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The best way to begin any task is in the name of God, the Lord, the Being who
is the source of all blessings, and whose blessings and mercy are continually pouring
upon His creation. To commence any undertaking in His name is to pray that God,
in His infinite mercy, should come to one’s assistance and bring one’s work to a
successful conclusion. This is man’s acknowledgement of the fact that he is God’s
servant, and also brings divine assurance of success.
The Quran has a special and characteristic way of expressing a believer’s inner
sentiments in the most appropriate words. The invocation of God, in the opening
chapter of the Quran, constitutes a supplication of this nature. The feelings which
are naturally aroused in one after discovering the truth are expressed in these lines.
Man’s existence is a very great gift of God. We can estimate its greatness by the
fact that man would never exchange it, or even any apart of it—his eyes or hands,
or any organ of his body—for the greatest treasures of the world.
Even these basic gifts of God (organs of the body) are more precious than the
kingdoms of the kings. When man looks at the world around him, he cannot fail
to notice God’s power and mercy abundantly in evidence everywhere. Wherever
he casts his glance, he finds extraordinary order and supervision. Everything has
been extraordinarily and astonishingly adapted to man’s needs. This observation
shows that the great cosmic machine cannot be in vain. Therefore, one realizes that
there must come a day when the grateful and the ungrateful are rewarded for the
way they have lived their lives in this world. One spontaneously entreats God in
words to this effect, ‘Lord, You are the Master of the Day of Judgement. I have
submitted to You and humbly seek Your help; have mercy on me. Lord, show us
the path that is, to You, the true path. Enable us to tread the path of Your chosen
servants. Help us to avoid the path of those who have gone astray, and the path
of those who have incurred Your wrath due to their obstinacy.’
God requires His servant to live his life with such feelings and emotions. The
opening chapter of the Quran is a miniature portrayal of Islamic belief; the rest
of the Quran is an enlargement of this picture.