Guide us to the straight path -
Sahih International
Grammar, phrase by phrase
ٱهْدِنَا
(Guide us…)
Root هدي — to guide, show the right path · 316 times in the Quran
ٱهْدِنَاword 1
Verb · فعلA verb is a word for an action or happening that is always tied to a time — past, present/future, or a command. ٱهْدِ is a command — 'Guide!' — from the root هدي: to guide, to show the right path. L1 · R7
Imperative Verb · فعل أمرAn imperative verb is a direct command spoken to 'you'. ٱهْدِ is shaped from the present-tense verb by stripping away its 'you' prefix, with a helper alif ٱ set at the front so it can be pronounced — yielding the plea addressed to Allah: 'Guide!' L10 · R1
Weak Verb · فعل معتلA weak verb is a verb — an action word — whose root (the core set of, usually three, letters carrying the word's base meaning) contains one of the soft letters و or ي, letters that easily drop away when the word changes shape. The root here is هدي — to guide, to show the right path — ending in the soft ي, and in the command ٱهْدِ that final ي has been dropped entirely: the word ends instead on the kasrah ـِ (a small slanted stroke below the letter), the leftover mark that points to the deleted ي. L24 · R8
Attached Pronoun · ضمير متصلAn attached pronoun is a mini-word for 'me / us / him' glued onto the end of another word, and ـنَا is the attached form meaning 'us' or 'our'. Here it hangs on the tail of the command: Guide — us. L3 · R7
Direct Object · مفعول بهThe direct object is the person or thing an action lands on. When that person is a pronoun, it fastens to the verb's end so one written word packs a whole sentence: ٱهْدِ ('guide') + نَا ('us') = 'Guide us' — the attached نَا is the ones the guiding is asked to land on. L9 · R9
The guidance asked for means: direct us, lead us, and grant us right guidance — 'make us firm on the path of guidance and do not allow us to deviate from it'; the believer repeats this plea in every prayer because every hour he needs Allah to keep him firm.
Ibn Kathir (abridged), on 1:6
So far: “Guide us”
ٱلصِّرَٰطَ
(…to the path…)
Root صرط — path, way · 45 times in the Quran
ٱلصِّرَٰطَword 2
Definite Article · أل التعريفThe prefix ٱل at the front of a noun (a naming word) means 'the' — one specific, known one: not just any path, but the path. Because the next letter ص is one of the fourteen 'solar' letters — letters made in the same part of the mouth as ل itself — the ل of the prefix melts into it and the ص is doubled, shown by the shaddah ـّ — a small w-shaped doubling mark written above the letter: ٱلصِّرَٰطَ, aṣ-ṣirāṭ. L2 · R9
Noun · اسمA word that accepts the prefix ال ('the') is a noun — a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. This word carries that prefix and names a thing: the path, from the root صرط — path, way. L1 · R1
Masculine Noun · اسم مذكرArabic treats every noun — every naming word — as grammatically 'he' or 'she'. This word carries no feminine marker such as a ة at its end, so it takes the default and is a masculine noun. L2 · R3
Accusative · منصوبThe accusative is the ending a noun (a naming word) takes when an action lands on it, marked by a fathah ـَ — a small slanted stroke written above the final letter. صِّرَٰطَ ends with exactly that fathah ـَ, because the asked-for guiding lands on it: guide us — to the path. L2 · R11
Direct Object · مفعول بهThe direct object is the person or thing an action lands on, and it takes the accusative ending — the fathah ـَ, a small slanted stroke above the final letter. The path is what the verb 'guide' reaches for us to be led to: guide us — the path. L9 · R3
ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ
(…the straight -)
Root قوم — to stand, establish; people, nation; straightness, uprightness · 660 times in the Quran
ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَword 3
Definite Article · أل التعريفThe prefix ٱلْ at the front of a noun (a naming word) means 'the' — one specific, known one. Here it marks the description as belonging to that same known path: the path, the straight one. L2 · R9
Noun · اسمA word that accepts the prefix ال ('the') is a noun — Arabic's naming category, which even includes describing words. مُسْتَقِيمَ carries that prefix, naming the quality of being straight. L1 · R1
Accusative · منصوبThe accusative is a noun ending marked by a fathah ـَ — a small slanted stroke written above the final letter — and مُسْتَقِيمَ ends with exactly that mark. It wears the same accusative ending as ٱلصِّرَٰطَ, the path it describes, on which the asked-for guiding lands. L2 · R11
Adjective · صفةAn adjective is a describing word that comes after the noun it describes and matches it point for point — gender, number, ending, and 'the'-ness. ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ follows ٱلصِّرَٰطَ and matches it fully: both carry the prefix ال ('the'), both are treated as 'he', both are one in number, and both end in the fathah ـَ (a small slanted stroke above the letter) — 'the path, the straight'. L7 · R1
Active Participle · اسم فاعلAn active participle is a noun built from a verb's root to name the doer or holder of the action. Built-up words of this family open with مُـ and carry an 'i' sound before their last root letter — مُسْتَقِيمَ does both, naming that which itself stands straight and upright. L11 · R3
The Straight Path is 'the clear path without branches', and it is Islam: in the Prophet's ﷺ parable the path runs between two walls — Allah's set limits — with open, curtained doors that are what He prohibited; the caller at its gate is the Book of Allah, and the caller above it is Allah's admonition in the heart of every Muslim.
Ibn Kathir (abridged), on 1:6
So far: “Guide us to the straight path -”