Surah 1: Al-Fatihah (The Opening) First chapter in the Quran explained in English - سورة 1: الفاتحة

Al-Fatihah, which means “The Opening”, is the first chapter in the Qur’an. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) called it “the greatest chapter”. It's referred to as the “Mother of the Book”, because it encompasses the entire message of the Qur'an. Every chapter that comes after, stems from its central message. It's also known as the “seven-oft

repeated”, because its seven verses are recited several times throughout the day by Muslims during their daily prayers. Now, if we look at these seven verses, we can divide them into three main parts. First, we have verses 1 through 4, which discuss the nature of God: who He is, and some of His important qualities and

attributes. The middle part is just one verse: verse 5, and it describes our relationship with God, and what that should look like. The last part, verses 6 and 7, we ask God to guide us to the “Straight Path”. These three parts come together to form the central message of the opening. Now let's

dive into each part. The first part which talks about the nature of God, begins with “In the name of God”. This sets the tone not only for the chapter, but for how to approach everything we do. We learn from the very beginning that whether we are reading the Qur'an or even taking a sip of water,

everything we do should be in God's name and for His sake. It's a way to calibrate our mindset and bring our focus back to God. The verse goes on to affirm two important names and attributes of God: The Compassionate and The Merciful. It's understood here that the word “compassionate” is meant for all of his creation in this world , and the word

“merciful” is meant for the believers, particularly in the afterlife. In the second verse we praise God, Lord of all worlds, expressing our gratitude for all His blessings, and for making us part of His creation. God then reaffirms, for the second time, two of His important qualities: as The Compassionate and The Merciful. The last