اهدِنَــــا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيمَ

6. Guide¹⁴ us to the Straight Path,¹⁵

14. Ihdi-nā translated as “guide us” is from the verb HaDā, which means taking by the hand and leading and guiding rightly, and gently. The noun hidāyah derived from it usually means true or right guidance, and is the opposite of deviation or being astray.

The verb HaDā is used both transitively and intransitively. God guides one either directly or through a means. In most cases, He kindles faith in the hearts of people as a result of their using their will and striving to find guidance. However, although God wants His servants to desire guidance and strive for it, their desiring and striving are not the causes of being guided. This seeming paradox is well expressed in the anonymous saying: “Although He is not to be found by searching, only those who search for Him find Him” The primary means of guidance is Prophets and Divine Books. In the absence of a Prophet, those who, without deviation, follow in the footsteps of the Prophets, serve the same function. Their character is made clear in the next verse.

15. The Arabic word translated as Path is sirāt. It is a way having ups and downs, one wide in some of its parts and narrow in others, and difficult to walk on. It is described in a Prophetic Tradition as a path or bridge with ups and downs, one having walls on its sides, and doors and windows opening on the outside. The walls are the rules of the Islamic Sharī‘ah, which protect it from external attacks and save those following it from veering off. The doors and windows are the openings to things forbidden. Those following the Path should not follow these openings lest they go astray. (Ibn Hanbal, 4: 182-83.)

Sirāt is used in the Qur’ān in the singular; the word has no plural. This tells us that it is the only road leading to God, although there are many roads (sabīl) leading to the Path. It is qualified with the adjective straight, meaning that the Straight Path is the way of the Qur’ān, with no crookedness at all (18: 1). It is the middle way having nothing to do with any extremes. It is equally far from communism and capitalism in economy, from absolutism and anarchism in politics, from realism and idealism in philosophy, from materialism and spiritualism in belief, and from being exclusively this-worldly or exclusively other-worldly in world-view. It is the middle way considering human psychology and the realities of life and creation. In educating people, it disciplines and ennobles the intellect, saving it from the extremes of demagogy, cunning and stupidity, and so leads to sound knowledge and wisdom. The disciplining and ennobling of the faculty of anger and impulse of defense saves that faculty from wrongdoing, oppression and cowardice, and leads to justice and valor. The power or impulse of lust is saved through discipline from dissipation and hedonism, and grows into chastity.