The Straight Path

The passage from Surat al-Fatiha "ihdina sirat al-moustaqim" is often translated as "Guide us to the Straight Path"...

 

However, "moustaqim" does not really mean "straight" in the sense we understand it today, i.e. "path of rigidity and limitations"...

 

Moustaqim rather refers to a path that leads upwards, whatever detours life may take! Like the tree in this picture... It has experienced ups and downs, has sometimes been thrown to the ground, but it's always looking for its way upwards, towards light, towards life! Its way back to the Divine...

 

Sirat al-moustaqim is in fact the universal, intelligent path that can embrace all imperfections and reclaim all contradictions in harmony and symphony! A living, life-giving path, because only a living being can regenerate, self-correct, right itself after a fall...

 

And what if tonight, as you pray, you bring that sense into your consciousness when you say "ihdina sirat al-moustaqim": "My Lord, guide us to the universal and creative way, to the fertile and living path of life... This Way of happiness and joy that is that of living people who have vibrant voices, not parrots who repeat a mental discourse learned by heart... a way that gives birth to men and women of the heart, not to people indoctrinated or formatted by an ideology..."