ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَاطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ
Guide us to the straight path.
In the previous ayah, we ask Allah for help. The most important help that we need to have is Guidance ("Huda"). In this ayah, we are asking for Guidance.
If you are confused of which religion to follow, ask directly to your Creator with a sincere heart to guide you to the truth. Prostrate to Him and ask for guidance. You will then slowly see your life changing as He is responding to your request. How quick your realization of the true religion of God depends on how sincere is your heart.
"ihdi-naa" is a commanding verb.
The root letters are ه د ى
The noun is "Huda" هُدىٰ (Guidance)
The Sarf: هَدىٰ يَهْدِى هِدَايَةً ٱهۡدِ
"Hidayah" (to give guidance) is the verbal noun from the same root letters.
We can also derive from it the word "Hadiyyah" هَدِيَّة (gift). Once you received "Hidayah" from Allah then that is a "Gift" from Him. A Gift is free. You just need to ask for it.
These are the words to be familiar with = هُدىٰ هِدَايَةً هَدِيَّة ٱهۡدِ
Allah did not teach us "Ihdi-nee" Guide me! but "Ihdi-naa" Guide us!. We are taught not to be selfish in making Du'a. Make du'a for everyone. It is a collective Du'a for all Believers. We are like one body that cares for each other. We are connected to the Muslim Ummah where ever you are. We want Allah's guidance for all Believers.
Types of Guidance
Guidance that is hard coded into the human psyche that there is a Creator and He is ONE.
The Hidayah of the Intellect eg. A moral conscience, what is basically good or bad, etc.
Guidance from the Quran and from the Sunnah. What to do or not do. What is good for this world and the next world, etc.
A direct Hidayah from Allah. Guidance to someone to accept the Truth.
"Ihdi-naa" = Guide us to get all of the above Guidance. Guidance that is "pushing" the believer towards the ٱلصِّرَاطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ "As-Siratal-Mustaqim" (the straight path).
Getting guidance ("Hidayah") is the Master key for all your other request to be granted. You need a place to live, you need a good spouse, you need well behaved children, etc. The key for getting all that is asking for guidance first. If you are consistent in following and fulfilling the guidance that you get, the rest of your life will fall into place like jigsaw puzzles put together.
Imagine "Huda" (Guidance) is like a Guide to Fire Evacuation. A person who had studied the Fire Safety instructional manual has a better chance of survival in an event of a horrible fire.
Linguistically the word "Hidayah" is "to guide in a gentle & beautiful manner".
The word “Robb”(Master) and “Hidayah” (giving guidance) are inseparable. Every time when you mention “Robb” (Master), you will want His “Hidayah” upon you. Only when we get “Hidayah” and did righteously, we will get to be His slaves. Only His slaves are given easy auditing in the “Akhirah” (judgement day).
Many people want to connect and worship God but if they don’t get “Hidayah”, they will not know how to do it. Before the final revelations came to Makkah, people used to worship Allah by going around naked circling the Ka’bah because they have no idea what is right and wrong. Revelations with guidance came and only then they know what Allah wants.
The first and major instructional Guidance is establishing the Solah, the constant connection to the Master. He taught the Believers the correct way and manners on how to converse with Him. We converse with our Creator everyday. In every Solah, we recite this ayah asking for guidance to the straight middle path. If a Believer never does his Solah, he is not having connection with the Master. No connection means no Guidance.
A Non Muslim may get Guidance when he calls out to his Creator for guidance. After his Shahadah, then it is obligatory to maintain that constant connection.
If I am not that thirsty and I asked for water and I didn’t get it, I still survive.
If I am desperately lost in the desert, I will continuously ask for water. The way I ask for water will be totally different. The same goes when we ask for guidance from Allah, it is as if that is the last request for guidance that we manage to ask.
How we behave in between each Solah determined how well we ask for guidance. If the way we behave is similar to a person of Taqwa, then what we asked has been granted. Are you asking casually or desperately.
A person desperately asking for water is because he lacks water in his body. We drink everyday. If we don’t drink for several days, we die. A person desperately asking for guidance is because he lacks guidance in his soul. Our soul need guidance morning, afternoon and night. Do you think you have enough guidance already that you ask for it casually?
We perform Solah at least 5 times in a day, i.e. 17 times (2+4+4+3+4) a day we ask for guidance.
During each “Solah” we ask for guidance twice in each “rakaah”:
- "ihdi-naa" in Surah Fatihah and
- "wahdi-nee" during sitting between two sujoods.
Therefore we are asking for guidance at least 17 x 2 = 34 times a day.
The Prophet s.a.w was made compulsory on him by his Master to perform the daily night prayers (“tahajjud”). The Prophet s.a.w did much more Solah and asking for guidance a lot more than any of us.
In Solah, there is a time gap between one raka’ah and the next raka’ah. That time gap causes us to ask for guidance again and again. The longer time gap between one Solah and the next Solah causes an even more desperate request for guidance. We fill in the gaps between the Fard Prayers with Nawafil Sunnah prayers. Hence we are frequently asking for guidance.
We don’t own guidance. Guidance can easily dry out from your soul.
"Huda" needs maintenance or else it will dissipate away from you. Continuously asking for Guidance until we reach our destination which is death. If you look at the Angels, they are a species that constantly in the "Zikr" of Allah. That's why they remained pure since "Huda" never left them. The "Huda" in them never gets lesser unlike man.
Why are the Believers asking Allah for "Hidayah" while they already believed in His religion and the way of life as taught by the Prophet s.a.w?
“Huda” (Guidance) is not fixed and doesn't always stay with you. It is not like learning how to cycle a bicycle or swimming where the skill will stay with you forever.
“Huda” is not a Binary number of either "1" or "0". Either you have it or you don't have it.
“Huda” is of multiple levels of "darajaat". We ask Allah to give us more Hidayah.
[Quran 47:17]
وَٱلَّذِينَ ٱهْتَدَوْا۟ زَادَهُمْ هُدًى وَءَاتَىٰهُمْ تَقْوَىٰهُمْ
"And those who are guided - He increased them in "guidance" (Huda) and gave them their righteousness."
The young men in Surah Al-Kahf, already had Hidayah, but Allah increase it for them.
[Quran 18:13]
إِنَّهُمْ فِتْيَةٌ ءَامَنُوا۟ بِرَبِّهِمْ وَزِدْنَـٰهُمْ هُدًى
".. Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance."
The Prophet s.a.w who had the most Hidayah among the believers. He too recited Surah Al-Fatihah with "Ihdina" (Guide Us). He was asking Hidayah on top of Hidayah. Logically, we should be asking for Hidayah more than him.
The phrase in the Ayah is:
Guide us (to the) “SiraT” (Straight path) “Mustaqim” (balanced upright path)
"SiraT" comes from the word “surat” = a long straight wide path. A path where there is no alternative. This word has no plurality to it. Meaning this is the one and only path to the Truth!
A person traveling from pt. A to pt. B which is a very long straight highway is much more opened to be robbed, attacked, etc. as compared to a person traveling a route from pt. A to Pt. B with lots of intersection, junctions, detours and side roads where he can hide or escape from hijackers and robbers.
A person living life in a straight path is easily opened to attacks (influenced, temptations, greed, jealousy, sexual desires, ridicule, etc.) in all expects of his life. You should not deviate to the left or to the right but keep moving on going straight with self-restrain. This is the only path of a Monotheistic religion.
طَرِيق ، صِرَاط
Both words in English will translate to "pathway" but there is a difference between the two.
"Toriq" is a pathway that can be narrow, meandering, crooked and hilly. It is not a straight forward pathway.
"SiraT" is a massively wide, flat, straight pathway, clearly demarcated recognizable road. It cannot be crooked or deviating. The English word "Street" is related to the Arabic word "SiraT". The original Latin word "Street" means the main straight road of a city. In every ancient Roman city, there is only one "SiraT".
Allah used the word "SiraT" in Surah Al-Fatihah. The pathway to Allah is crystal clear. It is not hidden. All the signs of creation is pointing towards it. It is straight with no deviation or crookedness. The pathway to Allah can never be confused with the wrong pathways. Anybody who wants to find the Truth & the true Divine religion for mankind, can surely find it. The Truth is clearly different from falsehood. Allah did not make the Truth to be complicated that requires confusing mental gymnastics making the layman to give up thinking and just follow blindly their religious scammers.
Since "SiraT" is massively wide, it can easily be seen from far. You do not have to use binoculars to see it. You just need SINCERITY of finding the Truth. If you are closing your eyes, no matter how big a path is, you still cannot find it.
Since the path is so prominent, evil people will try to sabotage, hijack, demonizing it, to pull people out of that path into the narrow passages and back alleys.
The Quran never use the word "SiraT" in the plural. There is only ONE "SiraT" and people can easily enter into this massively wide path that does not require tedious rituals or inauguration for anyone to be allowed in it.
> Whenever Allah talks about the Truth in the Quran, it is always in the singular.
The word "As-SiraT" (path) ٱلصِّرَٲطَ is in singular.
There is only one "SiraT" (Path) of Truth.
> When Allah talks about falsehood, they are in the plural.
[Al-Baqarah:257]
يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ إِلَى ٱلنُّورِ
".. He brings them out of darkness and into the light"
The word "darkness" (falsehood) ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ is in plural
The word "Nuur" (the Truth) ٱلنُّورِ is in singular
The description of the "SiraT" is one of "Al-Mustaqeem". What is "Al-Mustaqeem"?
One of the commonly used meaning is "Straight". But the word has more than one meaning.
The root word is "qaama" to stand up with perfection. The Quran mentioned "Aqeemus-Solah" ("Establish the Solah") numerous times. "Aqeemu" is from the root word of "Qaama". We derive the word "Istiqaama" from it, which is to always do something frequently day by day.
Therefore "Al-Mustaqeem" is the straight, morally correct path of perfection with no crookedness that we are to frequently maintain until the end of our life.
In the modern world now, people have come up with the idea that there are multiple ways that lead to the Creator. That the many religions are all leading to God (i.e. "Religious pluralism"). The notion of all the different paths are actually the same. They are putting the idea that this is the way that humans can live happily with each other as your religion and my religion are all true.
In reality, there is only 1 path to God. The Prophet s.a.w drew lines on the sand and said that the many lines are path of misguidance while the one straight middle line is the path of truth.
One + One + One is Three and cannot be One. There is only 1 correct answer. There can be only 1 truth about God and only 1 way that leads to God.
[Surah Ali Imran: 19]
"Indeed the only "way of life" with Allah is Islam... "
The sentence does not say:
= “Guide us to the straight path” or “Guide us with/by the straight path".
It will mean that the one who guides a traveler, gave him the tools (like a map, gps, etc) for the journey but he will not accompany the traveler to the destination.
However it says “Guide us the straight path”.
It means that the one who guides another person to a destination is with him all the way until that person reaches his destination. It’s not a one time giving directions and you are on your own. Hence we ask Allah in being with us all the way guiding us until we reach our goal. When Allah guides a person, He is always with that person the entire time. Meaning that person will get directions, information, ways and means plus the company of Allah.
We asked for :
(1) knowledge of what guidance and the straight path is,
(2) the companionship of Allah traveling in this straight path and
(3) the tool = that is the straight path itself
The straight path will be like a conveyor belt carrying a product to the appropriate destination. It will keep pushing you to the correct direction, i.e. things happening in your life pushing you towards the direction of the Master. Engaging yourselves with religious activities will boost your Eeman.
With guidance from our lord, any weird ideas, any strange stories or inappropriate acts of worship, we will be able to detect and not fall into Syaitan’s trap. So many religious ustaz and their students have fallen into this trap without them realizing. Their zealousness is based on sense of belonging to the Ustaz, group or masjid, not based on the Truth. Whatever weird teaching from the Ustaz will be deemed as the truth. If they are gifted with "Huda", they will not be deviated.
> “Mustaqim” = balanced upright path; from the word “qomah” = to stand,
– “istiqomah is to “keep standing straight” (not standing sideways)
– this path is a path going “straight upwards”.
– if you are climbing a very long ladder going up, staying alert and keep balancing is very important or else you may fall.
– when you are going up, you are going against the pull of gravity, one step at at time.
When you are practically living this religion, you are against the flow of the general society. Generally society is about feeding the desires and freedom to do whatever they like.
– Living the way of life of this “deen” is that you must always be alert and watch your balance.
– Do not fall to your temptations, to peer pressure, to your ego, etc.
– Do not let go off this way of life because of those external influences. These external influences will always be there. You have a firm self-belief that is not dictated by pressure from society. You will also not be pressured by any religious branding & cosmetics or any group that do not follow the Sunnah.
A person who just started to take several steps up a long ladder, if he falls, he can always climb up again. The higher up you go, it will get riskier and scarier. If you trip, the harder you will fall. It will injure you and will take more time to recover (or never at all).
Sometime people wonder why those “ulama’s” (scholars) crying all the time, fearing Allah and judgement day. Our naive thoughts would be that they should be confident since they were already high up in the ladder of the Deen. You see many people rushing to kiss the hand of a popular celebrity "righteous" person. If that person is enjoying the attention and veneration, he might have already fallen from the ladder.
“Mustaqeem” showed us a path that is going upwards. A representation of leaving the world. The ultimate goal is way up there higher than any worldly goals.
It does not mean that we should leave our business and any worldly education. Earning worldly materials for the sake of worshiping Allah is part of the worship. Intention in the heart makes the difference. It is teaching us to put all these worldly things in our hands as tools and not in our hearts as our goal. You willing to miss your weekly Quran class because you do not want to miss the world cup final on T.V that is at the same time of your class. The love of the game is in your heart replacing the love of the Quran. Dunya is no longer in your hand but has crawled into your heart. You are busy shopping and you intend to Qadhak your Solat when you get home. Finishing your shopping is more important of a goal to you than Solat without you realizing it.
With this ayah mentioning "Siratal Mustaqim", Allah does not want us to think that this (world) is our goal and final destination. He wants us to know that our final success is up there in heaven by diligently following this path in life.
The misunderstanding of this common Du'a :
[Quran 2:201] .. رَبَّنَآ ءَاتِنَا فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةًۭ وَفِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ حَسَنَةًۭ وَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ
“ .. Our Lord! Grant us the good of this world and the Hereafter, and protect us from the torment of the Fire.”
The layman Muslim when they recite this du'a, they will say that this is good. I will divide my time exactly 50-50 between the Dunya and the Akhirah. Yeah Sure! The reality is that 50-50 is only in his imagination. He spent his life studying hard to graduate and getting a high paying job, engrossed in climbing up the career ladder, too busy with his work as if 24 hrs a day is not enough. Once he got some free time he will bring his family going for holidays, watching movies and TVs, etc. Where is the 50-50 part? Does your 5 times daily prayer of 5 minutes each covers the other 50? This person does not even spent his time to learn how to recite the Quran with Tajwid properly. He will casually miss the schedule Solat with thinking twice by giving the reason that he is very busy at work or he is sick. Yes, even if you are sick you still need to perform your Solat within your limited capacity since you are sick. You cannot totally abandon Solat. Where is the 50-50?
Looking at this du'a of wanting good for Dunya and Akhirah, the layman will say, "You see, even the Quran say that we must not abandon this Dunya!". However he has already abandon the Akhirah to a larger extent.
From the above Du'a, the good of this world is mentioned once. However the things about the hereafter is mentioned twice i.e. the good of the hereafter and the fire in the hereafter. This indicate that it is actually not 50-50. The percentage of attention should be more of the Akhirah.
Therefore both words put together = the straight balanced upright path that your life should have been.
The path must be one of “balanced”, i.e the middle path :
– not extreme to only the need of the body,
– not extreme to only the need of the soul,
– not only learning with no action,
– not only action without any study.
Righteous deeds for oneself and for the community.
Righteous deeds for human, animals and environment.
Learning both worldly and religious knowledge.
Working to earn money and paying the Zakah and charity.
Taking care of physical health, eg. doing routine exercise.
Taking care of spiritual health, eg. doing additional sunnah practices on to top of the Fardh.
This is the middle balanced way of life. The next ayah will describe those who are in an in-balanced path.