If you pray the five daily prayers, you recite Surah Al-Fatihah at least seventeen times a day. It is so familiar that it is easy to recite without thinking, yet its seven verses hold the message of the whole Qur'an in miniature: who Allah is, what we owe Him, and what we need from Him.
Why is it called the opening of the Book?
Al-Fatihah means "the Opening". It is the first surah in the mushaf, and the Qur'an opens with it just as the prayer does. It has seven verses. In the verse count printed in most copies of the Qur'an, Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim is counted as the first of them; scholars differ over this point, but all agree the surah has seven verses.
It has more names than almost any other surah, and each one says something about it. The Prophet ﷺ called it Umm al-Qur'an, the Mother of the Qur'an, and it is also known as Umm al-Kitab, the Mother of the Book, because it gathers the Qur'an's main themes the way a source gathers what flows from it. It is al-Sab' al-Mathani, the seven oft-repeated verses, because it is recited again and again in every prayer.
What does Al-Fatihah mean, verse by verse?
- In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Every good action begins with Allah's name, and His two names of mercy come before anything else is said.
- All praise is for Allah, Lord of all the worlds. Not only thanks for what He gives, but praise for who He is: the One who creates, owns, provides for and cares for every world.
- The Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Right after calling Him Lord of everything, we are reminded that His lordship is full of mercy. Ar-Rahman is the mercy that covers all creation; ar-Rahim is the mercy He gives especially to the believers.
- Master of the Day of Judgement. Mercy is balanced with accountability. On that Day no one owns anything and no one rules except Him.
- You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help. The heart of the surah. Notice the change from speaking about Allah to speaking to Him. Worship is His right over us, and asking His help is our admission that we cannot even worship Him without Him.
- Guide us to the straight path. The first request in the Qur'an is for guidance. A believer asks for it in every rak'ah, because guidance is needed afresh every day.
- The path of those You have blessed, not of those who earned Your anger, nor of those who went astray. The straight path is not an abstract idea but a road already walked by the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. We ask to be kept from the two ways of leaving it: knowing the truth and turning away from it, and acting without knowledge.
How is it a conversation with Allah?
The Prophet ﷺ told us, in a hadith qudsi, that Allah says: "I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves, and My servant shall have what he asks for." Allah answers each verse as it is recited.
When the servant says Al-hamdu lillahi Rabbil-'alamin, Allah says: "My servant has praised Me." At Ar-Rahmanir-Rahim, He says: "My servant has extolled Me." At Maliki yawmid-din, He says: "My servant has glorified Me." At Iyyaka na'budu wa iyyaka nasta'in, He says: "This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall have what he asks for." And when the servant asks for the straight path, Allah says: "This is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he asks for" (reported by Muslim).
Leave room for the reply
Reciting verse by verse, with a brief pause at the end of each one, leaves a moment to remember that Allah is answering. It is one of the simplest ways to bring the heart into the prayer.
What are its virtues?
The greatest surah in the Qur'an. The Companion Abu Sa'id ibn al-Mu'alla was praying in the mosque when the Prophet ﷺ called him, and he did not answer until he had finished. The Prophet ﷺ reminded him that Allah tells the believers to respond when the Messenger calls them, and promised to teach him the greatest surah in the Qur'an before he left the mosque. As they were leaving, Abu Sa'id reminded him, and the Prophet ﷺ said: "Al-hamdu lillahi Rabbil-'alamin. It is the seven oft-repeated verses and the great Qur'an that I have been given" (reported by al-Bukhari).
A gift named in the Qur'an itself. Allah says to the Prophet ﷺ: "We have given you seven of the oft-repeated verses and the great Qur'an" (Surah Al-Hijr, verse 87). The hadith above explains that these seven verses are Al-Fatihah.
What is its place in salah?
No prayer is complete without it. In the same hadith of the divided prayer, the Prophet ﷺ said that a prayer in which Umm al-Qur'an is not recited is deficient, and he repeated it three times.
In the Hanafi school, reciting Al-Fatihah is wajib for the imam and for the person praying alone: in the first two rak'ahs of an obligatory prayer, and in every rak'ah of witr and voluntary prayers. If it is left out by mistake, the prostration of forgetfulness (sajdah al-sahw) makes up for it. In the Hanafi school, the person praying behind an imam listens attentively, and the imam's recitation counts for him. Other schools hold it to be a pillar of the prayer, and every school agrees on its central place.
How do you recite it well?
Because Al-Fatihah is recited so often, a mistake in it is repeated thousands of times a year. It is worth having it checked by a qualified teacher. These are the points our teachers most often correct:
- The 'ayn in 'alamin and na'budu. It comes from the middle of the throat and must not be softened into a plain vowel.
- The ha in al-hamdu and ar-Rahman. A clear, breathy ha from the middle of the throat, not the lighter h sound of English.
- The shaddah in iyyaka. The ya is doubled. Reading it light changes the meaning badly.
- The long ending of ad-dallin. The madd before the doubled lam is held for six counts, and the dad is a full, heavy letter.
- The ending of each verse. Rushing the verses together loses the pauses described above.
If these points are new to you, our guide to Tajweed rules for beginners explains the basics, our free Surah Al-Fatihah sheet sets out the surah with its meaning, and for full correction, the Basic Tajweed course works through every letter with a teacher listening.
Sources
- Sahih Muslim 395: Allah has divided the prayer between Himself and His servant, answering each verse of Al-Fatihah; a prayer without Umm al-Qur'an is deficient.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 4474: Abu Sa'id ibn al-Mu'alla, the greatest surah in the Qur'an and the seven oft-repeated verses.
- The Qur'an, Surah Al-Hijr (15), verse 87.
- The Qur'an, Surah Al-Anfal (8), verse 24.