Al Fatiha – The Qur’an – First Chapter – 2nd Part

Al Fatiha – The Qur’an – First Chapter – 2nd Part

When one repeats the Divine name “Al-Jamil,” or “The Most Beautiful,” one remembers all beauties that are reflections of this Divine name on earth, and in the heavens.  Through these Divine names, we begin to understand the kindness and the beauty of God.

First chapter of the Quran is so important for Muslims that they repeat this chapter in their daily prayers everyday and throughout their life, especially Muslims who are praying five times a day. The Qur’an contains 114 chapters. This is the first chapter of the Qur’an. It has seven verses in total. After the formula of Bismillah that I just mentioned, chapter 1 of the Quran, Fatiha, continues with a beautiful phrase which can be translated as,

“Praise be to God, the Lord of all creation.”

Despite the simplicity of the translation in English, if one translates this phrase thoroughly using the rules of Arabic grammar, it would require a several sentences!  A more complete, but still far from ideal translation of this simple phrase would be something like this,

“All praise ever uttered within every breath of all creation from before time through time and after time only belongs to the Being Whose Existence is Necessary and who is named Allah.”

This is a very short translation of this phrase that is known Praise be to Allah or in Arabic, Alhamdulillah. This is only one grammatical translation of this phrase. The full meaning of it is beyond translation.  The verse strongly emphasizes the importance of being thankful to God for what people have received. As a thirteenth century Muslim poet , Sa’d-i Shirazi, beautifully says: For one breath you need to thank God twice because you inhale which sustains your life and because you exhale which brings delight rather than suffocation. As human beings, we cannot understand the nature of God and in fact we praise God according to our capacity. This is what human beings are asked to do. Our finite capacity cannot encompass the infinite God and cannot fully understand the Divine. And therefore our praise to God is limited according to our capacity. Because we are limited, our praise is also limited. Muslim mystics have praised God to the number of the drops of rain or to the number of the stars saying

“Praise be to You our Lord as much as the drops of rain and the stars of the heavens.”

Modern Islamic scholars and mystics like Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, have even included the number of atoms of the universe and the number of the praises of angels, but even all of these are considered limited. As the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, beautifully says “Our Lord, we have not praised You as You deserve.”

The third verse of this Chapter of the Quran reemphasizes the importance of the two Divine names the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. These two Divine names are among the 99 names of God and the reflection of these Divine names is visible on the entire planet. All mothers by taking care of their young are a reflection of the Divine names across the planet so that God sends his mercy to them. This is why in the Islamic tradition the strongest reflections of the Divine name the Most Merciful are mothers. They sacrifice their lives to their children out fo this Compassion and Mercy.

The fourth verse of this Chapter is “the owner of the Day of Judgment”, so God is the owner of the Day of Judgement. God is the owner of everything. It can be translated as the master of the Day of Judgment. In the afterlife, absolute sovereignty belongs to God.  As one of the Islamic scholars suggests, this verse also gives hope to the believers that the Day of Judgment is not a place of randomness. Instead there is a Just Owner and that is God. There is an order. There is no randomness. This order is divinely planned. Therefore everything will be done justly and properly.  The coming of the afterlife is good news for human beings and a divine gift as we understand from this Quranic verse. In the afterlife there is an eternal bliss. And therefore, when Muslims recite this Quranic verse, they think the eternal bliss of the afterlife. The reason that the Quran uses the word “day” is to show people that as a day is limited and there is a sunset for a day, this worldly life is also limited. Therefore there is a limitation for the day, for the year, for the life of a human being, for the life of the world. Although only God knows when the final day will come, the turning of the days and nights and the passing of the years are like the hands of a clock. These things are like that hand that counts the seconds. So basically, as there is an end for a day, and there is an end for a year, and there is an end for the life of human beings, there is an end for the life of this planet as well. And that will be turned into the afterlife. That’s when Muslims read this Quranic verse, and say

“God is the Owner of the Day of Judgement”

they have this reflection on this verse.