{And You we ask for help. ❁ Guide us to the straight path}1: The Shia related in the Mushaf of ibn Mas’ud: "And this is the straight path of Ali." Since it is so, the "Path" here is Recognition (al-Ma'rifa), and it is the speech of the Monbite.
{The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor}2: they are the High Great World. He asks to reach the ranks of the Spirituals.
{Not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray}3: "those who have evoked anger" are the Jews, because they said: "God is angry with them"; had He been satisfied with them, He would have handed the kingdom to them. This verse encompasses them. "Those who are astray": this refers to the Christians.
Our Sheikh, our Exemplar and Imam of our group, Lord Abu Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Hamdan al-Khasibi—may God sanctify his subtle essence and ennoble his station—said: Rather, it refers to whoever denies the Lordship of our Master the Ain—exalted be his glory. And the words of the Almighty: {And We have certainly given you seven of the oft-repeated [verses] and the Great Quran}.4
The people of the outward related that it is Surah al-Hamd [al-Fatiha] and the Quran that follows it. In our view: this address is from the Gate to the Monbite, and it is the manifestation of the Lord—Exalted be His mention—in the seven essential Cycles. The "Great Quran" is the Lord Mim. His saying: "We have given you" means: We have made you recognize their reality. The Quran was only named Quran5 because it is joined (muqtarin) to the Meaning; there is no separator between him and Him, no difference, no intermediary, no existence, and no origination. Had there been a difference, separator, or intermediary, he would have been a [separate] person and would have been closer to the Meaning than He.