Surah 1
THE OPENING (Al-Fatihah)
1:1-7
Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. [1]
The Lord of the worlds. [2]
Master of the Day of Judgment. [3]
We only worship you. We only ask for help from you. [4]
Show us the straight path. [5]
7 The path of those whom Thou hast favoured; Not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray.
Show us how to live like your favorite people, not like those who you make you angry. [6]
Notes
- Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful (v.1)
Now that sounds nice enough, until you read a bit more of the Quran and see just how anti-Beneficent and anti-Merciful Allah really is. But I'll save that for later.
Muslims believe that Allah is the author of the Quran, yet the first surah (Fatihah, The Opening) is clearly a prayer addressed to Allah. - Lord of the worlds (v.2)
Does this mean that the Quran recognizes, prophesies even, the existence of other solar systems, planets, and earth-like worlds, an idea that Giordano Bruno was burned alive for (at least in part) nearly 1000 years after the Quran was written?
If so, then the Quran gets off to a better start (as far as science is concerned, anyway) in Surah 1 than the Bible does in Genesis 1.
- Master of the Day of Judgment (v.4)
Allah, like his buddy Yahweh, is stuck on himself. He wants us all to grovel in front of him forever. Worship him alone; ask him for help; ignore everyone and everything else.
- Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help. (v.5)
And if you do that, then maybe, if you ask him nicely, he'll tell you what to do. Just don't try to think for yourself.
- Show us the straight path. (v.6)
The straight path is the path of those that Allah favors (Muslims).
- Not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray (v.7)
All non-Muslims have either gone astray (like the Christians) or have earned Allah's anger (like the Jews).