After reciting the Tauz, the Tashahhud and the first chapter of the Holy Qur’an, Hazrat Amir ul Mo’meneen Zafrullah Domun said:

Today we will speak about the first chapter of the Holy Qur’an, namely Al Fatiha which means the Opening. According to the hadith and some commentators this chapter of the Holy Qur’an has many other names as well. There is no need to know all of them by heart. But it is good to know them just to have an idea of this unending subject matter of this chapter of the Holy Qur’an. I do not intend to tell you everything that I have read about this chapter but I will do my best to whet your spiritual appetite so that you might go and read all that is available at least in the English language about it. In the five- volume commentary published by the Jamaat there is plenty to read and understand. Similarly all the comments of Hazrat Masih Maood ^as have been translated into English by late Sir Zafrullah Khan and it is published in the form of a book. I wonder why is this translation not available on the Jamaat’s Website www.alislam.org ? Besides these there are also some comments or explanation that are written from time to time by other Muslims , Arabs and non Arabs but highly qualified English or French islamologues which are available in books or specialized journals like “Arabica” which are also of great use in enhancing our understanding of the Holy Qur’an and which may be read.

Anyhow as far as the reading of this chapter is concerned we read from the hadith that the Holy Prophet ^saw is reported to have said that there is no prayer without the recitation of Sura Al Fatiha. It means that for our prayers to be complete it is imperative that we read Sura Al Fatiha in all rakaats. Here I think that it is important that I explain something about how it should be read. If you are reading behind an imam, you should recite the words silently after the Imam. If the imam prays more than two rakaats you should still recite sura Al Fatiha in the remaining rakaats silently although the Imam will not recite loudly as in Salat Maghrib and Salat Esha. Hence we see that under all circumstances we should recite sura Al Fatiha in all prayers that we perform whether they are obligatory or just voluntary. If we miss it our prayer is defective. This is an important point that all of us should note well.

In the Holy Qur’an speaking about this sura Allah says: “We have indeed given thee the seven oft-repeated verses and the Great Qur’an” (15:88). In fact you will note that really the verses of this chapter of the Holy Qur’an are the most repeated verses of the book. We know from reliable hadith that the most common known name of this chapter is “Fatihatul Kitab” which means “the opening chapter of the book” which in the course of time became abbreviated to just “Al Fatiha”. However from the hadith we learn that this chapter is known by many other names.  The second caliph of Jamaat Ahmadiyya, Hazrat Mirza Bashir Uddin Mahmood Ahmad has listed at least nine other names and they all help us to understand the vastness of meanings that this small chapter of the Holy Quran contains. They are as follows: the prayer (al salat); the praise (al hamd); the mother of the Book (ummul Qur’an); the great Qur’an (Al Qur’an al azim); the seven oft repeated verses(Al sab’al mathanni); the mother of the book (ummul kitab); the remedy (ash shifa); the antidote (al ruqya);the treasure( al kanz). When we read the commentaries of Hazrat Masih Ma’ood ^as we see that he speaks of the different aspects of these different names. But that is not our purpose for today. Maybe some other time we might speak about them because when we are reciting this chapter in our daily prayers we do not need to think about all these different names.

So as soon as we have sought protection from Allah from Satan the accursed we read Tasmia i.e we say “with the name of Allah, the Gracious, and the Merciful”. Since bismillah precedes all chapters of the Holy Qur’an I will not say anything about it right now. We will speak about it as we progress in the chapter. So we say “Alhamdo lillahe rabbil Alameen” which we translate as “All praise belongs to Allah the Creator Sustainer and developer of all the worlds”. The servant is standing in front of his master and he has been taught to utter these words. Here Allah has not taught us to say that some praise are his and some are for others. Allah has taught us that ALL praise are His and to no one else. A beautiful flower, a beautiful face, a beautiful scenery, the majestic rising and setting of the sun, the star studded sky on a dark night, the beauteous rays of the moonlight on a calm sea, the orderliness that exist in creation, the song of the nightingale all these are what they are, not by themselves because someone has made them what they are. That someone is Allah. All these things are His Handiwork and He is the One who merits any kind of praise for what we see or hear. In fact He is the One worthy of all praise for everything that we see in this world because He is the Creator of all the worlds (Rabbul Aalameen).

The word Rabb has a very extensive meaning in Arabic. Among other things it means Lord, Sustainer, Cherisher, Master when it refers to Allah. Others may think whatever they want. But Allah has taught the Muslim to believe Him to be the rabb of all known and unknown worlds. In fact the word “al alameen” is the plural of “al aalam” which means “that by means of which one knows a thing”. The Lexicographer Aqrab says that this word is applied to all beings or things by means of which one is able to know the Creator.

Hence the phrase “rabbul aalameen” may be translated as Lord, Sustainer, Cherisher, Master of all the worlds, known or unknown”. If you try to think about this and you should make the necessary efforts to get an idea about this Lord of yours, then you will get a glimpse of who is Allah and your mind will not be able to fully grasp who He is. It is to Him that we are asked to direct all our requests or prayers and to pay our obedience.

If we try to make an idea of this Creator, our mind will give up because His creation is so vast. Let me give you some simple examples. Take the universe itself. The scientists have been thinking about it since at least more than two thousand years. Although knowledge about it has expanded through the last 400 hundred years with the invention of Galileo’s telescope yet they still do not know for sure how it started and how it is developing. They have some ideas but they do not have the whole picture yet. Their paradigms about it keep shifting and there are still many imponderables. Furthermore one thing that these scientists are sure about is that the whole universe is expanding since it came into being. Similarly if we take plant and animal species on land and in the sea up till now man has not been able to make a list of all that exist because there are so many. So when we think about the creation of Allah we reach a point where we can only marvel at what we might come to understand about but we are unable to get the whole picture. So Allah has taught us for our own well being both here and in the hereafter to say repeatedly that All praise are for Allah who is the Lord of all the worlds that we see and that we do not see. In fact Rabb is the first attribute of Allah that we have been introduced to. The next other attribute is al Rahman and al Rahim. We translate them as the Gracious and the Merciful. But these words do not help us to get a glimpse of the full import of the words. Both these words are derived from ra ha ma which means he showed mercy; he was kind and good; he forgave. However the best explanation of Al Rahman that I can give is the One who shows extreme mercy and for Al Rahim “the One who shows mercy repeatedly” Some lexicographers and commentators of the Holy Quran say that Al Rahman is a mercy that is manifested on the whole universe and Al Rahim is a mercy that is “limited in scope but repeatedly shown”.

Allah’s attribute of al Rahman manifests itself to all human beings irrespective of their being believers or unbelievers or even atheists or even polytheists. Because Allah is Al Rahman so all His Creation enjoy the sun, the air alike. But His Attribute of Al Rahim manifests itself when we use what He gave us out of His being Rahman to produce other things. So we use our faculties that He has endowed us with to manifest His attribute of being Rahim. When we put to good use what He gave us as Al Rahman, His attribute of being Rahim will manifest itself.  In this way both these attributes are related. Hence Al Rahman is the Bestower of gifts that precedes our birth whilst Al Rahim is the  bestower of blessings that follow our actions in this life.

The next attribute of Allah that is mentioned in this chapter of the Holy Quran is Malik yawmid deen which we translate as Master of the Day of Judgment”. We understand from this verse that there will be a Day when accounts of our deeds will be taken and the master on that day will be Allah who will act as He pleases.

It is said that this chapter is divided into two parts. In the first part Allah has spoken of four of His Attributes namely Rabul Alameen,Al Rahman, Al Raheem, Malik Yawmiddeen. Besides these attributes there are several others that are mentioned in the Holy Quran and in the hadith but according to Hazrat Masih Maood^as, these four attributes are the main ones and they are known as the source of all attributes (ummous sifaat). In other words the other attributes can be traced to them. I will finish today with a quotation from the book “ayyamous solah” by  Hazrat Masih Maood as. He says:

“God Almighty has four principal attributes which may be called the mothers of all attributes. Every one of them makes a demand upon our humanness. These four are Rabubiyyat, Rahmaniyyat, Rahimiyyat and Malikiyyat of the Day of Judgment.

For its manifestation, Rabubiyyat demands nothingness, or a state resembling nothingness. Every form of creation, whether animate or inanimate, comes into being through it.

For its manifestation, Rahmaniyyat demands the absence of existence and its operation is related only to animates and not to inanimates.

Rahimiyyat demands for its manifestation an affirmation of their nothingness and nonexistence from the part of creation which is endowed with reason and relates only to man. Malikiyyat of the Day of Judgment demands for its manifestation humble supplication and pleading and relates only to such of mankind as fall like beggars on the threshold of Unity and spread forth their mantle of sincerity in order to receive grace and, finding themselves empty handed, believe in the Malikiyyat of God.

These four attributes are in operation all the time. Of these Rahimiyyat moves a person to supplication and Malikiyyat consumes a person in the fire of fear and terror and gives birth to true humility, for this attribute establishes that God is the Master of recompense and that no one has the right to demand anything. Forgiveness and salvation are through grace.”

May Allah open our heart to get such an understanding of Himself that will suffice us in this world and in the next incha Allah.