Maryam · Makki · ayah 36 of 98

Maryam 19:36

وَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ رَبِّى وَرَبُّكُمْ فَٱعْبُدُوهُ ۚ هَـٰذَا صِرَٰطٌ مُّسْتَقِيمٌ

“[Jesus said], "And indeed, Allāh is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That is a straight path."”

Saheeh International

Essence

The straight path is one sentence long: the same Lord for the child in the cradle and the men around him, so worship Him.

A reflection

The straight path, in one sentence

Every Muslim asks for 'the straight path' many times a day, in Al-Fatiha. With so much repetition, the phrase can become a vague hope. It sounds like a long programme: a lifetime of rules, a map no one quite finishes reading.

This ayah defines it in one breath. Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path. That is the whole of it. Everything else is detail on a road whose direction has already been given.

One commentary takes this ayah as part of what the infant commanded his people while still in the cradle. He told them that Allah was his Lord and theirs, and ordered them to worship Him. Then: whoever follows this is guided, and whoever departs from it goes astray. An early report gives the sense in plain words. I and you are servants of Allah, so worship Him and do not worship anything besides Him.

Now hear it as its first audience would have heard it. A newborn has just finished speaking about himself. The listeners might expect the next words to lift him further. Instead he sets himself beside them. My Lord and your Lord: the baby and the elders under one Master.

The Prophet ﷺ once compressed the path into an even shorter instruction. Sahih Muslim records a man asking for a word about Islam he would never need to ask anyone else. Say: I believe in Allah, then stand straight.

The straight path is not a maze. It is a direction. It begins wherever someone says 'my Lord' and means it.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.