Al Fatiha

Verse 1:2

The Power of Human Capacity

The Human Capacity can exceed the capacity of the Angel Gabriel in the story (called a story
because its what youve heard you havent studied it in this context) because when the Prophet
PBUH went up to heaven the Angel can only go up to a certain point, and he told the Prophet that
he has to go by himself after a certain point. Therefore, in this story the Prophet (or the human)
was elevated higher than the Angel and this shows that the human capacity can sometimes be
greater than the angel.

The Quran was sent to show the power of the human capacity.

Everyone has the human capacity to learn.

The creation of Adam and the Ascension of Muhammad is also a story of mankind. (Verse 2:3039 & 2:85-286 [doesnt show the story of Ascension of Muhammad I think thats Surat Al Israa
but the prophet received these last two verses when he ascended to heaven) and its your story
because God believes that you can always go back up. That mankind has the human capacity to
be good and ascend back to heaven like the Prophet.
Quran is a guide to your pull potential.

2:30-39/ 285-86

Adam AS was taught all of the names (Surat Al Baqara 2:31 I think, wa 3lamu Adam al Asmaa -)
Each prophet has a specialty.
Shows all of the human qualities developing.
The Prophet AS doesnt have a specialty but instead takes the top qualities and brings the greatest
miracle (The Quran)

Bismillah + Alhamdullilah

In 1:1 we talked about Be Ism Allah or in the name of Allah SWT, or with the name of God.
So before we read the Quran we know nothing about God. However, when we say things with the
name of God then we get to know God better through his creation. Therefore we must learn
Bismillah before we can learn Alhamdullilah.

ALHAMDULLILAH
Now we get into 1:2

Hamd has two meanings:

1. Praise
2. Being Thankful

Example: When you eat food you are only nourishing your body, but when you understand the purpose
of the food that you are eating then you are nourishing your soul.
Praise
1. Gods praise has no limit.
2. If you dont praise God then you will get sad, or feel pain. (When you get too used to the
wordly life)
3. Understand that your food is eternal. Just because you eat it doesnt mean the benefit of it
doesnt continue.
4. the source of everything is ascribed to God.
Material Causes
1. A causes B has no logic in religion.
2. A really good example of this (This wasnt in the lecture but I was thinking about it) when
you hear the story of Talut, and Dawud in Surat Al Baqarah So basically the story is that the
Israelites wanted to go to war to get their land back, so they told their prophet that they need a
King that can lead them into battle. So then their prophet told them, why do you want to go
into battle, what if you run away from it? They said nah, we really want our land back. So
then God appointed for them Talut, and the Israelites didnt like that, but Talut had lots of
strength. Anyways, so they were on their way to battle and there was this river, and God told
them that you cant drink from the river except a handful. So then 40,000 out of the 70,000
people drank from the river and were not able to fight. So then, they finally got to the battle
scene but then a lot of them were tired, so God said if you are tired then just go home. So
then they did and only 3,000 were remaining. So in the time of Talut, the kings would fight
and whoever lost, then their whole army lost the battle and they would have to go home
losers. So then the Arabs (Thats who they were fighting) put out like this really strong man,
who had armor covering him everywhere and he was so big that if you could even muster up
the strength to hit him then you wont even injur him. Like he was that big. But he had one
weakness in the center of his forehead that wasnt covered by armor. So Dawud kept insisting
to fight him, he was 14 at the time. Talut finally said ok, so Dawud took his sling, and slung a
rock that hit him in the center of his forehead.
a. So in this story it looks like the rock actually hit him and killed him. A
Dawud slung the rock and it hit him B It died.

b. But if you really think about it how can a rock actually kill someone that
large, especially if it hits him there, like what are the odds that he slung it and
it hit perfectly at its target? So A really couldnt have caused B.
c. Dawud slung the rock, but God was the one who guided it, and took the mans
life and allowed them to succeed.
3. You cant always look at things in a materialistic point of view, A caused B.

hamd
1. All praise
2. Bismillah is a set up for Alhamdullilah because you have to know God before you can praise
and thank him. So we learn Bismillah first in the first verse and then we learn Alhamdullilah
in the second verse.

Rabb

Second part of the verse Rabbul 3lameen

Rabb means:
1)
2)
3)
4)

raises up,
the sustainer
the maintainer
Someone who looks after, or sustains something.

Rabbul 3lameen
1) Sustainer
2) Maintainer of all the worlds.
3) God sustains the worlds and continues to look after it as it develops.
All the Worlds

Question: What does God mean by all the worlds

Ive actually heard that there could be other life forms or other earths like if you study
astrophysics and you watch particle fever for example there is proof for other life besides ours so
thats what I always thought it meant but he explained it in a more metaphysical world.
Existance = a world
non-existance = a world that God created.
o Ex: past A world
o future a world
(never really thought of it like that) But the point is the universe can only exist when God is
maintaining and sustaining it. So he is Rabb ul 3lameen -