How did God open His Book?

The opening (preface) of Al-Quran is known as ‘Al-Fatihah’, a chapter of 7 verses being the first complete one (Chapter 1) revealed in the heart of Muhammad (peace be upon him) who came fourteen centuries ago as the last messenger of God (Allah) following Jesus (peace be upon him). This is in fact the special prayer of utmost significance chosen by God for His servants (human beings). The verses are:

1. In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful.

2. All praise and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of existence.

3. The most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

4. The owner of the Day of Recompense.

5. You (alone) we worship, and You (alone) we ask for help.

6. Guide us to the straight path.

7. The way of those whom You have granted Your grace, not (the way) of those who earned Your anger, nor of those who went astray.

Interpretation of verses

Verse 1:

       God wants His servant to utter His name before performing any deed because it will keep him away from evil and help him receive God’s help.

Verses 2-3:

       Verse 2: God deserves all praise and thanks since He created everything in this unimaginable universe composed of billions of stars and planets including the earth and all of its living things like human beings, animals, plants and micro-organisms and non-living things, such as, mountains, oceans, rivers, atmosphere and so on. God set the laws to control the movement of the stars and planets in the universe along with its expansion. The quarks, neutrons, protons and electrons of atoms are all created and regulated by God. The sophisticated structures and functional mechanisms of living systems, especially the human body are the reflections of God’s immense creative power which is beyond our imagination. The human’s powers of thinking, interpreting, visualizing, hearing, smelling and communicating are all gifted by God.  Every human discovery and invention till now has actually been facilitated by God. Even one should not be proud of one’s good deed because God has actually permitted one to accomplish the deed based on one’s capability, dedication and so on.  If God willed, He might not have decided a success for that particular effort because God has supreme power over all things. Thus, none of His creation is worthy of praise and none is worthy of worship.

        Verse 3: God is the most Gracious and the most Merciful for us because He created all in the universe including those in earth (mentioned above) only for our benefits and sustenance. The protective layers of earth atmosphere against harmful cosmic rays, the mountains for stabilizing the earth, the water vaporization (from sea) and subsequent rainfall for germinating seeds and growing plants to turn out them as the sources and resources of various foods and providing drinking water are few examples of God’s countless favours towards us. The modern civilization with sophisticated technologies which enabled our lives easier and more enjoyable is the result of the technological revolution masterminded by God.  Human beings are constantly being embraced even for a single second with God’s immense mercy by inhaling environmental oxygen to produce energy, maintaining heart beats to supply blood to different organs including the brain, a highly sensitive organ that can not survive without  blood supply for less than 10 seconds, fighting attacks of foreign particles in the body, transmitting nerve signals for feelings, memory, analysis, coordination, homeostatis etc.

          God elaborated the meanings of verse 2 and 3 in many different locations of His book. Since 'Al Baqarah' (Chapter 2) is the longest chapter and is just next to Chapter 1, examples will be taken from that particular chapter in relation to these verses (2-3) and subsequent ones.

Verses 21-22 of Chapter 2:

"O Mankind, submit to your Lord Who created you and those who were before you; in this way only you may expect to save yourselves. It is He Who has made the earth a bed for you and the sky a canopy; and it is He Who sends down rain from above for the growth of every kind of food products for your sustenance. So, when you know this, you should not set up equals to rank with Allah".

Verses 163-164 of Chapter 2:

“And your Allah is One Allah: There is no god but He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of mankind; in the rain which Allah Sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they Trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth;- (Here) indeed are Signs for a people that are wise."

Verses 243 of Chapter 2:

“.....For Allah is full of bounty to mankind, but Most of them are ungrateful.”

Verses 251 of Chapter 2:

“.....And if Allah had not been repelling one set of people by means of another, the earth would have been filled with chaos. But Allah is bountiful to the world.”

Verses 255 of Chapter 2:

“Allah: the Everlasting, the Sustainer of the whole Universe; there is no god but He. He does neither slumber nor sleep. Whatsoever is in the heavens and in the earth is His. Who is there that can intercede with Him except by His own permission? He knows what is before the people and also what is hidden from them. And they cannot comprehend anything out of His knowledge except what He pleases. His Kingdom spreads over the heavens and the earth and the guarding of these does not weary Him. He alone is the Supreme and the Exalted.”

Verse 4:

      Although God is most beneficent and most merciful for mankind, He is also just for them and keeps records precisely of all of their activities in this world. A day will come when God will regenerate and gather all human beings for the judgements of what they did in the world. Then those whose balance of good deeds will be heavier than that of evil deeds will enter the paradise and those whose balance of good deeds will be lighter will reside in fire. However, God has the supreme authority to pardon anyone He pleases.

Verse 48 of Chapter 2:

“And guard yourselves against the Day when no one shall avail anyone anything; nor shall intercession be accepted from anyone; nor shall anyone be acquitted for any (amount of) ransom; nor shall the guilty ones be helped from any quarter.”

Verse 208-210 of Chapter 2:

“O Believers, enter completely into Islam and do not follow in the footsteps of Satan, for he is your avowed enemy. If you lapse back after receiving the clear teachings that have come to you, know it well that Allah is All-Powerful, All-Wise. Will they wait until Allah Himself comes down to them in the canopies of clouds with a retinue of angels, and seal their doom? Ultimately every thing shall be presented before Allah (for judgement).”

Verse 254 of Chapter 2:

“O Believers, spend of the wealth We have bestowed upon you (in Our way) before the Day comes when there shall be no buying and no selling: when neither friendship nor intercession will be of any avail. Those, who adopt the way of disbelief are indeed the wrongdoers.”

      No one except God knows when the day will come. What we know is that two opposite forces are acting in the universe: force of expansion and force of gravitation and it is the force of expansion which is currently dominating over the force of gravitation and causing the universe expand at a tremendous speed. At the moment, we do not know whether the universe will expand for ever or the force of gravitation will win over the force of expansion after a period of time resulting in collapse of the entire universe.

Verse 5:

      If we accept the statements made by God for His servants in verses 2-4, we should only worship Him and ask His help only. Worshiping God or asking help from Him through intermediate(s) is the one of the greatest sins because it clearly violates those three statements undermining God’s countless favors towards His servants and His Sovereignty in this word and the hereafter.

Verse 45 of Chapter 2:

“Seek help with the Salat and fortitude: no doubt, Salat is a hard task but not for those obedient servants, who realize that ultimately they shall meet their Lord and shall return to Him.”

Verse 107 of Chapter 2:

“Do you not know that the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah alone and that you have neither any protector nor helper beside Him?

Verse 153 of Chapter 2:

“O Believers, seek help with fortitude and Salat, for Allah is with those who show fortitude.”

Verse 186 of Chapter 2:

 “And if My servants ask you, O Prophet concerning Me, tell them that I am quite near to them. I hear and answer the prayer of the suppliant, when he calls to Me. So let them respond to My call and believe in Me. Convey this to them, O Prophet; perhaps they may be guided aright.”

Verse 201-202 of Chapter 2:

“Then there are others who say, "Our Lord, give us what is good in this world and also what is good in the Hereafter and save us from the torment of Fire." Such people shall have their due share (in both the worlds) according to what they earn. And Allah is swift at settling accounts.”

Verse 286 of Chapter 2:

“Allah does not burden any human being with a responsibility heavier than he can bear. Everyone will enjoy the fruit of the good that one has earned and shall suffer for the evil that one has committed. (O Believers, pray like this to Allah: ) "Our Lord, take us not to task if we forget and lapse into error inadvertently. Lord! lay not on us the kind of burdens that You had lain on the people before us. Lord, lay not on us the kind of burden that we have not the strength to bear.  Be kind to us, forgive us and show mercy to us. You are our Protector : help us against the disbelievers."

Verse 6-7:

      Since the creation of mankind, God assigned prophets and messengers to particular nations in order to guide their people to the right path according to His guidelines (Holy Books). “Guide us to the straight path” means, “Make us firm on the path of guidance and do not allow us to deviate from it” (Tafsir Ibn Kathir). In the last verse, God teaches His servants to pray in order to be led to the pathway of those whom God has bestowed His favors (historically and currently) for their good deeds and kept away from the pathways of those who earned God’s anger because of their corrupted intentions and deviation from the truth in spite of having the proper knowledge and those who were led astray due to lack of true knowledge (historically and currently).

Verses 2-4 of Chapter 2:

“This is the Book of Allah: there is no doubt about it. It is guidance to Godfearing people, who believe in the unseen, establish the Salats and spend out of what we have bestowed on them; who believe in the Book We have sent down to you (i.e., the Qur’an) and in the Books sent down before you, and firmly believe in the Hereafter.”

Verse 27 of Chapter 2:

“And He leads astray only those who disobey Allah; who break Allah’s covenant after ratifying it; who cut asunder what Allah has ordered to be joined, and who produce chaos on the earth. These are the people who are indeed the losers.’

Verses 81-82 of Chapter 2:

Whoever earns evil and becomes engrossed in sin shall be doomed to Hell and abide therein for ever. Only those people who believe and do good deeds, will be the dwellers of the Garden and live there for ever.”

Verses 111-112 of Chapter 2:

“They say, ‘None shall enter Paradise unless he be a Jew or a Christian.’ These are their wishful fancies. Say to them, ‘Bring your proof, if you are right in your claim.’ The fact is that no one has any special claim to Paradise; whoever surrenders himself to Allah in obedience and follows the Right Way, shall get his reward from his Lord: there shall be neither fear nor grief for such people.”

Verses 135-136 of Chapter 2:

“The Jews say, "Become Jews and you will be rightly guided" ;the Christians say, "Become Christians and you will have the true guidance." Say to them, "Nay, we turn away from every other way and accept the way of Abraham, and Abraham did not associate other gods with Allah. O Muslims, say to them, "We believe in Allah and the Guidance which has been sent down to us and which was sent to Abraham, Ismail , Isaac and Jacob and his descendants and which was given by their Lord to Moses and Jesus and to all other Prophets. We do not discriminate against any of them and we have completely surrendered to Allah as Muslims."

Verses 159-160 of Chapter 2:

“Indeed Allah curses, and the cursers, too, curse those who conceal the clear teachings and guidance We have sent down, after We have made these plain in the Book for the guidance of all mankind. I, however, will forgive those of them who repent of it, mend their ways and make own what they were concealing: for I am very generous in accepting repentance and showing mercy.”

Verses 161-162 of Chapter 2:

“Those who adopted the way of disbelief and died as disbelievers, are accursed of Allah and of angels and of all mankind: they shall remain accursed for ever. Their punishment shall not be lightened, nor shall they be reprieved.”

Verse 165 of Chapter 2:

“Yet there are men who take (for worship) others besides Allah, as equal (with Allah): They love them as they should love Allah. But those of Faith are overflowing in their love for Allah. If only the unrighteous could see, behold, they would see the penalty: that to Allah belongs all power, and Allah will strongly enforce the penalty.”

Verses 170-171 of Chapter 2:

“When it is said to them, "Follow the Commands that Allah has sent down," they reply, "We will follow only what we found our forefathers practicing. Well, will they go on following their forefathers even though they did not use common sense and did not find the right way? The mental condition of those who rejected the way of Allah may be likened to that of the cattle whom the shepherd calls but they hear nothing except the sound of shouts and cries. They are deaf, they are dumb, they are blind; therefore they do not understand anything.”

Verses 177 of Chapter 2:

It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces Towards east or West; but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the Allah-fearing.

Verse 212 of Chapter 2:

“This worldly life has been made very charming and alluring for those who have adopted the way of disbelief. So they mock at those who have adopted the way of belief ,but (they forget that) the pious people will rank above them on the Day of Resurrection. As to the wordly provisions, Allah has full authority and power to bestow these without measure on anyone He wills.”

Verses 256-257 of Chapter 2:

“There is no compulsion and coercion in regard to religion. The right thing has been made distinct from the wrong thing: now whoever rejects taghut  and believes in Allah has taken a firm support that never gives way. And Allah (Whose support he takes) hears everything and knows everything. Allah is the Helper and Protector of those who believe in Him: He brings them out of the depths of darkness into the light. As for the disbelievers, they have taghut as their patron, who drives them out of light into the depths of darkness. These are the people who are doomed to the Fire, wherein they shall live for ever.”

 

A Concluding Remark

      Based on the analysis made in the article entitled “The Opening of Al-Quran: A Scientific Interpretation”, it seems that all of the verses of Al-Quran could be arranged and discussed in accordance with the significance of each of the verses of the Opening Chapter. So, this opening chapter could be considered as an ‘abstract’ of the “Al-Quran’ lessons. God mentioned the unique characteristic of His Book in Verse 23 of Chapter 39:

"Allah has sent down the best of discourses, a Book all whose parts are uniform in style and whose themes have been repeated over and over again.   ......"

     The importance of this opening chapter can be realized from the following verse of Al-Quran:

Verse 87 of Chapter 15:
"We have given you seven verses that are worthy of recitation over and over again, and We have also bestowed on you the glorious Qur'an."

Appeal to all of you (Muslims and Non-Muslims):

Please post your comments or suggestions.