Surah Al-Faatiha (1) — Ayah 6

(Ayah 6) ➊ One meaning of guidance is to show the way with gentleness and kindness, as Allah Almighty addressed the Prophet ﷺ saying: «وَ اِنَّكَ لَتَهْدِيْۤ اِلٰى صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيْمٍ» [ الشوری : ۵۲ ] "And indeed, you surely guide to a straight path." This type of guidance can be done by Allah Almighty, His Messenger, and other people as well. The second meaning of guidance is granting the ability to walk upon the path; this is only within the power of Allah Almighty, as Allah addressed His Messenger saying: «اِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِيْ مَنْ اَحْبَبْتَ وَ لٰكِنَّ اللّٰهَ يَهْدِيْ مَنْ يَّشَآءُ» [ القصص : ۵۶ ] "Indeed, you do not guide whom you love, but Allah guides whom He wills." {’’الصِّرَاطَ ‘‘} Its root is {’’سِرَاطٌ‘‘}, which is derived from {’’سَرَطَ يَسْرُطُ سَرَطًا، سَرَطَانًا (ن، ع) ‘‘}, the letter "seen" has been replaced with "sad," and its meaning is "to swallow." {’’سِرَاطٌ‘‘} means a clear path, because the one who walks upon it disappears just as swallowed food disappears. {’’ الْمُسْتَقِيْمَ ‘‘ ’’قَامَ يَقُوْمُ‘‘} is an active participle from the form "istif‘al," which is originally {’’مُسْتَقْوِمٌ‘‘}, and its meaning is the same as {’’قَامَ يَقُوْمُ‘‘}. The addition of letters emphasizes the meaning, making it an absolutely straight path.

➋ In the previous verse, from {’’ اِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِيْنُ ‘‘}, the question arises: what help do you seek? Allah Almighty taught the answer: say, "O Lord! We need Your guidance at every moment of life and in every action, because if You do not show us, we, being unjust and ignorant, cannot know what the right path is regarding anything. Even if we come to know, due to the weaknesses of our souls—desires, anger, envy, greed, miserliness, arrogance, etc.—and because of Satan and other enemies, it is not possible to walk and remain steadfast on that right path without Your enabling grace. Therefore, our request is that in every action and every moment, grant us the ability to know the straight path and to walk upon it."

➌ Some people mention a question here: when we are already upon guidance, then what is the meaning of requesting guidance? They answer that the purpose is: keep us firm upon guidance. This meaning is also correct, but just think for yourself that a person has to make a decision at every moment regarding what to do in a particular matter; a slight slip can take him very far away, so to say that we are always and in every matter upon guidance is a very bold claim. Therefore, acknowledging this reality that without Allah’s guidance we can fall into misguidance at any step, it is necessary to keep asking Allah for guidance at all times.

➍ By {’’ الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيْمَ ‘‘} is meant the religion of Islam, because this is the clear, pure, and straight path that leads to Allah and to Paradise. Allah Himself has clarified this: « قُلْ اِنَّنِيْ هَدٰىنِيْ رَبِّيْۤ اِلٰى صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيْمٍ دِيْنًا قِيَمًا مِّلَّةَ اِبْرٰهِيْمَ حَنِيْفًا وَ مَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِيْنَ (161) قُلْ اِنَّ صَلَاتِيْ وَ نُسُكِيْ وَ مَحْيَايَ وَ مَمَاتِيْ لِلّٰهِ رَبِّ الْعٰلَمِيْنَ (162) لَا شَرِيْكَ لَهٗ وَ بِذٰلِكَ اُمِرْتُ وَ اَنَا اَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِيْنَ » [ الأنعام : ۱۶۱ تا ۱۶۳ ] “Say: Indeed, my Lord has guided me to a straight path, an established religion, the way of Abraham, inclining toward truth, and he was not among those who associate others with Allah. Say: Indeed, my prayer, my sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds. He has no partner, and this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims (those who submit).” Nawwas bin Sam’an (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said: “Allah has given the example of the straight path. On both sides of this path are two walls, in which there are open doors. Curtains are hanging over these doors, and at the gate of this path there is a caller who says: ‘O people! All of you enter this path and do not deviate.’ And a caller is calling from above the path’s edge. When a person wants to open any of these doors, he says: ‘Woe to you! Do not open it, for if you open it, you will enter it.’ So {’’ الصِّرَاطَ ‘‘} (that path) is Islam, and the two walls are the limits set by Allah, and the open doors are the things forbidden by Allah, and the caller at the beginning of the path is the Book of Allah, and the caller from above the path’s edge is Allah’s admonisher in the heart of every Muslim.” [ مسند أحمد : 182/4، ۱۸۳، ح : ۱۷۶۵۲۔ ترمذی : ۲۸۵۹، قال ابن کثیر حسن صحیح و صححہ الألبانی والسیوطی ] It is clear that the straight path is Islam, which is present with us in the form of the Book and the Sunnah, so when someone leaves the Book and Sunnah and follows a personality or a group, he departs from the straight path, and then it is not possible for him to reach the intended destination of Paradise in any way, until he leaves all those crooked paths and comes to the clear, wide, bright, and straight path of the Book and Sunnah.

➎ In {’’ الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيْمَ ‘‘}, the entirety of Islam and its rulings have been encompassed; the rest of the Qur'an and Sunnah are its details.

1. There are several meanings of guidance: to direct towards the path, to set someone on the path, to make someone reach the intended destination. In Arabic, this is expressed as irshad, tawfiq, ilham, and dalalat, meaning: guide us towards the straight path, grant us the ability to walk upon it, and grant us steadfastness upon it, so that we may attain Your pleasure (the intended destination). This straight path cannot be attained merely through intellect and intelligence. This straight path is al-Islam, which the Prophet ﷺ presented before the world and which is now preserved in the Qur'an and authentic ahadith.

6. Guide us on the Straight [13] Path.

[13]
What is the Straight Path?

The Straight Path is that straight way appointed by Allah Almighty which leads the servant to Allah. There is no crookedness, excess, or deficiency in it, and it can only be one, whereas false paths are countless. This very path has also been called the Rope of Allah by Allah Almighty, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has referred to it as «مَا اَنَا عَلَيْهِ وَاَصْحَابِيْ», and another interpretation of the Straight Path can be that it is the path of truth which has remained the same from our master Adam till the Day of Judgment and will remain so, and it is the very path of monotheism that was revealed to every prophet. The Noble Quran is filled with such verses in which people are encouraged to pray to Allah. And the first supplication ﴿اِهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيْمَ﴾ has come right in Surah Al-Fatiha, and then in some verses, the acceptance of supplication is also mentioned. Despite this, there is a group among Muslims, upon whom rationalism and Mu'tazilite thought are dominant, and who are accustomed to interpreting every miracle or extraordinary matter. They deny the acceptance of supplication because the acceptance of supplication is also related to unseen causes. Therefore, these gentlemen resort to strange and peculiar interpretations of such verses.

In the Indian subcontinent, the leader of this group was Sir Syed Ahmad Khan [1817ء تا 1898 ء]. He received higher education in the West and was deeply influenced by Western thoughts and ideologies, and the West could only be convinced of that which could be tested on the touchstone of reason and experience. To promote and establish Western thoughts and rationalism among Muslims, he took various measures, one of which was that he wrote the Tafsir al-Quran. In this tafsir, he writes regarding supplication:

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's View on Supplication:

"When supplication is made from the heart, it is mostly answered, but people make a mistake in understanding the purpose of supplication and the meaning of its acceptance. They want that the purpose for which we pray should be fulfilled, and they understand the acceptance of supplication to mean the fulfillment of that purpose. Whereas this is a mistake; the means for achieving the purpose that Allah has appointed, that purpose is achieved only by the gathering of those means. But supplication is neither among those means nor does it gather those means. Rather, it stimulates that power which soothes the distress, calamity, and anxiety that arises from not achieving the purpose." [تفسير القرآن، ج 1ص 18]

From the above excerpt of Khan Sahib, two questions arise in the mind:
(1) If no apparent cause is visible, is Allah Almighty capable of creating a cause or not? In other words, is Allah the Creator of causes or not?
(2) Apart from apparent causes, are some hidden and unseen causes also possible, and can Allah, on the basis of supplication, create any apparent or hidden cause for the servant to achieve his purpose or not?

If the answer to these questions is in the negative, then indeed, according to Sir Syed Sahib's views, supplication has no effect, nor should it have any. In this case, the meaning of the acceptance of supplication remains only what Sir Syed Sahib is stating, that supplication is only related to inner experience and tranquility of the heart; nothing actually happens outwardly. But we see that the Quran strongly refutes this view of Sir Syed Sahib. For example, consider the following verses:

﴿فَدَعَا رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَغْلُوبٌ فَانتَصِرْ فَفَتَحْنَا أَبْوَابَ السَّمَاءِ بِمَاءٍ مُّنْهَمِرٍ وَفَجَّرْنَا الْأَرْضَ عُيُونًا فَالْتَقَى الْمَاءُ عَلَىٰ أَمْرٍ قَدْ قُدِرَ﴾ [54: 10۔ 12]

"So Noah ؑ prayed to his Lord, 'I am weak. Now take revenge on them.' So We opened the gates of the sky with torrential water, and We caused the earth to burst forth with springs, so the waters met for a matter already decreed."

Now see, after supplication, the excessive rain from the sky, the springs of the earth joining to form a flood, and saving Noah by boarding him on the ark from the great distress—are all these inner experiences, or did these events actually occur?

Then at one place, Khan Sahib says, "Often supplication is made, but the need is not fulfilled, so it is clear that supplication is not the cause of achieving the purpose, otherwise this would not happen." [تهذيب الاخلاق، ماه ربيع الاول، 1313 ھ]

In this excerpt, the words "often" indicate that sometimes supplication does become the cause of achieving the purpose. This is exactly our point; as for the matter that sometimes it is not accepted, there are many obstacles to the acceptance of supplication, the details of which are beyond the scope here. We can also say that, like supplication, medicine also sometimes does not cure the illness, even though it is an apparent cause; however, sometimes it does become the cause of achieving the purpose.

Medicine is used to relieve physical pain, and until the pain is relieved, the patient can never find comfort, and the scope of supplication is much broader than that of medicine. Supplication is made both to avert harm and to bring benefit. Moreover, it is used for both material and spiritual or mental ailments. Then, until such ailments are removed by the effect of supplication or new causes are provided, how can the heart find comfort?