صِرَٲطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنۡعَمۡتَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ غَيۡرِ ٱلۡمَغۡضُوبِ عَلَيۡهِمۡ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ
The path of those You have blessed, not of those whom has incurred your wrath, nor of those who are lost.
The previous ayah mentioned "As-SiraT Al-mustaqeem"? Who are upon this "SiraT"?
It is the path of those Allah has favored upon. What favor?
A ni'mah نِعْمَة (favour) is all good things that satisfy the heart. Any blessings that makes you happy. All blessings are from Allah.
[An-Nahl: 18]
وَإِن تَعُدُّوا۟ نِعْمَةَ ٱللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَآ
"If you tried to count Allah’s blessings (favours), you would never be able to number them.. "
Every human being (believers or non believers) are getting the favors of Allah continuously while being alive. The path of those Allah has favored upon is not any kind of favor that even the disbelievers get. What is the kind of favor dedicated to the straight path? The ultimate "Ni'mah" is the ni'mah of knowing the Truth. The ni'mah of Islam (Submission to God).
[Al-Maidah: 3]
ٱلْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِى وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ ٱلْإِسْلَـٰمَ دِينًا
".. Today I have perfected your faith for you, completed My favor upon you, and chosen Islam (way of submission) as your way of life .. "
Who are the people Allah has favored? Those who have submitted to Allah.
Since you are asking for guidance, surely there were people in the past that had asked for guidance and received that guidance. Allah mentioned “blessed” or “favored” in the past tense = “an ‘amta ‘alaihim”. Meaning those people have already died and already passed the test of their lives. They have achieved success.
As long as a person is still alive, it doesn’t matter whether he is wearing a big turban or has thousands of followers, there is still no confirmation that he is part of these successful people “an’amta ‘alaihim“.
To make an example of success is to showcase those who already “graduated” not those who are still “undergraduates”. When you are in college, you will get the graduates to tutor you, not your classmate. Success comes after graduation. Life's graduation ceremony is death. The meaning of success in unseen world can only be known from the Quran or Hadith.
In the Qur’an, there are many stories and testimonials from those who had already succeeded. The answer to our request (guidance/success) is in the lives of the people who were so amazing that Allah made them a part of the Quran. We are told to learn from them. We want the same guidance that they have got, which is living the life of a straight, middle balanced path. These are our role models.
“The path of those you have blessed/favoured” are those of the :
1) the Prophets/Messengers
2) the Truthful
3) the Martrys
4) the Righteous
[Surah An-Nisa' : 69]
"And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger will be in the company of those blessed by Allah: the prophets, the people of truth, the martyrs, and the righteous—what honourable company!"
(1) Prophets/Messengers
Not all Prophets are Messengers but all Messengers are Prophets.
A Prophet (Nabi) who was not a Messenger is one who was given divine knowledge. He preached among fellow believers and guide them. He was not given any new Laws (Sharia) to propagate to his people/nation. Instead, he will be a follower of the Laws brought by a previous Messenger for his nation.
A Prophet who was also a Messenger (Rasul) was tasked to propagate Allah’s message to disbelieving people/nation. These Messengers were given scriptures/books and Laws (Sharia) of which their teachings are based upon. Musa a.s propagate the Torah to his nation.
Prophets & Messengers were one group of people favoured by Allah in this ayah. They are our role model in life but it is impossible for us to be of the same rank.
(2) The Truthful
These are Muslims who have undeniable faith such as Abu Bakr AsSiddiq (r.a). When people are ridiculing the Prophet s.a.w regarding his journey to Jerusalem within one night, Abu Bakr without doubt, confirmed his believe in the Prophet's story. He will even believe if the Prophet said he ascended up the the skies. We must have the same strong believe having no doubt of what is in the Qur’an and Sahih Hadith.
Who would have thought that a poor illiterate man who was despised by his own tribe can one day conquer Mecca and people have been joining him in large numbers to this very day. Who would have thought that a once barbaric group of people can be united and challenged the superpowers of that time. The truthful among them always believed in the Prophet and the holy book.
One Scholar said Abu Bakr "As-Siddiq" (The truthful) was part of this phrase "an 'amta 'alaihim" which includes the "As-Siddiqeen" (mentioned in An-Nisa':69). This was prove that he was the right person to take over the Khilafah after the Prophet s.a.w has passed away.
There were other success stories in the Quran and Hadith such as the story of the People of the Cave, the Ghulam boy and the people of the Trench who defended the Truth.
However, we are not in the same rank as Abu Bakr (ra) and those who defended the Truth.
(3) The Martyrs
Martyrs are not those who go around looking to commit suicide! True Martyrs that are blessed by Allah are those such as :-
– The early Muslims during the Prophet’s time. The very existence of this religion was threatened to be wiped out by the people around them and they died defending this religion for the sake of the future people. They were the original martyrs.
– This applies to future times too if Muslims are militarily being wiped out of their land and they fought back militarily and died as martyrs while defending their way of life (“deen”) and defending their land from the aggressors.
Some scholars said that if a learned person defending this deen with his pen, meaning he wrote books or articles to defend Islam, he debated and have dialog with people who hates Islam and if he is murdered, then he is also considered as a martry. Direct to paradise with no accounting. Not many of us is of this level.
Two types of Martyrs:
(1) The first type of Martyrs.
Those who who were killed in battle defending the land and the Deen. Some called it as Matrys in this World. It can be seen that they died while battling.
These martyrs do not require their bodies to be cleansed (ghusl) before burial. Solah is performed on the bodies and immediately buried. Therefore the custom of cleansing the body doesn’t apply for these type of burial. This is one group from what this ayah is referring to.
(Disclaimer: A person who went out to defend a Muslim nation but not for the Deen but pursuing glory and rank and he died out of it. He doesn’t belong to the first type of martyr (not a real martyr) even though he will be buried without body cleansing like the real matyr. Only God knows his real intention.)
(2) The second type of martyrs (some called it as Matrys in the hereafter)
The normal type of burial is performed on the body inclusive of body cleansing. Only in the hereafter they will know of their actual status.
[Hadith reported in Abu Dawud, An-Nasaaee, Ibn Maajah, Ibn Hibban, Haakim, Ahmad.]
The Prophet (s.a.w) said, “The martyrs are seven, other than the one who is killed in the Way of Allaah, Ta’aalaa:
– one who dies of plague,
– one who drowns,
– one who dies of pleurisy (lung sickness),
– one who dies of stomachache,
– one who dies due to burning
– one who dies under a demolition (by accident)
– a woman who dies with a baby in her womb.”
We do not know whether we will die as the above since it is beyond our control. Finally, our last hope of being the people of “an ‘amta ‘alaihim” is in the last level, “The Righteous”.
(4) The Righteous
The blessed people who are always doing righteous deeds. Protecting themselves and others from bad deeds while doing and encouraging others in good deeds. Enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. They were steadfast in worshiping their lord while God’s presence are always in their mind. These are pious people who obeyed the commands of their master. This is our last chance to be in the category of people mentioned as “an ‘amta ‘alaihim”. The question is how much good deeds is enough? It may never be enough as long as we are still alive.
(Read more of what is a righteous person at = http://www.muslim.org/islam/int-is7.htm)
It is by Allah's Qadr that we are Muslims and it is a great favor from Him. The Bedouins thought that they had done a favor to the Prophet s.a.w by accepting Islam, i.e joining as the people under the Prophet s.a.w. However Allah said that it is Allah who has done a favor to the Bedouins in accepting Islam.
Being a born Muslim is not an entitlement that you deserve it. It only that Allah has done you a favor by guiding you to Eeman. It is not because you are better than others at the time of birth. By having this favor of becoming a Muslim, do not waste this opportunity to be one of the righteous.
Do not become like the person with the garden in Surah Al-Kahf. He thought that he earned and deserved the garden but Allah taught him a lesson by him loosing everything. Any blessings that you have is from Allah. He can give and take away whatever He willed.
In order to survive in the hereafter, we must know who are the people of an ‘amta ‘alaihim”. Allah already provided the answers to our request of “ihdinaa” (guide us) which are in the stories of people (an ‘amta ‘alihim”) mentioned in the Qur’an. If we read but don’t understand the Qur’an, we still have no idea what the answers are. It’s like asking for water when we are thirsty but when a bottle of water is given, we hold the bottle while not knowing how to open the bottle cap.
Guidance is in the Qur’an but we can’t find it since we are reading without understanding. We still wondering why is it so difficult to change our unhealthy ways. It’s because we have not found guidance yet. We only have ourself to blame.
The successful people were those who were blessed with guidance. Guidance is “super-expensive” and it is not proportional to knowledge. A person can gain knowledge (‘ilm) but it is not a guarantee that guidance will increase.
If you see a picture of a man living in a big beautiful extravagant house and a picture of a man living in a box in the streets, you will say that the man in the expensive house is successful and the man in the box is a loser.
Abu Lahab was in his fine nice house while the Prophet was sleeping in a small cave in the mountains. Which one is the successful and the loser now?
Fir’aun living in his palace and Prophet Moses forced to leave the palace and living in the villages. Which one is the successful and loser now?
A person with “Huda” (guidance) has completely changed his status from a loser to one of success while the person with no guidance is the real loser. This is Allah’s version of success and loosing. It is not the same as what society think success is.
How did these people achieved success? It was because Allah helped them. Therefore we want the same help and favors like what they received. Ameen.
After mentioning the positive, we need to know the negative. By recognizing the negatives we will be more aware of the positive. The opposite of getting favor is of getting wrath. Only by knowing the bad that we learn to appreciate the good. By knowing falsehood we will identify the Truth. Allah affirm the right and negates the wrong.
The "Sahabi", Hudzaifah Al-Yamani said that most companions will ask the Prophet s.a.w about the good while I will ask about the evil so that I will not fall into it.
“Not of those who have earned wrath/anger ..”
(this is the start of ayah 7 if you take “Alhamdulillah” as the first ayah)
Actually, “Allah’s wrath” is not mentioned in the ayah. It’s just “wrath”. There is no mention of “Your wrath”. There is no mention of who’s anger it is. Allah did not want to mention Himself associated with these people. When no mentioning of who's wrath it is, it means the person deserved the wrath of everybody.
Example: The wrath upon Fir’aun:
– the angels wrath upon him,
– the believers at that time wrath upon him,
– his own followers wrath on him,
– the generations of believers wrath upon him,
– the companions of hell fire wrath upon him, etc.
Where ever he will be, he will get anger from everyone. Evil people are despised by Allah's creation including the Angels. We do not want any part in receiving anger from all sides.
As compared to the previous phrase “the path of those YOU have favored upon", the word “YOU (Allah)” is mentioned showing the closeness of these people with Allah.
When Allah is mentioned, it means that the favor is a gift from His Mercy and not that you have done something to deserve the favor.
When Allah is not mentioned, it means that the people deserved what they get because of their own doings. There is no injustice from Allah.
We are warned not to follow the path of those who received knowledge but do not act upon that knowledge and act exactly the opposite of the knowledge.
Historically these are the Jews. The learned Jews knew fully well about the commandments & prohibitions in their revelations. However they changed Allah's words that do not suit their desires and status while misleading their followers. They knew of the coming of the last Messenger and yet they rebel against him whom they knew like they knew their own sons. The parting of ways of the Jews as the People of the Book from being a Muslim nation is during the incident of the change of Qiblah where they refused to obey Allah's command.
This is a case study of past nations. This is not a suggestion to be racists and hate the Jews. If you have a colleague who is a Jew, you can be best of friends with him. If you do a case study of the Japanese (in the past) during world war 2 where they perpetrated war crimes, does that mean you must hate the Japanese colleague in your office right now? Anyone who had gone to the extreme of disobeying God, killing of Prophets, oppressing and genocidal of people, etc. will get the Wrath of the Master.
The Jews attended more to the need of the physical self then the soul. They assumed that their souls were already safe as they thought that they were forever the “Chosen” nation. They could do anything without worrying any consequences to their souls. They have gained Allah’s wrath for their arrogant assumption.
The word “Al-Maghduub” (wrath) is a noun which is permanent. The one who earned wrath will always be around until the end of times. Anyone or any nation in the present or future might be in the danger of getting “Wrath”.
If this phrase is only meant for the Jews, then there is no purpose in we reciting this everyday in our Solah. We fear that we too have the possibility of being in this “maghduub” group. If we are not in danger, we will not be reciting this “do’a”.
We recite surah Fatihah requesting for guidance on top of knowledge so that we do not become people of knowledge but do not act upon the knowledge. Muslims read the revelations and yet we ignore the commandments and crossing over the prohibitions. How many Muslims do not establish the solah even though they are physically fit? A believer who has no hands and legs will still perform the solah. How many entered the “haram” boundaries? Always be alert and not fall into becoming “Al-Maghduub”, one who got Wrath.
You can have lots ‘ilm (knowledge) but still not sincere. Your arrogance and ego grow with knowledge. Knowledge is easy as it can be studied but sincerity is to be earned from Allah. Sometimes, knowledge is the one that brings Allah’s wrath to a person. The Jews were knowledgeable people. When the last Messenger came to them, they already knew his teachings which was what their holy book had taught. They had true knowledge but didn’t gain guidance and they earned Allah’s wrath. That was knowledge without sincerity. Iblees, had all the knowledge way before Adam was created. But his knowledge-based arrogance got him the wrath of Allah. All those knowledge wasted.
Do not make celebrity out of our Ustazs and Preachers. Iblees with his vast knowledge cannot save himself from arrogance. What the Ustazs need is your do’as for them to be sincere. You cannot accuse someone of being insincere as sincerity is in the heart (a place that you can’t see). Only Allah knows what is in the heart. An Ustaz or student can gain so much knowledge but his behavior is horrible to other people. That is not guidance (huda, hidayah). Performing Solah just concentrating on the technical aspects without thinking of guidance is “empty”.
Don’t let knowledge (“ilm”) becomes a fashion. A person of real knowledge is a humble person like a tree branch with loads of fruits. The branch will bend down due to the weight. A knowledgeable person will not think highly of himself, overly impressed of his knowledge, but is one who humbles lower in front of people, not showing off. The person that you look down upon might have the same knowledge like you but he is not showing off like you. The more knowledgeable you are, the more humble you become, not the more arrogance (self-praise worthy). We, the Muslims, got to do the right action.
People who constantly incurred Allah wrath will in turn lead towards becoming those who are lost.
“Nor of those who are lost”
They may be sincere in wanting to be religious but they are reluctant to go into serious knowledge in seeking the truth. The lack of knowledge due to the arrogance of not wanting to think seriously of the Truth by merely becoming blind followers are why they strayed away from the straight path and becoming lost. They are misguided by their religious leaders.
It didn't say who led them astray. They got lost themselves.
The "adab" etiquette is that we don't ascribe anything negative to Allah even though Allah allowed it to happen. We only associate Allah's name with things that are good and positive.
Adam (a.s) ascribe the eating of the fruit as his mistake and a sin on him. He did not say Allah willed it to happen on him. Iblees on the other hand after rejecting Allah's command, he ascribed that it was Allah's will that forced him to rebel.
The righteous will ascribe evil to himself and the good to Allah. In Surah Al-Kahf, Khidr (a.s) ascribe the "weird" act of making a hole in the boat to himself. When the treasure of the orphans was buried, he ascribe the good to Allah of preserving the wealth of the orphans.
What is the criteria of being Lost? This is the path of those whose acts are not based upon any knowledge but based on blind faith swallowing whatever narration that their priests or religious people had concocted without any clear evidence from the holy scriptures. The core of their creed and belief is ambiguous.
Historically these are the Christians. This is a case study of people in the past that were lost so that we can take precautions from becoming lost too. The Christians attend more to the need of the soul then the physical self which are told in the Qur’an. They are confused to the definition of what a God is. They are lost in their ignorance. This ayah is a reminder to the believers that whatever they do (their beliefs, worship rituals, etc) must always be based on knowledge, the source of which is the Qur’an and Hadith as referenced by the rightly guided scholars as prove of the authenticity of their teachings. Not of total blind emotional beliefs.
Nowadays there are more and more Ustazs who became popular on youtube by bringing “rare” and weird stories to their followers. The followers arrogantly think highly of their Ustazs and become more and more lost. The followers will accuse anyone who disagree with their Ustaz as deviant. These people have been blinded into a sense of belonging to their group instead of the true purpose of the Religion.
This ayah mentioned “ad-dhaalleen” (the lost) instead of "an-NaSara" (the Christians).
The Christians were confused and were lost in their rituals and religious rankings. Muslims too added non-referenced rituals and beliefs with little to no authenticity in the religion until it became part of the religion. How many Muslims performing rituals at graveyards, raising the "Wali" (saints) as in par or higher than the Prophets until they too became as lost as the Christians. The Muslims swallowed everything that their Ustaz said (with no authenticated references) as the Christians swallowed everything that their Church said without referencing to original sources.
This is not an encouragement to hate your Christians friends now. Many Christians have reverted to the Deen and are no longer lost.
A person who is lost, cannot blame any other person but himself. You were driving and took a wrong turn, and now you are lost. You blame yourself for getting lost.
We recite Fatihah requesting for knowledge so that we don’t become ignorant and lost. If you translate this phrase as “Nor of those who are misguided”, the word “misguided” takes the blame away from you which is not the correct meaning. Someone else misguide you therefore you are not to be blamed. The actual word is “lost”. You are lost and you cannot blame anyone else. This phrase is also not only meant regarding the Christians but meant for us. We are in danger of getting lost. That is why we recite it everyday.
Ignorance is not a plea of “Not Guilty”. When a traffic officer caught you for speeding, you plead that you are not aware of the speed limit. Will the plea relief you from getting a ticket? You still get a ticket for speeding out of ignorance.
Some Christians movement tried to convert the Muslims into Christianity. The only threat from that effort is when the Muslims themselves are ignorant (no knowledge) of their own religion. That was why they converted and became lost since they were already lost in the first place. Muslims who don’t recite Al-fatihah at least 17 times a day are not asking Allah for protection from becoming “Lost”.
At the end of the 7th Ayah, it is in the tradition (sunnah) of our Prophet that we recite “Ameen” in the hope that Allah fulfill our supplication.
“knowledge with no actions” and “actions with no knowledge”
A true Believer will avoid these two extreme attributes. We are to be in the middle of these two.
Example:
A father told his son, “Do not eat the cake”. Several minutes later when the father came back, the cake was already being eaten. But the son is not the one who ate the cake. It was eaten by a younger daughter in front of her brother. The brother already received the information (knowledge) that the cake is not to be eaten. The daughter received no knowledge.
“actions with no knowledge” : The little sister action was not based on any knowledge. What she did was wrong.
“knowledge with no actions”: The brother had the knowledge but he did nothing (no action) to stop the sister. If the son joined his little sister in eating the cake, then this is having knowledge and acting opposite to the knowledge.
Who do you think the father will scold first? He will scold (having wrath) his son. The son having knowledge and acting opposite of the knowledge. There will be people who will still do something that they already knew were wrong.
“Al-Maghdhuub” and “Ad-Dhaalleen” are descriptions of anyone who are not glorifying true guidance. Both are nouns, hence they are permanently around. When we recite “maghdhuub” and “ad-dhaalleen”, don’t think of the “Jews” and “Christians” but take precautions for ourselves first against these behaviors. Too often Muslims nowadays will arrogantly look at the non believers as if we are already entitled to enter Paradise without realizing that “Al-Maghdhuub” and “Ad-Dhaalleen” are about us too. If we realize this, there is no way to be racist.
Each time when you or the Imam in the congregation finished reciting Surah Al-Fatihah, the sunnah is recite "Aameen". In a congregation, this is the only time when the Imam and the "Makmum" recite in synchronization together. The voices of men in sync together gives a good vibration and morale to everyone in the congregation.
For the rest of the action in Solah, the Imam needs to do the action first and followed by the "Makmum" and not at the same time.
This word can be recited in several ways = "Aaameen", "Aaamin" "Ameeen"
This phrase is :
- to show that we agree with what the Surah is saying
- to ask Allah to fulfill the du'a in the Surah
- as a "stamp" of approval to the Surah.
This phrase seemed like to be originated from Prophet Ibrahim (a.s) since we see the same phrase being recited by the Jews and the Christians (Amen). The Abrahamic religions. The people of the Book. The semitic people i.e the Jews and Arabs.
Surah Al-Fatihah has given us a glimpse of what the Quran is preaching. We are thankful to the scholars (Mufassirun) of the past and present who dedicated their life in understanding the Quran and sharing it with us.
We are reminded everyday in our daily Solah not to stray away from the middle balanced path.