Surah Al Fatiha Ayah 5

Guide us to the straight path upwards

  • The most desperate need you and I have is Guidance
  • Guidance is compared with water
  • We need guidance just ask much as we need Water 
  • We do not need Guidance once but over and over again
  • Allah gives us everything without asking Him
  • Allah gives us food, water, security, and sustenance without asking
  • Guidance we receive after asking Allah
  • We go back to Allah, stand in salah and Ask Him for guidance again and again
  • Guidance is so precious and so easily removed
  • Even the Messenger of Allah as to ask for it again and again
  • Guidance is not something you can keep
  • Guidance cannot be passed down to your children
  • We cannot Guide anyone
  • Allah guides who He wants
  • Guidance only comes from Allah
  • Guidance only comes from the one who asks again and again desperately

Example

  • If you are thirsty you will ask for water
  • If the thirst is not too bad you will forget about it and just ask once
  • But if you are dying of thirst then you will be desperate for water
  • You will ask again and again
  • The attitude on how you will ask will be different
  • Desperate is not just in words but also shown in your attitude
  • What is your attitude when you recite Fatihah?
  • It shows how desperate you are for guidance 

The Way you ask for Guidance

  • Attitudes comes from the heart
  • Words you memorize come out easily
  • But your attitude is shown differently
  • Allah is not just concerned with words
  • But words that come from the heart
  • You can recite Fatihah and not ask for Guidance
  • You can even recite the words with proper tajweed and not ask for Guidance
  • You can recite Fatihah beautifully and not ask for Guidance
  • You could stand in front of the Kaaba and not ask for Guidance
  • Or You can recite Fatihah and desperately ask for Guidance
  • Everything is happening inside

Master and Slave Relationship

  • There are signs a person is a slave
  • The biggest thing is slave never does what they want
  • The slave does what the master tells them
  • One cannot be a slave if they do not know what the master wants
  • If you do not know what the Master wants you will do as you wish
  • But If you know what master wants you will do that
  • Master has to give you instructions to be a slave
  • As soon as you accept Allah as Master
  • You accept yourself as slave
  • The first logical step is to ask for instructions from the Master
  • Which is the request for Guidance

Allah mentions Rabb and Guidance together in the Quran because a slave must get guidance from the Master 

Huda

  • It is related to hadiya or gift
  • There is some one who was lost and now is guided
  • You get lost in the desert
  • The most important gift you can get is guidance
  • Because if you have water in the desert and no guidance you will eventually run out of water and die
  • But if you receive guidance you will be saved

The Difference Between Having Knowledge and Having Guidance

  • You can have a lot of knowledge of Quran and not have guidance
  • You can be a Muslim and not have guidance
  • We could look religious but not have guidance
  • Guidance is not one act
  • When someone took the shahadah they took their first guided act
  • Every moment we need to make a series of decisions
  • We could make the right decision or the wrong decisions
  • With every decision we need somebody’s advice
  • Allah says I am willing to give you constant advice and help
  • This is asking for Allah’s Guidance
  • Guidance is only in the hand’s of Allah
  • Knowledge you can keep but Guidance is not yours to keep
  • Knowledge you can increase
  • Guidance is only increased by Allah
  • The moment you don’t appreciate it its taken away

When you ask Allah for guidance you are asking to be guided along a Journey

So we ask for the straight path

Sirat Al Mustiqim

  • A straight path that is long and wide and upwards
  • Other people are on the road too
  • Some people are with you
  • Some people are in front of you
  • Some people are behind
  • We ask directions to a destination
  • But in Fatihah we ask to be guided to the road
  • The road is a means to an end
  • Instead of asking for the destination we ask to be guided to the road
  • Because in this life your destination is the road
  • In this life I have to continue to make progress
  • On the straight path we keep going and improving
  • We will never be perfect
  • It is a gift from Allah because being on the path is easy
  • Seeing the destination seems too far and may seem difficult
  • We must compare ourselves to no one but ourselves
  • Did we make progress on the road from yesterday?
  • Each person is different
  • We could be inspired by each other but we have our own path
  • Seek knowledge but never forget why you are seeking knowledge
  • Seek knowledge to get guided by Allah
  • Knowledge should make you more humble not arrogant
  • Because a slave has nothing to be proud of and they must be humble
  • When you are traveling on the road you are going upwards
  • When you are going upwards takes effort
  • If you stop making effort you keep going down
  • The world pulls you down and guidance pulls you up
  • No matter how far up you go in this life temptations will try to pull you down
  • You will never be safe from falling
  • The higher you go the more dangerous it is
  • If you fall from such a high level than you will be so immersed in the duniya

 

 

 

 

     

     

     

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