It is You we worship and You we ask for help

The three ayahs after the Basmalah in Surah al-Fatihah — ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلۡعَٰلَمِينَ‎, ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ‎ and مَٰلِكِ يَوۡمِ ٱلدِّينِ‎ — make up Allah’s comprehensive introduction of Himself. Everything we need to know about our Creator is set out here. Each ayah adds a new layer of knowledge on top of the one before it, and naturally leads us to a profound conclusion.

Knowledge always leads to a conclusion. When you learn something meaningful, you inevitably ask: “What follows from this? What should I do with this knowledge now?” In these ayahs Allah has introduced Himself to us, and every piece of knowledge He has given points us to the same answer: to be His slave.

By the time we reach the fourth ayah, the answer we will give has almost emerged on its own:

“You have given me enough reasons. I’m ready. Where do I sign?”

THE DECLARATION OF SERVITUDE

The answer comes in the very next ayah:

There is something remarkable here. Allah does not give us a direct command, “Make yourselves My slaves.” Nor does a command come in the form “Serve Me.”

Instead, He places these words in our mouths and teaches us what we should say.

And its translation:

“To You alone we surrender ourselves, wholly and absolutely, in servitude and worship.”

Most translations render this simply as “You alone we worship.” But that does not fully reflect the deep dimension of the concept of ‘ubudiyyah.

Notice another shift here as well. In the three ayahs after the Basmalah we were speaking about Allah in the third person: “All praise belongs to Allah.” “He is ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim.” “He is the Sovereign of the Day of Recompense.” But suddenly we begin to address Him directly:

“YOU alone we serve.”

That is, we have moved from speaking about Allah to speaking to Allah.

So why does this shift take place?

Because when you truly learn who Allah is in the three ayahs after the Basmalah, you naturally understand that He is listening to you as well. If He is the Rabb, then it is only to be expected that He listens to His slaves. You do not need to make an appointment to reach Him. You do not need to wonder, “Can I even reach Him?”

The moment you truly realize who He is, you are already in His presence. Now you are speaking to Him directly.

This ayah is our declaration of independence. Or more precisely, it is our declaration that we are giving up our false independence.

There is a very beautiful paradox here:

When you declare that you are Allah’s slave, you reach the only point at which you are truly free.

A person can be a slave to one thing or another. So do you want to be free from all these forms of servitude?

True freedom comes only from being Allah’s slave.

You do not have to look like anyone else. You do not have to talk like anyone else. You do not have to fit into other people’s mold.

There is only One you need to please: Allah.

All those other pressures fall away. Even your insecurities, like “I’m too short,” “I’m too tall,” “I’m too thin,” “I’m too heavy,” take on a different meaning. Because when the only one you need to impress and please is Allah, the pressure of how people see you weighs less on you.

UNDERSTANDING TRUE SERVITUDE

So how many times a day do we repeat this declaration of servitude to Allah? At least seventeen times, in our obligatory prayers alone.

Most translations say, “You alone we worship.” But it is more fitting to translate it as “We surrender ourselves to You in servitude and worship.” Because servitude and worship are two different concepts.

‘Ubudiyyah and ‘ibadah — that is, servitude and worship — are both found together within the word نَعۡبُدُ; but they are not the same thing.

So can a person worship Allah and still not have the awareness of being a slave?

Absolutely.

THE DEFINITION OF A SLAVE

What is the definition of a slave? In the simplest terms:

It is the one who does not do what he wants, but does what his master wants.

That is all. A slave carries out only what his master wants. Even when he wants to do what he himself wants, he looks to see whether his master allows it. He asks, “Can I do this?”

His master may say, “Yes, you can.” But even that may have limits: “Don’t do this more than this much.” “Come right back.” “Don’t spend your whole day on it.”

This is what lies at the foundation of the master–slave relationship.

And yet we often hear young people in our community say: “I’m going to do what I want.” “I’m going to be myself.” So what are we rejecting in these attitudes?

The very definition of being Allah’s slave.

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN RABB AND GUIDANCE

There is something very profound in the structure of the Qur’an. The word رَبّ appears again and again in close contexts with the word هُدًى, that is, guidance. Throughout the Qur’an we see these two concepts come side by side again and again: Rabb and guidance. Rabb and guidance. For example:

This connection recurs constantly in the Qur’an. So what is the relationship between Rabb and guidance? It is actually quite simple.

Imagine someone comes to you and says, “I’m going to be your master.” And you say, “Okay, I’ll be your slave.” Then the two of you just stare at each other for five minutes. Things start to get a little awkward. The new slave finally asks, “So? What am I supposed to do? Do you want to hang out or something? What do you want me to do?”

That is the point. A slave is truly a slave only when he does what his master wants. But how is the slave to know what his master wants? He cannot know unless his master tells him.

A master shows that he is truly a master by giving instructions to his slave. And what is instruction?

It is guidance.

THE NEED FOR REVELATION

Before Islam, people performed tawaf around the Ka‘bah naked, thinking that this would please Allah.

A person could have thought: “I am doing this because I don’t know what else to do. I don’t even know what it means to be a slave. I cannot use my own imagination for this. I need You to tell me what I should do.”

That is exactly what revelation is. It is as if Allah answers:

“You asked Me, so here it is. You realized that you must be a slave. Now I am teaching you how to be a slave.”

ASKING ALLAH FOR HELP

The ayah continues:

This word carries a special nuance of meaning. It means asking for help with something you are struggling with. That is, you are already making an effort, and you need support in what you are doing.

Let’s think about the difference with an example. You’re driving and you get a flat tire. Someone passes by and you say to them: “Hey, can you help me? I got a flat tire. By the way, the spare is in the trunk. I already took it out. The jack is there too. I’m listening to my favorite news channel right now, so you just take care of it.”

You asked for help, right? But you weren’t actually struggling. You were handing the whole job over to someone else.

Now think of the second situation. You got a flat tire. You got out of the car, took out the spare tire, took out the jack, and started turning the jack to lift the car. But you don’t have the strength to lift the car all the way. Just then someone passes by and you say: “Hey, could you help me out a bit?”

This is a completely different way of asking for help. Because you are already making an effort and struggling.

The word used when a person asks for help while already struggling is ‎استعانة‎. This is also the form used in the word نَسۡتَعِينُ. By using this word, it is as if we are saying to Allah:

“O Allah! I am already trying to do everything I can. But I can’t accomplish this on my own. Help me.”

In other words, if you are making no effort at all, you cannot reconcile the meaning of asking Allah for help with the word itself.

THE FORMULA FOR DIVINE HELP

Sometimes you hear people say: “I really want to be a better Muslim.” And you ask them, “Do you pray?” “No.” “You should pray five times a day.” “Five times? Every day? Every single prayer? Wow! I could never do that. Allah hasn’t helped me yet. When Allah helps me, when He gives me tawfiq, I’ll pray.”

So what is this person actually saying? “I can’t do this until Allah’s help comes. So I don’t even need to try.” And what does Allah teach us in this ayah?

Do not ask for help before you yourself have begun to struggle.

This is the order Allah has set for life, which we encounter again and again throughout the Qur’an: first the person makes an effort, then Allah’s help comes.

Abraham (peace be upon him) was first thrown into the fire. Then the fire became coolness and safety. He did not get an email a day earlier saying, “Don’t worry, the fire you’ll be thrown into tomorrow will be cool for you.” No. First came the test, then came the help.

At the Battle of Badr, the Muslims first went out onto the battlefield. Then the angels came to help them. The angels were not sitting there beforehand saying, “We’ve been here since 2:30, where are you?” No.

First you make the effort, then the help comes.

So when we ask Allah for help, we are in fact also saying: “O Allah, I am already striving.” So be careful not to lie to Allah. If lying to one another is already bad enough, what would it be to stand in Allah’s presence and lie to Him?

Picture this: You’re watching a movie. Your mother says, “It’s time for Maghrib, come and pray.” You pause the movie, get up to pray and say: “Of course, O my Master, I am completely Your slave. I am striving so hard for You. Please help me to become better. I’m struggling so much.” Then you pray as fast as you can, thinking, “Let me just get this over with,” and put the movie back on.

Isn’t this lying to Allah? Isn’t this, in a way, disrespect toward Allah?

Do not turn prayer into a joke. The purpose of prayer is to transform your character.

Prayer is not something about which you simply say, “Let me do it quickly and be done with it.” It is not a hit-and-run. It is not something to be performed “bam, bam, bam, done.”

The irony here is this: people recite Surah al-‘Asr especially when they are in a hurry.

This entire surah tells that man is in loss, because he cannot find the time to give to the things that truly matter. And just as you are doing exactly that, saying, “I don’t have time, so I’ll pray quickly and move on,” you are reciting Surah al-‘Asr.

In other words, while reciting the very ayahs that describe the problem you are in, you yourself are acting out that same problem.

WHY “WORSHIP” FIRST, THEN “HELP”?

So why did Allah first have us say:

and only after that:

There are several profound wisdoms behind this.

First: Why were we created? To be Allah’s slaves and to worship Him, or to ask for help? We were created to be Allah’s slaves and to worship Him. And to be able to accomplish this, we need help.

So which should be mentioned first? The main purpose, or the support needed to achieve that purpose? The main purpose is mentioned first: نَعۡبُدُ Then comes what will help us carry out this duty: نَسۡتَعِينُ

Second, consider this: when we worship, it is for Allah’s pleasure. But when we ask Allah for help, that help is for our own benefit.

Let this settle in your mind. When we worship, we worship for Allah. When we ask for help, we ask for our own benefit. So mentioning first what Allah cares about is an expression of respect. What you ask for yourself comes second.

You come second. What Allah wants comes first. Your need comes second. Engrave this in your mind:

What Allah wants comes first. What you want comes after.

As Muslims, let none of us forget this. Do not come on the 27th night of Ramadan to call on Allah with long supplications like “O my Master, give me a promotion. Raise my salary. Get my third home loan approved,” if all year long you have neglected the obligations Allah asked of you.

First you must fulfill your obligation to Allah. Then you should ask Allah for something. We learn this here, in the very structure of the ayah:

“Fulfill your duty before you ask Me for anything.”

And you must do this so sincerely that you can have the courage to stand in Allah’s presence and truly say: “I am doing my duty.”

When you say إِيَّاكَ نَعۡبُدُ, you are in fact making a claim: “I make myself Your slave.” That is why I now consider myself fit to ask for help: “At least I am trying to be Your slave. Now help me.”

If you can truly say this with sincerity, then you have begun to understand what Surah al-Fatihah is meant to do. This is what should take place within a person who truly understands this surah.

We say: وَإِيَّاكَ نَسۡتَعِينُ — “You alone we ask for help.” But notice:

We do not say what we are asking help for.

We don’t say, “Help us in our work.” We don’t say, “Help us with our health.” We don’t say, “Help us pass our exams.” So why not? There are several reasons for this.

First: the One we are speaking to already knows what we need. When you say to Allah, “I need help,” Allah already knows what you need help with. You don’t need to explain it item by item.

Second: the list is very long. I don’t need help with just one thing. I need help with everything.

I need help with my health. With my work. With my career. With my prayer. With my children. With my relationship with my spouse. With my relationship with my parents. With my relationships with my mother-in-law and father-in-law… The list could go on forever. So what do you do? You simply say, “Help.” Because this word covers everything.

Third: imagine you are walking on a mountain. Your foot slips and you fall over the edge of a cliff. You are holding on to the edge with one hand, and below you is a thousand-meter drop. What do you shout?

“HELP!”

Why? Why don’t you explain the whole situation in detail? Because you are desperate. You have no time to explain. You may not even be able to form the words properly. We are expressing that we are truly in need of Allah’s help and helpless. It is as though we are so in need of Allah’s help that we cannot even find the words to say what specifically we need.

There is also a principle of proximity here. We have just said to Allah: “O Allah, I am Your slave. I have declared myself Your slave, and I will worship You.”

But being Allah’s slave, serving Him wholly and absolutely, is not an easy thing. It is very hard. If we are honest, we cannot say that we have done it very well so far. We are struggling.

And the very moment we decide to commit ourselves to an extremely great and difficult task for Allah, we immediately say: “Could You help me a little? Because I just said I would do this, but I’m not sure I can manage it on my own. Please help me.”

This help is not only about servitude. We need help with our food. With our clothing. With our shelter. With our family. With countless things. But the most urgent need is servitude itself:

“O Allah, help me so that I can be a successful slave of Yours. Teach me how to be Your slave. Help me achieve this first.”

What is the starting point of the master–slave relationship? What is needed first? Instructions, direction.

That is why, right after asking for help, in the very next ayah we ask for guidance (hidayah).

This is the most special of all the kinds of help we could ask for. In al-Fatihah we could have asked Allah for provision. We could have asked for forgiveness. We could have asked for a good and peaceful life. We could have asked to be kept away from hardships. We could have asked to be protected from trials (fitnah). We could have asked for countless other things.

But Allah tells us: “Learn to ask Me for this one thing.” Because if this one request of yours is fulfilled, you will have the essential thing needed to solve all your other problems.

So what is this one thing we ask of Allah? It comes in the next ayah: