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 us', from the root هدي: to guide, 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 · R7
Attached Pronoun · ضمير متصلAn attached pronoun is a mini-word for 'me / us / them' that cannot stand alone — it is glued onto the end of another word, and each form carries within it exactly who is meant. نَا · 'us/our' is fastened to the tail of the verb here — ٱهْدِنَا — naming the one the action lands on. L3 · R6
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 definite article is the prefix ٱل at the front of a noun (a naming word); it means 'the' — one specific, known one. Because the next letter, ص, is one of the fourteen 'sun-letters' — letters made in the same part of the mouth as ل itself, which swallow the ل of ٱل so it is written but not heard — the ل of the prefix melts into it and doubles it, shown by the shaddah ـّ — a small w-shaped doubling mark written above the letter: ٱلصِّرَٰطَ. L2 · R9
Noun · اسمA noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. صِّرَٰطَ names such a thing: '(to) the path', from the root صرط: path, way. L1 · R6
Masculine Noun · اسم مذكرArabic treats every noun — every naming word — as grammatically 'he' or 'she'. ٱلصِّرَٰطَ carries no feminine marker — no ة at its end, no final ى, no اء — so it takes the default and is treated as 'he': 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 definite article is the prefix ٱلْ at the front of a noun (a naming word); it means 'the' — one specific, known one. The letter after it is a 'moon' letter — a letter not made in the same part of the mouth as ل — so the ل of the prefix keeps its own sound, both written and heard, resting with the sukūn ـْ (a small circle written above the letter): ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ. L2 · R9
Noun · اسمA noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. مُسْتَقِيمَ names such a thing: 'the straight', from the root قوم: to stand, establish; people, nation; straightness, uprightness. L1 · R6
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 -”