The Essence of Islam – Volume I — Page 432
432 Essence of Islam-1 for 1,300 years the Holy Qur'an has incited its opponents to produce its match and called those who failed to do so, and yet continued in their opposition, wicked, contami- nated, cursed and condemned to hell; yet the opponents chose all the humiliation and dishonour and disgrace for themselves and submitted to being called false, con- temptible, shameless, wicked, mischievous, faithless and condemned to hell, but could not produce even a short Surah for comparison with the Holy Qur'an. Nor were they able to find fault with the merits, qualities, great- nesses and verities which the Word of God presents. They were under challenge, and still are, that if they do not wish to give up their disbelief and lack of faith, they should produce the like of one Surah of the Holy Qur'an and should confront us with a text which comprises all those external and internal qualities which are to be found in the briefest Sürah of the Holy Qur'an. [Brāhīn-e-Ahmadiyya, Rūņānī Khazā'in, Vol. 1 pp. 403-410, footnote 11] To bring our argument to its completion, we will set forth some fine points and verities of Sūrah al-Fatihah. First we will write Sürah al-Fatihah and then write about its profound verities. The Surah Fatihah runs as follows: بسمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَلَمِينَ . الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ . ملِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّيْنِ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِم غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ 0 248 248 'In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. All praise be- longs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds, the Gracious, the Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgement. Thee alone do we worship and Thee alone do we implore for help. Guide us in the straight path- The path of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy blessings, those who have not incurred Thy displeasure, and those who have not gone