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KITAB, QURAN & ARABIC

CHAPTER 1     KITAB, QURAN & ARABIC –     IS "ARABIC" THE NAME OF A LANGUAGE OF MIDDLE EAST AND THE BOOK QURAN ...

Wednesday 8 July 2009

Misconception about allegories in Quran

Misconception about chapter Al-Imran-3 Verse no- 7

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

WITH THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE SYSTEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS, THE REHMAN, THE RAHIM   


Whenever a “Quranist” argue with a "traditionalist muslim" the traditionalist present this verse in favor of their argument that everything in the book Quran is not clear. The victim here is a poor word which has been mistranslated or misinterpreted. This poor word is Mutshabihato [مُتَشَابِهَاتٌ], which majority of translator translates as not clear or ambiguous. The root word of this word is Sheen-Ba-He, which means look alike, resemble, compare, similar. Mutshabihato is used in a general sentence as “A son resembles his father” or “Zeyd fought like a lion or lioness” or “Al-Quran and Al-Kitab are similar" or "Rasul and Nabi are similar" or Hawariyun or Nasrani are similar. Mutshabiyat means similar or comparatively, but only a knowledgeable can differentiate between Lion and a lioness or Al-Quran and an Al-Kitab. But who are ignorant will unnecessarily argue without knowledge to know the true essence between Mutshabiyat words before coming to any understanding (Tawil). Al- Kitab or Al-Quran, Lion or Lioness, a Mule or a Horse, Deen or Mazhab, Mutaqi or Muslim or Momin,  Allah or Rabb or Rehman, A Crop or a Bush, Naas or Insaan are all Mutshabihat Kalimats (similar words) but those who are ignorant of these words will not understand its difference but love to argue on its basis.

Some who don’t understand this difference will argue that Allah is represented by 100 attributes or Prophet has 100 attributes or “Al-Quran” has 100 attributes or Camel has 700 hundred attributes. To a common man all attributes ultimately means the same and they don’t make an effort to understand the difference and translate those words according to their contextual meanings. We cannot translate the word horse as donkey or mule. They fail to understand why the respected author used specific word in specific context, there must be some difference in the message intended by the author. For example Zalik Al-Kitab is same as Zalik Al-Quran for a common man. People feel Al-Kitab and Al-Quran are same and interchangeable. The common men are scared to question the translations. If Hudalil Mutaqeen is mention, they will not ponder why Hudalil Momin or Hudalil Muslimeen is not used by the author? Al-Kitab is a specific inherent script present in all species which can be observed and followed by a Mutaqi if he practices Saum and thinks intensely (Ramdan) on it, the Kitab will revealed to him in the form of Al-Quran (The Expression). Al-Kitab is always Mobin (clear) (12:1) then how it can be ambiguous?

Now in this verse one of the key word is Ayaat which is wrongly understood as “Quranic verse”. The Quranic text can be called al-nasiya
النصي - ayaats are valid signs. The root word of Ayaat is Alif-Ye. The actual meaning of ayaat is sign, mark by which a person or thing can be known that can communicate with you and which is a guide and thing to ponder for a mutaqi or diligent observer who observe Al-Kitab.

Mohakamato is another misunderstood word whose root word is Ha-Kaaf-Meem. The basic meaning is wise, judgmental, preventing or refraining from acting in evil manner.

INTERPRETATION OF 7:3 :

هُوَ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ مِنْهُ آيَاتٌ مُّحْكَمَاتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَابِهَاتٌ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنْهُ ابْتِغَاءَ الْفِتْنَةِ وَابْتِغَاءَ تَأْوِيلِهِ وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلاَّ اللّهُ وَالرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ يَقُولُونَ آمَنَّا بِهِ كُلٌّ مِّنْ عِندِ رَبِّنَا وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلاَّ أُوْلُواْ الْأَلْبَابِ
 

It is He who has lodged / settle down upon you, Al-Kitab [the inherent script]; from it are signs [Ayaats] that are judgmental / wise - they are the corrective measure / instrument of the 
Al-Kitab [inner script] - and others are similar, copied / imitated (ayats/signs). As for those in whose intellect is deviation, they will follow what is copied / imitated from it, seeking the trail [Fitna] and seeking an original interpretation. And no one knows its original interpretation except Allah [system of consciousness]. But those firms in knowledge say, "We have peace / security with it. All [of these] are from our Rabb." And no one will reflect except those are foremost in understanding. 

CONSEQUENCE OF FOLLOWING THE TRADITIONAL TRANSLATION:

Even if you have never read the Arabic book Quran, you can surmise that the reason of splitting of the "followers of the Quran" into so many sects and groups is solely due to  "Muslims" because of the allegorical theme or concept brought out by some sects into the fold of Islam on the basis of misinterpretation of the above verse. Each sect claiming to be the correct interpreter of it and the other sect is Kafir (ignorant) of its theme.

Those involved in compiling the the book Quran as it was during the period of its binding had no scope but to immediately collect its fragments and bind it together in the form of a book . They had no idea of arrangement of the verses as produced by the author of the book Quran. To some among them the religion Islam could never had been expanded to other part of the world if they did not adapt the local beliefs to spread the essence of its message. So they have to camouflage the Arabic meaning and give it local articulation in order to teach its core message. The result was that gradually a clear cut book of Islam transformed into the book of allegories open to many interpretations and understandings. The cultural beliefs and needs has taken the driving seat over the main vibrant message in Arabic language and its grammar.

CONCLUSION: 


There is no ambiguity in the Quran, when I say allegory it means hidden meaning. The message of the Quran is clear cut but it is described in parables or you may call it in allegorical manner- 


Allegory: A story in which ideas are symbolized as people. Parable: A short story designed to teach a moral or religious lesson. Fable: A short story in which animals or objects speaks a story, to teach a moral or religious lesson.

It is referred as Kitabi Mobin (12:1), which means clear Book, so how could Quran be ambiguous or have hidden meanings.



Sunday 5 July 2009

SURAH 1 AL-FATEHA



  CHAPTER - 3
UNDERSTANDING RABB THROUGH SURAH FATEHA        

HOW GOD WAS BORN? 

The entire human race has the same basic aspiration, which is to be happy and avoid sufferings. But very few people understand the real cause of happiness and suffering.

We generally believe that lack of materialistic gain is the major cause of suffering and as a result we devote all our time and energy to acquire it. We presume that accumulation or distribution of wealth can bring happiness. But when we contemplate, this same wealth could be the cause of all our suffering.

We need to learn the art of balancing happiness and sufferings. We know that money is essential for us to enjoy life, but we are unaware that being in pursuit of money also brings in immense problems and anxiety. We accumulate wealth at the cost of our family and friends, with whom we enjoy so many happy moments, as a result we lose them too and we lose our health as well then it becomes the cause of worry and tension.


In recent years our living standards have improved immensely. Our understanding of the world has increased considerably, and as a result we have witnessed remarkable material progress; but unfortunately there hasn’t been a corresponding increase in human happiness.

There is a lot of suffering in the world today, owing to many problems. Indeed, it could be said that there is now more problems and greater unhappiness than ever before. This shows that the solution to our problems and those of the society does not simply lie in the technology or knowledge of the external world but in the inner world of self as well. Both internal and external worlds are interconnected to us. Have we ever thought and looked around what is going on in the world? We need to notice right now and note, what we don’t like and what is causing pain to us? We are simply glued onto the 114 chapter ancient Arabic book assuming it as "complete guide" and some believe that the word “Kitab” and “Quran” are same. We are unaware that the pages of that guide book is actually our script/al-kitab which is embedded within us. We simply ignore that inherent script [Zalikal-Kitab] which has immense lessons to offer but we fail to look into it. Instead of simply pondering and wasting our time and energy on some foreign language for guidance, we need to make an effort to grasp the contents of the universal message from that specific Book which we all possess in our own language (14:4).


We are so quick at blaming everything on the external factors, for all the bad that is happening in our lives, that we miss out to probe the valuable messages or sign lies within and around us. The basic dilemma that we face will guide us back home towards the truth, of who we really are and why the external factors affect us. For example simply by the cutting of trees, the quality of our basic needs is affected, such as, the air we breathe, the sun-shine we bask in, the water cycle and the food chain. This proves that we do not live in isolation; in fact we are all interconnected to the external world and this we hardly realize. Our brain would stop functioning, if it isn't connected with the cosmic consciousness / universal mind, our true Lord / Rabb.


The happiness and suffering are actually states of the mind, and so their main causes cannot be found outside the self. The real happiness lies in the establishing of connection with the system of consciousness [Allah] which leads to the voluntary peaceful submission of the self to the internal Kingdom of God. This voluntarily surrender of the self with complete awareness produces the state of inner peace and tranquility termed as Muslim in Quranic parlance. If our mind is peaceful, we will be happy all the time, regardless of external conditions apart from our basic needs of survival. But if it is disturbed or troubled in any other way, we shall never be happy, no matter how good our external conditions would be.

External conditions can only make us happy, if our mind is peaceful. Mind acts like a fulcrum between happiness and suffering. We can evaluate this through our own experiences. For instance, even if we are in the most beautiful surroundings and have everything we need, but the moment we get angry, any amount of happiness we may have, simply disappears. This is because negative feelings like ego, suspicion, jealousy, rivalry, insecurity and fear destroy our inner peace. The attitude of others or manners also affects our peace of mind. Peace is the by product of our internal reaction to the external factors.

We can see from this that if we want true, lasting happiness we need to develop and maintain a special mechanism for inner peace. The only way to do this is by training our mind through right and positive thoughts – gradually reducing and eliminating the negativity from our life, caused by a agitated state of mind [An-Naas]. Replacing them with a positive, peaceful state of mind, and that is by having positive thoughts within you. Muslim is not a name of any particular community. It is an adjective which describes the peaceful / humble and sound state of mind towards his surroundings. If the man does not maintain a peaceful environment and covers up his misdeed by justifications is termed as a Kafir in Quranic terminology, it also means one who does not manifest his true self honestly or one who is in dark or in ignorance, means having no knowledge or the one who conceals or covers up the truth. This attitude breeds arrogance an attribute of Satan.

Those who fail to understand the importance of the inner psychology of self integrating with the innate nature will never be satisfied with their life and will never achieve the state of bliss they desire. The integration or unity or bonding of heart, mind and body mechanism is called Tawheed in Islamic sense - The alignment or unity of mind, body and soul requires complete knowledge / awareness / consciousness of self. When we have high awareness or level of Consciousness, [Deen] accepting or submitting or giving back to the Mother Nature becomes easy and our topmost priority. The empathy in us does not emerge due to fear of hell or greed for heaven but due to our own high level of Consciousness present by the virtue of having a humane mind [Insaan] and the spirit / air of consciousness [Ruh] of the Rabb present in us. After acquiring the highest level of consciousness the difficult path of implementation becomes easy and less painful for a conscious aware mind.


People who do not wonder over their own potentials will always feel the vacuum of deficiency to be fulfilled by their cravings and they will always feel the burden of insecurity. Such feeling of emptiness either develops unethical habit of acquiring things unscrupulously or through "Divine" intervention. For such the need of a “God” arises as they expect easy succor from unexpected quarters to fulfill their dreams, rather than utilizing their own Knowledgeable Consciousness and working on it. Dejection and feeling of insecurity is the perfect breeding ground for believing in the emergence of an alien supernatural savior in the form of the “Almighty God religious God", who could improve or uplift their plight.

The tasks that we fail to accomplish; we want "God" to fulfill them on our behalf. Because we feel that it is the Will of "God" that is the main hurdle in fulfilling our desires. So we perform various rituals to please the “God”. Then if our desire is not fulfilled we console ourselves by lying to ourselves that "God" is wise and He knows what is good for us. Or some smarter among us will say that "God" is taking our exam, so we should exercise patience and concentrate on sincere devotion towards "God." Various forms of logic are applied to justify the importance of "God’s” role in our life. We don't dare to think beyond anything contrary to the belief of the " Religious Almighty God". Our basic belief is that if we perform rituals “God” will be pleased and He will work for us towards achieving success.

Now changing the "will of God" becomes the biggest task in our life. To appease the "Almighty God of Religion", different kinds of rituals are invented and performed. The result of such mentality is that the alien "Almighty God" becomes the Owner and Driver of the individual’s life. Maintaining the relationship with unknown God becomes a matter of prime importance and pride as well. Different “Holy Books” are being published to know the will of "God". Places of worship and pilgrimages are established and are given utmost importance. Opportunist caretakers of these places are given immense importance and reverence in the society.

The entire life revolves around the appeasement of "Religious God" and how one can escape from His punishment. To appease the so called God, first we have to appease the "God-men" and to appease these God-men we have to fleece the "God-men’s assistants". Such practices emerge because of the greed for rewards and fear of punishment ingrained in our mind by the clergy. This belief begins to haunt and eventually becomes the sole basis of one’s life. Serving humanity has taken the backseat. Worshiping of superficial God or gods becomes the order of the day. Religious teachers and preachers are given more importance than school teachers, free thinkers and scientists. Rationality is taken over by mythology and there is no room for contemplation. Believing in miracles and all type of superstition becomes the way of spending normal life. Humanity, commonsense, secularism and tolerance is replaced by giving too much importance to the worship of tribal or cult and the God, gods or deity of the religion, cult, sect through various rituals. 



“THERE IS NO GOD, EXCEPT THE SYSTEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS”

Pre-Islamic religion in Arabia consisted of indigenous polytheistic beliefs, Nestorian &  
Ebionites Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. Nestorian Christianity was the dominant religion in Eastern Arabia prior to the advent of Islam but Ebionites were more similar to Islamic beliefs and they are also called Jewish Christians. In the latter stages of the pre-Islamic era, Christianity gained converts with some unorthodox sects, such as the Gnostics also having a presence.

The sedentary people of pre-Islamic Eastern Arabia were mainly Aramaic speakers and to some extent Persian speakers, while Syrian functioned as a liturgical language. In pre-Islamic times, the population of Eastern Arabia consisted of Christianize Arabs, Armenians Christians, Persian-speaking Zoroastrians and Jewish agriculturalists. This period was called dark ages, as there were complete cultural and economic deterioration. There was total absence of enlightenment and reasoning, because religious dogmas do not allow its followers to use their intellect and foresee outside its folds.

In such an era of multiple beliefs and doctrines, a towering personality appeared in Arabia. He was identified as Rev. Mohammed Ibn Abdullah – Many, many salutations to him. Who proclaimed the phenomenal phrase “There is no god [ilah], except the System of Consciousness [Allah]” - لا اله الا الله - He unified Arabia into a single unit under this banner. His philosophy was that of love and brotherhood of mankind. He encouraged the use of reason, understanding the limitations / boundaries (hudood) of our system of consciousness and shunned blind worship of all big and small deities. He dearly wanted to uplift mankind from the shambles of blind worshiping in the name of religion and its various sects. He promoted and compiled the Arabic translated version of book which is the original version Jewish Christian philosophy as the living guide for mankind. The book is recognized as Al-Quran by the followers of religion Islam. The book Quran never encourages the worship of God, gods or deities rather it defines and explains them. The first introductory chapter of the book Al-Quran is AL-FATEHA, which is about the 'The Opening of Mind'.


The precondition of understanding any book or literature is to get rid of the blockages from the Mind and become clean (56:79). The name of the chapter is Al-Fateha which instructs us to open the blockages of the mind, by explaining the characteristics of Allah (system of consciousness) / Rabb [fountainhead, chief / governor]. Rabb is a very important word of the book Quran, the connotations of which is discussed more than 5000 times in the entire Quran. The term Allah / Rabb and its connotations needs to be understood in the right perspective if we are sincere to study and gain knowledge from the book Quran. Without understanding the essence of Allah/Rabb no one can understand the book Quran. And the main problem is we claim to have understood everything except the term Allah/Rabb. The importance of the term Rabb / Allah is like the importance of head in the body. We cannot understand the message of Islam or the book Quran without having proper understanding of Allah / Rabb. Can we imagine a body without a head? Allah / Rabb is the integral part of ourselves.

Zalikal-Kitab is that script or writings or engravings, in which are guidance for the diligent [Mutaqi]. Nothing is omitted in that book (6:38) - and there's no doubt about it, only the diligent / thoughtful will take guidance from it (2:2). Zalikal Kitab is not the “Quran”, but that practical book of life through which any diligent / thoughtful can walk carefully in the concrete jungle of the world and take guidance, even though if their language is not Arabic [14:4]. In Quranic context Al-Kitab mainly refers to the script inside us, which has reflections / reminders / memories, thoughts for us, will you not then use your intelligence (2:146) (6:20) (21:10). And the inherent Rasuls speaks our own language through signs [ayaats] so that we can understand and distinguish falsehood and become wise (14:4).

The respected author of the book Quran has narrated the message by depiction of characters in theophanic style like in Aesop’s fable. Quran or Furqan or Kitab or Zikr or Hakim or Basirah (2:185) (21:10) (38:1) (36:1) (2:203) are all embedded in every human which warns, guides, and teaches to differentiate things at every moment or stages of life. That's why all the "messengers" follow only what is revealed to them by their Rabb (governor, fountainhead, consciousness), as Quran is the mental perception / intelligence (Basirah) of our Rabb (7:203-205). To understand a book you need a Mind and not a God. That is why Surah Al Fateha, instructs us to open our knowledgeable mind and look up to that practical book (Zaalikal-Kitab) which is inside as well as outside us and there is no doubt, a guidance for the people who are diligent. This is how surah 1 connects to surah 2.


WHY RABB IS MIND / FOUNTAINHEAD / HEAD OR A GOVERNOR?


Some people think that the mind is the brain, but that isn’t correct. The brain is a physical organ that can be seen with the eyes and can be operated if required. Eyes and ears are the extensions of the brain.

The mind, on the other hand, is not a physical organ. It cannot be seen with the eyes, nor does it have a photograph or an image. The brain, therefore, is not the mind but simply a part of the body. The main topic of Quran is universal Consciousness which includes human mind THE FOUNTAIN HEAD of our system. The Quran explains the System of Consciousness (Allah) through lower conscious and higher conscious mind by labeling them as Al-Ardh and Samawat respectively. The derivatives of the word Al-Ardh and As-Samavat has occurred 770 times in the entire Quran. The author tried to explain the word Rabb / fountainhead through the 99+ attributes of Rabb as it is difficult to define the source of all knowledge empirically. Head or fountainhead or Consciousness [Rabb] can only be understood through its attributes; by this we can at least identify the essence of Rabb. The research on Consciousness is being done by different eminent physicist but it is still at an infancy stage nevertheless they have not ruled out its existence.  


The entire Quran revolves around the word Rabb.  Starting from chapter 1 الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ   to the last chapter of the Quran- i.e. قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاس - the word Rabb is used frequently throughout the Quran, thus highlighting its importance. We need to ponder as to why this word Rabb, along with the word Allah is an important part of the message. The respected author has kept on harping all the time to check out this word called Rabb / Allah. His purpose was definitely not to make his followers a devotee of Rabb or “God”, but to explain to them the importance of Rabb / Allah in our lives. And no doubt he has made a tremendous effort to explain the role of Rabb in our daily routine of life. Because without Rabb (Fountainhead of all knowledge) on our side, our Life is worse than animals and the system of consciousness would smear upon us layers of confusions, and we will be always in the state of commotion that doesn’t use their intellect or commonsense (8:22) (10:100). And it is obvious in our lives; I don’t need to produce any evidence for it. 

Although plants, animals, insects and every particle in the cosmos possess consciousness but at different levels. However the book Quran only talks about the different levels in human consciousness and its effects if not handled properly.

There is nothing within the body or outside it, that can be easily identified as our Rabb [Consciousness / fountainhead]; yet we are connected to it 24x7
Consciousness is the natural tendency to feel, perceive or experience, evolve, adapt, act subjectively and govern. All attributes belong to the knowledgeable Consciousness - No vision can grasp Him, He can grasp all visions, He is Subtle and Well Acquainted. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him, nor sleeps. He is Self Nourishing and Self Sustaining. He is our System of consciousness (Allah), All attributes belong to Him only – He is The Lord, The Master, The Owner, The Guide, The Formless, The Provider, The Guardian, The Protector, The Lawyer, The Source of Peace, The Creator, The Evolver, The Forgiver, The Fashioner, The Subduer, The Bestower, The All Knower, The All Hearer, The Judge, The Just, The Aware, The Appreciative, The Opener, The Most High, The Preserver, The Maintainer, The Expander,  The All Embracing, The Powerful, The Reckoner, The Generous, The Watchful, The Responsive, The Wise, The Universal, The Finder, The Restorer, The Alive, The Germinator, The Humiliator, The Abaser, The Constrictor, The Subduer, The Compeller, The Creator of Death, The First and The Last - He is our Mind, our Consciousness, our Rabb; to Whom belongs the 99+ characteristics or attributes; He is our Rabb.

I also observed in the book Quran that all the prayers / invocations of the "prophets" are addressed to the Rabb only and not to Allah, because Allah is also  an attribute which represents Rabb. I also realized that from the list of the 99 names of "Allah" the word Rabb is missing. Although the “scholars” are of the opinion that it is one of the greatest names, yet ironically we don’t find this important name among the 99 names of Allah. I realized that when we pray or supplicate, it is only we, our own self who hears our plea and no one else. The self (nafs) is also known as mind. One of the meanings of Nafs according to Arabic lexicon is mind. Furthermore Allah also uses the word nafs for Himself in the Quran (3:28) (5:115) (20:41). Please don’t canonize any word or take it literally as words are just medium to deduce the essence of the message.


 Although, the prayer does make a temporary psychological impact or placebo effect on us, it thus creates a false sense of contentment because words have positive power to heal. This feeling of temporary satisfaction develops an attitude of carelessness and hara-kiri. This is very dangerous as it encourages a fatalistic and sedentary lifestyle. The ignorant people believe that their prayers are working for them. Such type of belief breeds irresponsibility and dependency as they totally rely on "God" for their work without realizing that “God” will only help them if they help themselves (13:11) (8:53) by working sincerely on a straight and righteous path.

The essential point of understanding the mind is that, liberation from sufferings cannot be found outside the mind or the CONSCIOUSNESS. Man is the prisoner of his own thoughts. Serving the mind with good thoughts can bring out the best out of it. Permanent liberation can be found only by taking help of the mind for right and straight guidance. Feeding or serving of negative feelings like suspicion, fear, greed, miserliness, selfishness and insecurity can invite its wrath and it can be the cause of our going astray (1:7).

Therefore, if we want to be free of problems and attain long lasting peace and happiness we need to increase our knowledge and understanding of the mind / consciousness, which can bring out unimaginable bounties in our favor (108:1-2). The anomalous behavior of the Mind / consciousness (Rabb) is one of the important subjects of the “Quran”. 


SELECTING THE RIGHT MEANINGS FROM THE LEXICONS:


I have tried my level best to present the detailed meanings according to the context of the message. This is done in order to make the subject more sensible to the readers. Some of the important words that suffer due to belief in “Shan e Nuzool”, Traditional Arab Religion” and “Modern Arabic” are Rabb, Allah, Rasul, Nabi, Salat, Zakat, Saum, Haj, Ramadan, Malaikah, Ibadat, Qiyamah, Qatal, Nisa, Al-Ardh, Al-Samawat etc the list is long. We have confined the meanings of the above words to just one or two meanings, which are “colloquial and popular meanings”. Apart from these so called established meanings, which the “scholars” have imposed on the masses, we are not even ready to think on other aspects and are content with the traditional usage. We should know that the “Quran” is written in pre-Islamic Arabic. It is the behavior of any language to evolve and discard its old meaning. We translate old Arabic words with the help of Modern Arabic dictionaries with little regard to the context or its morphology and syntax throughout the “Quran”. We never dare to question; in fact those who question are declared heretics. The biggest casualty is the message of the “Quran” and consequently the downfall of its followers due to not able to grasp the essence of the message.


There are few key words in this surah that need to be understood in the right perspective. These keywords will act as a foundation towards the understanding of the entire "Quran" in all our future references. All the meanings are deduced from the classical Arabic Lexicons. The readers may not find some meanings in modern Arabic dictionaries or the traditional "Quranic" dictionaries. The language of "Quran" is pre-classical "Arabic" and some of the meanings are also deduced from the subject of the verse itself, but care is taken, never to deviate from the basic root word. My aim is that the interpretation or explanation of the verses of the chapter should be in contextual sequence and its message should appeal the readers rather than justify the hadith/biblical stories. 


To deduce the correct meaning from the list of so many hints and suggestions given in the lexicons is like solving a riddle. One has to thoroughly go through all the meanings and examples presented to understand the meaning of the concerned word. Interpreters or translators pick and choose the meaning according to their convenience or in accordance to the general consensus of the masses. For me making sense of the message is the topmost priority. The context of the concerned subject decides the meaning of the word. If the mind is not influenced by any outside source, it is easy to deduce the right word. Consistency of the meaning also plays a very important role in deducing the right meaning.  


THE BASIC MEANING OF RABB ACCORDING TO CLASSICAL LEXICONS ARE:


Rabb = Possessor, Owner, Command or Authority over it. The message of the book Quran is for agitated minds (An-Naas). Looking at the meaning of the Rabb we have to ponder, who has authority or command over our agitated minds or who guide us to straight path. The answer is obvious; it’s our Mind / our own consciousness - The Lord of Mankind. It’s the universal truth and fact that the mind which guides, governs and controls and has power over all of us. We can analyze that this meaning fits into all the properties and characteristics of ‘Mind as Rabb’. As the book Quran connects to the entire human race, the message should not be subjected to any limitations such as any religion, caste, creed, region or sect. Its message can never be suppressed, confined as it appeals to all those who have mind. When we say it’s a message for all, and it should prove so. Thus even an atheist should not deny its existence. The message should be 2+2 = 4 irrespective of what language it is presented in, the meaning of Rabb (Mind / fountainhead of knowledge / Consciousness) should be applicable to people of every class; every region and it should be acceptable universally, in any era. Rabb or Mind or Consciousness is the only logical and correct answer as it touches every human, animal, bird, insect, tree or any technology. Without consciousness nothing can come into existence. 

SOME ADDITIONAL MEANINGS OF RABB ARE - He ruled, he governed, He brought up, nourished, he conducted, regulated, reared, fostered, take care, lord, master, chief command, inseparable, bringing up to maturity. 


WORDS DERIVED FROM THE WORD RABB ARE: 


Tarbbiyat = conditioning of mind and bringing it up by degrees, upbringing, nourishing - Rabbani =  A person who possesses knowledge, -  Arabba Nabi = foster fathers of Prophet, Rabeeb = Like-minded people in an alliance, - Rabubi = Knowledge of science, -  Rabbatul Bayat = House wife, Rabbul Bayat = Head of the family, Rabbath = Foster mother or a firm knot, - Rabbi = Learned pious man, - Yurabbi = Raise (as in raise a child), Rabban = Beginning or commencement of the first or fresh state of anything,- Marabb = Place of counsel,- Marbub = A slave, a bondman or one who is possessed,- Murabba = after maturing of fruit or its juices and collecting it in a congealed form called murraba, Arbab = Plural of Rabb or owners.

After going through all the above lexicon meanings and its derivatives it is wrong to confine the meaning of this all important word called Rabb, to just a conventional meaning of god, lord, master, Lord of mankind. It will cause great injustice to the universal message of the the book Quran. In Quran Rabb is addressed as my Rabb, our Rabb, his Rabb, your Rabb, their Rabb, and its Rabb, his master or lord and lords. Sometimes it is addressed in singular form, sometimes in plural form and sometimes even feminine gender. This diversity of forms of Rabb points out that the Quran is not only talking about a single Ar-Rabb but many derivatives of rabb, apart from the culturally held belief of one God. I leave it on the readers to deduce the actual meaning of this magnanimous word Rabb. Now the fate of the word Rabb is in your hands, you decide, you ponder, as to what should be its actual meaning but without zero in the correct meaning of Rabb no one can understand the true essence of the message of Quran. 



RABB IN SOME VERSES OF THE BOOK QURAN


7:205 Think / remember / contemplate your Rabb in your nafs... 

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79:16 When his consciousness / mind spoke to him with deep sanctity of secrecy

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82:6 O Man what has beguiled you concerning your valuable mind/consciousness  

82:7 Who has evolved you, proportioned you, then justified you?

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81:29 And you cannot wish it, unless you desire the System of Consciousness [Allah], the knowledgeable mind / consciousness [Rabb].


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89:6 Did you not observe how your mind / Consciousness works with repetitions / persistency?

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      96:1. Express / Talk with identification / recognition of your mind / Governor / Fountainhead Consciousness who evolved you - (Talk with your mind)

96:2. He evolved you from relationships [Talooqaat and alaq share the common root word]

96:3. Express with your mind / Consciousness -The highly Productive

96:4. Who has taught, what desired is

96:5. He taught man what he knew not

96:6 Verily man does transgress


     96:7. Because he considers himself independent

     96:8. Surely to your consciousness / mind is your coming back

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106:3
So let them continuously serve the mind / consciousness [Rabb] of this house of thoughts [Al-Bayat]. – The verse is not instructing us to serve / worship the stone house of Rabb in Mecca. to think in this way is a blasphemy which confines the Rabb in a cube shape house - [Please check the difference in meaning of bayat in traditional translations (4:81) (7:4) (25:64)]

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108:1 We have given you the abundance

108:2 So follow your mind / consciousness and master (the knowledge)

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BELIEVING RABB AS GOD?

When we believe that everything comes from God and we are not responsible for the plight we are in, we tend to become careless, lazy and irresponsible. Such type of beliefs promote the habit of passing the buck on “God” for whatever wrong actions we take. “God” becomes the sole decision maker of our fate and our work depends on solely His will. And we shift our focus from sincere work to appeasing of the “Holy God” day and night, out of fear and greed of reward. Blaming it on the "God’s Wisdom" becomes an excuse for every failure we face and the result is we fail to introspect our own selves. Let me begin by agreeing that we all have different experiences that shaped our beliefs / convictions. No one is wrong or absolutely right because individual knowledge and experience is incomplete. What is clear is that there is no one up there with a big magnifying glass watching to reward the good or punish the sinful. God in the physical manifestation is Nature, impartial and does not take sides. God in the Spiritual sense is human consciousness that fosters compassion, love, learning and adaptation. And Satan the opposite forces that manifest envy, falsehood, pride, corruption and disorder. They all are one and the same but with different dimensions. The fact that we have a moral compass in the form of a conscience that essentially encourages good and deters bad by triggering emotions of guilt or sin. This empathy of highest order makes us humans as opposed to mere animals. God exists and it is in all of us. This is what I learnt from the “Quran” nevertheless I respect your beliefs too and this is also I learnt from the “Quran”.


The Rabb / Allah of "Quran" is different from the Rabb / Allah of "Traditional Arab Religion"(“TAR”). Rabb / Allah of "Quran" wants us realization, acceptance, action, hard work, discipline, love and respect towards every creation, walk the right way, to be diligent for our own good. And the Rabb / Allah of "traditional Arab religion" demands all time praising, worshiping, fearing, sacrificing cattles, visit to His house, throwing stones at cement concrete Satan, kissing stone, remaining hungry just for pleasing or gaining favor from Him.


The follower of Traditional Arab Religion believes that if Allah / Rabb is happy He will fulfill their desires. And if He is angry He can destroy them. Greed for reward and fear from hell fire is the basic philosophy on which the "TAR" is surviving. They believe that somebody up in the sky decides our destiny. Such thinking is the main hurdle in the progress of its follower. This blind faith in the miraculous power of "Super God" is termed as Iman or faith by the followers of the “TAR”. They treat Allah / Rabb as a supreme deity who needs 24x7 praising and 5 times a day attendance to his house.

We fail to realize that our continuous prayers or wishes ultimately get registered in our consciousness (Rabb) and that too without our efforts; the Rabb will not reciprocate to our wishes unless we make a conscious effort to fulfill that wish. The mechanism of Rabb helps those who help themselves. Our thoughts which make us believe that "Allah / Rabb" will do the rest for us, prevents the mind to stimulate or send signals to act. The silent and inactive “God” is actually working on the principle of cause and effect, in which we (our thoughts) are its chief stimulating agents. Whatever we sow, we have to reap it. The rewards or punishment depends on how we serve or take care of our Rabb. It’s not our physical body that bears the torture but it is the non-physical layers of mind that has to carry the burden of consequences of our wrong or right actions (11:103-107) (7:187). So, it is we, who create Heaven and Hell during the course of our sojourn, they are all mental state of mind. In short we are the owner of our life or destiny. This simple message we fail to understand, - that we are the leaders (Imam) of our own destiny (17:71).

IMPORTANT NOTICE:


Before coming to the interpretation of the surah 1, I would like to make one thing very clear that the book Quran is not something to be sung, recited or for rote learning, neither does it demand memorization of certain verses with correct pronunciation. The Quran or rather I prefer to call it a book containing 114 chapters is a set of instructions for mankind, written in pre-classical Arabic language. It's not a new message (46:9). The same messages have come in many languages and in every period there is a prescribed message according to its time (14:4) (13:38)

Sincere awareness and the sense of obligation or submission or giving back to Nature what we borrowed from Nature is called Deen in Quranic terminology and this is what the respected author has highlighted time and again. Madeena a derivative of Deen, means place or city or state under authority to one which all must submit.

In the “Islamic” culture much importance is given to the pronunciation and memorization of the Arabic text by the “preachers of Islam". A lot of people I know just play the Quran recitation or recite it as if it is a musical tune or under the belief that it will bring good luck to them. They don't even care to understand it or to know the meaning, let alone analyze the verses or even try to research the Quran. They treat the Quran with utmost respect as if it is a deity which can bring blessing or sufferings. No efforts are made to understand the meaning of the words of the "Quran" whose message is alien to majority of us. A false impression is created as if “God” is listening to our rhythmic sound and it is of prime importance to utter the Quranic verses with the correct pronunciation and rhythm. Unfortunately! We ourselves are so ignorant of its main purpose. There are many regions in the world who have different dialects and they face difficulty in pronouncing certain linguistic phonetics. That does not mean that "God" will punish them. The basic purpose of the book Quran is to understand its instructions but unfortunately we behave as if we are deaf, dumb and blind.


We are simply interested in earning brownie points from “God”. Sadly no emphasis is laid on the implementation or understanding the message. This ignorance on our part is damaging us and the image of Islam worldwide. The formal act of reading the “Quran” without understanding its true essence is actually a waste of time and energy. The "God" is never pleased by formalities. Do you think that we will be pleased if our servant does formalities like saluting us day and night, instead of performing actual work that was instructed to him? Wake up! Don’t be in false illusions that the so called "God / Rabb" will convert all your dreams into reality by just fulfilling formalities or rituals. This is not a fairyland but reality of life. The distance between reality and dream is action. And only your conscious mind has the power to guide you and change your life, so act now and serve Him only.

Those who believe that they are very religious and can die for Islam are in fact the same people who don’t know anything about “Quran” the only valid document of Islam. Their faith in Islam is totally based on the diktat of the clergy. These people love Islam blindly and are the vital canon fodder for the crafty clergies. These clergy class are parasites who feed on these simple “Muslim masses” and they don’t want that these nincompoop masses slip from their clutches by educating them. These poor masses blindly trust and follow these superficial clergies and their interpretation of Islam.

I was very curious to know why the recitation of Surah Al-Fateha has become an integral part of our way of life, that on every big or small occasion it is honored with the recitation of Bismillahir-Rahmaanir- Raheem – Al-Hamdulilahi Rabbil Aalameen…. But after knowing its true worth, I realized that it has amazing guidance and insight in it. For more details refer to the article on Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.

Nothing is achieved without proper hard work, good character and intelligence. The subject of the the book Quran is inherent script of mankind [21:10] and how to connect with it. The right understanding of Rabb will help us in achieving our aspirations - nothing is achieved by just reciting or performing rituals. The wonderful book "Quran" is about integrating the right thoughts in our daily lives and not just reciting the Arabic speech in a rhythmic tone and expecting miracles to happen. Now we have to analyze as to why this small chapter is placed at the beginning of this book and named as AL- FATEHA and given prime importance. What is so significant about this surah?  Why is it so important? 


SURAH Al-FATEHA – THE OPENING, THE UNLOCKING, THE PREFACE.


INTRODUCTION:

This surah is the key to the entire "Quran". The title of this surah indicates its true essence.  Miftah, a derivative of the root word F-T- H – means key or opener. Understanding of this surah in the right perspective is the key to understand the entire "Quran". This surah is also known as: Ummul Quran” – “Mother of the Quran" because this surah nurtures or corrects us throughout our life. Even though the name of the surah is Al-Fateha, but nowhere in the surah have we come across this word. That does not mean it does not have any significance relation with the surah. It contains a very important hint to understand this magnificent surah.

This powerful surah opens up or explains Rabb in a similar manner as the way surah Ikhlaas explains Allah. The 7 small but effective verses define a very big and crucial word called Rabb. In these verses lies the crux of the clear cut meaning of Rabb. Once the meaning of Rabb becomes clear it is easy to understand the entire “Quran”.  A little common sense and a little out of the box thinking will help you in knowing your Rabb – Lord of Mankind.  


Surah Fateha has many attributes, each one indicating a different aspect of its meaning. In the eyes of Arabs if a thing is recognized by many different labels or names, that is the indication of its predominant significance. Some names of surah Fateha are Al-Fateha, Ummal-Quran, Ummal Kitab, Sab'ul Mathani, Al-Hamd, As-Salah [The Connection], Ash-Shifa, Ar-Ruqyah (The Ascent), Asasal-Quran (The Foundation), Al-Kanz (The Treasure), Ash-Shukr, Ad-Dua, Ash-Shafiyah (The Restoration), Al-Kafiyah [The Sufficient], Al-Wafiyah (The Compact / Covenant) ], ALIF LAAM MEEM - ALM is short form of surah Fateha and the introduction to the entire message of the book Quran, which continuously reminds us about the Rabbul Alameen and Maliki Yaumi Deen, that's why surah Fateha is also known as Ummal Quran & Ummal Kitab.


EXEGESIS:


In only 7 small verses the honorable author made an effective effort to explain and remind us the role and purpose of Rabb in our daily lives, in a very simple and eloquent manner - The chapter begins with Bismillahir-Rehmaan-nir-Raheem which is the integral part of the surah and the most important phrase of the Quran, hence the respected author honors it with the top most position. It is important to know the autonomous character of Rabb which is Self-Nourishing, Most Helpful. Allah is one of the attributes of Rabb and it is explained in detail in Surah Ikhlas.


The surah starts with the most frequently used and most important phrase of the Arabic language that is بسم الله اترحمن الرحيم – (Bismillah – ir - Rehman ir- Raheem) - an earnest appeal to recognize / understand the System of consciousness which is Self Nourishing / Educative and Most Helpful. For example a unit of a battery which runs on its own, without the help of any outside source - very similar to that and in the same manner, how the mother's womb functions without any external help and is beneficent and protective to the child. Rehman and Rahim signifies the same effect that of a Self Nourisher, Self Sustainer and Most Protective as womb of the mother which develops and educates the child. The root word of Rehman and Rahim is same i.e. is ر ح م – R H M which also means womb because the function of a womb is to develop mental faculties and take care of the child's overall development. The main function of Rehman is to develop and nourish the mental faculty through knowledge.

Next is the most familiar phrase of the "Quran" ------- Al-Hamdullilahi Rabbul Aalameen. The root word for Hamd is ح م د. One of the meaning of hamd / حمد is - to address, approve. We have no other option but to accept, that all the addresses and approvals belong to the Knowledgeable Rabb (رب العالمين) – but the eminent translators have made a grave mistake in the beginning of the ayat of the “Quran” by translating Al-Hamd as “all praise”,  thus damaging the essence of message immensely and promoting the sycophancy of "God". Such interpretation portrays as if "God" is praise and attention hungry. Another folly is taking Aalameen as worlds. The root word of Aalameen is علم, which means "to know", Aalim, Maulim, ilm,and Taalim are some of the derivatives of this word. It is confounding that how and why the meaning of Aalameen changed to worlds? The Arabic word for world is Duniya (دونيا) in the ayat. In “Quran” the phrase Rabbul aalameen appears almost 39 times. We must ponder on those ayats, also as to why this word ilm is linked to Rabb. Mind / Consciousness is linked to ilm / Knowledge. Mind / Consciousness without awareness or knowledge is useless. Hence, Rabbul Aalameen means Knowledgeable Mind or Consciousness or the fountainhead of knowledge and not any personified Lord or deity sitting in the sky or on the throne.

We have to sincerely acknowledge with full conviction that all approvals and all addresses belong to the Knowledgeable Consciousness / mind. And it is a fact that without the approval or consensus from the mind we cannot do anything. But the irony is we do not recognize His absolute control over us? We must accept the fact that we are His prisoners. And if we continuously serve Him well, He will take care and guide us to the path of bliss and liberty and if we serve our desire; He even holds the power to lead us astray (1:7). This is why we seek refuge with Rabb in surah 113 & 114. These surahs and many more, briefly describe the anomalous behavior of the Rabb and why we need to protect it from evil whispering. But after knowing the powers of Rabb are we really afraid with His characteristics? The respected author sincerely wants us to understand this anomalous and sophisticated mechanism of Rabb, who is also known to be Ar-Rehman, Ar-Rahim, Al- Wadud, Al-Hadi, Al-Quddus, As-Salam, Al-fathah and can also transform into Al-Qahar, Al-Jabbar, Al-Mani, Al-Makar, Al-Muntaqim, Ad-Darr, Al-Mumit if we don’t protect and safeguard Him from evil thoughts. - He is the Embedded Power House of our entity and has the potential to guide us to the established path or can lead us astray by prompting evil into our central system. No doubt it is the right application of the mind which leads us to the established path.

Here it is very important to understand the meaning of Deen and the correct essence of this word will help us in understanding Deen throughout the Quran. Usually whenever the word Deen is referred, "Islam" comes to mind. Although Deen does not mean the “religion Islam", Deen is an extremely subtle word which needs to be understood in the right context. The meaning of Deen varies from context to context. 


In fact air, water, sun-shine, trees and earth are all parts of the interconnected systems without which we cannot survive. All the lives depend on each other. Just like how we are inseparable from our body parts, similarly, we are inseparable from these systems of obligations. Now what is the connection of Deen with these systems and why Deen is called obligation or submission or religion? The fact is that our entity is indebted or obligated to these systems because we consume air, water, sunlight and food from these systems without repaying back. Whatsoever that we have borrowed from these systems we have to maintain the balance by paying back. So we have an obligation and are indebted towards these integrated systems which acts like a complete unit to lend us, thus we always address them as single Owner / Malik. And we can never repay what we have taken from this integrated Units is Ibadah (service). Our each and every moment is a borrowed one and we behave as though we are free and have no obligation towards our natural systems and we are busy fulfilling our needs. One of the meaning of Deen in the context of this surah is obligation / submission of accounts because we are living a life of a borrower. In Quranic context Deen also means submission to inner peace and harmony [Islam] which is the only religion accepted by our system of consciousness (Allah).

When all these systems merge to become one, then it forms a single Unit. The system is for us, it lends or serves us day and night, we are its beneficiaries. We consume the resources of the system and if we are not bothered to maintain its balance. The result will be that we will destroy ourselves but the system will not be the loser, it is we who will cease to exist. The term Allah means system of consciousness which literally means “Nothing For Him” and that “Him” indicates Rabb as the entire universe depends upon Him and serves Him only. It is important to understand that Allah is Ahad indicates each and every system carries system of consciousness and they are not separate but Wahid; i.e. the system of nourishment [Rabb] work as single Unit of Consciousness [Rabb].

For the purpose of convenience of understanding I deduced Allah as a system of consciousness which we have discussed in detail in chapter 2 – Mankind is the most knowledgeable species among all the evolutionary cycle, and is a micro functionary of Rabbul Aalameen (The Knowledgeable Mind). So indirectly man (Rabb) is a center of service of all creation and master of all creation, who can create or destroy. Hence physical man and his invisible Rabb are responsible to maintain the balance as they are the creator and the chief destroyer too. Man and Rabb are not separate but are one. Rabb is an ocean and man is a drop of it without which an ocean will not be called ocean. But like the water of an ocean it can change or transform from liquid to gas then solid and the cycle continuous.

مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ - Owner of the moments of obligation / submission - This is a very important phrase and must be understood very minutely. Man is not free at all as generally perceived by us. Rabbul Aalameen is called مَالِكِ  - Rabb or system of nourishment is the Owner of man because every moment of man is indebted or obligated. Deen should be understood in this sense of obligation from the Rabb. Every moment (يَوْمِ) we are consuming His bounties without realizing that it is debt from Rabb and we have to return it and we being owned by our Consciousness or Rabb - Mind/Consciousness is the Owner of our every moment, we are being continuously monitored or under His obligation. Our sojourn on this planet is a borrowed one. We have to return to Him once we have completed our journey or cycle. We are under His authority and we have to accept it either way, willingly or unwillingly. We are inseparable from Him. To recognize His Ownership / Lordship and act accordingly is the only way out. We are the subject of the Lord called Rabb / Mind / Consciousness. Man is ruled by his Mind which is the part of an Cosmic mind..


The Fountainhead of Knowledge is our Universal Mind / The system of our Consciousness is our God, so every prayer or pleading or wishes or grievances are addressed or approved by Him only (1:2), because no one else will redress you except your own Conscious mind. So ask help from the mind rather than looking elsewhere for help. This is what we all have been instructed to do at the very beginning of the book Quran and this is what we should do.  The respected author of the 114 chapter book is making us independent from all external and internal deities and directing us to the inherent power of our mind or consciousness. So it is very important to serve the inherent power rather than seeking help from outside - Whatever we feed Him (mind), will determine our growth. In short we are the servant / slave and all our attention and focus should be to serve the Rabb correctly, that is the key to our blissful existence. It is up to us whether we sincerely serve and be a good subject or a bad subject of the King / Malik. Bad subjects will incur His wrath. 

Deen means under authority / obedience or under obligation / submission under some authority similar to that of a debtor according to the lexicon and also to the best of my understanding. But in the above context of the surah it signifies "The borrowed", because Al is prefixed with deen which signifies the specific borrower of moments. Borrower is always under obligation of the Giver. In this case the Giver is Rabb, that’s the reason Rabb is termed as Malik or Owner of the borrower. The basic meaning of Deen is being under an obligation of a loan. And we all are under obligation of Rabb, the Owner of our Life and to Him we return (2:156).


TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION:


1
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ



With the identification of the System of Consciousness - The Rehman - The Raheem


2
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ


All the approvals
(الْحَمْدُ) only belongs TO Him (لِلَّهِ), the Rabb Consciousness / fountainhead of all knowledge (رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ)


3
الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ


Al-Rahman - Al-Raheem


Al-Rahman refers to the vastness of nature’s motherly nourishment to its evolution and al-Raheem refers to its benevolent effect on His evolutionary process. Whenever the word al-Rahman and its derivatives occur in the book Quran it signifies guidance and knowledge. So Rehman is the Possessor of vast knowledge plus Educator that gives direction to the evolution process, and al-Raheem is the Possessor of Rehmat (natural guidance) that surrounds His evolution. The system of Allah works on Justice and not on Mercy or Favours.


4 مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ


Owner of moments 
(يَوْمِ الدِّينِ) of the affairs of ledger of life (الدِّينِ)

The verse signifies our relation with the Rabb / Allah is like Owner and we are its tenant. 
Deen is debit / credit ledger of life. Nature / Rabb / consciousness is the Owner and we are the tenants. We are the borrowers and He is the Lender. Deen is the efforts of balancing life by giving back what we have borrowed from Nature. We need to be a contributor and be not only a consumer. 


5
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ


It is You we continuously serve and it is only You we continuously seek help


Without understanding the tenancy agreement we cannot serve the Owner. For that we need to understand the Owner and its tenets.


6
اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ


Guide us to the everlasting / firm path / way


7
صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ


Path / way of those brought upon themselves the blessing/benefits/favours - brought the (Allah's) wrath upon themselves and not those who lost the direction / delusioned / went astray.



Meanings:


بِسْمِ  = With the identification, distinguish, higher knowledge, recognition - prefixed preposition بِ - bi - اِسم  genitive masculine noun


اللَّهِ  = The System of Consciousness - genitive prepositional phrase


الْحَمْدُ  = All the addresses, mention with praise, approve, petition, power to control - nominative masculine noun


لِلَّهِ  = For him only, directed towards, belongs to- prefixed preposition lām - 3rd person masculine singular personal noun


رَبِّ  = Mind/Consciousness / FOUNTAINHEAD / system of nourishment / governance - genitive masculine noun


الْعَالَمِينَ  =The Science / Knowledgeable - genitive masculine plural noun


الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ  = The Self Nourisher [develops the facuty of mind], Self Educator - The Most Helpful -genitive masculine singular adjectives

مَالِكِ  =Possessor/Owner/Holder - genitive masculine active participle noun

يَوْمِ  = Moment/Period/ Day - genitive masculine noun

الدِّينِ  = The submission, The obedient, Indebted, under the obligation of the lender, obligation of the borrower, under authority, governed, the managed - genitive masculine noun

إِيَّاكَ  = You singular- 2nd person masculine singular personal pronoun


نَعْبُدُ  = We are obedient, servant - 1st person plural imperfect verb


نَسْتَعِينُ = We Seek help - 1st person plural (form X) imperfect verb


اهْدِنَا = Guide us - 2nd person masculine singular imperative – 1st person plural object pronoun – implicit subject pronoun →


الصِّرَاطَ = The path, the way - accusative masculine noun


الْمُسْتَقِيمَ = The established - accusative masculine (form X) active participle


الَّذِينَ = Those - masculine plural relative pronoun


أَنْعَمْتَ = You made it easy - 2nd person masculine singular (form IV) perfect verb - – subject pronoun


عَلَيْهِمْ = On them - preposition 3rd person masculine plural object pronoun


غَيْرِ= Other than, brought, conveyed, change, alter, convert - genitive masculine noun


الْمَغْضُوبِ = Those who are doomed/cursed, angry, wrath - genitive masculine passive participle

لَا - Not 

وَ = And / which means - prefixed conjunction waw - negative particle or explanatory particle - The conjunctive ''and'' and its Arabic counterpart ''ﻭ" are discourse markers that express certain meanings and presuppose the presence of other elements in discourse. They are indispensable aids to both the text writers and readers. The present study aims to show that such cohesive ties help the writer to organize his main argument and communicate his ideas vividly and smoothly. They also serve as explicit signals that help readers unfold text and follow its threads as realized in the progression of context. ﻭ [waw ] are necessary discourse markers that provide surface clues for the interpretation of text and the absence of such clues may cause ambiguity and result in incoherent discourse.

الضَّالِّينَ = The strayed one, lost direction - genitive masculine plural active participle


Further elaboration of some key words:

بسم = The prefixed preposition ‘bi’ in بِسم  is usually translated as ‘with’ or ‘by’ or ‘in’. The word that follows ‘bi’ is a masculine noun and it’s a genitive case. The noun's root word is سمو. The basic meaning is to distinguish anything from high elevated place. اِسم  with the conjunctive Alif is made disjunctive, when the word commences a sentence and usually with kesr. The traditional meaning of اِسم is name - but it also means conveying the knowledge of a thing, to recognize, identify or to distinguish by self.


حَمْدُ = Mentioned, addressed or approved with respect. Mohammed محمد is one of the derivative of Hamd which generally means one who is loved, respected and addressed for redress or one who approves. When AL is added, it becomes definite article - الْحَمْدُ  is actually the petition for approval presented to Rabbul-Aalameen.

لِلّهِ = lām is prefixed preposition - and لّهِ  is 3rd person masculine singular personal noun. so لِلَّهِ  means for Him only or belongs to Him only. Shaddah ّ (sign of emphasis) above ل  denotes that it is a more intense form.

رَبِّ  = The most important word of the book Quran and one of the attribute of Allah. It is a irony that we don't find this important attribute or character in the list of 99 names drafted by the traditionalists. Although the characteristics of Allah is more than 100. 

Since Classical and Quranic Arabic is a root word language we need to infer the entire chain of derivatives to reach to the essence of the word Rabb. 

The meaning of Rabb and its's derivatives are as follows: 

Lord, Consciousness, Nourisher, Possessor, Sustainer, Owner, Having Authority, Ruler, Governor, Commander, Up-bringer, Master, Chief, Reformer, King, Ribbath/Rabbiun means group of learned/like-minded people with similar aim, Rabbani means knowledgeable man - Rabbul Aalameen means The knowledgeable Consciousness or mind. Rabbul bait is head of the family and Rabbathul bait means house wife because she is the brain (mind) behind the main part of the house i.e. the kitchen.

No translator has clearly defined the invincible Rabb, thereby creating confusion and encouraging the philosophy of supplications, addressed to the mysterious Rabb without taking any action - 

Rabbani means learned or knowledgeable man, Tarbiyat one of the derivative of the word Rabb means upbringing (conditioning of mind), Rectifier, Reformer, Accomplisher, Bringing to the state of completion in degrees. 

Rabbubi means science, or knowledge- Marabb means one who counsels - 

After an intensive study of the meaning within the Quranic context, I concluded that if we have to define Rabb in a simple and a single word which encompasses the essence of the meaning of Rabb, then it is Mind/Consciousness the fountain head of all knowledge that is the right word which represents the word Rabb. 

Understanding the essence of the message is of utmost importance, than just sanctifying the word and venerating it. My aim is that the translation should be reader-friendly, simple, logical, and subjective, without fear, greed and sacredness of any sort and above all it must be educative, implementable and appealing to the entire mankind and not merely for any particular audience.


الْعَالَمِينَ = The root word is ع - ل - م means he knew it or acquainted with it. الْعَالَمِينَ  is the plural of علم which means to know, hence الْعَالَمِينَ  means the knowledgeable and not worlds or universe as interpreted by almost all translators.


الدِّينِ = This is another very important word to be discussed. The basic meaning of this word is, he became obedient, he obeyed, submissive, enslaved, followed, obligation, under debt - this is the primary signification of the word. When ال  is added to دين it becomes الدِّينِ  which represents some specific specifications to be followed or obeyed on some especial moment. In the above context it means, we have to follow our conscious/mind. Who is the Holder (مَالِكِ) of all cause and effect mechanism of our deeds?  And the moment (يَوْمِ) of dispensation is the product of that mechanism. Madina a derivative of Deen, means Land or city under authority.


IF RABB IS MIND / FOUNTAINHEAD / CONSCIOUSNESS THEN WHO IS GOD?

Our Rabb is one ilah (God), our Allah, the system of consciousness, but please don't make these words sacred because the meaning changes according to its context and these words cannot be understood in isolation. Words are meant for conveying the message through a particular context and not for adulation.  Allah or Rabb are only Arabic terms use to convey a particular message but the spirit/essence of the term can only be rightly understood in the given context. The truth has no language still it exists and its presence is felt by all, irrespective of any language the truth cannot be hidden in the garb of vocabularies. Canonizing or fixing the meanings of these words will limit the limitless message of the book Quran. One of the meaning of word ilah also signifies ideology to which people serve or adore as if it is god. Quran also says that mankind have one philosophy / ideology (ilah) which everyone should follow (2:133) (2:163).


Our knowledgeable mind (Rabb) is our ilah as well as Allah. Our system is our Rabb and our Rabb is our system of governance. Everyone is connected with his own Rabb (Mind) or to his own system. Whatever we do, it is for the consciousness / mind's sake only. We fill our stomach with tasty food; it is only to satisfy our mind. If we wear good clothes it is only to satisfy our mind. Whatever we do, actually we are serving our own government which is in the context of the book Quran is our own mind. If our mind is happy we are happy. If our mind is sad we are sad. Every service or duty is For Him only (40:62) (60:1) (94:8) (42:15) (70:28) (40:28) but at the same time nothing for Him as we the nafs are the main benefactors.

Our body is the reflection of our invisible System of consciousness / governance. "Our system is designed on the nature of Allah (system of consciousness). So we should pay all our attention for the obligations (Deen) in right tendency (Hanif). The nature of mankind is based on Allah's nature (Fitrat). So there should be no change for the evolution of the System of consciousness (Allah) that is the established obligation [that has to be fulfilled], but most agitated minds know not. Turning to Him and be cautious of Him and establish Salat (connection) and do not be among Mushriqeen (those thoughts that comes between your salat and disturb your connection with your Rabb)" - (30:30-31).

It is a clear cut direction in the above verse that our nature is evolved on the pattern of system of consciousness (Allah) and it cannot be changed. We are a very small component of a very vast nature of the collective systems. Evolving for the system, within the cycle is the only established way, but most of mankind know not. We have to be careful and cautious of the obligations of our Owner (Malik) which Governs us. We are the part of the system of Rabb or collective consciousness our Government and if we don't take care of it, we will be the loser (2:30). For that we should try to connect or reach (Salat) to each and every Consciousness and preserve the greater system of which we are the most important link. If we want our next generation to survive and thrive, we should take care of the environment our System of Governance as we take care of ourselves. We should live as a unit. Rabb / Allah / Collective Consciousness are a part of us and are inseparable from us; in fact we are one unit. We cannot live without Him or for that matter nobody can. This is the truth of His Being. I am using masculine pronouns for Rabb / Allah / Consciousness only to match with the Arabic text as Arabic language does not have a neutral gender.

Brain without Mind is useless, Lungs without air is useless, Stomach without food is useless, Tongue without speech or taste is useless, and Eyes without light is useless. Hands and legs without strength are useless and lips without a smile are useless, Hardware without software is useless. These seemingly abstract things but are useful for us - they are all related to us for our survival or our very existence. It is incumbent on us to serve (Ibadat) them for our own survival just as we sincerely serve our fancied "God". That does not mean we have to perform mindless rituals to keep them happy. They are not god but they are not even lesser than “God”. The importance of mind, air, water and light are no lesser than our “God”. These so called smaller gods are actually vital systems of energies without which our survival is endangered. The bottom line is that we should care and conserve the environment as we are its product as well as the chief consumer. These systems are continuously in service for us 24/7. We can live without "God" but can we survive without these systems? For better understanding we can say that every visible system is connected to a invisible system that can be termed as System of Consciousness or Nizam e Rabbubiyaat.


La ilaha ilalallah means there is No god except the System of Consciousness. That means our System of Consciousness is our God. La ilaha ilalallah clearly states that there is No god and the first verse of surah ikhalas clearly mentions that the term Allah is an infinite article because of the Tanween attached to the word Ahad. Please do not misunderstand me if I say there is no god or God. What I mean to say is that every System has its own rules (Hudood) and regulations which have to be followed after identifying it. Simply blindly worshiping the System will lead us nowhere. Obeying the System by sincerely abiding by its rules and regulations is tantamount to serving the System (Allah). Serving is called Ibadah in Arabic. When we are convinced that the System is Our God automatically our every action of serving the System becomes Ibadah, a very misunderstood word of “Islamic Terminology”. Only a true slave (Abd) can serve a System.

If you want to live in “Paradise” treat your mind رَبَّكَ  and others mind رَبَّكُمُ  as "Divine", this is the message of the“Quran”. The dispute of my godرَبِّي  and their god رَبِّهِمْ  will drive you out of the state of bliss. 
There is only one God that is our God or Collective Consciousness رَبَّنَا, the God of the entire humanity. But these smaller gods make one unit of a bigger God or Rabbul Aalameen or Collective Consciousness. If we take care of our smaller gods, the bigger God will take care of us. All of the universal energies and us are connected to a single energy that we commonly identify as God. We are a microcosm of that macrocosm energy and that energy is part of us. Perform duty not rituals towards your Rabb and beware of His anomalous behavior which can create havoc for us. It is necessary to learn the lesson from Adam story why Malaikah prostrated (Sajda) to Adam and not to Rabb. We all are drops of the ocean called Rabb and we have return to Him only.

Rabb is the powerhouse of our existence. He is the first and the last (28:70). We should guard our Rabb with full sanctity and with all the resources at our disposal. Serving Him sincerely is the only way out; there is no other way to achieve peace or Islam. Serving (Ibadah) does not mean to offer mindless rituals; it means to serve our mind / consciousness with good and positive thoughts. Our Consciousness is invaluable. He is the originator and fountain-head of all knowledge. He nourishes as well as He is a Helper. He can create, He can destroy. He can make our life blissful or miserable, depends on what we feed Him. It is of utmost importance to recognize and understand the power of our Rabb. Without Him we are nothing. He is our lifeline. He is connected to us, but are we connected to Him? - We should implore that we are always connected to him positively. We cannot afford to lose Him. That's why establishing of connection [salat] is very important;salat is the only bonding path to connect with our Rabb. He is everywhere, we cannot escape from Him - All mankind must recognize it, even an atheist would accept it. Every one of us knows what it is to lose one’s mind means? It means total disaster. As this message is for whole mankind and He is aptly called the Rabb of Agitated minds 
[بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ].

This is why this surah is called the Key to understanding the "Quran" whose topic is Mankind. Thus we are the master or destroyer or guide of our own journey. We are the leader of our own destination. Making an appeal to Rabb will not solve our problems, unless we take charge and responsibility of our own actions as the most knowledgeable consciousness resides within us (50:16) which needs to be rightly ignited for our positive progress and our own psyche (nafs) that keeps on diverting us from the right path. The respected author's only concern was that mankind should come out of the madness of blindly following rituals and realize that we are a product of a Universal System called Rabb which is within all of us.

I am a human being and bound to make mistakes. I have tried my level best to explain Rabb to you in a manner which I honestly feel is easy and simple. If I failed to make you understand what Rabb is, it is due to my short comings and limited knowledge. This is the outline of the message and can be upgraded if required as this is not the final word. The Message promoted by Rev. Mohammed bin Abdullah (many many salutations to him) is much deeper than my meager knowledge to interpret the original message.


NOTE: The example of smaller gods is mentioned for the purpose of understanding only, and not to be taken literally. Actually air, water, sun-shine, trees and earth are all part of interconnected systems without which we cannot survive. Our lives and their lives mainly depend on each other. Just like we are inseparable from our body parts similarly we are inseparable from these systems. That is why it is called obligation or Deen because we cannot repay back, what we have borrowed from the system. We will be always indebted to the system because we are the main consumers of it.


What Rabb is to us, the head is to our body. As head controls our body, the same way Rabb controls our life. Head and body are inseparable. Two sides of the same coin. We can survive without hand, legs, eyes, ears, kidney, etc or we can replace them. But we cannot survive without Rabb or replace it. The Rabb and the system of a body is not two different units, but a single unit. It is the vital part of every system. No system can run without Rabb. He is the creator as well as the destroyer. There is no end and no beginning to Him. He is ALMIGHTY - AL-AZIZ.

In chapter 4 and 5 of this book we will discuss the quality of our Consciousness / mind (Rabb) through surah 113 and 114.

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Consciousness = Mind (conscious & subconscious mind) + Body represents character of the actor.
In Quranic sense 'Consciousness' is portrayed as an amphitheater, while 'mind' is the lower stage where different actors perform in order to keep the theater alive. A real actor is one who focuses on his own script in the play to his best potential without copying other actors. All the problem starts when one fails to identify his own script and tries to emulate other actors. Everyone has their own role to play; adapting others role is the biggest injustice to the self and it is termed as shirk in Quranic terminology. 

The innate vibrant script provokes man to recognize, remember and follow the signs of his inherent messengers and act accordingly.

The "mind" and "consciousness" are both informal and somewhat overlapping terms that refer to a broad collection of interrelated phenomena. Although generally speaking, the consciousness is a broader term that includes mind plus memory and cognition.

Both of these terms mean different things to different people and can refer variously to several different things. What most people would agree on is that consciousness refers to the awake state (vs. dreamless sleep or coma) and also to subjective perceptual awareness, which can shift, change, and move around, e.g. modulated by attention or in "altered states of consciousness".

The mind, which is a cultural term that is debated in philosophy and used in clinical psychology, generally refers to consciousness plus autobiographical memory, personal identity, sense of personal agency (voluntary control over actions), accurate introspection, and ability to control one's thoughts. 

Consciousness is the state or quality of awareness, or, of being aware of an external object or something within oneself. It has been defined as: sentience, awareness, subjectivity, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind. The opposite of consciousness is unconsciousness which means not awake or is unaware or is insensible.
Consciousness—Philosophers have used the term 'consciousness' for four main topics: knowledge in general, intentionality, introspection (and the knowledge it specifically generates) and phenomenal experience. Something within one's mind is 'introspectively conscious' just in case one introspects it (or is poised to do so). Introspection is often thought to deliver one's primary knowledge of one's mental life. An experience or other mental entity is 'phenomenally conscious' just in case there is 'something it is like' for one to have it. The clearest examples are: perceptual experience, such as tastings and seeing; bodily-sensational experiences, such as those of pains, tickles and itches; imaginative experiences, such as those of one's own actions or perceptions; and streams of thought, as in the experience of thinking 'in words' or 'in images'. Introspection and phenomenality seem independent, or dissociable, although this is controversial.
Collective conscience is the set of shared beliefs, ideas and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society. In Arabic or Quranic terminology it is called Rabbna – ربنا – Our Rabb. This collective consciousness control operates the entire universal system and it is also called Rabbul Aalameen – The knowledgeable Consciousness or the Fountainhead of all knowledge.