SÛRA-I FATİHA -1-

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

(I start with ) The meaning of the name Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful...

Elhamdu lillahi rabbil alemin,

...Knowing belongs to Allah, the Lord/Rabb of the Universes,

Errahman-irrahim,

...the beneficient, the merciful.

Maliki yevmid diyn,

...Owner of the day of judgement....

İyyake na’budu ve iyyake nestaıyn.

...We are in servitude only to you, and we ask for help only from you...

İhdinas sıratal mustakıym,

...Guide and lead us to the correct path....

Sıratelleziyne en’amte aleyhim gayril magdubi aleyhim veladdalliyn.

...That correct path, which is the path of those whom you have favoured; not the path of those who

have earned your anger nor of those who go astray.

Interpretation:  

Certain religious leaders (imams) have the point of  view that the salaat should not be performed without the

Fatihah.

They have reached this conclusion by taking the following hadith of Hz.Mohammad as an example.

‘’The salaat of the one  who has performed his/her salaat  without reading the  Essence of the Koran  would be incomplete.’’ 

Again, in another Hadith, our Rasul of Allah (a.s) declares,

‘’The salaat of the one who has not read the Fatihah would not be accepted.’’

Also, in another hadith he says ‘’If someone does not read the Fatihah and another surah in the obligatory part of the salaat or  in any other salaat, then he would not be having a salaat.’’

Some of the scientists of  Islam defend the point that it is necessary to read the Fatihah even if  one is following an Imam while performing the salaat, whereas  some defend the view that it is not necessary  for anyone who is following the Imam  to read neither the Fatihah nor another verse.

In our opinion, taking the  hadiths into consideration,  in the case of following  an İmam it is not necessary to repeat  the Fatihah and the other verses after repeating the Sübhaneke.

Hz. Rasul of Allah asked Ubeyy Ibn Kab’a  : "What do you read when you start the salaat?"

He answered;

‘’I read Elhamdülillahi Rabbülalemin till the end.’’

The Rasul of Allah replied;

‘’This is the surah consisting of seven verses  which are repeated twice and that is the glorious Koran itself that has been given to me.’’

Fatihah comes from the word  ‘’fetih =  conquest’’...  To conquer the truth, the real...

The conquest opens up with a key.  This key is the correct realisation of the meaning in the Chapter of Fatihah

(which is named as the Chapter of Opening in many translations of the Koran).

This realisation is being transformed into a living style afterwards.

Hz. Ali states that the secret of the Koran is in the Fatihah, the secret of Fatihah is in the Basmala at the beginning  of this chapter  (which is  translated as ‘’In the name of  Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful’’).

He, also states that the secret of the Basmala is in the dot/point beneath the Arabic letter B at the beginning. All the beings who know the secret of  the dot/point are in a state of salaat. 

 Ahmed Hulusi has the opinion that the secret of Fatihah is in the verse ‘’İyyake na’büdü and iyyake nestaiyn’’.  The explanations given by him regarding this point, bring much more clarity to this subject.

As a matter of fact,  the verse ‘’İyyake na’büdü’’ has in a way the same meaning as the point. Regarding the details  ‘’İyyake na’büdü’’ covers more with respect to the point.

Out of  the 114 Chapters of the Koran, in 113 chapters Basmala is placed as the first sentence, however only in the Chapter of Repentance  there is no Basmala.

Also, Basmala makes up a part of  the 30^th verse in the Chapter of  The Ant (An-Naml).

The Chapter of Fatihah starts with ‘’Bismillahirrahmanirrahiym Elhamdulillahi Rabbulalemiyn’’.

Taking into consideration the fact that the secrets are being hidden in the ‘’B’’, a person who starts to do anything with Basmala is acting as ‘’HU=The Only One’’. 

Following the Bismillah, a descend is made to the qualities as the meaning of  the names  Rahman (The Beneficient) and Rahim (The Merciful).

According to the point of view which refuses the existence of a god far off:-

It is certain that this Surah would be perceived in a more different way  when it is realised that there is no other being besides ‘’Hu-The Only One.’’

The word ‘’hamd’’ (praising, being thankful to Allah) is being used in the first verse of  Fatihah and in more than 50 verses in the Koran...

With respect to these explanations, squeezing  the concept of  ‘’Hamd’’  to a very narrow scale and explaining as praising Allah  is being  very far from reality.   Although, in certain cases  ‘’hamd’’ is regarded as being thankful, this certainly is not what is wished to be told.

The word  ‘’Hamd’’ which has been used in this verse at the beginning of this chapter,  should be examined in view of the universal values,  at a level which is far from  personal values.

When  ‘’Hamd’’ is attributed to Allah, it means ‘’to know’’.  Therefore, the interpretation of the verse will be as follows:

‘’It is certain that Allah, the Rabb/Lord of the Universes knows Hu’s own self’’.

To be continued next week        

Ahmet F.YÜKSEL