Al Fātiḥah

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

Thee (alone) do we worship and of Thee (only) do we seek help (1:5).

Man in the Presence of Allah

Here, this verse is a start for a servant to plea and ask his needs from Allah. In fact, from here on, the tone of the statements changes. The former verses were the praise and attributes of Allah, and the statement of Faith in His Pure Unity, consisting of a confession to the belief in the Day of Resurrection. But, from this verse on, it seems that the servant, with that firm foundation of Belief in the knowledge of Allah, sees himself in front of Him, the Pure Essence. He addresses Him and speaks, firstly, about his own worship for Him and, then, about His help which he seeks from Him. Thus, he says:

Thee (alone) do we worship and of Thee (only) do we seek help (1:5).

In other words, when the concepts of the former verses settle in one’s soul, and his entire entity is enlightened with the Light of Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds, and when he recognizes His ‘General Mercy’ and ‘Specific Mercy’, the individual transforms into a complete person from the point of ‘belief’ and ‘Faith’. The prime fruit of this deep belief in monotheism, for a person, in one respect, is to be a pure true servant of Allah, free from any idol and idolatry, far from tyrants and lusts; and, on the other hand, to seek help only from His Pure Essence.

In fact, the former verses state the Unity of Essence and Attributes, while, here, the statement is regarding the Unity of Worship and Unity of Acts. ‘Unity of Worship’ means that we acknowledge no person or thing worthy of worship other than Allah, Whose commands alone do we obey and Whose laws only do we follow, avoiding any kind of servitude and submission to other than Him, the Pure Essence. ‘Unity of Acts’ means that we clearly recognize Him as the only real ‘Author of Causes’ in the world. It does not mean that we would refuse the world of ‘cause’ and be neglectful of searching for the causes of things, but it means that we would believe that any effect from any cause is under His command. It is He Who has given heat to fire, light to the sun, and vivacity to water.

The outcome of this belief is that one relies on Allah alone, and knows that all authority and power are His only. In his view, other than Him is powerless, mortal and perishable. Allah is the only Essence to be relied on and worshipped. It is only He Who is deserving of man’s reliance for everything. This kind of thought and belief sets man apart from anyone or anything else and joins him only to Allah. He obeys Allah even when he pursues after ‘the world of ways and means’, i.e. he sees the Power of Allah, the Cause of causes, in control of the means.

This belief elevates the soul of man so high and the scope of his thought so broad that it reaches eternity and becomes free from any limited circumstances, in so far as, Hadrat Amir al-Mu’minin, the Master of the Virtuous, ‘Ali (‘a), regarding Allah, says:

“I worship you neither for the fear of the Fire (of Your Hell) nor for the desire of Your Paradise, but I found You fit for worshipping and I worshipped You.” ²⁷

Explanation: Allah - The Only Site of Reliance

According to the Arabic literature, when the object of the verb precedes its subject, in that language, the meaning of exclusiveness is understood, and, here, the word / iyyaka / ‘Thou’ has preceded the words / na’bud / ‘we worship’ and / nasta’in / ‘we seek help’ which indicates exclusiveness in which its result is the very Unity of Worship and Unity of Acts that were explained before. Even in our own worship, we need His help for which we must ask Him. We may be involved in self-conceit, deviation, hypocrisy and similar things, which destroy our worshipping and servitude totally. Then, in all affairs and activities, our full attention should be exclusively on Allah, the Exalted.

In other words, this, in itself, is one of the stages of monotheism, a high stage of it, which is rendered into ‘monotheism in speculation’. That is, one should always and in all circumstances, think of Allah only. He should rely exclusively on Allah. He should fear nothing but Allah; and he should trust Allah only. He should see nothing save Allah; he should want nothing save Allah; and he should love none save Allah. As the Qur’an says:

Allah has not made for any man two hearts in his (one) body... (33:4).

The Social Aspect of Worship

The pronoun ‘we’, which is in the plural form, used in terms / na’bud / ‘we worship’ and / nasta’in / ‘we seek help’, and in the next verses, shows that worship, especially prayer, is based on ‘plural’ and community. The servant must consider himself among the community even when he is standing in front of Allah for invocation, much less during his other daily activities.

Thus, from the point of view of the Qur’an, any individualism, solitariness, and the like are not accepted in Islam. Particularly, the ritual prayer, from the prayer call: / hayya ‘alas- salat / ‘hasten to the prayer’, which is an invitation to initiate prayer, to Surah Al-Hamd at the beginning of the prayer, and the term / as-salamu alaykum... / ‘peace be on you all...’ at the end of the prayer, all are statements of verification to the concept that this worship basically has a social aspect; viz, it ought to be performed as a congregational prayer.

It is true that the prayer performed individually is also accepted in Islam, but personal worship is considered as the secondary degree.

We Ask Allah for Help in Confronting Forces

We have to confront different forces in this world, both the forces in nature and our innate, or inborn natural forces. To be able to challenge with these destructive, misleading factors, we need to be helped. Hence, we shelter under the protective umbrella of Allah. We get up every morning and repeat the verse / ‘iyyaka na’budu wa ‘iyyaka nasta’in /

Thee (alone) do we worship and of Thee (only) do we seek help (1:5)

to confess our servitude to Allah and to ask His Pure Essence help to make us successful in this great challenge. We do the same in the evening before we go to bed. We get up in the morning with His remembrance, and we go to bed in the evening with His remembrance, and each time we ask help from His Pure Essence. What an excellent state this is for the person who is in this stage of Faith! He never bows to any tyrant. He never loses himself for the attraction of material gain, and as the Qur’an reveals about the Prophet of Islam (S), saying:

...Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for the Cherisher of the Worlds (6:162).

Therefore, the recitation of this Holy Surah may provide the solution to all problems in our lives. It has plenty of properties which can bring us to safety. An example is from a narration cited by one of the companions of the Prophet (S). He said that in one of the battles, he was with the Messenger of Allah (S). When the fight became difficult, he (S) lifted his head and said:

O’ Master of the Day of Judgement! Thee (alone) do we worship and of Thee (only) do we seek help (1:5).

At that moment the army of enemies was defeated and (many of them) were killed while the Prophet (S) and Muslims won.²⁸ It is stated in another narration: “When a difficulty arises for a believing servant, and he recites this Holy verse, it will become easy for him”.²⁹

Footnotes

1. 27. Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 72, p. 186.
2. 28. Kanz al-’Ummal, Vol. 4, p. 36 (taken from Tafsir al-Baqawi, and ‘Amal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah).
3. 29. Minhaj as-Sadiqin, Commentary, Vol. 1, p. 114.