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Ayah 1
'All praise and gratitude belongs to Allah' - from the moment we were born
Allah guided us, He provided for us, He clothed us, He protected us, He nurtured
us and there are so many favours of Allah upon us that we can't help but fall into
gratitude to Him. The reason we love our parents is because of the things they've
done for us, but we have to realise that Allah has done far more for us, and loves
us far more than our parents. Therefore the honourable and dignified thing to do
is to fall into gratitude of Allah.
For some people hamd is simply a word, but for others, it reduces them to tears
and their hearts tremble out of the love of Allah and they then start
looking forward to be with Allah through prayer at the mosques and reading His
words. It is when this love settles in your hearts that you start to shake off worldly
attachments, and when you do that, your inner strength grows and you realise as
long as Allah is with you, you are never alone.
The Prophet and the Sahabah were suffering a lot at this time, so
for this Surah to come down at this time and to begin with the gratitude of Allah
is an amazing support in that context, because it is teaching the Prophet and all of
humanity to learn the favours of Allah and to remember and be conscious of how
much Allah has done for us and then express gratitude for it. That is the teaching
of the first ayah. Therefore hamd is a key, it is something that gives you access to
the guidance of Allah and prepares your heart to receive the revelation.
The verse carries on '...The One who revealed to His slave the Book, and
placed not therein any crookedness.' After being taught about the concept
of hamd, in this part of the ayah, we are being told to be grateful for three things:
1. For the Revelation: Allah sent down the Quran out of His mercy and He didn't
have to do this, so this guidance is a mercy from Allah. We could've easily been
left to wander in darkness, but Allah wants us to come to Him.
2. For the Prophet - Allah sent someone who could become the
living example of the Quran, a messenger who was chosen to carry and assure
the perfect delivery of this message. He was the living Quran, and that is what
the message demands of us, so that we become the message living amongst the
people. The Prophet was sent out of the mercy of Allah.
3. For insuring that this Book has no crookedness in it - This is a book without any
flaw or contradiction, a book free of falsehood, a book that is clear in meaning
and language, and there for people who are sincere and faithful and humble to
accept whole-heartedly and then to act upon it.

Why did Allah use the word 'Abd (meaning slave) instead of Rasoolullah
or Muhammad when referring to him in this ayah?
This is in fact a huge honour for the Prophet because for humans
there is nothing higher than being a slave of Allah . Our honour and
our slavery to Allah are deeply connected, so it is a sweet word. When Allah says
'My slave' you can really feel the love in this, and the more we lower and humble
ourselves before Allah, the greater we become in His sight. This is why the Quran
says, 'Prostrate and come close.' If you want to come close to Allah, then prostrate
and come close to Allah. There is a very important lesson here, because the more
we view ourselves as nothing in front of Him, the more He loves us. The more we
come to Allah as beggars, with our heads held low and with our hearts broken the
greater we become in His sight. When we come to Allah in this state - then this is
where Allah describes us in the Quran in Surat al-Furqan: 'And the
slaves of The Most Merciful walk on earth with humility...' What could
be better than being a slave of Ar-Rahman? Focussing on the linguistic aspect of
the word 'abd; the word slave is a better translation than servant, because to be
a slave you have to work full time for your master and you have no rights in front
of your master - so our relationship with Allah is better described as a slave.

In addition, we are taught a further three things about revelation here:

1. For the purposes of revelation, Allah didn't reveal Himself, nor did
He become flesh, and nor did He leave His revelation to the whims and desires
of human beings or history or nature. History, nature and a righteous man can
lead one to Allah, but they cannot serve as revelation. It is only a Book of God
that can serve as a revelation... the words of Allah in the language
of human beings, that penetrates the heart and changes us.
2. Moreover 2 extreme positions have been refuted in this ayah. The first position
is that God does not communicate His Will, and nor did He speak to humanity.
This is refuted in this ayah where it says that God revealed a Book and it serves
as guidance for us to know what God wants from us.
3. The other position is that God sent a divine man to show people the message,
and this is refuted in the ayah by mentioning that Allah revealed the Book to
His slave, who is a human being. A slave, a human being, a creation of Allah
has been sent. This is why Surah Kahf ends with: ''Say (Oh Muhammad): I
am nothing but a man, who has been given revelation...'

Ayah 2
This ayah begins with the description of the Book mentioned in the previous ayah,
as: A book which removes crookedness, distortion, deviance from people, and then
directs them on the right path. Therefore the Quran doesn't have any crookedness
in it, and it removes crookedness. This ayah carries on to mention the purpose for
revelation as, 'a warning (caution) of a severe punishment from Allah.'
This isn't just a punishment from anyone it is a punishment from the King of kings
a punishment that would remove any thought of joy from your heart. The Prophet
said: 'if you knew what I know, then you would laugh little and cry much.'
However, this warning in fact is a mercy for us, Allah could have easily not told us
about His punishment, and we could have been left unaware of the punishment
that might befall us but even in His anger Allah is merciful. His mercy can be seen
even in His anger. That's why it says in Arabic Poetry: 'He Who in His anger does good
and favours people, so how about when He is satisfied with His creation.' The 1st reason for
revelation was to warn mankind, the second reason mentioned in this ayah is 'to
give glad tidings (cause of rejoicing) to those who are believers and busy
themselves in deeds of rectitude, for them is Jannah.' A place of eternal
happiness, an excellent reward, an indescribable place of joy and of contentment,
the neighbourhood of Allah . This is a place reserved for those people
who spent their lives in faithfulness to this cause and calling, a people who sought
out opportunities of righteousness from the moment their eyes opened and when
they slip and fall and forget, they quickly pick themselves up and seek repentance
from Allah, and carry on with good deeds.
On a side note, there are two conditions for a good action: Sincerity; and that the
action has to be in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah. It can't be any vague
notion of humanism. This is what being a Muslim is about. We have to do actions
Allah wants us to do. It is not enough to just be called a Muslim, to simply belong
to a certain lineage, to simply be attached to a Sheikh - this notion is very close to
the Christian theology, but this is far away from the message of Islam.
Ayah 3
'They will remain in there forever' - Imagine a place where you will never die
where there is no pain, no sorrow, no grief, just faces beaming with happiness that
they've made it, with the realisation that their Lord is pleased with them. It is as if
we were created for that place, and it's this dunya that makes us ill, old and decay.
It's as if we were never meant to be here, as if we are not of this world, as if we're
foreigners. Our true home is Jannah and so we long for it and we are simply going
through this toxic land as travellers to our real and eternal destination.

Ayah 4
'And further to warn those who say Allah has begotten a child.' The ayah
before, mentioned the warning only, but a certain group is being highlighted here.
The Quran is criticising the Christians, Jews and the Arabs. All of these groups, in
different ways, associated partners to Allah, be it a son or daughter.
Ayah 5
'No knowledge they have of such a thing, nor did their forefathers, it is
an enormity that issues from their mouth, as what they say is nothing
but falsehood.' Here the Quran says that this statement has no proof. This tells
us that if we make statements about beliefs and when we hold beliefs, we need to
have evidence. Our ancestors cannot be evidence, our culture cannot be evidence,
what our tradition says cannot be taken as evidence. This statement about Allah is
such a huge statement that the heavens shake because of it. Surah Maryam states:
'The heavens are ready to burst, and the earth is about to split asunder,
and the mountains are about to fall in ruins, for what they've uttered.'
It's as if what keeps the whole universe together is Tawheed (the belief that Allah
is One), and when statements like these are made, it is as if the whole universe is
about to be destroyed. This is the enormity of their lie.
There's a very important lesson here for us, as a people living in the modern world
that we should never take things for granted. We cannot be blind consumers: be it
of the values we hold, the education we have been given, the food that we eat, the
media we read or the medicine we take. All of these things fall under consumption
and it is important for us to be a people of knowledge and evidence and not just to
accepts things without examination. We need to be a people who stop, and reflect
on what we do, questioning if the education we are receiving is beneficial or not, if
the food we are eating is good for us or not, if the life we are giving our children is
good for their faith or not. This is what the Quran is trying to nurture within us, a
culture and an attitude and a mentality of a people who think and reflect.