Esoterics of of Al-Fatihah

As for the opening chapter of the Qur'an (al-Fatihah), it contains a synthesis of the whole book, and as noted earlier, its recitation marks the beginning of every daily service. It has a role in Islam that is analogous to that of the Shema' in Judaism and of the "Lord's Prayer" in Christianity, and is divided into two parts. The former contains a mention of the divine names, while the latter is a request of guidance and of protection against deviance.

Its words mean:
1. In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
2. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,
3. The Merciful, the Compassionate,
4. Master of the Day of Judgment.
5. Thee we worship and Thee we ask for help.
6. Guide us to the straight path,
7. The path of those whom Thou hast favored, not the path of those who earn Thine anger, nor of those who go astray.

Abu Hurayrah, one of the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad, narrated that he heard him say: "God, mighty and sublime is he, had said:

I have divided the service between Myself and My servant into two halves, and My servant shall have what he has asked for. When the servant says: "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds," God says, "My servant has praised Me," and when he says, "The Merciful, the Compassionate," God says, "My servant has extolled Me." When he says, "Master of the Day of Judgment," God says, "My servant has glorified Me." When he says: "Thee we worship and Thee we ask for help," God says: "This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for." And when he says: "Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast favored, not the path of those who earn Thine anger, nor of those who stray," God says, "This is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for."

This mention of divine answers to the recitation of the creature leads us to understand in which sense the service is considered an intimate colloquium between the creature and his Creator. After completing the reading of al-Fatihah, the worshipper adds other verses from the Qur'an, and then bows, to show that he has not added anything to the praise which Allah gives to himself, but as only manifested by means of his created tongue, the uncreated Word which — according to Islam — is one of the divine attributes. After bowing, the believer stands again, and while coming back to the erect position says what means, "God listens to the one who praises him." This is a further clarification of the intimacy with the Divine Essence that is reached by means of the service, since God is not actually listening to the words of his servant, but rather to his own Word, which descended upon the tongue of his servant. As a consequence of this divine epiphany, the same individuality of the creature is temporarily abolished, and the worshipper prostrates with his forehead to the ground, symbolically coming back to the earth he came from. No individuality can stand in front of God, and the prostration represents a condition of extinction (fana' in Arabic) of the created nature, which is like a temporary mirage, like a contingent shining which made God's light manifested. Even so, extinction in God is not conceived in Islam as a permanent condition, but as the first stage, which in the Islamic terminology is referred as "the journey from the creation toward the Truth." It is immediately followed by subsistence in God (baqa'); i.e., by the "journey from the Truth toward the creation." After being extinguished in God, the creature is sent back to himself, and this is represented by the seated position, which follows the prostration. That subsistence through God, the coming back to one's createdness while remembering the precedent, relative union with God, is itself transitory, and is followed by the stage in which the creature is again extinguished through the "extinction of the extinction" (fanu-l-fana'), which is represented by a second prostration.

- Shaykh Abdul-Hadi Palazzi, "What Do We Want the Other to Teach
About Islamic Prayer and Liturgy?"