Quran Blogger

For most of The Opening, God teaches us how to ask.  In the last part of The Opening, God teaches us a different, intensely profound lesson: what to ask for.

Before we get into the text of the final ayahs of The Opening, let’s pretend for a moment that we don’t know what the ayahs actually say. Let’s ruminate then, in our state of feigned ignorance, about what we would assume the last few ayahs of The Opening ought to say.

For this exercise, let’s take as true the premises that the Quran is, as most Muslims believe, the uncreated (a loaded term we won’t get into now), perfect, eternal word of God, that it contains within the subtleties of its language divine wisdom, and that those subtleties include not only what the Quran says but also how it says it and what it does not say. With those premises in mind, it would seem reasonable to assume (remember, we’re still pretending) that the prayer that appears in the last ayahs of The Opening would be something heavy with the significant weight of being both an aspiration (something we want/need/desire) and a lesson (in what we humans should, for our own benefit, hold as our most intense want/need/desire). I would have thought that, in the most prominent of all prayers, in the prayer we recite most often, we would have directly prayed either for the ultimate success of entry into Heaven or salvation from the torment of Hell and a destiny of eternal damnation.  If securing our place in the Afterlife is the endgame of our ephemeral Earthly existence, then surely God would make reference to that endgame here in The Opening, where the reference would serve not only as a prayer for the benefit of the reader regarding such reader’s lot in the Afterlife but also as a consistent reminder of the existence of Heaven and Hell and the goal of attaining the former and avoiding the latter.

Because of this thinking, I find what we actually pray for in The Opening to be somewhat surprising:

6. Show us the straight way, 7. The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, Those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

The significant thing here is that we are praying for a path and not a destination.  In other words, The Opening teaches us that journeying on the Straight Path is the destination of our lives.  If being on a path is our destination, then we can never reach a point where the path is complete.  It is infinite.

Standing alone, the concepts of being blessed by God with the attainment of Paradise and being protected by God from the torment of Hell would, in and of themselves, represent neither the fulfillment of mankind’s Covenant (another loaded term) with God nor the proper administration of the divine Trust (loaded) held by mankind. Heaven and Hell are tools for motivation representing reward and punishment, but being conscious of their existence or knowledgeable about their characteristics would not answer for humanity the fundamental question regarding the purpose of man’s existence.

We were not put on this Earth merely to be rewarded or punished.  In my view, most people do not, in the first instance, turn to a religious text to hear about the rewards of Heaven or the punishments of Hell.  I believe instead that people turn to religious texts for guidance about living better, happier, more fulfilling lives, or for guidance about a supreme being responsible for the things in life that are beyond people’s control or natural understanding.  In our default state of ignorance, the pestering itch inside our human hearts is an itch to know our maker and understand our purpose.  I don't think there is a default itch to avoid some vague concept of eternal punishment or attain some vague state of everlasting pleasure.  Existential enlightment is likely the fundamental motivation underlying most human attempts to explore the message of the Quran. 

It makes sense, then, that the prayer at the end of The Opening would not speak directly about reward (the attainment of Heaven) or punishment (the avoidance of Hell), but rather that it would speak directly about the question that lies at the heart of people’s impetus for seeking out divine guidance: man's purpose.  The lesson here, then, is that the purpose of our lives is to be on a “Straight Path.”  The challenge is to understand what that means, and the rest of the Quran can be viewed as being dedicated to addressing that challenge.  The enduring miracle of the words is that, in this short ayah, God has both identified for us our purpose and (by virtue of this being a prayer) started us on our way toward its fulfillment.

But there are other questions about this ayah that need to be asked. Why, for example, don’t we pray for something more than guidance to the Straight Path (e.g. why don’t we ask for God to thabbitna (“make us steadfast”) on the Straight Path, or for success in following the Straight Path)? Moreover, why do we have to ask for that guidance repeatedly and so often? Surely of all the billions of people who will utter these words repeatedly over the course of time there will be at least some whom God will guide to the Straight Path. Why, then, would those people have to repeat continuously this vague prayer for guidance to something to which they have already been guided? What, also, of those people who are guided to the Straight Path and know what it is, but then don’t have the strength of will or clarity of purpose to stay on it? Identifying the Straight Path and following it clearly are two very different things. Why, then, do we just ask for guidance to the Straight Path instead of success or constancy in following it?

Part of the reason it has been so long between blog posts on this site is that I couldn’t come up with answers to the above questions that didn’t seem like defensive justifications for the language. I knew what I thought the answer should be: that we do, in fact, ask for success through the words of The Opening, but that there is some subtlety I must be missing or don't understand. I examined the language repeatedly, and sought guidance in a number of different places. Finally, two different commentaries on the language helped me to focus my thinking a bit.

The first was A.Y. Ali’s translation. If you asked any Arabic speaker how to translate the word “ihdina” to English, the answer probably would have been that it meant “Guide us.”  Ali, however, used the phrase “Show us” instead of “Guide us,” and he explained the reasons for that choice as follows:

“If we translate by the English word ‘guide,’ we shall have to say: ‘Guide us to and in the [S]traight Way’…the first step is to find the Way; and the second need is to keep in the Way; Our own wisdom may fail in either case.”

The second was a commentary on this language by Amin Ahsan Islahi and some related text (see here and here) in which it was pointed out that the ayah in question excludes a preposition before the phrase “the Straight Path.” The language of the ayah is not an explicit prayer for guidance “to The Straight Path” or “in The Straight Path” or “about The Straight Path.” The language in the ayah actually only says “Guide us The Straight Path.” Islahi, quite astutely, drew meaning from the omission:

“Ihdina means much more than the commonly known meaning, i.e., kindly show us the right way.  It also conveys these meanings: ‘Kindly satisfy our heart on the authenticity of the truthfulness of the way, create an earnest desire in us to follow it, make the difficulties of doing it easier for us to overcome and keep us away from wandering in other digressions once we have adopted the right way.’  All these meanings can be construed from this verse because of the omission of a preposition.”

Taking as true the premise that there are no mistakes in the Quran, the exclusion of the preposition in this case must have been deliberate in order to convey some meaning.  If a preposition were included, then the prayer for guidance would have been limited by the scope conveyed by the selected preposition. Because it was excluded, however, that must mean that it was excluded in order to allowAmin Ahsan Islahi the prayer for guidance to apply to a wider range of meaning with respect to the Straight Path.  We aren’t just asking to be guided to the Straight Path, we are asking to be guided about the Straight Path and in the Straight Path; to be guided away from paths that are not the Straight Path; to be guided to ways in which we may persevere on the Straight Path; and to be guided toward wanting/ needing/ desiring to stay on that path.  A.Y. Ali chose “Show us” over “Guide us” because, in English, the latter requires a preposition to connect it to the object of the sentence while the former can stand on its own.  Both are inadequate to convey fully the meaning of the ayah, but A.Y. Ali did the best job possible with the economy of words his medium demanded.

The adjective that modifies “path” in this ayah is “mustaqeem,” which has been translated as “Straight” but that I understand more accurately to mean “that which has been made straight or upright.” If the path was made straight, there are two questions that come to my mind: (i) who makes it straight (God or man); and (ii) what was it before it was straight (i.e. why did it have to be straightened/ why is it not straight by default).

I think the answer to the first question is that God made the path straight. I don’t know the answer to the second question, but perhaps it has something to do with the idea that God is the creator of the universe and has created the rules of existence. Surely he could have made the Straight Path easy to follow. Instead, He made the path straight, steep, upright and narrow, and it takes effort sometimes not just to follow but also even to recognize and be cognizant of it (hence our prayer to be “shown” or “guided with respect to” the Straight Path). In another part of the Quran, God references and then elaborates on a “path that is steep”:

“And [has God not] shown [man] the two highways? But he [man] hath made no haste on the path that is steep. And what will explain to thee the path that is steep? (It is:) freeing the bondman; or the giving of food in a day of privation, to the orphans with claims of relationship, or to the indigent (down) in the dust. Then will he be of those who believe and enjoin patience, (constancy and self-restraint), and enjoin deeds of kindness and compassion. Such are the Companions of the Right Hand.” [90:10-18]

Additionally, in the tafsir of Ibn Kathir, we are referred to the following saying of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh):

“Allah has set an example: a straight path that is surrounded by two walls, one on each side, with several open doors within the walls covered with curtains. There is a caller on the gate of the path who heralds, 'O people! Stay on the path and do not deviate from it.' Meanwhile, a caller from above the path is also warning any person who wants to open any of these doors, 'Woe unto you! Do not open it, for if you open it you will pass through.' The straight path is Islam, the two walls are God’s set limits, and the doors represent what Allah has prohibited. The caller on the gate of the path is the Book of God [the Quran], while the caller above the path is God’s admonishment in the heart of every Muslim.”

Both of these references add further to the notion that part of the significance of the prayer of The Opening is that it emphasizes human action over Godly forgiveness; of mortal deeds over divine mercy. We need God’s mercy to succeed, to attain Heaven and to avoid Hell, but it is up to us to do what is right (and the definitions of right and wrong were set by God in order to ensure man’s harmony with the rest of creation) and increase our chances of obtaining that mercy.  In The Opening, the fact that we pray for guidance with respect to a path, and not merely for reward, mercy or forgiveness, is a lesson that the message of the Quran is, above all, about our lives, our actions, our deeds, our ability through the things we do and say to stay on a chartered, upright, straight course, and not just about the awesomeness of God’s attributes, the fallibility of man or the need for man to receive God’s mercy or forgiveness.  Salvation comes through belief coupled with action; not just belief alone, and the message we need to extract, understand and internalize from the prayer of The Opening is that we need to act--to utilize properly the free will God has made part of our nature--in accordance with God's will, and to endeavor to travel, without deviation, on the path He has laid out for us.

Click here to read Part II of The Straight Path.

Some Notes:

1. Some have posited that the “Straight Path” in this ayah refers (also?) to a path leading (over Hell?) toward Paradise on the Last Day, and that we are, with this ayah, actually asking to be guided to that path. God always knows best, but I don’t find that analysis compelling. In the traditions that talk about that particular path or bridge to Paradise, many people will try unsuccessfully to cross over it, so I would find a prayer to be guided to it a bit curious if that were the case (why would we need to be guided to it if almost everyone had to try to cross over it to get to Paradise?).

2. See 7:172-173 for more on the Covenant and 33:72 for more on the Trust referenced above.

3. With regard to the first part of this post, I just want to point out that, apparently, Hannah Montana is right: it is the climb! :-)