An Explanation of the Three Ways Indicated at the End of Sura Al‑Fatiha
O brother full of hope! Take your imagination and come with me. See, we are in a land, we look around. There is no one to see us.
A layer of black cloud has settled on the high mountains, like tent posts. The cloud has covered too the whole face of the earth.
It forms a solid ceiling, but its six sides are open, so the sun is visible. We are under the cloud, the darkness oppresses us.
The distress is suffocating, the airlessness is killing us. Now three ways are open to us. One is a luminous world, I beheld it once, that metaphorical land.
Yes, I came here once before, I have passed down these three ways. The first way is this: most people take it; it is to travel round the world, it invites us to take it.
See, we are on our way, we are going on foot. See how the sea‑sands of the desert scorch us with their anger, threatening us!
See the mountainous waves; they are threatening us too. Now thanks be to Allah the Most High we have emerged on the other side, we can see the face of the sun.
But only we know the difficulties we have suffered. Oh! we have returned to the wasteland, the ceiling of cloud with its lowering darkness. What we need is to illumine the eye of the heart.
A wondrous light‑filled world; if you have the courage, we shall enter it together, this way so fraught with dangers. Our second way:
We shall plunge through nature‑earth, and pass to the other side. Or trembling, we shall pass through a natural tunnel. I travelled this way one time, fearlessly and full of prayer.
But on that occasion I had with me a substance to smelt and rend the nature‑earth. The third way:
The Qur’an had given me that miraculous evidence. Brother, stick close behind me, and have no fear! See, here await us tunnel‑like caves and underground torrents.
They will let us pass. Don’t let these awesome lifeless beings of nature scare you in the slightest! For behind this sour face is the smiling countenance of its compassionate Owner.
I perceived it through the light of the radium‑like substance of the Qur’an. There, you see! We have come out in the light-filled world, see this delicate earth, this soft and gentle air.
Raise your head! See, it has drawn its head to the skies, rent the clouds, leaving them far below.
This Tuba tree invites us – It is the Qur’an. It has spread its branches everywhere. We must hang onto this branch which is trailing down, so that it can raise us up.
That heavenly tree – on earth, one of its personifications is the Illustrious Shari‘a. That is to say, we would have ascended to this world of light in that way without difficulty; we would have been shaken by no distress.
Since we went wrong, we’ll return to our former place and find the right way. See, our third way! Over the mountains hovers a royal falcon;
He is reciting the ezan to the whole world. See, the supreme muezzin, Muhammad al‑Hashimi (UWBP), is summoning mankind to the luminous world of light. He enjoins supplication and obligatory prayers.
Look at the mountains! See, the guidance has rent the clouds! The mountains of the Shari‘a have raised their heads to the skies. How they have adorned the face and eye of the earth!
Now we must depart from here in the aircraft of endeavour. The light and breeze are there; the light of beauty is there. Ah, now here is the Uhud of divine unity, that mighty mountain.
Here is the Judi of Islam, that wholesome mountain. Here is the Mountain of the Moon, the Qur’an of al‑Azhar, the pure water of the Nile flows from that sublime source. Take a drink of its sweet water!
So blessed be Allah, the Best of Creators.
And their call shall close with “All praise be to Allah, Sustainer of All the Worlds!
Friend! Now cast away your imagination and don your reason! The first two ways are those of those who have received Your anger and those who have gone astray. Their perils are numerous. On them is perpetual winter, their autumn and summer.
Only one out of a hundred is saved, like Plato and Socrates. The third way is easy, and direct and straight. Weak and strong are equal. Everyone may take it. The most comfortable is this: to be either martyr or veteran.
Now we come to the conclusion: Yes, the first two ways are the path and school of the genius of science. As for the guidance of the Qur’an, the third way is its straight path; it will take us there.
Allah! Guide us to the straight path. ❋ The path of those whom You have blessed, not those who have received Your anger, nor those who have gone astray.