Translation: Those that believe un the Unseen, regulate the Prayer, and spend from what We give them.

Commentary: Allah Almighty is unseen by humanity, and so are the angels and the jinn. The atheists do not believe in Allah on that account. But the faultless working of this vast Universe, and the creation and sustenance of human beings and other innumerable living creatures on this earth give loud and clear indications of His being there! It is like denying the existence of electric power because it cannot be seen, although innumerable utilities working for us would come to a grinding halt without that power.

The prayer is like the string connecting a kite to the person making the kite fly. If the string is cut, the kite would be seen flying aimlessly for a little while before collapsing from the air. The prayer connects a human being to his/her Creator. Without this vital connection, human life would be like the kite whose string is cut: aimless! The prayer, a human being’s connection with Allah Almighty, must be regulated to be never broken, to keep his/her life correctly afloat.

The wealth given by Allah Almighty to anyone is required to be spent – and not hoarded – on one’s own self, on one’s parents and close relatives. The wealth over and above this basic requirement is necessarily to be spent on the poor and the needy.

Translation: And those who believe in what is revealed to you, and in what was revealed before you, and who are certain about the Hereafter.

Commentary: The pious, further to their qualifications mentioned in Verse 3 above, are required to believe in what is revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and in what was revealed before him. What is revealed to Prophet Muhammad is, of course, the Qur’aan, and what was revealed before him were divine treatises like the Injeel and the Torah. Besides these two, there were other divine treatises revealed before. But, except for the last divinely revealed treatise of the Qur’aan, the others are now not available in their original form and content. These are all polluted with human writings. But the pious are required to believe that these were originally divinely revealed.

The last requirement for being the pious, mentioned here, is that they should be certain that they – along  with all other human beings – would be resurrected, after death, to everlasting lives in the Hereafter. Allah Almighty will then judge them all to be justly rewarded or punished for their covert and overt deeds here, in this world.

Translation: Those are the ones on Guidance from their Lord; and those are the ones who are successful!

Commentary: Those, that is, those pious, Allah-fearing, people who are described in Verses 3 and 4 above.

Remember people’s prayer, in Al-Fatiha (Chapter 1 of the Qur’aan), entreating Allah Almighty to show them the path of those on whom He has bestowed His favours. Allah immediately responds by telling them succinctly, in these 5 short Verses at the very beginning of Chapter 2, what that path is!

Mohammad Shafi