As I have discussed numerous issues on Islam on this site, I figured I should take the time to outline a classical exegesis of the opening chapter of the Qur'an, known as Surat al-Fatiha or "The Opening".
I shall quote the Fatiha here both in the Arabic, English transliteration and English translation.
By way of introduction, let me make some brief remarks on the position and importance of this sura. It is the opening chapter of the Qur'an, it is often referred to as Um al-Qur'an (The Mother of the Qur'an) or Um al-Kitab (The Mother of the Book). It is referred to subtely later in the Qur'an as Lawh al-Mahfuz (The Preserved Tablet). It is the position of many scholars of Islam, that the Fatiha is a summary of the entirety of the Qur'an. That every theme is contained in these 7 verses. It is recited at the beginning of every raka'a of the prayer, which means it is recited no less than 17 times per day (assuming one performs the five obligatory prayers), and is the only sura which is required to be recited during prayer. The Chapter is divided into seven verses. It breaks down into the three beginning verses which are dedicated to the description and praise of Allah, the last three verses which are pleas from the believer made to Allah, and a middle verse which serves as a transition.
Invocation:
بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Bismillahi al-Rahman-ir-raheem
"By the name of Allah the compassionate the merciful"
This is the invocation made at the beginning of every chapter of the Qur'an. However, the Fatiha is the only chapter where this is included IN the chapter and not as a disconnected pre-amble. All major scholars agree to this, save for the Shafi'i who do not consider this a part of the chapter and thus do not recite it as part of the chapter (as most Arabs are Shafi'i I shall exclude it from the chapter). This is often mistranslated as "In the Name of Allah", however the "bi" sound is what is referred to in Arabic as harf ul-ma'ana. Meaning "a letter with meaning", denoting it is neither noun nor verb, but has significance. In fact it means "by", not "in", and this should be translated as "by" the means (name) of Allah, not "in" his name. The very word "Allah" means "God", some say this comes from the Arabic conjunction of the definite article "al" and the word for God "Ilah" making it al-Illah, however most Muslim scholars debate this formulation saying Allah is the name God chose for himself above all others. The next to words mean "The Merciful, the Compassionate" (Often translated as "The Beneficent"). These are two among the 99 other names Allah has chosen for himself and are placed here as a reminder to believers that their piety will be rewarded with mercy and compassion.
1)
الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
Al-Hamdullilahi-rub il-'alameen
"All praise is for Allah, Lord of the Worlds"
This verse begins the praise and description of Allah. The word hamd comes from the verb h-m-d which means to "praise" and thus the noun is "praise". However this word is used exclusively for the praise of Allah, any other form of praise from a human to a human would be described by the verb m-d-h. The letters remain the same but are in a different order. In the trickiness of the Arabic language this could be accidental, or it could be some strange design of the early Arabs. The next two words describe Allah as "The Lord of the Worlds". Specifically the world (this one in which we live) is known as al-'Aalam, but here it is pluralized, and scholars of Islam have posited that this means 10,000 worlds, and that Allah is ruler of all. The question has been bandied about (uselessly as it makes no sense) that this could mean universes, dimensions, or inhabitable planets. All attempts to rationalize Abrahamic faith.
2)
الرَّحْمـنِ الرَّحِيمِ (1:
al-Rahman ir-Raheemi
"The Compassionate The Merciful"
Once again the Qur'an is drawing attention to these two qualities and descriptions of Allah. They remain in the case known as majroor in Arabic, meaning they are either in a genitive form or reside next to a harf al-ma'ana (or are the indeclinable noun). In fact they are a continuation of the description of Allah as "Lord of the Worlds". Thus that he rules these worlds with the exact same compassion that he rules this one, as evidenced by the opening verse.
3)
مَـالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ (
Maaliki Yawm i-deen
"Master of the Day of Faith"
The opening word in this verse is Malik coming from the verb meaning "to own" which is a derivative of all things to do with "kingship", mulk is kingdom. Malik is literally "King". So some would say Allah is "King of the Day of Faith". The "Day of Faith" is simply the Day of Judgment where a person's faith will be tested. The Qur'an is explicit about this last day saying "No other religion (other than Islam) will be accepted of them", meaning that all the Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and any other assorted infidels will be condemned to the hellfire (which is described in both the Qur'an and the Hadith).
4)
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
Iyyaka na'badu, wa iyyaka nasta'een
"To you we turn in worship, to you we turn for aid"
This is the transitional verse of which I spoke in my opening remarks. The firt phrase "to you we turn in worship" continues the theme of describing Allah and the believers duty and relationship to him, and the second shifts the theme of the verse to the Muslim as they seek aid from Allah. "Unto you" is fronted here (meaning the direct object is placed before the verb and the subject of the verb, which in Arabic is contained in the verb itself), the verse would have been more tradiontally Arabic if it had use the "you" as an enclitic suffix, saying Na'buduka, but the author of the Qur'an was very specific in making sure that the object was held up as the most important aspect of the verse. Thus using a more poetic construct to front and emphasize the object. The same holds true as the chapter shifts emphasis to the Muslim with iyyaka nasta'een, with similar fronted object (Known in Arabic as the Mafa'ul bihi).
5)
اهدِنَــــا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيمَ
Ihdina al-Sirat al-Mustaqeem
"Guide us (to) the straight path"
This verse begins with an imperative verb, Ihdina with the enclitic suffix "we" (here "na"). The believers are imploring Allah, en masse, for guidance upon the straight path. The word for path al-Sirat is not actually an Arabic word by origin, which is interesting in that Muslims will contend that the Qur'an is the pinnacle of the pure language of Allah. However the word for path here is most likely derived from Latin or some other Mediterranean (pre-Islamic) language. It would be a sore irony for Muslims to think of this 17 times per day in prayer, so it is generally left undiscussed, or simply as a "miracle" of Allah.
6)
صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنعَمتَ عَلَيهِمْ
Sirat aladheena an'amta 'Alayhum
The path of those upon whom you have bestowed your blessings
Again we see the invasion of non-Arabic on the opening chapter of the Qur'an. in the form of Sirat. Now we see the verb na'ma from n-'-m. This literally means to bless or bestow. However the form used is confusing as it uses the second person singular past tense, which denotes familiarity (this is also the case in iyyaka). Usually when Allah describes himself, or when Muslims address him, the royal plurals are used. For instance the royal we or royal you. The second person plural is a sign of respect in Arabic, while the royal we is a sign of arrogance. And by no coincidence Allah describes himself as al-Mutakabar (The Arrogant).
7)
غَيرِ المَغضُوبِ عَلَيهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّالِّينَ
Ghayri maghdubi 'alayhim, wa la Daaleen
"And not those who have earned your anger (condemned) and not those who go astray"
And here we have Allah dedicating the final verse to the non-believers. The Muslim is imploring Allah to spare him/her from the anger he has reserved for these two groups of people. Those who have earned Allah's anger are, of course, the Jews. The Jews angered Allah by killing "his prophets" and other assorted evils traditionally ascribed to Jews in anti-Semitic libels. And who is it who has gone astray? The Christians who bungled Jesus' (Arabic: 'Issa) message and began to worship him as a God. Now this ritual disdaing is encoded in the 17 raka'a (prostration) of prayer performed every day. Daily Muslims are called to remember those whom are ritually disdained in Islam, and eternally disdained by Allah. And by no coincidence, this is the message that Allah leaves for last, and by definition most lasting.
This concludes my exegesis of the opening chapter of the Qur'an. I hope it has been helpful.
I shall quote the Fatiha here both in the Arabic, English transliteration and English translation.
By way of introduction, let me make some brief remarks on the position and importance of this sura. It is the opening chapter of the Qur'an, it is often referred to as Um al-Qur'an (The Mother of the Qur'an) or Um al-Kitab (The Mother of the Book). It is referred to subtely later in the Qur'an as Lawh al-Mahfuz (The Preserved Tablet). It is the position of many scholars of Islam, that the Fatiha is a summary of the entirety of the Qur'an. That every theme is contained in these 7 verses. It is recited at the beginning of every raka'a of the prayer, which means it is recited no less than 17 times per day (assuming one performs the five obligatory prayers), and is the only sura which is required to be recited during prayer. The Chapter is divided into seven verses. It breaks down into the three beginning verses which are dedicated to the description and praise of Allah, the last three verses which are pleas from the believer made to Allah, and a middle verse which serves as a transition.
Invocation:
بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Bismillahi al-Rahman-ir-raheem
"By the name of Allah the compassionate the merciful"
This is the invocation made at the beginning of every chapter of the Qur'an. However, the Fatiha is the only chapter where this is included IN the chapter and not as a disconnected pre-amble. All major scholars agree to this, save for the Shafi'i who do not consider this a part of the chapter and thus do not recite it as part of the chapter (as most Arabs are Shafi'i I shall exclude it from the chapter). This is often mistranslated as "In the Name of Allah", however the "bi" sound is what is referred to in Arabic as harf ul-ma'ana. Meaning "a letter with meaning", denoting it is neither noun nor verb, but has significance. In fact it means "by", not "in", and this should be translated as "by" the means (name) of Allah, not "in" his name. The very word "Allah" means "God", some say this comes from the Arabic conjunction of the definite article "al" and the word for God "Ilah" making it al-Illah, however most Muslim scholars debate this formulation saying Allah is the name God chose for himself above all others. The next to words mean "The Merciful, the Compassionate" (Often translated as "The Beneficent"). These are two among the 99 other names Allah has chosen for himself and are placed here as a reminder to believers that their piety will be rewarded with mercy and compassion.
1)
الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
Al-Hamdullilahi-rub il-'alameen
"All praise is for Allah, Lord of the Worlds"
This verse begins the praise and description of Allah. The word hamd comes from the verb h-m-d which means to "praise" and thus the noun is "praise". However this word is used exclusively for the praise of Allah, any other form of praise from a human to a human would be described by the verb m-d-h. The letters remain the same but are in a different order. In the trickiness of the Arabic language this could be accidental, or it could be some strange design of the early Arabs. The next two words describe Allah as "The Lord of the Worlds". Specifically the world (this one in which we live) is known as al-'Aalam, but here it is pluralized, and scholars of Islam have posited that this means 10,000 worlds, and that Allah is ruler of all. The question has been bandied about (uselessly as it makes no sense) that this could mean universes, dimensions, or inhabitable planets. All attempts to rationalize Abrahamic faith.
2)
الرَّحْمـنِ الرَّحِيمِ (1:
al-Rahman ir-Raheemi
"The Compassionate The Merciful"
Once again the Qur'an is drawing attention to these two qualities and descriptions of Allah. They remain in the case known as majroor in Arabic, meaning they are either in a genitive form or reside next to a harf al-ma'ana (or are the indeclinable noun). In fact they are a continuation of the description of Allah as "Lord of the Worlds". Thus that he rules these worlds with the exact same compassion that he rules this one, as evidenced by the opening verse.
3)
مَـالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ (
Maaliki Yawm i-deen
"Master of the Day of Faith"
The opening word in this verse is Malik coming from the verb meaning "to own" which is a derivative of all things to do with "kingship", mulk is kingdom. Malik is literally "King". So some would say Allah is "King of the Day of Faith". The "Day of Faith" is simply the Day of Judgment where a person's faith will be tested. The Qur'an is explicit about this last day saying "No other religion (other than Islam) will be accepted of them", meaning that all the Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and any other assorted infidels will be condemned to the hellfire (which is described in both the Qur'an and the Hadith).
4)
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
Iyyaka na'badu, wa iyyaka nasta'een
"To you we turn in worship, to you we turn for aid"
This is the transitional verse of which I spoke in my opening remarks. The firt phrase "to you we turn in worship" continues the theme of describing Allah and the believers duty and relationship to him, and the second shifts the theme of the verse to the Muslim as they seek aid from Allah. "Unto you" is fronted here (meaning the direct object is placed before the verb and the subject of the verb, which in Arabic is contained in the verb itself), the verse would have been more tradiontally Arabic if it had use the "you" as an enclitic suffix, saying Na'buduka, but the author of the Qur'an was very specific in making sure that the object was held up as the most important aspect of the verse. Thus using a more poetic construct to front and emphasize the object. The same holds true as the chapter shifts emphasis to the Muslim with iyyaka nasta'een, with similar fronted object (Known in Arabic as the Mafa'ul bihi).
5)
اهدِنَــــا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيمَ
Ihdina al-Sirat al-Mustaqeem
"Guide us (to) the straight path"
This verse begins with an imperative verb, Ihdina with the enclitic suffix "we" (here "na"). The believers are imploring Allah, en masse, for guidance upon the straight path. The word for path al-Sirat is not actually an Arabic word by origin, which is interesting in that Muslims will contend that the Qur'an is the pinnacle of the pure language of Allah. However the word for path here is most likely derived from Latin or some other Mediterranean (pre-Islamic) language. It would be a sore irony for Muslims to think of this 17 times per day in prayer, so it is generally left undiscussed, or simply as a "miracle" of Allah.
6)
صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنعَمتَ عَلَيهِمْ
Sirat aladheena an'amta 'Alayhum
The path of those upon whom you have bestowed your blessings
Again we see the invasion of non-Arabic on the opening chapter of the Qur'an. in the form of Sirat. Now we see the verb na'ma from n-'-m. This literally means to bless or bestow. However the form used is confusing as it uses the second person singular past tense, which denotes familiarity (this is also the case in iyyaka). Usually when Allah describes himself, or when Muslims address him, the royal plurals are used. For instance the royal we or royal you. The second person plural is a sign of respect in Arabic, while the royal we is a sign of arrogance. And by no coincidence Allah describes himself as al-Mutakabar (The Arrogant).
7)
غَيرِ المَغضُوبِ عَلَيهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّالِّينَ
Ghayri maghdubi 'alayhim, wa la Daaleen
"And not those who have earned your anger (condemned) and not those who go astray"
And here we have Allah dedicating the final verse to the non-believers. The Muslim is imploring Allah to spare him/her from the anger he has reserved for these two groups of people. Those who have earned Allah's anger are, of course, the Jews. The Jews angered Allah by killing "his prophets" and other assorted evils traditionally ascribed to Jews in anti-Semitic libels. And who is it who has gone astray? The Christians who bungled Jesus' (Arabic: 'Issa) message and began to worship him as a God. Now this ritual disdaing is encoded in the 17 raka'a (prostration) of prayer performed every day. Daily Muslims are called to remember those whom are ritually disdained in Islam, and eternally disdained by Allah. And by no coincidence, this is the message that Allah leaves for last, and by definition most lasting.
This concludes my exegesis of the opening chapter of the Qur'an. I hope it has been helpful.
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3 comments:
Interesting post.
Two things spike my curiosity. Firstly, as someone who has a certain interest for language and all that surrounds it, how do we know that sirat is of a non-Arabic origin? Is it simply unattested before the Qur'an or has a plausible candidate of origin been identified?
Secondly, the interpretation of the last verse, is that the historical interpretation (of the writer himself) and if so, how do we know, or is it the most common interpretation lain in it today and if so, why? I ask because the verse itself doesn't seem so specific, and I wonder how it came to be interpreted like this if it wasn't meant like this, or if it was meant like this, why it was written down in such a circumlocutory fashion.
Here is another source giving sirat a Latin origin
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Al+Sirat
Linguistics is a science, like any other. There are certain cues that can be picked up on wrt to words and their origins.
Strāta certainly sounds most plausible if the word is Latin derived. If it isn't just an Arabic word that coincidentally resembles a Latin one, it would be one of the most ironically funny things I've read in quite a while.
According to some arguers in an e-mail-thread:
‘Qur'anic Sira:T "path" (common noun) is from latin via greek and aramaic (incl. syriac).
Sira:T (Bridge) (proper noun) is from middle persian *ch*inwad or written as *ch*inwat, acc. to Enc. of Islam II "Sirat", in new persian ("Farsi") *ch*unu:d , and is found in Hadith literature.’
Now these e-mailers could be making it all up of course, but if there's a second identical word with a related meaning but a different origin that would fit in the text, how do we know that isn't where it originated? (Word of warning: don't read too much of that thread, it devolves into a is-'snot-game. I really don't like reading e-mail conversations as they're unreliable and uncivil but it was the only source of actual argument that I could find.)
Anyway, I've Googled some more and I can find plenty of sites and books that just say ‘it's from Latin’ but presently I haven't found a source that actually tries to argue the case.
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