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As for the detailed explanation, it consists in identifying false doctrines and showing how the words of al-Fātihah refute them. We say:

People fall into two groups: those who acknowledge Allah Most High and those who deny Him. Al-Fātihah affirms the Creator Most High and refutes those who deny Him by affirming His lordship over all worlds. Reflect upon the entire universe, its higher and lower realms and every part of it: you will find it bearing witness to its Maker, Originator, and Sovereign. To reason and innate human nature, denying and rejecting its Maker is equivalent to denying and rejecting knowledge itself; there is no difference between them. Indeed, to pure, illumined, elevated minds and sound innate dispositions, the Creator points more clearly to His creation, the Doer to His deeds, and the Maker to the conditions of what He has made than the reverse.

Thus, those who know Allah and possess spiritual insight infer His deeds and handiwork from Him, whereas others infer His existence from His handiwork and deeds. Undoubtedly, both approaches are sound, both are true, and the Quran contains both.

Arguments based on what He has made are numerous; arguments proceeding from the Maker, however, have a special significance. This is what the messengers indicated when they said to their peoples:

“Can there be doubt about Allah?” (14: 10)

That is, can Allah be doubted such that proof of His existence must be sought? What proof could be sounder or more evident than the One it is meant to establish? How, then, can what is less evident be used to prove what is more evident? They then drew attention to the proof by saying:

“Originator of the heavens and the earth.”

I heard Shaykh al-Islām Taqī al-Dīn ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah sanctify his soul—say: “How can proof be sought for the One who is Himself proof of everything?” He would often quote this verse:

Nothing can be certain in our minds
If daylight itself requires proof.

It is well known that the existence of the Lord Most High is more evident to reason and innate human nature than the existence of daylight,