ بِمَا يَفْعَلُونَ
“Don’t you see that all those who are in the heavens and earth praise God, as do the birds with wings outstretched? Each knows its own way of prayer and glorification: God has full knowledge of what they do.” (Nur, 24:41)
These types of verses are the secrets in the Quranic message. The concept of “worship” is alluded to in this verse by mentioning the word “prayer”. Prayer is the result of one’s conclusion of their experiences of the world. When the birds are flying, they are declaring that their Creator has created them in the best way. Their act of flying is more balanced and skilful than a flying aircraft. Nevertheless, while flying, the birds or any other created being are announcing the great qualities of their Creator. It is their worship. The word “salah” for “prayer” is used to let us know that the act of prayer is not only applicable to human beings, but all species in existence express their act of praying. However, other beings perform their physical prayers more genuinely and with diligence as compared to human beings, who have a hard time even standing still while reciting the Fatiha in the ritualistic prayers. We must take lessons from the birds and other creatures by being more attentive while standing in prayers, rather than scratching our hands here and there or having our minds wandering around with worldly thoughts.
The human being is at the center of the universe and can act as the spokesperson (imam) of all species while performing prayers, so it becomes a universal congregational prayer. The universe is limited in its existence but human potentiality is unlimited. Hence, the human being is equal to the whole universe, and everything in creation is made to glorify its Creator. That is how the human being can take on the role to be the representative of all of creation. This is why the Qur’an describes human beings as “caliphs” (representative of the universe.)
Let us investigate another verse from the Quran:
تُسَبِّحُ لَهُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتُ ٱلسَّبْعُ وَٱلْأَرْضُ وَمَن فِيهِنَّ ۚ وَإِن مِّن شَىْءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِۦ وَلَـٰكِن لَّا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ ۗ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًۭا
“The seven heavens and the earth and everyone in them glorify Him. There is not a single thing that does not celebrate His praise, though you do not comprehend their praise: He is most forbearing, most forgiving.” (Isra, 17:44)
We all can observe the interconnectedness of the universe where everything is so perfectly integrated. For example, for any fruit to come into existence, the whole universe must come into existence such as water, soil, clouds, air, and the insects for fertilizers, the list goes on and on. The universe in its meaningful side manifests consciousness according to its capacity. Science also acknowledges that matter appears to have consciousness, but how do we explain the existence of “consciousness” is the real human question? No rational mind can assign the existence of consciousness to matter itself. However, people are free to deny a Source of Existence that gives existence to matter with its consciousness.
The Quran mentions that the qualities and actions of matter are performed by their meaningful side, which is called “malakut” or “the angelic side” of creation. “Angels” are conscious beings, and the meaningful side of creation is performed by conscious beings. Just as when you read a book, you communicate with the knowledge that the author conveys. Similarly, when you read creation, you communicate with the knowledge that the Author of the universe conveys. This knowledge is transferred through “angels”. Hence, nothing in existence is purposeless for everything in existence carries a meaning from its Creator through conscious beings i.e. “angels”.
When scientists study a particular species, let us take the example of a “bee”, how much do they discover about them? A great deal of qualities. From the atomic structure of the species of the bee to the way it is created for honey production, amazes any human mind. The bees have their own communities, their own social life, produce honey, take care of its offspring, and get inspired to hop from flower to flower. Who is teaching the bee to enact such responsibilities and acts? How is the bee getting inspired by the flowers? Who is inspiring the bee? The way that the bee is created, declares consciousness. A bee may or may not know about it, but the bee speaks to us with its acts as follow, “hey, look at my color, wings, and how I store the pollen in my bellies, I am a product of my Creator, and I manifest my Creator’s qualities in all my actions.” That is exactly the message of the Quran i.e. everything celebrates and announces their Creator’s praise to conscious beings.
The way the universe is created is full of mysteries. That is why we are encouraged to study the Quran through the Prophetic narrations so we can all become “faqeeh” or the people who understand the Quran. Unfortunately, the Islamic religious culture has reduced the role of a “faqeeh” to only conveying the jurisprudence (ruling) side of the Quran, which roughly makes up to 5% of the Quranic message. The main message of the Quran is to teach us the belief aspect of our creation and the creation of everything in the universe. By definition, a “faqeeh” is supposed to be a commentator of the Quran as mentioned in a Prophetic narration where the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) prayed that the 6 year old Ibn-Abbas becomes a “faqeeh”. As a result of the prayer, Ibn Abbas was the first commentator (supposedly faqeeh) of the Quran at the age of around 13 years old. In conclusion, we must deeply comprehend the message of the Quran in parallel with the universe as much as we can. Most of the time we do not comprehend the message of the Quran because we do not pay attention to it. That is, if we pay attention to the message of the Quran, then we will comprehend it.
The latter part of the above verse mentions that the Creator of the universe is “most Forbearing”, which means that He is easy going in terms of pardoning us when we sincerely repent for our shortcomings and mistakes. It also alludes that our Creator cannot be a cruel Being, because He is willing to pardon us, give us more opportunities to repent, learn from our mistakes and grow. That is why, the Creator of the universe is referred to as the “Al-Haleem” or Most Forgiving. Our Creator is aware how ignorant, negligent and heedless (Jahool) we are as human beings. We are not even aware of the value of our existence, and we do not appreciate it as it should be.
How aware am I of the value of this universe?
Let us try to work on ourselves and in our next prayer communicate with our Lord with the following words: “O Allah! As the representative of my universe, we all declare Your glory and praise You and Your Grandness”. What a beautiful feeling as it sounds so good and will certainly make us feel pleased with our creation and our Creator.
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
Quran, 1:5) “You alone we worship, and You alone we seek help)
We can ask for help only from the One who can satisfy our needs. What do we need help with? Some say, we need to be loved and to love. Another person says that we need guidance to be on the straight path. What are we looking to reach by seeking guidance to the straight path? I am looking to reach the destination to get to know who God is. In order to say that, I must first find the Source of my Existence. Only then I will say, “this is the One that I am worshipping, called God or Allah”. I will always ask to be put on the path to know who I am worshipping, and that will be my “God”.
Let us focus on the most essential things that we need:
We are in need of Eternal satisfaction and happiness in everything, and this is the most essential human need. For example, when you are ill, you want to be healthy. When you are thirsty, you want to be satiated. Similarly, when human life seems meaningless and short lived with experiencing transience, the spirit needs eternal pleasure in its transactions.
We must understand 2 important aspects to our human needs (laid out on page 6):
Human Consciousness asks who I am and who my Owner is. How can I explain my existence, who am I in this universe? I must know exactly who I am and how come that I exist. How come that I am aware of my own existence? How do I happen to be like this? Crazy as it may sound, but the more you ponder over this as a requirement of your human need and what consciousness necessitates, the more excited you get about this gift of consciousness. I am asking questions about myself. How do I happen to be with an amazing quality like consciousness? Consciousness is the most essential side of our spirit.
My existence and the meaning of my existence is what I want to know and is the most important side of me. I want to keep existing, I do not want to disappear from existence. Who can sustain my existence? The One who made me. The Maker of the universe puts me in the universe in a position that I can communicate with the rest of the universe and question about it and get the result. He made me in the universe to be in connection with the rest of the elements of the universe.
Who made you? The One who made you must be the One who made the universe. When a materialist mind asks the same question of “who made me?”, they say random happenings, or we just happen to be like this, and we developed in this way. It is as if saying that the laptop is functioning on its own and there is no Engineer to it, but how do you explain the existence of the laptop is the fundamental question? Who arranged the laptop? The parts cannot get together to make the laptop by themselves. In the same way, my material side cannot have freewill, knowledge, wisdom and consciousness by itself; they are completely different in nature. It means that there must be a Source of my Existence, because my material side (body elements) does not have any quality to choose for it exists only within the context of the order of the universe.
None of the elements of this universe can go out of the order of the universe, they are all subject to it. However, the way things are deliberately set up here so meaningfully arranged must be the act of a Conscious Creator. Just as when you look at the wall of a building, it seems to be meaningfully existing, and cannot happen to be there by itself, we can all conclude that the wall needs a conscious deliberate agent. This conscious agent (The Architect) must know the structure of the whole building. If the architect did not know the whole building, he would not know where to put the wall. Similarly, whatever happens to you is the act of a Conscious Creator. Let’s say that you have a hair strand growing at an unusual spot on your hand. It disturbs you, and before plucking it, you must reason that the One who made you put this hair on your hand, because it is located according to the structure of your whole body. You must further extend your reasoning that your body is arranged according to the whole structure of the universe. We must know this comprehensive way of understanding existence where we cannot isolate ourselves from anything of this universe. For example, we cannot say that the blackholes in the universe do not bother us, it does bother us, because we are all located within the same universe. The galaxies are dying, and after some years of existence, new ones come. We must be bothered by where the new galaxies are coming into existence from.
Finally, we must be watchful of the materialist interpretations of this universe. Anything that we study in the discipline of science cannot happen to be in existence by itself. For example, we are taught that energy produces certain things. Where does the energy in matter come from? The same comprehensive reasoning (as in the above paragraph) must be applied, i.e. the energy is created according to the One who creates the whole universe teaching me who is arranging the whole universe. Unfortunately, the misinterpretations of science or reality are deluding people’s minds. No one is denying science. Science is the reality of the universe. We must be clear with the distinction between the reality of the way that the things are created- which should be the subject of science- and certain people misinterpret this reality by attributing the qualities inherent to matter itself.
Belief in the Creator of the universe must be based on evidence, and we must be confident enough to conclude that the universe is my Creator’s property, it cannot be the property of randomness. This universe must have a Creator that continuously gives it existence. This Conscious Being is the Creator of the universe and I call Him “God”. I am given this universe by my Creator. I believe in God because the universe is the evidence to my Creator. Belief in God cannot be imagination; it must be based on sound reasoning with evidence i.e. the universe is pointing to “God”.
Finally, here are the 2 important aspects to our human needs:
- I must make sure within myself that my existence is the product of a Conscious Creator. This is my most essential need, I must ask God to help me understand the reality of my existence.
- I want to eternally secure my existence, I do not want to lose my existence, my consciousness, awareness and human feelings. That is the other most essential human need.
After concluding the Owner of the Day of Retribution, “maliki yaumiddeen”, we can then reason that the One who can give me and secure my existence is the only One that I can worship, “iyyaka na’budu”. If someone was to bring up to you the idea of random happening, ask yourself if randomness can give you an eternal existence and satisfaction in your being? The feelings of wanting eternal security in one’s existence are always with us. Don’t you want your feelings of a perfect permanent existence to be satisfied?! For example, you want to be eternally happy, permanently and with perfect health. In this world it is not given, because we all die, but the sense and desire for the need of eternal, perfect, and permanent satisfaction is given to me. Matter does not have the power and ability to satisfy my needs for it itself needs to be given existence with its qualities. So then, who is arranging this universe for us with our essential needs that cannot be met from the elements of this universe? The One who gives me the need for wanting eternal satisfaction in all my transactions in this universe is the only One that deserves to be worshiped.
Thus, that is the help that I am seeking when I say, “iyyaka na’budu” i.e. please I need this help, give me my perfect satisfaction.
How about asking other people or doing some activities? Are we asking for their help? Shall we not do anything but ask Him to create what we want for us?
When human beings help each other out, the action and transaction is carried out on a physical basis. However, when we indulge in the act of helping out others, we must be conscious that the One who created me with the sense of help is the One who is providing for others and satisfying their needs. That is what the Quranic teaching points to. When the contemporaries of the Prophet (pbuh) asked for his guidance, they were aware that the Prophet (pbuh) is given the guidance to help them by his Creator. That is, ultimately they are asking God to help them.
The sense of help is given to human beings. We can ask other people to help us, but we must be careful that we are ultimately asking God to help us. For example, John is a poor man and he asks you for some food. When you give John some food or some money, you cannot appropriate this act of helping out John to yourself. In other words, you can not say that you are helping John, rather, the One that created you is using you (employing you as per the Quran) as a means or vehicle to help John. God gave you the conciseness and pity to help the needy ones,
What should my attitude be like when I engage in helping others?
- Alhamdulillah- O God! You created this person with the sense of help, so he helped me.
- Alhamdulillah- O God! Thank you for blessing me with the understanding to recognize this man’s need for help and the compassion to love aiding those in need.
Every help goes through something of this creation, but it is created by God. Everything is a means and employed by God, but God is the doer of everything. When we are in need of something, we should not be ashamed of asking for help. Similarly, when we help other people, we should not be proud of it. Everyone should say Alhamdulillah whatever the position they are taking.
There is an important saying by St. Paul, “Pray to God to make you be a means of His actions.”
Finally, when you help someone, you should be aware that you are acting on behalf of your Creator, and you should not have any expectations from the other person. The other person may thank you but must ultimately be grateful to God.
Next time, we will get into the meaning of the connection between the verses, “You alone we seek help” and “Guide us to the straight path?
What is the straight path? Why does the translation say, Guide us on the straight path, rather than Guide us to the straight path? Is there any difference?
Tags: Al-Fatiha, Beautiful Life, Bismillah, Eternal Paradise, Fatiha Series (2024), Starting with Allah