Chapter 1: Key Terms

This is the very first word of the first Surah in the Qur’an, its root of which is “hmd” and means praise. Al-Hamdu relates to the fact that God deserves sincere and plentiful praise for who He is and what He has blessed us with. This is a very fundamental concept in Islamic belief and in the Islamic mind-set. Praise implies a sense of gratitude, and true believers remain ever grateful to God for all His blessings, mercy, creativity, and nurturing for each and every one of us. One of God’s 99 names is Hamid, meaning praiseworthy.

There is a hadith in which the Prophet was asked why he was so diligent in his worship of God, as we know that he was legendary for his devotion to God, even in the wee hours of the night, given that he was the most pure and sincere human being. His simple reply was, “Should I not be a grateful servant?” Our worship and our prayers should not be directed only toward asking for God’s mercy and forgiveness but also toward expressing our sincere and heartfelt gratitude. The Prophet’s name is also derived from this root word; the names Ahmad and Mohammad mean someone who is a praised one, a befitting name for the Prophet.

This means the master, sustainer, cherisher, or someone who not only rules but also sustains, nourishes, nurtures, guides, protects, perfects, inspires, and regulates and ensures success for those who desire it in this life and in the Hereafter. In Islam, the concept of God is not that of a father-child, king-subject, or elder-younger relationship but that of a Creator who acts as the universal patron and guardian to help His creatures develop their full potential. The typical English translation of Rabb as “Lord” is a poor substitute. God is unique and unlike anything we know and is not a favored deity of one nation or one group; He is not our “Father in Heaven” or the Jewish God or the Lord Krishna or the Lord Buddha. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists in this universe.

Meaning full of mercy and the instiller of mercy, these names represent one of God’s major attributes, which He chose to highlight in the first chapter of the Qur’an and are required to be read at the beginning of every chapter. Not only does this imply that God is full of mercy, but that this mercy flows continuously to the created universe, including all of His creations. A causal and simple observation of a mother and child relationship is enough to demonstrate the presence of mercy and love that is abundant in mankind and in the animal kingdom. This earth, with its abundant water, air, mineral resources, and ability to produce food for us, is another example of God’s mercy and compassion.

There is a saying of the Prophet that God assigned 1% of His mercy to the living world and reserved the remaining 99% for Himself, including the mercy to be displayed on the Day of Judgment. His mercy to the world, for example, is reflected in the unconditional love of a mother for her child, whether we look at a human mother hugging her infant child, a fearsome lioness gently carrying its baby, or a bird feeding its chicks in the nest, and these are just a few of the everyday experiences that we take for granted. These instinctive actions of tenderness and love are grand examples of how God instills mercy and love into His creations.

Once, a companion of the Prophet caught several baby birds from a nest and went to the Prophet while the mother bird kept hovering over them and making noises of anxiety over the distress of losing her babies. The Prophet became very upset at this sight and asked his companion to release the babies. The Prophet then remarked that God is even more anxious for the safety and well-being of His creatures.

The root word here, “rhm,” is also the root word for the mother’s womb in Arabic. The female gender comes closer to God in terms of their compassion and concern for other human beings. The dignity that God placed on the female gender is extraordinary, yet in too many Muslim societies women are not given the dignity they are assigned by God and that is due to them.

This refers to the Day of Judgment, accountability, and, in a deeper sense, the consequence of our own actions. “Yaum” in Arabic implies days or moments in time. Judgment is a continuous process in this world, even though the outcome or consequences may happen in a discontinuous fashion. The concept of judgment and accountability is very fundamental to Islamic faith, and one should realize that all our activities and sayings are recorded by assigned angels and will be delivered to us in the form of a book on the Day of Judgment. Nothing will be left unrecorded, and if we were to dispute with God on any of the actions recorded in the book, our bodies would testify against us in God’s presence. Accountability is a serious matter, and each one of us has to be cognizant of our roles and responsibilities in this life to each other and fulfill these obligations in an honest, truthful, and expeditious manner, as there is no guarantee of the longevity of our lives on this earth.

Even though in conventional thinking the Day of Judgment is implied by this word, one has to recognize that judgment is being rendered on a continual basis while some judgment will be deferred until the formal Day of Judgment when every person will be raised again and will stand in front of God. It will indeed be a very difficult and terrifying day when we will face the consequences of our own actions with no recourse to go back and make amends. It is the day when we will testify against ourselves, it is the day when we will see our life’s work in front of us, it is the day when those who denied this Day of Judgment will say, “I wish I could go back” or “I wish I were dust,” it is the day when God will judge and nobody will be wronged in the least bit, it is the day we will finally be paid back for what we earned or did not earn. It is also the day that all people who failed to respect other people, who propagated falsehood to deceive people, who oppressed people and failed to uphold moral values and human dignity, and who failed to accept God as the ultimate truth will dread the consequences of their lifelong efforts.

The realities of the Day of Judgment and our ongoing accountability should be a strong reminder for all of us, especially those of faith, that life has a purpose and a drive behind it and that we need to listen to our conscience and behave and act accordingly. This is no different from the accountability demanded by our jobs, our societies, and our physical existence. Ignoring these particular responsibilities creates immediate repercussions, whereas failing to abide by God’s guidance may sometimes have a delayed consequence and therefore make us lax, and, perhaps, this is the best trial that God could give us.

“It is You (God) that we truly serve, and it is You (God) that we seek help from” (1:4). This statement of intent or yearning of the human soul is fundamental to what God wants us to do: Our purpose is to worship God and to serve others. Also, we need to realize that God is independent and that He is not in need of our services. Serving God really means we acknowledge His being God and then follow His guidance in worship and in our dealings with the created world. The true measure of our service to God is really how successfully we serve other people and other creatures and how responsibly we use the resources that God has placed at our disposal while preserving the nature and the environment. Too many Muslims today think simplistically that if we worship God in the form of the five pillars of Islam we are done and are accomplished Muslims. Nothing is further from the truth. True Muslims should use the five pillars of Islam as the instruments for self-awareness and self-discipline so that they can successfully engage in a determined fashion to create a society where dignity, knowledge, freedom, justice, safety, health, and a lack of hunger prevail. As God said, “You are the best community, evolved for the benefit of mankind because you encourage what is good, you discourage what is evil, and you believe in God” (3:110). I hope we are paying attention to what God made so clear to us. What is our excuse for the lack of clarity in our purpose and the lack of sincere devotion to God and preserving human dignity? All Muslims, whether ordinary citizens, public leaders, business persons, professionals, religious scholars, intellectuals, media experts, or kings and queens, need to ask themselves first and then their communities how each one of us, individually and collectively, is fulfilling our promise of serving God (and each other) and seeing God’s help (and collective effort), which we utter each day as we recite Surah Al-Fatiha in our daily prayers.

This phrase means the straight path or true guidance. The guidance of God is here termed as the Straight Path. The Qur’an declares that Abraham, the patriarch of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, belonged to this Straight Path or guidance. This is the guidance that is based on truth and is in conformity with our collective human knowledge, intuitive sense, human conscience, and the yearning of the human soul. This path is achieved less by what we say (such as claiming to be a Muslim, a Jew, or a Christian and as such being rightly guided) and more by what we do, how other people will see our accomplishments, and how effectively we can defend and justify our actions to God and to others. Each one of us needs to do a self-assessment every now and then in a sincere and honest manner to determine how far away we are from this Straight Path knowing full well that God has given us complete guidance to travel on this path in our current journey on this earth.

The Qur’an is nothing but an elaboration of this Straight Path so that we cannot claim that God did not adequately define for us the navigational system through which to follow this Straight Path. Our accountability to God is independent of who we call ourselves, whether Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, or any other name. Each one of us is bound by the same set of standards and the same set of moral and social rules as presented in the Qur’an and corroborated by other Books of revelation, by prophets, and by people of truth, righteousness, and faith. It is important for every person to ensure that they find the guidance that leads to this Straight Path.