Three Groups of People According to Surah Al-Fatiha
Addressing a session on Quran interpretation, Ayatollah Abolghasem Alidoost – who is a senior seminary teacher – referred to some points about Surah Al-Fatiha. Here is a summary of his remarks:
One of the discussions around this Surah is about some of the attributes of God.
The Surah starts with two attributes namely “Beneficent” and “Merciful”. It then reads: “All praise belongs to God, Lord of the Universe.” It then repeats “the Beneficent, the Merciful” before describing Allah as the “Master of the Day of Judgment.” One should reflect on these attributes.
There is certainly a reason for emphasizing “Lord of the Universe”. The Holy Quran seeks to reject the deviant thinking of the existence of several gods in the world. It says we only have one God which is the “Lord of the Universe”. This phrase has been mentioned 40 times in the Holy Quran.
Three categories of people in Surah Al-Fatiha
Another point of Surah is that it puts humans into three different categories. The first group consists of those who are “guided”; these people seek the right path and arrive at their destination.
The second group are those who are “subject to God’s anger”; these people seek darkness and will achieve it. The third group are those who go “astray”; these individuals seek the right path but took a wrong turn. At least they were not in pursuit of darkness.
This is a good categorization and has various effects in fiqh.
The Surah also has a message about training and cultivation which will be discussed in the next part of this series.
