We began this journey with a prayer.
The Fatiha. The prayer we have prayed all our lives. The prayer that asks Allah to show us the Straight Way. The prayer that describes the Straight Way as the way of those upon whom Allah has bestowed His grace.
We have now walked through thirty lessons. We have read the Qur'an together. We have followed the signs from Adam to Issa. We have sat with the hard questions.
It is time to answer the prayer.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ • الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ • الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ • مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ • إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ • اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ • صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ
“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Master of the Day of Judgment. You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help. Show us the Straight Way. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your grace, not of those who have earned Your anger, nor of those who go astray.”
Surah Al-Fatiha 1:1-7 | quran.com/1/1
What is Al-Rahman?
Al-Rahman is the Most Gracious. The one who extends grace. Grace is when a penalty is suspended. Adam and Hawwa deserved to die the day they sinned. Allah was gracious. He gave them life. He gave humanity a grace period, time to receive what He had planned.
Every human being alive is living in the grace of Al-Rahman. The penalty is suspended. The time is now.
What is Al-Raheem?
Al-Raheem is the Most Merciful. Mercy goes further than grace. Grace suspends the penalty. Mercy removes it. Mercy restores. Mercy brings back what was lost.
Adam asked for mercy in the Garden. He did not receive it fully then. He received grace. The mercy was promised for the future.
When did the mercy arrive?
وَجَعَلْنَاهُ آيَةً لِّلنَّاسِ وَرَحْمَةً مِّنَّا وَكَانَ أَمْرًا مَّقْضِيًّا
“We wish to appoint him as a Sign unto men and a Mercy from Us. It is a matter so decreed.”
Surah Maryam 19:21 | quran.com/19/21
The mercy arrived in the person of Issa al-Masih. The Rahmah of Allah made flesh. Predestined. Sent at the moment Allah had chosen before the foundations of the world.
The Fatiha begins with two names: Al-Rahman and Al-Raheem. The Most Gracious and the Most Merciful. The prayer of the Fatiha is a cry to the God whose nature is these two things. And the answer to the prayer is the one in whom these two things arrive together: grace extended across all of human history, and mercy finally given in the person of Issa.
So the Fatiha has been answered all along?
Yes. The Straight Way is to follow Issa. Surah 43:61 has said it since the Qur'an was revealed. The grace of Al-Rahman gave us time to find it. The mercy of Al-Raheem sent the one who is the Way himself.
Every time we have prayed the Fatiha, we have been asking for what Allah had already provided. The question was never whether He had answered. The question was whether we were willing to receive.
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”
Injil, Titus 3:4-5 | bible.com/bible/111/TIT.3.4-5
Not because of works done by us in righteousness. This is what the seven signs were showing across thousands of years. Man cannot cover his own shame. Man cannot save himself from judgment. The provision is from Allah, according to His own mercy. Received, not earned.
The Package by the Door
A man had prayed the same prayer every day for fifty years. He prayed it sincerely. He prayed it with his whole heart. The prayer was: O Lord, send me what I need.
What he did not know was that the answer had been placed outside his door twenty years before he began praying. He walked past it every morning on his way to pray. He walked past it every evening on his way home.
One day his daughter said: Father, what is that package by the door?
The man looked. He had grown so accustomed to walking past it that he no longer saw it.
He picked it up. Inside was everything he had been praying for.
He sat down slowly and read the note that came with it. The note said: This was sent before you began asking. The sender knew you would need it. He knew before you knew. He placed it where you would find it when you were ready to look.
The Fatiha asks: show us the Straight Way. The Qur'an answers: follow Issa. This is the Straight Way.
The answer has been there since the Qur'an was revealed. The grace of Al-Rahman gave us the time to find it. The mercy of Al-Raheem sent the one who is the Way.
Are you ready to receive what has been placed before you?
This is not a question for another day. Bring it honestly to Allah in prayer.