In the name of Allāh, the Beneficent, the Merciful. 1. Praise be to Allāh, the Lord of the worlds. 2. The Beneficent, the Merciful. 3. Master of the Day of Requital. 4. Thee do we serve and Thee do we beseech for help. 5. Guide us on the right path: 6. The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favours. 7. Not those upon whom wrath is brought down, nor those who go astray. |
At the close of the above is said “Āmin!’’ which means “Be it so!”43
The recital of the Fātiḥah is followed by any other portion of the Holy Qur’ān,44 it may be a short or a long chapter or it may be one or more verses selected from anywhere. A short chapter, al-Ikhlās or Unity45 which in its four very short verses contains the doctrine of the Unity of the Divine Being in its perfection, is given below:
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Bi-smi-llāhi-r-Raḥmāni-r-Raḥīm. 1. Qul huw-Allāhu Aḥad. 2. Allāhu-s-Ṣamad. 3. Lam yalid wa lam yūlad. 4. Wa lam yakul la-hū kufuwan Aḥad.46 |
In the name of Allāh, the Beneficent, the Merciful. 1. Say, He, Allāh, is One. 2. Allāh is He on Whom all depend. 3. He begets not nor is He begotten. 4. And none is like Him. |
It may be noted here that while the Opening chapter Fātiḥah is essential to prayer and must be recited in every rak‘ah in the standing position, the addition thereto of any other portion of the Holy Qur’ān is dispensed with in certain cases, as in the third or fourth
43 The Holy Prophet used to pause a little after the recital of the Fātiḥah (Bu. 10:39; ZM. I, p. 53); perhaps he used this pause to offer some prayer to the Divine Being on his own behalf or on behalf of his community.
44 Called qirā’ah.
45 The 112th chapter of the Holy Qur’ān.
46 The first verse declares the Oneness of God and thus denies any sort of plurality in the Divine Being, such as the Christian doctrine of the Trinity or the Magian doctrine of duality or the Hindu doctrine of polytheism. The second verse declares that nothing is independent of God, and thus denies the independent existence of matter and soul, a doctrine held by a Hindū sect of recent growth, the Ārya Samāj. The third verse is plain enough: God cannot be described either as a Father or as a Son as the Christians hold, nor has He any daughters as some idolaters said. The fourth verse declares that none is like God, and thus deals a death-blow to such doctrines as those of Incarnation and Manifestation, the latter being the basic doctrine of the Bahā’ī religion.