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Copyright © 1997 by Islamic Publications International

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First Edition 1997

Library of Congress Card Number 97-70179

ISBN 1-889999-00-8

ISBN: 9781483555553

Director of Publications: Moin Shaikh

General Editor: Gev Nasari

Design & layout: Kathy Yang Chen

CONTENTS

Lecture on Surat Al-Fatiha

Glossary

Bibliography

AL-FATIHA

Conventionally we begin any Islamic discourse with the praise of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala (swt) not least because it is in this fashion that the Qur'an itself begins. It is indeed necessary for all Muslims to pay particular attention to the opening Sura of the Qur'an, not only because it marks the beginning of the Qur'an but also because it is the part of the Qur'an with which we are most familiar, at least in its verbal form, through constant repetition in daily prayer. In addition, the Fatiha can be regarded as a concise summary of the principal themes of the Qur'an.

Before attempting a relatively detailed discussion of the Fatiha and its contents, it is advisable to speak briefly concerning the very concept of the interpretation of the Qur'an, its principles and methods, as well as the limitations that are inherent in any attempt at the understanding and the elucidation of the Qur'an.

The word conventionally used for the commentary upon the Qur'an is tafsir, a word which has the original lexical meaning of laying out in clear and explicit detail matters that exist otherwise only in general or implicit form. As a technical term, designating one of the principal religious disciplines of Islam, tafsir may be defined as the attempt to discover the divine purpose or meaning inherent in the words of the Qur'an. The divine purpose is that which Allah by means of the revelation of Qur'an to His Messenger Muhammad (saw) wished to convey to humanity.

Here a number of clarifications are in order. Firstly, although the Qur'an is indeed the word of Allah (swt), it is a word that is infused into the necessarily limited form of a human language. There is therefore a certain inescapable disparity between the infinitude of divine speech and meaning and the inevitably constricted form of the verbal revelation into which it is infused. This is an important fact to remember: the divine meaning and truths are infinite and their expression in the revealed form of the Qur'an (or, for that matter, in the preceding scriptures in so far as they are still extant) is necessarily limited. Once we understand this discrepancy or inevitable disparity between the divine intent and the divinely chosen word for the expression of that intent, we must also come to understand that there is in addition an inevitable gap between our understanding of the divine intent and the intent itself. To put it differently, the divine intent, the divine meaning of the Qur'an, is not only infinite but also absolute, while our understanding of the divine word is necessarily partial, finite and, by that very same token, fallible. Indeed, other than the Qur'an itself the only infallible material that we have for the understanding of the Qur'an are the sayings of the Prophet (saw) concerning the Qur'an. Everything that we cite for the understanding of the Qur'an other than the Qur'an itself and the Sunna of the Prophet (saw), the Hadith that he uttered concerning the meanings of the Qur'an — everything else necessarily constitutes an act of interpretation. An act of interpretation is partial, finite and limited.

This should not be taken as a discouragement; it should not be taken in any way as an invalidation of the attempt to understand the Qur'an. If Allah revealed the Qur'an it was indeed to convey certain comprehensible meanings; it was for the purpose of arousing in men the aspiration to understand the divine intent. It is therefore incumbent upon us to strive to do so, even though the strivings we under take are necessarily fallible, necessarily partial, and it cannot be said of any understanding of the Qur'an except one that relies upon the Qur'an itself or upon a relevant Hadith of the Prophet that it is complete, comprehensive and authoritative. Thus there is generally a certain tentativeness to our understanding of the Qur'an. This is not to say that we cannot be certain concerning many meanings that we extract from the Qur'an by means of interpretation, nor does it mean that every interpretation put forward is equal in value. There are certain necessary preliminaries to an understanding of the Qur'an which once met will entitle a given interpretation to more consideration than others: command of the Arabic language, awareness of the particular usage of the Qur'an, knowledge of the occasions for revelation, and so on.

My attempt here to explain some of the meanings of al-Fatihainsha' allah