Surah Fatiha (lesson 6)

بسم الله الراحمن الراحيم

Today's word is صراط مستقيم Sirat e Mustaqeem. Siraat صراط aik aisay rastay ko kehtay hain jo chora wasee'h ho aur seedha ho. Itna seedha keh door tak nazar aye. It is a road without turns that you can see where its going for a really long distance. You would have heard about پل صداط Pull Sirat. Jiss par say har kissi ko guzar kay Jana hoga.

Mustaqeem مستقيم here is used as adjective, describing صراط. Mustaqeem belongs to the root ق ى م QaYaMa which means Balance. This is a very interesting word. Words that are made from this root are:
Qiyaam قيام  stand in balance / straight
Qeemat قيمت balance of payment / balance amount to be given in return of buying something
Qiyamat قيامت the moment when things would be put in a weighing balance. It could be named so because everybody would stand up قيام from the dead Wallaho Alam

Another controversial word which belongs to the same root is Qawwamoon قوامون. Qur'an says Men are Qawwamoon over Women (4:34). Many scholars say it means hakim. But some say it belongs to the root of QaYaMa ق ى م and hence it means somebody who does justice to them by providing for them. Justice = Balance
Wallaho Alam
Maqaam مقام a place to stand
Woh jaggah jehan par qiyam قيام keeya jaa sakay
Quyyum قيوم a name used for الله meaning qaim قاءم rakhnay wala
Qur'an calls itself Qutubun Qaeeyima كتب قيمة (98:3) the book of balance)
And at another place it refers to Islam as Din Al Qaeeyima دين القيمة (98:5) Balanced Deen
We say in Aqamat أقامت (the Standing up) the following words:
Qamatis Salaat قامة الصلاح meaning Salaat has stood up
Allah says "We have created man in Ahsan e Taqweem احسن تقويم" (95:4)
Ahsan simply means Best
Taqweem تقويم My best guess is "the process of Balancing"
Urdu ka lafz Qom قوم bhi issee root say belong karta hai. It means set of people who stand together.

Recapping:
اهدنا الصراط المستقيم
Ihde nasirat almustaqeem

The most important dua that we make many times in a day. It means guide us (هدايت) towards صراط (straight path) which is مستقيم (balanced).

Please say this dua at the end so that you won't forget whatever you read.

رب ذدنى علما
Rabbe Zidnee ilma

And remember me in your prayers tonight.

Happy قيام الليل (Qiyam Al-lail ) 