1. Surah Al Fatihah (The Opening)
Name
This Surah is named Al-Fatihah because of its
subject-matter. Fatihah is that which opens a
subject or a book or any other thing. In other
words, Al-Fatihah is a sort of preface.
Period of Revelation
It is one of the very earliest Revelations to the
Holy Prophet. As a matter of fact, we learn
from authentic Traditions that it was the first
complete Surah which was revealed to
Muhammad (Allah's peace be upon him).
Before this, only a few miscellaneous verses
were revealed which form parts of `Alaq,
Muzzammil, Muddaththir, etc.
Theme
This Surah is in fact a prayer which Allah has
taught to all those who want to make a study
of His book. It has been placed at the very
beginning of the book to teach this lesson to
the reader: if you sincerely want to benefit
from the Quran, you should offer this prayer
to the Lord of the Universe.
This preface is meant to create a strong desire
in the heart of the reader to seek guidance
from the Lord of the Universe, Who alone can
grant it. Thus Al-Fatihah indirectly teaches that
the best thing for a man is to pray for
guidance to the straight path, to study the
Quran with the mental attitude of a seeker-
after-truth and to recognize the fact that the
Lord of the Universe is the source of all
knowledge. He should, therefore, begin the
study of the Quran with a prayer to him for
guidance.
From this theme, it becomes clear that the real
relation between Al-Fatihah and the Quran is
not that of an introduction to a book but that
of a prayer and its answer. Al-Fatihah is the
prayer from the servant and the Quran is the
answer from the Master to his prayer. The
servant prays to Allah to show him guidance
and the Master places the whole of the Quran
before him in answer to his prayer, as if to
say, "This is the Guidance you begged from
Me."
[1-3] In the name of Allah, the Compassionate,
the Merciful. 1 Praise is only for Allah, 2 the
Lord of the Universe,3 the All-Compassionate,
the All-Merciful, 4 the Master of the Day of
Judgment.5
[4-7] Thee alone we worship 6 and to Thee
alone we pray for help. 7 Show us the straight
way,8 the way of those whom Thou hast
blessed;9 who have not incurred Thy wrath,
nor gone astray. 10
1Islamic culture requires a man to commence
everything with the name of Allah. If this is
done consciously and sincerely, it will surely
produce three good results. First, it will keep
him away from evil, because the very name of
Allah will impel him to consider whether he is
justified in associating His name with a wrong
deed or an evil intention. Secondly, the very
mention of the name of Allah will create in him
the right attitude of mind and direct him to
the right direction. Thirdly,he will receive
Allah's help and blessing and will be protected
from the temptations of Satan, for Allah turns
to a man when he turns to Him.
2It has been stated in the Introduction to this
Surah that AI-Fatihah is a prayer. It begins
with the praise of Allah to Whom it is
addressed in order to teach us the right way of
making a supplication. We should not put
forward our request bluntly and abruptly
without an appropriate introduction. The right
way is to acknowledge the excellences and the
favors and the high position of the One to
Whom we address our prayer. That is why we
begin our prayer with the praise of Allah, for
He is the perfection of all excellences and .is
also our Benefactor. We pay homage to Allah
to show that we sincerely acknowledge His
excellences and also are grateful to Him for
His countless favours. It should also be noted
that not only Praise is for Allah but also Praise
is only for Allah. This distinction is very
important because it cuts at the root of the
worship of any of His creation. As none of
them is worthy of praise, none is worthy of
worship. No man, no angel, no prophet, no so-
called god, no star, no idol, in short. none of
His creation inherently possesses any good
quality. If one has any, it is given by Allah.
Hence the Creator of these qualities alone
deserves devotion, worship, gratitude, and
none of His creation.
3The word Rab which has been translated into
`Lord' stands for (a) Master and Owner, (b)
Sustainer, Provider and Guardian, (c)
Sovereign, Ruler, Administrator and Organizer.
Allah is the Lord of the Universe in all these
senses.
4Although the Arabic word Rahman itself is in the
superlative form and denotes the attributes of
beneficence and mercy in the highest degree,
even this word fails to express the boundless
extent of these attributes of Allah. Hence
another word Rahim of the same root has
been added to make up for the deficiency.
5After saying that Allah is Beneficent and
Merciful, it has immediately been added that
He is the Master of the Day of Judgment, so
that the qualities of mercy and kindness might
not mislead anyone into forgetting that on that
Day He will gather together all human beings
from the first to the last and require each and
every one to give an account of all of one's
acts to Him. A Muslim should, therefore,
always keep in view the fact that Allah is not
only Merciful, but He is also Just. He has,
however, full authority to pardon or punish
anyone He pleases, for He has complete power
over everything. Therefore we should have full
conviction that it lies absolutely in His power
to make our end happy or sorrowful.
6The Arabic word ibadat is used in three senses:
(a)worship and devotion, (b) submission and
obedience, (c) subjection and servitude. Here
it implies all the three, that is, We are Thy
worshipers, Thy subjects and Thy slaves and We
keep these relations with Thee and Thee alone
and "We make none else the object of our
worship in all the three senses."
7It means, We ask for Thy help because we know
that Thou art the Lord of the whole Universe
and Thou hast all powers and Thou art the
Master of every thing. Therefore we turn to
Thee for help for the fulfillment of our needs
and requirements.
8That is, "Show us that way which may lead us
aright in every walk of life and keep us
absolutely free from errors and evil
consequences and bring us success in the
end." , This is the request which the servant of
Allah makes to Him when he begins the study
of the Qur'an. He prays to Him to guide him in
every walk of life and save him from the
labyrinths of doubt and uncertainty, which
result from the lack of true knowledge. The
servant also requests the Master to show him
the right and the straight way of life from
among the many by-paths and crooked ways.
9The straight way for which we are praying is the
way which has always been followed by the
people favored by Thee and which has always
brought Thy favors and blessings.
10This is to show that the favored people are not
those who go astray and incur the wrath of
Allah, though apparently they might be
enjoying the transitory good things of life. The
really favored people are those who receive
blessings on account of their righteous living.
From this it also becomes clear that by favors
are meant those real and permanent rewards,
which result from righteous living and from
winning the pleasure of Allah, and not those
transitory good things of life which have been
enjoyed even by the tyrants and worshipers of
mammon and which are being enjoyed even
today by all sorts of evildoers who have gone
astray from the straight way.

Ai testify dat dere is no oda god except Allah

MashAllah