You can find the complete series on this link Quran Tafsir – Surah Al-Fatihah Series
Ayah 2 Ar Rahmani Ar Raheem
I have never found a better tafseer of these two names of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala than from the works of Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan..
Ar Rahman, we generally read its translation as The Most Gracious or The Most Beneficent but the word Rahman is derived from the word Raham which means “Mother’s womb”. What does it mean? You see when a mother is pregnant, does the mother love the child? Yes does the child have an idea on how much he/she is loved by the mother? No! If I am walking and suddenly I stumble, perhaps I will protect my head. But for a pregnant woman, she is going to protect her womb!
Allah is Ar Rahman, we are in this world of Allah. Does Allah love us? Yes do we know how much we are loved by Allah? No! We only know that much about Allah’s love as much a child in the womb knows of his mother’s love. Means we know nothing about Allah’s love for us. SubhanAllah!
Reported in at Tirmidi., Abdur Rahman Ibn Awf reported that he heard from Rasulullah, that Allah said, “I am Ar Rahman. I created Raham (womb of mother — in other words, pregnancy) and named it after my name.” SubhanAllah!! From this hadith it is clear that the word Rahman has direct link with the word Raham — A mother’s womb. Imagine, and we always keep talking how severe is Allah’s hell. How much we talk about how amazing is Allah’s jannah?
Now what is Ar Raheem? Ar Raheem too is derived from the same root word Raham. Then what’s the difference between Rahman & Raheem. The difference is the word pattern of Rahman, is that of a verb having present tense and the verb pattern of Raheem is of a noun. A noun has no tense, so the word Rahman means the one who is loving you just right now in present tense and the word Raheem means the one who is Always loving you like a universal truth.
Imagine Allah compared His love for us with the greatest example of love ever possible to be produced. A pregnant woman’s love for her Child!!!
And in fact not just love but care, compassion, kindness and mercy all wrapped up in one word. Now here are several questions; why did Allah mention Rahman first and Raheem next? Why did he not say “Ar Raheemi Ar Rahman” These are good questions to ponder so let’s take an example to understand this. Suppose If I worked all day long very hard and arrive home in the afternoon for lunch and very hungry. Just then my wife comes to me and asks, “What should I cook for dinner?” What would be my reaction? It can be like this “What dinner?! I am so hungry and tired at least give me lunch first, after that think about dinner.”
When we are feeling immediate need of something then we do not care of the future, we want the need at hand to be settled first.
So Allah says I am Ar Rahman, I am caring for you just now. Now as soon as we get to know we are presently being taken care of by Allah then we start worrying, how about tomorrow? Is this going to last forever? Hence Allah says, I am Ar Raheem, I will take care of you always! SubhanAllah. How awesome is this? Isn’t it the most beautiful definition of God we ever heard? Far better than “for God so loved the earth that he gave his only begotten son for whosoever believeth in him shall not perish” (Bible : Gospel of John)
Isn’t this the most beautiful definition of God is Love. We need to propagate such idea about Allah throughout the world.
Ayah 3 Maaliki Yawmi AdDeen (Master of Day of Judgment)
Now if we remember. I said that Rabb means Master and I have translated Malik as well into Master. So what’s the difference then? Rabb means three things together; that he is a kind of Master who owns you completely and not any master who simply abandons you but rather raises you.
Rabb = Master + Owner+ Raiser
But Maalik exclusively means Master
Now the word Deen, All of us mostly translate this word deen as Islam we think Islam and deen are just the same thing. However deen is an independent word and it actually means justice. Islam is Deen because Islam is a complete and perfect system of justice.
Thus Maaliki Yawmi Ad Deen would literally be translated into “Master of Day of Justice”.
Remember where we stopped in the tafseer of the ayah Ar Rahmani Ar Raheem we were discussing a man who read Bismillah and there is question of who is Allah. Allah then answered I am Rabb of universe. The man was little upset of him being a slave of this Rabb. Allah told him that he is not an ordinary Rabb that He loves and cares for him just at that moment. The man then asks, will Allah love me always? Allah says, I love you now and I love you always. Now the man gets happy, this Allah is really a cool God. He loves me so much and cares me so much. This notion pretty much provides me freedom of enjoying my life with the protection of Rabb of the complete world by my side. What can be amazing than this. But wait, here comes the forewarning “Beware… Don’t even think of that… I am Master of the Day of Justice too” SubhanAllah
You see Allah clearly mentioned to us that he is Rabb, of All Rabb of everything and everyone. Now if you got too much excited thinking hearing Ar Rahman Ar Raheem and thought that He is going to care you always so you can do what u want however you may be forgetting that He is not just your Rabb but the Rabb of universe. He loves not just you but the whole universe. If you create a problem then He will protect others from you too. “He is Master of Day of Justice” don’t you think that coming under His protection you can hurt others murder, rape etc. and He will always forgive? No surely He will do justice! SubhanAllah, just look at How Allah places these sentences at the Right moment and the right time.
Now imagine one scene;
There is an orphan girl called Maryam, she lives in an orphanage. One day a couple came to adopt this particular child. Now the mother talks to the child. She comes to her. This girl Maryam is little afraid & a little happy where her life going to turn next. The mother to be introduces herself, “My name is Fatimah from today I am your mother. You know, I love you very much and I will always love you just be a good girl and don’t fight your siblings at home. Would you want to be my daughter?” Does this sound Logical? Yes, from my own perspective.
Now just see what Allah told us till now in Surah Fatiha;
Alhamdulillah
= I am the Praiseworthy Allah (I am Fatimah)
Rabbil A’lameen
= I am Your Lord (I am your mother from today)
Ar Rahman
= I love you & care you and merciful to now just now
Ar Raheem
= and I will love you always
Maliki Yawmi Ad Deen
= I am the Master of day of justice (Just don’t fight with your siblings and be a good girl)
These entire ayah are indicating to one big question, Will you be my Slave? Will you let me be your Rabb? (Will you be my daughter and will you let me be your mother)
What a fantastic beginning to Al Qur’an SubhanAllah!
