As part of the prayer, the Prophet reported the God, Almigthy and Sublime, has said: I have divedid prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves and My servant shall have what he has asked for. When the servant says: Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, God (Almigthy and Sublime be He) says: My servant has praised Me. And when he says: The Merciful, the Beneficent, God (Almigthy and Sublime be He) says: My servant has extolled Me, and when he says: Master of the Day of Judgement, God (Almigthy and Sublime be He) say: My servant has glorified Me – and on one occasion He said: My servant has submitted to My power. And when he says, It is you we worship and it is You we ask for help, He says: This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for. And when he says: Guide us to the straight path. The way of those whom you have blessed: not those who incur anger or those astray, He says, This is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for. (Hadith: Muslim)
This show the Fatiha to be a remarkable experience of worship indeed, involving believers and God throughout. The believer recites each of these short verses, knowing that God responds to every statement s/he makes this way. The believer repeats, Master of the Day of Judgement; You alone we worship-the Prophet affirmed that the first act to be evaluated at the Judgement will be the prayers.
The request, Guide us to the straight path, makes the prayer of daily and hourly significance in the life of the believers as they plead refeatedly to be guided in their beliefs, in their morals and practical judgements. This makes the Fatiha vital both as a plea and as a spur to seek and follow the right way.
In their prayer, the believers see themselves as part of all humanity- indeed all creation- under the caring hand of God, in the Rabb al-alamin (Lord of all the worlds). The pray to be part of the company of the blessed servants of God from the beginning of the world and in the future; to be guided, along with other blessed servant of God to the straight path. This is not just the path of the Muslims, followers of Muhammad; indeed God speaks in the Qur’an having favoured Moses and Aaron and guided them to the straight path (37:118). The Qur’an speaks of eighteen earlier prophets in one passage (6:83:87) having been chosen by God and guided to a straight path, as well as their ancestors, descendants and brethren. This large company of believers, which Muslims pray in the Fatiha to join, is reinforced at the end of the Islamic formal prayer (salah), with the formula: Peace be to us and to the righteous servants of God. This is followed by another invocation of the blessing of God on the Prophet Muhammad and his family, saying, as You have blessed Abraham and his family filalamin (among all humankind). The singularity of God is emphasized throughout: in the dedications, praise, in His names and attributes, and boing the sole object worship and seeking help. In contrast, the affirmation and petition are put in the plural, not the singular, so that even if an individual is praying on his own,he sees himself as part of company of believers. The Muslim theologian and interpreter of the Qur’an, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (606/1209) expressed this in a pleasant way, stating:
The believer in effect is saying to God: I have heard Your Prophet say, “Being together is a mercy and being separated is a grief, so when I intended to praise you. I mentioned the praise of everybody, and when I anted to worship you, I mentioned the worship of everybody, and when I asked for guidance, I asked for guidance for everybody, and when I prayed to be kept away from those rejected, I fled from all those who incur anger and all those who are astray.”
The Prophet stated that ‘Praying together is twenty-seven times better than praying alone. Thus, if a Muslim enters the mosque and finds one person praying, he stand behind him taking him as ‘leader’, each finishing his/her time and each gaining the special reward for praying together.
Style of the Fatiha
The passage comes in a style that suits its important functions both as a condensed summary of the Islamic prayer and devotion. It is short, comprising 29 words in Arabic, and it is divided into seven short verses, written in rhythmic rhymed prose. The second sentence, for instance, consists of four words compresing God’s name, praise,power, and status as Caring Lord of everything. The centrepiece, V.5, written as four words in Arabic, sums up the entire relationship of the servant to God: You alone we worship and of you we ask for help.
The choice of words and structures allows for remarkable multiplicity of meaning difficult to capture in English. All existing translations show considerable loss of meaning. The words are very simple and familiar. In the first part about God they are composed of soft-sounding consonants which contrast with the latter part about human beings, especially as it reaches those who incur anger and those who are astray. There is a high degree of voicing and nasality, which gives a pleasing effect, including consonant such a I, m, n, and long u. the rhyme scheme alternets between’.. im’ and’.. in’ throughout. The quality of consonants and vowels does not allow for the passage to be hurriedly pronounced, and the rhymes come at crucial points, to make the readerpause where God will comment on the statement as mentioned above in the prophetic Hadith. In congregational prayer this is recited aloud by the imam in a resonant voice. The congregation listen to the recitation and do not join him reciting aloud, until he comes to the end of the passage, when they all respond with a long, drawn out, resonant amin, which has the same quality of sounds and length as the preceding rhymed words. The total effect makes the Fatiha particularly fitting for the atmosphere of prayer and devotion. Its brevity and auditory qualities make this passage, whice has to be recited by all Muslims of any linguistic background, easy to learn by heart and recite.
The Fatiha and the Lord’s Prayer
1. Our Father, Which art in Heaven
2. Hallowed be Thy name
3. The Kingdom come
4. The will be done in earth it is in Heaven
5. Give us this day our daily bread
6. And forgive us our trespass
7. As we forgive them that trespass against us
8. And lead us not into temptation
9. For Thine is the Kingdom
10. The Power and the Glory
11. For Ever and Ever, Amen
Christian scholars in the West have often compared the Fatiha with the Lord’s Prayer, some seeking to belittle Islam, and to show the Christian oirgins of Islam teaching. H.Winkler (1928) tried to show that the Fatiha on the whole was modelled on the Lord’s Prayer, although Paret (1965) considers Winkler’s attempt to have failed. Muslims, on the other hand, at lest in the Arabic tradition, do not show any interest in comparing these to prayers. Muslims experience no difficulty in they find similarities- in fact quite the reverse-since the Qur’an repeatedly affirms that is has come to confirm previous scriptures, all of which have the same central message. The Qur’an uses this argument with non-Muslims and with Muslims to endorse its teaching, and reinforce the faith of Muslims.
However, before going into comparisons, it should be noted that there are some textual problems. First the Fatiha is know to us in the Arabic original, and Muslims repeat the very words of the prayer read by the Prophet Muhammad, his companions, and successive generations of Muslims up to now. The Lord’s Prayer, on the other hand, is know to us only in translateion. Second, whereas there is only one version of the Fatiha, there are two of the Lord’s Prayer, one in Matthew 6:9-14 and second in Luke 11:2-4, the first being longer than the second. According to Sperl, they appear to have derived from diverse liturgical origins and to have undergone a period of evolution and change before entering the gospel. Sperl goes on to say that A reconstruction of the Aramaic original as attempted, among others by Lohmeyer (1946) is therefore problematic.
Moreover, it should be remembered that the contexts of the Fatiha and the Lord’s Prayer are very different. The Fatiha was revealed first as part of the Qur’an, as its name indicates: the opening part encapsulating its whole essence. In their prayer, Muslims read the Fatiha as the opening chapter of the Qur’an. As we have seen, the petition guide us to the straight path is answered immediately in the following sura: This is the book… wherein is guidance …’ The fact that it was adopted for the daily prayer does not change its original function.
The context of the Lord’s Prayer is completely different. In St Matthew’s gospel. Jesus had been directing his disciples to pray in a different way from those who make a show of it or pray at great length, thinking that by doing this they will have their prayers answered. Differences in context between the Fatiha the Lord’s Prayer must have bearing on the intention and text of each prayer, leading to differences even in shared elements that defy any claim of similarity and influence. This similarities that have been noted by earlier scholars appear to have more to do with from and quantity.
A Muslim would view the content of the Fatiha as being acceptable to Christian. There are, however, elements in the Lord’s Prayer that pose difficulties for a Muslim nurtured on the Fatiha, which is universal. Our, limit God to a particular community and to a particular realitionship of fatherhood, compared to The Sustaining Lord of All Creation not the Lord of the Muslims, or the Arabs, an although father is never or a son. Which art in heaven distance God from the earth as compared to the Sustaining Lord of All Creation. Being in haven does not in itself justify praise in the same way as His being Sustainer, Marciful and Master of the Day of Judgement does.
Than a Muslim will find a problem with the mood of the verbs as they occur in English: Hallowed be the name, the kingdom come, they will be done. In English this is all placed in the subjunctive whice is rather tentative and sounds to a Muslim as if you are praying for God, not to Him. The description of God in the Fatiha, and Arabic and English, is more affirmative: praise belongs to God, He is Sutaining Lord of All, Master of the Day of Judgement. The affirmation at the core of the Fatiha. Its is you we worship and it is you we ask for help. Central to the Islamic experience of worship and prayer is, not contained in the Lord’s prayer. The petition is also different: there is not request in the Fatiha, for guidance, compared to, Give us our daily bread, forgive our tresspases, lead us not into temptation. Guidance is forward looking, required by anyone in any action to be done, whereas forgivaness is more to do with sins alredy done. Moreover, Guide us is positive: it merely keeps them away from temptation, but does not advance from there. Forgive us our tresspases as we forgive them that trespass against us, (rendered by C.W.F smith as we have also forgiven them) could appear to run the human action into an example to be followed by God. In the Qur’an, God’s is the highest example (16:60). It is of course more binding for the believer to think that in order to be forgiven by God, he himself should first forgive others. The Qur’an states this in 24:22 and 4:149, but it does not use the form, as it appears in the English text of the Lord’s Prayer, which seems to make humans an example for God to follow.
A Muslim who is used to the logical and conclusive sequence of ideas in the Fatiha would not understand the final part of the Lord’s prayer in Matthew: for Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the Glory, coming as it does after. A s we forgive them that trespass against us. According to the logic of the Fatiha, this line should have come right at the beginning, together with hallowed be thy name, not as reason for forgiving us our tresspases as in the English version. Justification in the Fatiha is more obvipraise does it come naturally that He is the One to be wordhipped and from whom help is to be sought. Only after that is natural to ask for help. The request for guidance to the path is justified by its being blessed, and not the object of anger, or astray. The sequence is logical and conclusive. This does not come out clearly in the English version of the Lord’s prayer. This Fatiha also contains belief and worship and the ay of living, the path; it is a summary fitting for the beginning of the scripture as wll as for repetition by the believers in daily life.
The Lord’s Prayer has a different purpose and is different in scope from the Fatiha. The frequency of use of the Fatiha, and its social function, are wider than those of the Lord’s Prayer. In the end, it is salutary to repeat Muslim scholars affirmation at the end of discussions waillahu a’lam (and God knows best). As stated above, Muslims do not take an interest in comparing the two prayers. Nor should comparision be pursued with disregard on the different contexs of the to texts. Each prayer has sustained, in its own way, and will continue to sustain, the spiritual life of countless believers throughout their history; and both have in common the earnest desire to glorify God and eagerness to please Him.
The Fatiha in Muslim Life
As it is the first sura in the Qur’an and the centrepiece of Muslim daily prayer, this concise passage plays much wider role in Muslim life. It is the first part of the Qur’an that children learn and it opens their education. In schools they can be heard chanting it in groups. Learning it in Arabic gives it a unifying function between Muslims throughout the world, and inspires non-Arabs to start learning more Arabic later in life. Its blessing is sought on numerous occasions in Muslims lives. Before contracting mariages, when the two parties have agreed, they have a Fatiha reading ceremony to seal the agreement and this opens the marriage. Going back on such a reading of the Fatiha is thought to have serious consequences. No other man is allowed to think of proposing to a girl, once her Fatiha has ben read. In commercial deals it has a similar function: it is read for its binding force, and the blessing it gives to the undertaking. Before entering exams, students may read the Fatiha to give them strength and hope for success.
Other names of the Fatiha are al-Shafi’a (the Healer), and al-Kafiya (the Sufficient). When asking God earnestly to heal a sick person, or to lighten a difficulty, Muslims resort to the Fatiha. Even after a person’s death, the Fatiha continues to be recited, to invoke mercy on his/her soul. In fact funeral receptions are called, in some Middle-Eastern countries, thr reading of the Fatiha. When people are talking about a departed person even a long departed one they may read the Fatiha li-ruhihi (for his soul). When seeking the blessing of saints, people read the Fatiha and then ask God to answer their prayer, for the sake of the saint.
In art the Fatiha figures prominently. In calligraphy, it offers a central motif, inspiring artists in endless veriety, and is hung in house and offices like a prized possession or used for decorating mosque. This decoration can be either the whole of the Fatiha, or a single verse, usually verse one (reffered to in Arabic as the bismillah) or two (the praise), or five: It is You we worship and from You we seek help.
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