After going through the beginning portion of Al-Fatiha, the slave is finally ready to present a request to Allah (SWT). Because of who he is asking from and because of the occasion that has been built up, his request will not be a normal or trivial one – rather, he will ask for the most important thing. He says, “اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ”. The first word is “guide us”. There are two levels of guidance – one level is to show a path, so you could translate it as “show us the straight path”, and the other level of guidance is to get someone onto the path. For example, if someone wanted to go somewhere and they asked for directions, the person giving directions could either tell them where to go and they’ll find their way or say, “Come with me, I will take you.” There is a big difference between these two types of guidance. When we ask for Allah (SWT) to guide us, we should ask for complete guidance. In the past, there were people who were shown the right path but chose not to take it. “As far as Thamud is concerned, I showed them, but they chose to be blind rather than guided.” We want Allah (SWT) not only to show us the path, but we want Allah (SWT) to help us get onto that path. This is the first aspect of guidance, and it is the most crucial thing, because without it, a person cannot fulfill their objective for which they are created. A person can go about achieving all kinds of things and building and collecting, but if they do not fulfill the purpose for their creation, then they have, in the grand scheme of things, failed as an individual in life. We cannot afford this, because, as we know, after this life is accountability. We need to prepare for this. Yes, there will be needs that we have to fulfill, problems we have to solve and issues that we need to deal with – all of this is a part of life, and the creator of life and us knows all of those things. Guidance is not something that will ever conflict with other things, but rather, it will be a part of life. It is more about the way we live our life and the types of deeds we decide to do or not to do. May Allah (SWT) give us tawfiq.
