1:3 Al-Faatiha (The Opening)

(الرَّحْمَنِ) الذي وسعت رحمته جميع الخلق، (الرَّحِيمِ)، بالمؤمنين، وهما اسمان من أسماء الله تعالى.

ومن قيامه تعالى بعباده ورحمته بهم أن نزل على رسوله محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم الكتاب، الذي هو أجل الكتب وأعظمها المشتمل على الحق في إخباره وأوامره ونواهيه، فما أخبر به صدق، وما حكم به فهو العدل، وأنزله بالحق ليقوم الخلق بعبادة ربهم ويتعلموا كتابه { مصدقا لما بين يديه } من الكتب السابقة، فهو المزكي لها، فما شهد له فهو المقبول، وما رده فهو المردود، وهو المطابق لها في جميع المطالب التي اتفق عليها المرسلون، وهي شاهدة له بالصدق، فأهل الكتاب لا يمكنهم التصديق بكتبهم إن لم يؤمنوا به، فإن كفرهم به ينقض إيمانهم بكتبهم، ثم قال تعالى { وأنزل التوراة } أي: على موسى { والإنجيل } على عيسى.

وقوله تعالى "الرحمن الرحيم" تقدم الكلام عليه في البسملة بما أغنى عن الإعادة قال القرطبي إنما وصف نفسه بالرحمن الرحيم بعد قوله رب العالمين ليكون من باب قرن الترغيب بعد الترهيب كما قال تعالى "نبئ عبادي أني أنا الغفور الرحيم وأن عذابي هو العذاب الأليم" وقوله تعالى "إن ربك لسريع العقاب وإنه لغفور رحيم" قال فالرب فيه ترهيب والرحمن الرحيم ترغيب وفي صحيح مسلم عن أبي هريرة قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم "لو يعلم المؤمن ما عند الله من العقوبة ما طمع في جنته أحد ولو يعلم الكافر ما عند الله من الرحمة ما قنط من رحمته أحد".

The Compassionate the Merciful that is to say the One who possesses ‘mercy’ which means to want what is good for those who deserve it.

The second verse speaks of the Divine quality of mercy, employing two adjectives Rahman and Rahim of which are hyperbolic terms in Arabic, and respectively connote the superabundance and perfection of Divine mercy. The reference to this particular attribute in this situation is perhaps intended to be a reminder of the fact that it is not through any external compulsion or inner need or any kind of necessity whatsoever that Allah has assumed the responsibility of nurturing the whole of His creation, but in response to the demand of His own quality of mercy. If this whole universe did not exist, He would suffer no loss; if it does exist, it is no burden to Him.

The All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful. He is the All-Merciful inasmuch as He vivifies, the Ever-Merciful inasmuch as He displays. The vivification is through acts of kindness, the display through lights. He is the All-Merciful who eases the road of wage-earning, the Ever-Merciful who lights up the candle of friendship in the road of the friends. The wage-earner is always toiling in hope of houris and palaces, the friend is inundated by light in the sea of face-to-face vision. The day I reach union with You I will disdain the state of the paradise-dwellers. He is the All-Merciful who gives the strivers the success of struggle, and the Ever-Merciful who gives the finders the realization of contemplation. The former is the state of the desirer, the latter the state of the desired. The desirer goes forth with the lamp of success and reaches contemplation, the desired goes forth with the candle of realization and reaches face-to-face vision. Contempla- tion is the lifting of the barriers between the servant and the Real, face-to-face vision seeing each other such that the servant does not become absent for a moment: He gazes at love with the eye of response, he gazes at the Present with the eye of presence, he gazes at the Solitary with the eye of solitude. Through distance from himself he becomes near to His nearness, through losing himself he becomes familiar with His apparentness, through absence from himself he becomes present with His generous presence. For He is not far from the strivers, nor lost by the seekers, nor absent from the desirers. Have mercy on the creatures' hearts and come out from the veil so that the seventy-two creeds may end their disputes.