Yousuf Raza – Surah Fatiha Intro

All right, bismillah, alhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasoolillah,

salamu alaykum, and hello to all those watching,

to all those listening.

We're back with Qur'an Daily, and we're

not going to talk about the introduction to

Surah Fatiha, but before I do that, I

want to talk about a little afterthought that

I had with respect to the bismillah.

So we spoke about how the bismillah rahman

rahim allows for us to synchronize the different

dimensions of our personality, different activities, and roles

that we're engaged in, and allows for us

to give that extra importance that it deserves.

So I read a long time back that

Viktor Frankl was asked by someone as to

how he has achieved so much in his

life, and he responded to that, that one

way that I may have been able to

do that is that I attend to the

smallest of tasks in front of me with

the greatest diligence, and the greatest of tasks

in front of me with the greatest calmness,

right?

And so that may be one of the

reasons why I've been able to achieve as

much as I have been able to achieve.

And obviously, one contributes to the other, that

if you're very diligent about your small tasks,

and he gave an example that if I'm

talking to a couple of people and I

have to respond, then I take notes, and

I prepare my response as I would when

I am presenting in front of thousands of

people, right?

So that allows for him to be calm

when he has to face a thousand people

or so.

And I was thinking when I was reading

that, how do I do that?

And how in the world do I get

myself to be that diligent with respect to

the small tasks in front of me?

And what struck me after I recorded that

video for you about the Basmalah is that

that's the key.

For me, that's the key that as to

those daily tasks, those seemingly unimportant, mundane, everyday,

routine, small tasks, if I am able to

initiate them with a conscious recognition of them

being in the name of Allah, then automatically

for me, their importance is magnified as they

are related to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta

-A'la.

And that is what I'm looking for.

And so as life coaches, we talk about,

as productivity experts will tell you as to

how important those small habits are every day

and how incredible of an effect they have

in the long run.

But to have that recognition that how important

those small habits are, that comes in with

the recognition of how when related to Allah,

when related to your relationship with Allah, you

can attribute to them the importance that they

deserve, obviously over time and obviously you develop

in that process.

It is not going to magically happen all

of a sudden, but we work our way

up.

We work our way up.

It is the recognition of the divinity in

the mundane that allows for us, that brings

that Tawheedic conception in to our routine lives.

And that was the insight.

That was something I was very, very inspired

by as to what can possibly be done,

what can potentially be done with this recognition.

And also when I say Basmala, when I

talk about the Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim

and how that does, all of what it

does, we spoke about in the previous video

and this video, it is not just Bismillah

Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim in those words specifically.

Yes, that and plus all the other Adhkar

of the Messenger ﷺ, all his other invocations,

which are also in the name of Allah,

but the wordings may be different, right?

So it is that specific invocation of the

Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim and also generally

other Adhkar, other ways of doing things in

the name of Allah ﷻ, remembering Allah ﷻ,

whatever the formulation of words may be, they

come from the Sunnah, they come from the

Sahaba, they come from the tradition, and they

may even be something very personal that you've

come up with, with respect to your relationship

with Allah.

So moving right along from there to the

introduction of Surah Al-Fatihah.

Without a doubt, this is the greatest Surah

of the Qur'an.

The Messenger ﷺ addressed, obeyed and asked, do

you want to know the greatest Surah, the

likes of which has not been revealed in

the Torah, in the Injil, in the Zabur,

not even in the Qur'an itself.

So all the scriptures, they don't know the

like of this Surah, not even within the

Qur'an itself will you find a second

to it.

And so, he's like, yes, I do.

And the Messenger in turn asked him a

question, what do you recite in your prayer,

in your Salah?

And he said, Surah Al-Fatihah.

He started reciting Surah Al-Fatihah.

And the Messenger ﷺ says, I swear by

the one in whose hands my soul is,

my life is, I am.

This is that Surah, the likes of which

is not in the Torah, not in the

Injil, not in the Zabur, not even in

the Qur'an itself.

This is Sab'am Minal Mathani and this

is Al-Qur'an Al-'Azim.

What does that mean?

Sab'am Minal Mathani and Al-Qur'an

Al-'Azim.

This is from an ayah of Surah Hijr

that was revealed to the Messenger ﷺ right

at the very beginning, when the persecution had

started, when the Quraysh were leveling the most

unimaginable kind of emotional abuse against the Messenger

ﷺ.

And it was really, really affecting him.

It was really, really affecting him.

And so Rasulullah ﷺ, who is recognized as

the most truthful, the most trustworthy, the most,

everybody loved him, practically.

And then when he announced his Prophethood, after

the turmoil that he himself went through to

come into terms with his own Prophethood, when

he came out to the people with it,

the response was, you're the biggest liar, you're

a fraud, you're a deceit, you're lying against

Allah, you're a magician, you're possessed, you're a

madman.

And all of these accusations hurled against the

Prophet ﷺ, mockery, torture against people who chose

to follow him, all of that he had

to face up to.

And what does he get as a consolation?

What does he get in the face of

this incredible persecution?

What does he have to fall back on?

What does Allah gift him with the consolation,

his support through all of this?

Surah Al-Fatihah.

Surah Al-Fatihah, what we recite in every

prayer.

And we tend to take it for granted.

We tend to take it for, you know,

just another surah.

Oh, I know Surah Al-Fatihah.

I know what it says.

But really, I don't.

I really don't.

When it is enough for Rasulullah ﷺ to

fall back on, in the face of this

greatest persecution, and my everyday mundane sufferings, my

small difficulties, I am unable to resort to

Fatihah to get a consolation that I need.

That I'm going through those sufferings, and I'm

going through those issues, and I'm going through

those challenges.

And yet, when I turn to my prayer,

my recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah is mindless.

I'm not paying.

I'm not paying.

I'm here, there, everywhere else.

I'm not able to relate.

What Fatihah has to offer me, in terms

of my resilience, in terms of what I

need to be doing in the face of

my troubles, I'm missing the point.

I'm missing the point greatly.

Because if Fatihah is there for Rasulullah ﷺ

in such a tough situation, such an incredibly

horrible persecution, then whatever life has to throw

at me, if I'm unable to relate it

with that, then I'm definitely missing something.

So hopefully, as we talk about Surah Al

-Fatihah in the days to come, all its

different ayat and our reflections on them, and

relate that with our self-development, with our

personal growth, with our psychology, hopefully we'll be

able to scratch something of the surface as

to what it has to offer us as

individuals.

And so our prayers become more meaningful.

What we get out of our prayers for

the rest of our lives, that becomes more

meaningful.

And that's what we're going to look to

do, inshallah, in the days to come.

Thank you so much for watching.

Thank you so much for listening.

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Thank you very much once again.

وآخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين السلام

عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته