AL-FAATIHAH
Background:
Before revelation of the Quran, clear concept of the Unity
of Only One God Alone had been confused and corrupted. The
mankind was divided. Human history shows that in Babylonia,
China and Egypt, patriarch could sell his children into slavery.
Women were treated as chattels. Arabs used to bury their daughters
alive, in shame. In Greece, society was divided into three
classes – notables, commoners and slaves. Rome was similarly
divided into various classes. These were Patricians (nobles)
and Plebeians (commoners). They were divided poles apart.
Hindu society was also divided into classes- Brahmans, Kashtriyas,
Vaishyas and Sudras (untouchables). Religious teaching was
limited to Brahmans, and Untouchables were the out-caste.
The caste system continues to prevail. History has given strong
verdict against barbaric people, period of ignorance and Dark
Ages.
Concepts about religions were not based
on reason but they were mere beliefs based on conjecture and
custom. People were discouraged to reflect and think about
natural phenomena. Study of some facts of nature, mentioned
in the Bible, were declared Apocrypha (not meant for common
man) as a sort of sinful taboo. The Church and the Roman Empire,
both persecuted people on these charges. Galileo's case is
one of many such regressive and retrogressive episodes of
history of science. He was forced to deny that the sun was
the center of the solar system and that earth turned on its
axis or revolved round the sun. He was compelled to kneel
down before judges of the `Inquisition’. He had to say:
“I,Galileo Galilie, give assurance that I believe and
always will believe, what the church recognizes and teaches
as true.” He was 36 when Bruno was burnt in 1600 C.E.
Therefore he was quite cautious in making his `statement’,
Although as he stood up he `defiantly’ murmured `Ee
pur si muove (And yet it moves)’. Good luck for Galileo,
these words were inaudible to the dogmatically deaf judges.
Philosophy had become mere conjecture. Hypothesis
had no foundation because it was not proved by scientific
observation and experimentation, e.g., Aristotelian and Ptolemian
theories about planetary system, etc. Aristotle thought that
earth was stationary and that sun, moon, planets, and stars
moved in circular orbits about it. In Ptolemy's cosmological
model, presented in second century A.C., earth was at the
centre. Greek Philosophy, while it touched its zenith in logic,
discourse and dialogue, is an admitted example of complete
neglect of scientific verification of its own hypotheses.
In spite of intellectual leadership, Greek civilization decayed
and state disappeared.
Superstition had dominated and subverted
all chances of reflection into phenomena of nature. Psyche
of man was completely subjugated to celestial and environmental
events. There was no wholesome approach to universe because
of superstitions and unnatural and irrational beliefs. They
attributed different happenings and environmental changes
to different gods and their consorts which blocked course
of mental exercise to consider cause and effect of each separately
and in a system as a whole. Man was serving idols and self-made
gods from all sorts of mud and materials. Fear of creatures
and created objects had overawed and overwhelmed human faculties
and reasoning. All sorts of beliefs, reflecting abject ignorance,
in augurs, stars, stones and what not, had blocked progress
of human thought, research in the field of science and development
of human society.
Ritual had replaced the worship. All groups
discredited religion of each other. The earlier revelation
was not available in its original word and form. Misconception
of terror, not love of God, and harshness of nature and its
unfriendly phenomena had terrified human mind. There was no
coincidence and concurrence in the word and deed of the priest
and the rabi. Cruelty was cold, crude and brute. Persecution
and torture are remembered as ugly part of human history.
It was in these circumstances that the Quran
gave the guideline to patronize and put on the right path
the effort for common good and welfare of society, along with
progress and development of individual personality as the
basic building block of durable social structure.
The Quran besides prohibiting subservience
to superstition, provided psychological protection and spiritual
sense of security within its own fold, e.g., in Surahs 113
& 114. It presented a revolutionary concept promoting
intellect to take stand on reason. Constantly and consistently,
it appealed to reason and invited all mankind, irrespective
of any class, colour or creed, to make use of faculty of reflection
to study `creation’, their surroundings and their own
selves. In fact the first message starts with this invitation,
which, in essence, being in the form of imperative and instruction
makes introspection, enquiry, reflection and research as religious
duty.
"Read in the Name of your Lord-Master-Sustainer-Owner
(Allah),
Who Himself created. (1)
He created the man from zygote." (2)
(96-1 & 2 )
The Quran
established that everything, though peculiar in many ways
to itself, as an element or entity, is linked to everything
else in a definable system serving the purpose of the supreme
objective of existence, in its movement forward to the final
goal. It clearly asserted that everything in the universe
had been created, subjected and harmonized to sustain life,
of which man was the highest species and that it was open
to exploration:
"O you,
groups of jinn and mankind! If it be, you can pass
beyond the zones of the heavens and the earth,
pass you!
Not without force shall you be able to pass!"
55-33
It condemned
all social evils as crimes, not only against individual(s)
but also against society, humanity and morality. It gave a
blue print for establishment of a just and progressive society,
and in fact established a model. When examined against concepts,
which are projected as modern in different times, Al-Faatihah
stands as most advanced and modern in all times. Sir James
Jeans’ following statement may appear to be modern today:
“In the deeper reality beyond space and time, we may
be all members of one body.” But when we look fourteen
centuries back, we find that the invocation in the plural
form in verses 5 & 6 of Al-Faatihah, even when recited
by an individual, binds and blends man into the society for
the common good. The Quran and the Traditions stress not to
detach from the society. In fact, it infuses spirit to raise
and sustain edifice of just and progressive society. These
Quranic concepts always stand out as most advanced and modern
in all times.
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