Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (Guide us to the straight path)
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Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (Guide us to the straight path)]
Allah the Exalted said: [Surat al-Fatihah: 6] Guidance can mean indication, and it can mean success,Which of the two meanings does the supplicant intend: Is it guidance of success or guidance of indication, or both? Both,He intends guidance of indication, meaning: knowledge,Guidance of success, meaning: adherence to the straight path, and it is known that a person cannot adhere to the straight path except with knowledge. How can one worship Allah in ignorance? It is impossible! Allah must guide him, first indicating the way and then granting him success.
The saying of Allah the Exalted: [Surat al-Shura: 52] This addresses the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). What is meant by guidance here? Guidance of indication, direction, and clarification,And his statement: [Surat al-Qasas: 56] Guidance of success,Meaning: You can never grant anyone success in guidance, no one can do that except Allah alone,And his statement: [Surat Fussilat: 17] Guidance of indication, Allah indicated the truth to them,And their messenger clarified the truth to them, but they: [Surat Fussilat: 17] .
The important point is that guidance is of two types: Guidance of indication, and guidance of success.
Guidance of indication is through knowledge, and guidance of success is through walking on the straight path.
And the saying of the one praying or supplicating with this noble verse: (Guide us to the straight path) means: guidance of indication and success, so this supplication encompasses knowledge of the truth and acting upon the truth.
And his statement: (The straight path) The linguists say: the word "sirath" is not applied to a road unless it is wide, whereas a narrow road is not a sirath,And the aspect of that in meaning is: that the sirath, the zirat, and the sarat all indicate width and ease of passage,It is said: The man zirat the morsel.
Meaning: He swallowed it quickly and easily,Here the sirath means: The wide road by which a person proceeds without fatigue or hardship.
But the sirath may be sloping, and it may have elevations and depressions,And for this he said: (The straight) means: that which has no crookedness, and has no depression or elevation, because a crooked road hinders.
For example: If the distance between you and the town is 20 kilometers in a straight line, it may be 30 kilometers or more in a crooked line, depending on the amount of crookedness. Likewise with depressions and elevations: if the road is level, you reach your destination quickly, but if it goes up and down, the road becomes longer for you. So the straight is the level, moderate one, thus excluding the crooked and what it contains of descent and ascent.
So what is meant by the straight path here: Is the intended meaning the physical straight path or the metaphorical one? The intended meaning is the metaphorical, not the physical,As for the saying of Moses (peace be upon him): [Surat al-Qasas: 22] So the intended meaning there is the physical, and for this reason Allah the Exalted guided him to the evenness of the path, but here the sirath is metaphorical,And the metaphorical sirath is explained by His saying: [Surat al-Fatihah: 7] .
Allah the Exalted said:
Guide us to the straight path -
اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَThe saying of Allah the Exalted:
And indeed, [O Muhammad], you guide to a straight path -
وَإِنَّكَ لَتَهْدِي إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍIndeed, [O Muhammad], you do not guide whom you like
إِنَّكَ لا تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَAnd as for Thamud, We guided them, but they preferred blindness over guidance
وَأَمَّا ثَمُودُ فَهَدَيْنَاهُمْ فَاسْتَحَبُّوا الْعَمَى عَلَى الْهُدَىbut they preferred blindness over guidance, so the thunderbolt of humiliating punishment seized them
فَاسْتَحَبُّوا الْعَمَى عَلَى الْهُدَى فَأَخَذَتْهُمْ صَاعِقَةُ الْعَذَابِ الْهُونِThe important point is that guidance is of two types: Guidance of indication, and guidance of success.
Guidance of indication is through knowledge, and guidance of success is through walking on the straight path.
And the saying of the one praying or supplicating with this noble verse: (Guide us to the straight path) means: guidance of indication and success, so this supplication encompasses knowledge of the truth and acting upon the truth.
And his statement: (The straight path) The linguists say: the word "sirath" is not applied to a road unless it is wide, whereas a narrow road is not a sirath,And the aspect of that in meaning is: that the sirath, the zirat, and the sarat all indicate width and ease of passage,It is said: The man zirat the morsel.
Meaning: He swallowed it quickly and easily,Here the sirath means: The wide road by which a person proceeds without fatigue or hardship.
But the sirath may be sloping, and it may have elevations and depressions,And for this he said: (The straight) means: that which has no crookedness, and has no depression or elevation, because a crooked road hinders.
For example: If the distance between you and the town is 20 kilometers in a straight line, it may be 30 kilometers or more in a crooked line, depending on the amount of crookedness. Likewise with depressions and elevations: if the road is level, you reach your destination quickly, but if it goes up and down, the road becomes longer for you. So the straight is the level, moderate one, thus excluding the crooked and what it contains of descent and ascent.
So what is meant by the straight path here: Is the intended meaning the physical straight path or the metaphorical one? The intended meaning is the metaphorical, not the physical,As for the saying of Moses (peace be upon him):