Shaykh ‘Awwamah (hafizahullah) once said:

The Straight Path is the path of Knowledge and Action.
In every rak‘ah of salah, a Muslim recites Surah Fatihah, which contains one of the greatest and most comprehensive du’as.
This du’a is found in the concluding two verses of this noble Surah:

﴿اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ (٦) صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ (٧)﴾

Guide us to the Straight Path, the path of those whom You have favored, not the (path) of those who earned (Your) anger, nor of those who went astray. (Al Fatihah: 6–7).

Al-‘Allamatul Muhaddith Shaykh Muḥammad ‘Awwamah (hafizahullah) once said:
This du’a is of utmost importance. That is why it comes in Surah Fatihah, which is Ummul-Kitab, a Surah that encompasses the meanings of the entire Quran

The Different Paths
What is the Straight Path? The Straight Path is Islam.
The next verse further elaborates:

“the path of those whom You have favored, not the (path) of those who earned (Your) anger, nor of those who went astray.”

In other words: “Those who incurred the anger of Allah” are the Jews, and “Those who went astray” are the Christians.
(Refer: Sunan Tirmidhi, Hadith: 2954)
Therefore, the Straight Path is neither the path of the Jews nor the path of the Christians.
Why were the Jews described as having earned the anger of Allah?

عَلِمُوا وما عَمِلوا

Because they knew the commands of Allah, the revelation reached them, but they did not act upon it, rather they tried to manipulate the rulings of Shari’ah in order to evade them.
In essence: they had knowledge but they did not act upon it.
Why were the Christians described as having gone astray?

عَمِلوا وما عَلِمُوا

Because they acted, but without sound  knowledge.
Allah Ta’ala said regarding them:

﴿وَرَهْبَانِيَّةً ابْتَدَعُوهَا مَا كَتَبْنَاهَا عَلَيْهِمْ﴾

“And monasticism which they innovated – We did not prescribe it for them.” (Surah Al Hadid: 27)

Thus, the Christians acted, but without knowledge.
The Jews had: Knowledge without Action.
The Christians had: Action without Knowledge.

The Straight Path is that of Islam

الصراط المستقيم هو: الجامع للحُسنيين: حسنى العمل، وحسنى العلم

Therefore, the Straight Path, is the path that combines the two excellences:

• The excellence of right action (which the Jews abandoned), as well as:
• The excellence of sound knowledge (which the Christians lost).

This is the Straight Path that you, O Muslim, are asking Allah to grant you in every rak‘ah of every Salah you perform.

How to be on the Straight Path
Shaykh (hafizahullah) concludes by saying: I advise myself, and I advise you as well, to always remain with ‘ilm (knowledge) and with the ‘Ulama and to be with the pious who act upon their knowledge, so that we may tread the straight path. For this is only possible if we are always in the company of Practicing Scholars.

26/09/2020

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التخريج من المصادر العربية

سنن الترمذي:
(٢٩٥٤) – حدثنا محمد بن المثنى، وبندار، قالا: حدثنا محمد بن جعفر، قال: حدثنا شعبة، عن سماك بن حرب، عن عباد بن حبيش، عن عدي بن حاتم، عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: اليهود مغضوب عليهم والنصارى ضلال فذكر الحديث بطوله.