Hujjatul-Islam Saeed Akhtar Rizvi...

Hujjatul-Islam Saeed Akhtar Rizvi, founder of the Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania, has for years been translating this valuable exegesis into English) Al Mizan fi Tafsiral-Qur’an, was asked once about the meaning of this verse; he said, "It means: Guide us to upholding the path that leads to Your pleasure, that ends at Your Paradise, that prohibits us from following our own desires and thus deviate, or follow our own views and thus perish." In his Tafsir, al-Ayyashi quotes Imam Ja’fer al-Sadiq (as) saying that al-Sirat at-Mustaqeem is the Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali (as).

Al-Sirat al-Mustageem described in Surat al-Shura and in other verses where it is described as the Sabeel, another word for path, leading to the Almighty.

Abdul-Rahrnan ibn Muhammad al-I-Jassani quotes Ahmed ibn ‘Eisa ibn Abu Maryam quoting Muhammad ibn Ahmed al- ‘Ariami quoting All ibn Hatim alMinqari quoting al-Mufaddal ibn ‘Ilmer saying, "I asked Abu I Abdullah (Imam aJ-Sadiq [as]) about the Siren, and he said, ‘It is the Path to knowing Allah, the most Exalted, the most Great, and there are two such paths: one in the life of this world, and one in the life hereafter.

The Sirat in this life is the Imam whose obedience is incumbent; whoever knows him in this life andfollows his guidance will be able to pass on the (other) Siren which is a path over hell in the hereafter, and whoever does not know him in this life, his feet will slip away from the Sirat in the hereafter so he falls into the lire of hell."’ This is recorded on pp. 13-14 of Ma"ani al-A Idibar and also on p. 66, Vol. 8, of Bihar al-Anwar.

It is when you come to that Sirat that you will find out how wed you performed your fast in the life of this world. Each and every soul has to pass over al-Siren al-Mustaqeem the straight path over hell, a fire more intense in heat than boiling molten brass, with seven bridges over it the length of each one of which is three thousand years: one thousand to vertically ascend, one thousand to horizontally cross, and one thousand to descend.

It is thinner than a human hair, more sharp than the sharpest sword, and darker than the darkest night inside a tunnel. Each bridge has seven branches, and each branch is like a long lance with sharp teeth: each servant of Allah win be confined on each and every one of them and be asked about all the injunctions the Almighty had required him to perform during his life on this planet.