Message of Surah Al-Fatiha: Training Bases on Wisdom
Ayatollah Abolghasem Alidoost, a senior seminary teacher, touched upon some points about Surah Al-Fatiha. Here is a summary of his remarks:
Numerous training and educational methods have been offered throughout history. One of the approaches is training by violence and determination. Another one is based on kindness and mercy. The third approach is a flexible one that changes according to circumstances; sometimes violence and sometimes mercy is used.
The method put forward by Surah Al-Fatiha is different from those mentioned above. It is based on beneficence and wisdom. This approach uses a mixture of these two key traits.
The Surah starts with two attributes namely “Beneficent” and “Merciful” before referring to Allah as the “Lord of the Universe”.
The word “rab” in Arabic refers to a master who is responsible for training servants. The Surah yet again refers to “Beneficent” and “Merciful” and accordingly, we can say that the basis of pedagogy and training should be these two traits. The next verse immediately points to “Master of the Day of Judgment”. But why is there a reference to this attribute among others? Because it wants to clarify that God is the owner of the Day of Judgment and on that day, the deeds and behaviors of people will be assessed.
Everything will be judged based on wisdom and both reward and punishment will be in place. Religious texts talk both about mercy and punishment on that day.
We can now understand why the Holy Quran starts with Surah Al-Fatiha. It comes to stress the training method of the Quran. The Surah does not bear any special social, political or jurisprudential message, however, it has a message on training and cultivation.
Translated by Maryam Qarehgozlou
