Introduction: Surah Al-Fatihah

Before doing the Tafseer of Surat-ul-Fateha we will do its merits. This surah of the Quran processes a number of merits, Firstly the holy Quran begins with it. The prescribed prayers begin with it and even the order of revolution. This is the first surah which was revealed the prophet (SAW) in its complete form. That is why this surah has also been named as FATEH-UL-KITAB (The opening of the book) and secondly this surah gives  special instructions to man who begins the recitation or the study of the Quran that he should approach this book  with a mind cleansed of all his previous thoughts and opinions seeking nothing but the truth and the right path praying to Allah for being guided in the right path and the surah  begins with the praise  for the being before whom  the request is to be submitted and ends with the request for guidance and the whole of the Quran is an answer to this request. The Prophet (SAW) said:

“I swear by Allah who is the master of my life neither the TORAT nor the INJEEL nor the presence of David have anything to compare with the opening chapter of the Quran and no other chapter of the Quran itself can compare with it”.

The prophet (SAW) said that this Surah is a cure for all kind of illnesses and according to another tradition this Surah has also been named cure al-Shifa and Bukhari reports from the companion Hazrat Anas (R.A) that the prophet (SAW) has called this surah the greatest amongst all the Surah’s of the Quran. Now we come to Bismillah.

Now this surah starts with Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim and there is the consensus of all the Muslims on the fact that Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim is the verse of the Quran being a part of surah Al-Namal and there is also an agreement that this verse is written at the head of every surah except the surah al-Tauba but there is a difference of opinion amongst the scholars as to whether this verse is an integral part of this surah or not. Now we come to the merits of bismillah, it was a question in the days of ignorance before the advent of Islam the people began everything they did with the names of their gods or idles and it was to eradicate his practice that the first verse of the Quran which the angel Jibarail (A.S) brought down to prophet (SAW) commanded him to begin the Quran with the name of Allah Iqra Bismi Rabi read with the name of lord. By instructing man to begin everything with the name of Allah, Islam has  given to the whole of the man’s life and orientation towards Allah so that he named with each step he  takes renew his  lines to the convenient with  Allah that nothing he does not even his very being  can come in to existence  without the will and help of Allah thus all  the economic and worldly activities of man each movement  each gesture  becomes transformed in to an act of worship how brief is the action  which consumes neither time nor energy  and yet how immense is the reward. a disbeliever eats drinks just as a Muslim does but  in same bismillah as he begins to eat the Muslim affirms  that it was not in his power to obtain this little mortise  of food  which has pass through in numerable stages of the sowing of  the seed to the reaping of the green  corn and which has during this process  required the labor of the wind the rain the sun  of the heavens of the earth  and of the thousand man and that Allah alone has granted him this  morsel of food or this  drop of water by making  it go through all these stages. A disbeliever goes to sleep wakes up and goes about as much as a Muslim but while going to sleep or waking up the Muslim mentions the name of Allah renewing his relationship with him thus his economic and worldly needs and activities acquired the nature and remembrance of Allah and accounted as an act of worship. Similarly in saying bismillah while greeting on to a carriage the Muslim testifies the fact that it is beyond the power if man to produce  this carriage and to precure it for him and that is  only the divinely created of rough things that  has brought together from all the corner of the world  the wood the steel the metals which have gone through into the making of this carriage as well as  the machines which work in it and the mechanics  who have given the particular shape to these components and the driver and finally put all these into the service of man who can make use of the labor of this army of the creatures of man and who can master it by spending just a few coins and even these coins are not be created by him it is Allah himself who has provided the complex ways  and means of earning them, then out of all the beautiful names of Allah and his attributes  of perfection has been chosen and two of the attributes have been mentioned and both refers to his perfection  Al-Rehman or Al-Rahim . Both have been derived from the same root word that is Rehma indicating the perfection of divine mercy. Then we come to Auzubillah the Quran says when you recite the Quran seek the protection of Allah against Sheitan the rejected one and according to the consensus of the Ummah it is Sunnah to say Auzubillahi Minash Shaitan Rajeem before the recitation of the Quran. Therefore, with the exception of Tillawah all other courses should be taken up by first saying Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim only saying Auz is not a sunnah. One should begin the recitation of the Quran by reciting both Auzubillah and bismillah and during the recitation  one should bismillah but not auzubillah  when one comes to the ends of the Surah and begins the next Surah with the whole exception of Surah Al-Tauba and if one comes upon his particular surah  in the course of the recitation one should not recite bismillah ar rahman ar rahim before reading it but if one have time to begin with the recitation of the Quran with this Surah one should recite Auzubillah and Bismillah both. It is the sunnah to recite Bismillah after Auzubillah and the very beginning of the first rakat in your Salah and there is a consensus on the point that the Bismillah should be recited at the beginning of all succeeding rakats too. In the course of Salah whether one is reciting the Holy Quran loudly or silently one should not recite Bismillah before beginning the Surah, just after Surah Fateha such a practice has not been reported either from the prophet (SAW) or from any of the Khalifa and as for the fact that why Auzubillah should be recited. This has got two basic reasons or answers. One it is a command from Allah and we have to obey it just this fact is enough for a Muslim to do something that Allah has ordered it and second reason is that all of us are in search of guidance and the biggest source of guidance towards the straight path is this book. You cannot ever hope to be guided unless you comprehend this book and on the other hand man’s bitterest enemy on earth is Shaitan. He is on this planet earth for a purpose too and he took an oath before Allah that I will defiantly miss lead or miss guide a majority of your slaves. I will sit on the path leading towards guidance and miss lead them and he is so desperate in his endeavor that he said that I will come from all sides from the front from the back and his efforts become multiplied when he finds that the person is inclined towards the Quran that is why it is must to read AuzuBillahi Minash Shaitan Rajeem before the recitation or the study of the Quran.