and half is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he asks. When the servant says, “All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all worlds,” Allah says, “My servant has praised Me.” When he says, “The All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful,” Allah says, “My servant has extolled Me.” When he says, “Master of the Day of Judgment,” Allah, Exalted is He, says, “My servant has glorified Me”—and in another wording: “My servant has entrusted his affair to Me.” When he says, “It is You we worship and it is You we ask for help,” He says, “This verse is between Me and My servant, and for My servant is what he asks.” And when he says, “Guide us to the straight path—the path of those You have favored, not of those who have incurred anger nor of those who have gone astray,” He says, “These are for My servant, and for My servant is what he asks.”

This explicit report, then, establishes that the surah is divided between Allah and His servant, and that the two phrases apportion it: “It is You we worship,” together with what precedes it, is for Allah, while “and it is You we ask for help,” together with what follows it, is for the servant, and the servant shall receive what he requests. For this reason some of the early scholars said, “Half of it is praise and half of it is petition,” and both worship and seeking help are acts of supplication.

Since Allah has obligated us to address Him and call upon Him with these two phrases in every prayer, it is clear that He has thereby obligated us to worship Him and to seek His help. Imposing the utterance—which is in itself an acknowledgment, confession, supplication, and request—necessarily entails imposing its meaning; He has not required us to recite a mere set of words devoid of meaning, for such a requirement would be inconceivable. In fact, obligating the utterance is more emphatic than merely obligating worship and seeking help, for the latter may be achieved