The Structure of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa (Part III)

This is continuing from my previous two posts, The Structure of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa, part I and part II.

Finally, it is also worth noting that the Fātiḥa, as the first sūra of the Qur’an, also relates to the last sūrah of the Qur’an, sūra 114, called an-Nās (“People, Mankind”).  This time I will print the Arabic text in English characters:

Qul aʿūdhu bi rabbi ’n-nās

   Maliki ’n-nās,

   Ilāhi ’n-Nās,

Min sharri' l-waswāsi ’l-khannās,

   Alladhi yuwaswisu fī ṣudūri ’n-nās,

   Mina ’l-jinnati wa ’n-nās.

Say: I take refuge in the Lord of mankind,

   The King of mankind,

   The God of mankind,

From the evil of the slinking whisperer,

   Who whispers into the hearts of mankind,

   From the jinn and mankind.

Like the Fātiḥa, sūra 114 is a prayer to God.  It consists of two contrasting halves, the first listing attributes of God, and the second listing attributes of certain kinds of people.  

The first name of God mentioned,  Rabbi’n-Nās (“The Lord of Mankind”) corresponds to the first āyah of the Fātiḥa.  The next two names mentioned, “King of Mankind (Maliki ’n-Nās)” and “God of Mankind (Ilāhi ’n-Nās)” correspond to “Master (Mālik) of the Day of Recompense” and “You alone we worship.”  

Both sūras also mention two kinds of people in negative terms: in the Fātiḥa, “those who have earned anger” and “the astray”; in sūrah 114 whisperers from jinn and from mankind.  

There are also some interesting points of contrast.  For example, the Fātiḥa was a collective prayer, while sūra 114 is an individual prayer; and the context of the Fātiḥa was positive, a prayer for guidance, while the context of sūra 114 is negative, a prayer of refuge from harm.  

To cap this all off, the very last āya of the Qur’an, “From the jinn and mankind” goes back to the first, “All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all peoples,” since “all peoples” here alludes to two kind of personal beings: jinn and mankind!

Here is a video of my teacher, Nouman Ali Khan, talking about the comparison between the Fātiḥa and Surat an-Nās:

The Structure of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa (Part II)

Continuing from The Structure of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa (Part I). 

Here, for the reader's convenience, I will reproduce diagram text of the Fātiḥa and its translation from the previous post:

الحمد لله

A.  رب العالمين

   B.  الرحمن

   B'. الرحيم

A'. مالك يوم الدين

C.  إياك نعبد

C'. وإياك نستعين

A.  اهدنا الصراط المستقيم

   B.  صراط الذين أنعمت عليهم

   B'. غير المغضوب عليهم

A'. ولا الضالين

Translation:

All praise are due to God

A.  The Lord of all peoples,

   B. The All-Merciful,

   B'. The Ever-Merciful,

A'. Master of the Day of Recompense.

C. You alone we worship,

C'. and you alone we ask for help.

A.  Guide us along the Straight Path,

   B.  the path of those whom You have favored,

   B'. not of those who have earned wrath,

A'. nor of the astray.

Continuing from where we left off...

There is still more to be observed in each chiasmus (colored in blue and red respectively).  

The end of the sūra divides those who lack guidance into two groups of people.  The first of these groups are al-maghḍūbi ʿalayhim, literally meaning "those who have earned anger."  From other Qur'anic texts and from the Prophet Muhammad's commentary on these verses, this is understood to refer to people who, despite having knowledge of God’s commandments, resolved to act against them.

The second group of people are aḍ-ḍālīn, meaning “those who are lost” or “those who are astray.” In contrast with the previous group, this refers to people who lack guidance because they do not have proper knowledge about what the Straight Path consists of.

Therefore, the two kinds of people who lack guidance lack either (1) sound knowledge or (2) sound action, so guidance consists of both of these together.  The Fātiḥa itself is structured to remedy both of these problems.  The first chiasmus consists of sound knowledge of God (His attributes), while the second consists of sound action (taking to Him in prayer).  

It should also be noted that the first chiasmus (including “All praise is due to God”) is entirely a nominal sentence, and the second chiasmus is entirely a verbal sentence.  The use of the nominal sentence is rhetorically suited to speaking about God because nouns are more stable and permanent.  Conversely, the use of the verbal sentences is suited to speaking about human beings because verbs are subject to time and change.  The center, “You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help,” in the Arabic shares qualities of both nominal and verbal sentences (both clauses are verb-based but begin with nouns), which is fitting because it concerns both God and us.

As a ring composition, the end of the Fātiḥa also comes back to the beginning.  The first āya described God as the “Lord of all peoples.”  The last two āyas classify all people into three categories: those whom God has favored, those who have earned wrath, and those who are lost and astray.

There is one more thing I would like to draw attention to about the Fātiḥa.  I will do that in the next post, in shā'a 'llāh.