Fatihah 5

 إِيَّاكَ نَعبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَستَعِينُ

(Iyyā) is an independent pronoun for the accusative, and the suffixes that are attached to it, such as k and h and y, in your saying: Iyyāka and Iyyāhu and Iyyāya, are for the purpose of showing the address of the second person, third person, and first person, and there is no grammatical role for them, just as there is no grammatical role for the k in Arāytuka. And they are not considered implicit names, as said by Al-Akhfash and the scholars of the subject. And as for what Al-Khalil narrated from some Arabs, “When a man reaches sixty, then Iyyāhu wa Iyyā al-Shawwāb”, this is something rare and not relied upon.

The object is placed before the verb for the purpose of exclusivity, just like the saying of Allah:

• Qul aghayra Allāhi ta’murūnī a‘budu (“Say, is it other than Allah you command me to worship?”)

• Qul aghayra Allāhi abghī rabbā (“Say, shall I seek a lord other than Allah?”)

The meaning is: We exclusively worship You, and we exclusively seek help from You.

The word ‘ibādah (worship) means the utmost level of submission and humility, and the ‘abd (servant) comes from it, and similarly, a thick cloth tightly woven is called thawb dhu ‘abdah. That is why ‘ibādah is only used for submission to Allah because He is the possessor of the greatest blessings, and thus He is the most deserving of the utmost level of submission.

Why Shift From Third Person to Second Person?

This is called iltifāt in the science of rhetoric. It happens in different forms:

• From third person to second person

• From second person to third person

• From third person to first person

An example of this is:

Hattā idhā kuntum fī al-fulki wa jaraynā bihim (“Until when you are in the ships and they sail with them.”)

And:

Wallāhu alladhī arsalā al-riyāh fatuthīru sahāban fasuqnāhu (“And it is Allah who sends the winds and stirs up the clouds, then We drive them.”)

And the poet Imru’ al-Qays used this in three instances in three verses:

1. Tatāwala layluka bil-ithmidi (“Your night becomes long with kohl.”)

2. Wa bāta wa bātat lahu laylatun (“And he spent the night, and a night befell him.”)

3. Wa dhālika min naba’in jā’anī (“And that is from a report that came to me.”)

The reason for this is their skill in speech and its variation. When the speech shifts in style, it is more engaging and better captures the listener’s attention.

This is according to their custom of beautifying speech and their manipulation of it because when speech is shifted from one style to another, it becomes the best way to capture the listener’s interest and get their attention more than continuing with the same style. Its places of occurrence may have specific benefits. What is special about this position: is that when the one who is worthy of praise was mentioned, and those great attributes were attributed to Him, knowledge was also attributed to the one holding this great status, deserving of praise and utmost submission, and whose help is sought in important matters. Therefore, that distinguished entity with these attributes was addressed, and it was said: Iyyāka—O the one with these attributes—we exclusively worship and seek help from You; we do not worship anyone other than You, nor do we seek help from anyone other than You, so that the address would be clearer, affirming that worship belongs only to You due to the distinction that only You are worthy of worship because you hold these distinguishing attributes.

If you ask: Why was seeking help (ist‘ānah) mentioned alongside worship (‘ibādah)?

I say: To combine what brings the servants closer to their Lord with what they ask for and need from Him.

If you ask: Why was worship (ibādah) mentioned before seeking help (ist‘ānah)?

I say: Because presenting the means before the need is to deserve a response to that need.

If you ask: Why was seeking help (ist‘ānah) expressed in its unrestricted form?

I say: To encompass every kind of help required, and it is better understood to mean seeking help from Him and His success in performing the worship. The statement Ihdinā is a clarification of the requested help, as if it were said: How do we assist you? They replied: Guide us to the straight path. It is better for the coherence of the speech and how it connects to one part of the discourse, holding it together.

Ibn Habīsh read: Nasta‘īn with a kasrah on the nūn.