| 2 The Beneficent, the Merciful, | الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ٣ | |
| 3 Master[1] of the day[2] of requital. | مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ ٤ | |
| 4 Thee do we serve and Thee do we beseech for help. | إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٥ | |
| 5 Guide us on the right path, | اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ٦ | |
| 6 The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favours,[3] | صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ |
- ↑ English translations have usually adopted King as the translation of the word Málik, which is not strictly correct. Málik and malik are two different words from the same root, the former signifying master and the latter king. According to the rule of forming derivations in Arabic, an additional letter (as the alif in Málik) gives the meaning a greater intensity (AH), and hence a master is more than a king. The adoption of the word málik or master is to show that Allah is not guilty of injustice if He forgives His servants, because He is not a mere king or a mere judge, but more properly a Master.
- ↑ The word yaum is applied in the Holy Qur-án to any period of time, from a moment (55:29) to fifty thousand years (70:4), and may therefore indicate an indefinitely small or indefinitely large space of time. According to LL yaum is a time, whether day or night (Msb); time absolutely, whether night or not, little or not; also a day, meaning the period from the rising of the sun to its setting. According to Rgh the word yaum indicates a period of time, whatever period it may be, and this is the proper signification. As there are ample indications in the Qur-án that the Divine law of requital is working every moment, and there is nothing to support the idea that it will not come into force before a particular day, the law of requital referred to in this verse is therefore a law which is constantly at work.
- ↑ Those upon whom favours are bestowed are according to I’Ab the four classes mentioned in 4:69, viz. the prophets, the truthful, the faithful, and the righteous (AH). This shows that according to the Holy Qur-án, the favours that were bestowed upon the prophets, the gift of Divine revelation being one of the chief of them, can still be bestowed upon the righteous who follow the right way.
ing, but also that of regulating, completing, and accomplishing (TA-LL), i.e. of the evolution of things from the crudest state to that of the highest perfection. According to Rgh, Rabb signifies the fostering of a thing in such a manner as to make it attain one condition after another until it reaches its goal of completion. Hence Rabb is the Author of all existence, Who has not only given to the whole creation its means of nourishment but has also beforehand ordained for each a sphere of capacity and within that sphere provided the means by which it continues to attain gradually to its goal of perfection. It will thus be seen that the word Rabb, which, for want of a better word, I render as Lord, conveys a far nobler and grander idea than the word ab or father, which has comparatively a very limited significance. The Muslim prayer therefore prefers the use of the word Rabb or Lord to that of ab or father in addressing the Divine Being.
The word translated as worlds is ’álamín, which is pl. of ’álam (from the root ’ilm, meaning to know), indicating literally that by means of which one knows a thing, and hence it signifies world or creation, because by it the Creator is known. In a restricted sense it is applied to any class or division of created beings or of mankind (LL). Hence ’álamín has been translated as "nations" in 2:47 and elsewhere. The all-comprehensiveness of the Lordship of Allah in the very first words of the Qur-án is quite in consonance with the cosmopolitan nature of the religion of Islam, which requires an admission of the truth of the prophets of all nations and thus subverts all narrow views of religion and of Godhead.
