So I thought this was worth a discussion. I recently read the tafseer of the opening chapter or, Surah Faatihah, sadly I was not very impressed, aside from pages droining on about simple things such as reciting the Bismillah, the importance of it, the creation of shaitaan, the importance of seeking refuge from shaytaan and so on, I have already found so many contradictions just in the tafseer of one single, little surah.
Now I always heard a lot of stories about converts to Islam who just from reading the opening chapters became muslim, they found the words so beautiful and inspiring and say yes this HAS to be from god.
I wonder how many of these converts read the tafseer of surah faatihah and if so I wonder if this got them thinking or re thinking their decisions to convert.
Here is the translation of The opening chapter:
(1. In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.)
(2. All praise and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of existence.)
Allah says, `My servant has praised Me.' When the servant says,
(3. The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.)
Allah says, `My servant has glorified Me.' When he says,
(4. The Owner of the Day of Recompense.) Allah says, `My servant has glorified Me,' or `My servant has related all matters to Me.' When he says,
(5. You (alone) we worship, and You (alone) we ask for help.) Allah says, `This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall acquire what he sought.' When he says,
(6. Guide us to the straight path.) (7. The way of those on whom You have granted Your grace, not (the way) of those who earned Your anger, nor of those who went astray), Allah says, `This is for My servant, and My servant shall acquire what he asked for.').''These words seem to have a great effect on many muslims and non muslims…. I suppose I can see how this can be comforting to a person who has reached rock bottom or is in an emotional crisis. But even when I was in a very emotional state after my divorce, the short translation of surah faatiha scared me into trying to be a better muslim. This verse particularly got me worried, “6. Guide us to the straight path” What is the straight part? With so many versions of Islam how do I know if I am on the straight part? I literally started panicking at this point.
Back to the tafseer, the first thing that made me raise an eyebrow is this:
Also, in the last Hadith, Allah said, "I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves, a half for Me and a half for My servant. My servant shall have what he asked for.'' Allah next explained the division that involves reciting Al-Fatihah, demonstrating the importance of reciting the Qur'an during the prayer, which is one of the prayer's greatest pillars. Hence, the word `prayer' was used here although only a part of it was actually being referred to, that is, reciting the Qur'an. Similarly, the word `recite' was used where prayer is meant, as demonstrated by Allah's statement,Why does god need to make the opening chapter of a book that is suppose to guide mankind for him, doesn’t god not need anything, doesn’t god not need us? So why make the first verses of the quraan all about praising him?
Hafs mentioned that `Umar said to `Ali, "We know La ilaha illallah, Subhan Allah and Allahu Akbar. What about Al-Hamdu Lillah'' `Ali said, "A statement that Allah liked for Himself, was pleased with for Himself and He likes that it be repeated.'' Also, Ibn `Abbas said, "Al-Hamdu Lillah is the statement of appreciation. When the servant says Al-Hamdu Lillah, Allah says, `My servant has praised Me.'' Ibn Abi Hatim recorded this HadithGod was pleased with a way to glorify himself? The amount of hadith and quranic ayats that say how god likes us to praise him and how are quite contradictory to the point that god does not NEED us and we NEED to worship him, yet he spent a lot of time planning how we should praise and glorify him.
Surah Faatihah sets the tone of how to pray, begin buy glorifying your lord then he may give you what you want, IF it is good for you of course. I remember spending many nights and days praying in this manner, kissing gods ass to get my own selfish desires.
Here is something else that stood out for me,
“Indeed, only Allah is able to prevent the evil of Satan from touching the son of Adam.”Wait god can prevent shaitaan from touching the SON of Adam?? What about preventing shaitaan from touching Adam and his partner in the first place??? Could god not do that? Would have saved us all a lot of trouble I reckon.
Here is another thing that bothers me,
(And so We have appointed for every Prophet enemies ـ Shayatin (devils) among mankind and Jinn, inspiring one another with adorned speech as a delusion (or by way of deception)) (6:112)What is gods fascination with leading us astray and tempting us? Create humans with human desires and watch as they struggle to please him then burn them eternally if they fail? Sounds fair….
So god created and appointed devils on earth, to prod and pry at us, but only we are to blame if we succumb…
“We should state here that the believers, whom the human enemies kill, become martyrs, while those who fall victim to the inner enemy - Satan - become bandits. Further, the believers who are defeated by the apparent enemy - disbelievers - gain a reward, while those defeated by the inner enemy earn a sin and become misguided. Since Satan sees man where man cannot see him, it is befitting that the believers seek refuge from Satan with Whom Satan cannot see. The Isti`adhah is a form of drawing closer to Allah and seeking refuge with Him from the evil of every evil creature”We must seek refuge from allah from the evil that he created to tempt us so that we can get closer to him….
I find this interesting, here is why, when I started doubting islam and having these difficult thoughts and ideas that Islam may not be true, I turned to allah, I prayed to him, I read the Isti’adhah several times, and guess what? It did NOT work, obviously as here I am now typing this out. And let’s not forget the fact that I spent MANY nights asking god to let me die when my imaan is at its strongest point, and wow, look where I am now? How am I suppose to believe this merry go round prayer now?
There are actually a lot of contradictions and eyebrows raising thoughts I have come across in this tafseer, but I think I should round off now, I will end by pointing out that I actually found a few hadith rather amusing, some even sound like jokes guys in the dessert were making 1400 years ago that are now in th21st century taken very literally:
“The woman, the donkey and the black dog interrupt the prayer (if they pass in front of those who do not pray behind a Sutrah, i.e. a barrier).) Abu Dharr said, "I said, `What is the difference between the black dog and the red or yellow dog' He said,
The black dog is a devil.''
“A servant of Allah once said, `O Allah! Yours is the Hamd that is suitable for the grace of Your Face and the greatness of Your Supreme Authority.' The two angels were confused as to how to write these words. They ascended to Allah and said, `O our Lord! A servant has just uttered a statement and we are unsure how to record it for him.' Allah said while having more knowledge in what His servant has said, 'What did My servant say' They said, `He said, `O Allah! Yours is the Hamd that is suitable for the grace of Your Face and the greatness of Your Supreme Authority.' Allah said to them, `Write it as My servant has said it, until he meets Me and then I shall reward him for it”
“Also, Ibn Jarir At-Tabari recorded that `Umar bin Al-Khattab once rode a Berthawn (huge camel) which started to proceed arrogantly. `Umar kept striking the animal, but the animal kept walking in an arrogant manner. `Umar dismounted the animal and said, "By Allah! You have carried me on a Shaytan. I did not come down from it until after I had felt something strange in my heart.'' This Hadith has an authentic chain of narrators”
Ibn Marduwyah in his Tafsir that Usamah bin `Umayr said, "I was riding behind the Prophet...'' and he mentioned the rest of the above Hadith. The Prophet said in this narration, (Do not say these words, because then Satan becomes larger; as large as a house. Rather, say, 'Bismillah,' because Satan then becomes as small as a fly.)All references of hadith and ayahs can be found at
http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=101&Itemid=35#1O and one last thing, the biggest and most obvious contradiction lies right in this sentence,
(Declare (O Muhammad ) unto My servants, that truly, I am the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful. And that My torment is indeed the most painful torment.) (15:49-50) Found in the tafseer of Surah fatihah, scholars all agree that the opening chapter says allah is both the most merciful, but his torment is a warning for us as well....
If the believer knew what punishment Allah has, none would have hope in acquiring His Paradise, and if the disbeliever knew what mercy Allah has, none will lose hope of earning His earningThis really makes me scratch my head, what a contradiction....
Anyway I could go on and on and on
But I will stop now
Topic: My thoughts on the tafseer of Surah Faatihah