Surah al-Fatihah (The Opening) 1 : 5

Explanatory Note

This verse expresses another fundamental principle that follows logically from the preceding ones. It is also a decisive and crucial principle that draws a line between the freedom man gains in submitting to God and the abuse and debasement implicit in man’s servitude to man. Once man has submitted himself to God and sought help and guidance from Him alone, he has achieved total liberation from the tyranny of all religious, intellectual, moral and political powers.
 
To the believer in Islam, human power falls into two categories: a rightly-guided power that recognises God and abides by His directions, and an arrogant, rebellious one that does not admit to God’s sovereignty and authority. A Muslim is required to support and endorse the former, no matter how weak or disadvantaged it may be, and to reject and oppose the latter, regardless of its strength or dominance. The Qur’ān says: “Many a small band, by the grace of God, has vanquished a large one.” (2: 249) Such victory of the apparently weaker host could only be achieved when it relies on God, the source of all power.

Islam teaches that God has created the physical world and all its forces for man’s own use and benefit. Man is specifically taught and directed to study the world around him, discover its potential and utilise all his environment for his own good and the good of his fellow humans. Any harm that man suffers at the hands of nature is a result only of his ignorance or lack of understanding of it and of the laws governing it. The more man learns about nature, the more peaceful and harmonious his relationship with nature and the environment.

• العبادة أعلى مراتب الخضوع ولا يجوز شرعاً ولا عقلا فعلها إلا لله تعالى لأنه المستحق لذلك لكونه موليا لأعظم النعم من الحياة والوجود وتوابعهما. الألوسي: 1/86.[Be first to translate this...]