(I am indeed a plain warner) coming to warn the people of a severe punishment that they will suffer if they reject him, as happened to those nations before them who disbelieved in their Messengers, upon whom Allah sent His punishment and vengeance. In the two Sahihs it is reported from Abu Musa that the Prophet said:
Surah Al-Fatihah is the Text and Summary of the Whole Qur'an
That Surah Al-Fatihah (The Opening) has been called the Glorious Qur’ an in this verse (87) indicates that Surah Al-Fatihah is, in a way, the whole Qur’ an - because the basic principles of Islam have been merged in it.l
1. In order to understand this, one must keep in mind that the words: اَلسَبعَ المثانِی واَلقُرآن (the seven oft repeated verses and the glorious Qur'an) in verse (87) are interpreted by the commentators in different ways. Most of them are of the view that 'seven oft-repeated verses' refer to Surah al-Fatihah which consists of seven verses. Since these seven verses are repeated in every Salah, they have been referred to in the verse 87 as 'oft-repeated verses'. Then, the words 'and the glorious Qur'an' occurring after it are of explanatory nature which refer to the same 'seven oft repeated verses'. Therefore, the name of the 'glorious Qur'an' has been given here to the Surah al-Fatihah itself. The comment of the author is based on this interpretation.
The ‘seven oft-repeated verses’ refers to the first chapter of the Quran. It is the essence of the whole Quran, and the rest of the Quran is an elaboration upon it. Undoubtedly, the Quran is the greatest gift of God. Its being a book of guidance offers the guarantee of success in the Hereafter to its believers and its being the last book makes it essential that it should necessarily overcome its opponents, because if it does not prevail, it cannot exist as the last book. The preacher of God’s word should not be despondent over those who have not embraced the Faith, but should be satisfied looking at those who have embraced the Faith and devote his full attention to making them contented and giving them training. Fragmenting the Quran (the scriptures) means fragmenting the Torah. The ancient Jews had divided their holy scriptures into two parts. They used to leave out those teachings that went against the desires of the self, while those that were consistent with the wishes of the self were welcomed by them. The first type of verses were kept only as holy relics but were disregarded. Because these verses did not find favour with them, they did not propagate them, whereas they gave wide publicity to the other type of verses which were in consonance with their desires. In other words, they had made the Book of God subservient to their self-interest, instead of it being a means to encourage human beings to obey the commands of God. There are two ways of finding a thing. One is to find its parts and the other is to find it in its totality. When a man recognises a tree in its totality, he says: ‘This is a tree.’ But if he does not recognise it in its totality, he will mention its trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit. He will not be able to utter that one word, on uttering which different parts become rooted in one root and take the shape of one unit. The same is true of God’s Book. There are many different commandments in God’s Book. At the same time it has its totality and its central point. Those who are engrossed in God’s Book will find God’s Book in its totality. On the contrary, when those who are engrossed in themselves see God’s Book, it appears to them only as a collection of miscellaneous commandments. From these they pick and choose a part which suits their taste and condition and start laying stress upon it, as if only that was what mattered most. When the roots of a tree are watered, the water reaches all of their parts. Similarly, if the central aspect of God’s Book is revivified, the moment this happens, all the remaining parts come necessarily to life. As opposed to this, if some parts are selected to the exclusion of all others and much emphasis is laid on them, there can be a great deal of outward fanfare about this, but the real revival of religion does not take place, because its core features have been ignored. And the revival can take place only by reviving its central point.
Uthmani text of the Madinah mushaf (King Fahd Complex). Translation: Saheeh International. Tafsir via Quran.com.
