Selected Exegesis

The seeking servant, in order to reach the encounter with God, the Glorious, needs a path that is safe from the harm of crookedness and deviation and from the assault of Satan, and is in need of the light of guidance that shows him the way and leads him until reaching the ultimate destination.

In this verse, the seeking servant asks God for guidance to the straight path, and this guidance is the same as existential guidance (hidāyat-i takwīnī); because the speaker (the one praying or reciting the Qur’an), after knowing God and believing in Him, seeks the light of guidance to recognize the path and the pitfall in its light. And since human dynamism is constant and the path of truth also has many stages, the seeking servant must always ask God for guidance to the straight path.

The ṣirāṭ is a highway that on one end is connected to God the Glorious (and for this reason it is singular, not plural), and on the other end is situated in the nature (fiṭra) of every individual human being, starting from their inner being. Therefore, traversing it is not difficult, and whoever traverses it will reach the meeting with God (liqāʾ Allāh).