The greatest chapter in the Holy Qur'an is the one that we recite every day in our five daily prayers; it is Al-Fatiha or The Opening. Studying its meanings will help us appreciate the value of this chapter and will be the key that opens the door to a heightened level of mental awareness and nearness to our Lord in prayer as we recite it. Al-Fatiha is the opening to the Holy Book and it is the chapter with which we begin our prayers. Other titles that refer to Al-Fatiha include Umm ul-Kitab and Umm ul-Qur'an, which mean the mother of the Book or the mother of the Qur'an. It is also called Saba' Al-Mathani, or the seven repeated verses, and Al-Shifaa (The Healing), Al-Hamd (The Praise), As-Salat (The Prayer), and Al-Kanz (The Treasure). In the following narration, the Prophet (peace be upon him) informed us that Al-Fatiha is indeed the greatest chapter of the Holy Qur'an. Ahmad records on the authority of Abu Sa'ad ibn Al-Mu'alla who said that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said,"...I will teach you a Surah which is the greatest Surah in the Qur'an before you leave the masjid.'" The Prophet (peace be upon him) told his companion, "It is [the Surah commencing with], {All praise and thanks are due to Allah.} It is the Seven Oft-Repeated verses and the Great Qur'an that has been given to me." {In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.} The Surah starts with mentioning the name of Allah, Ar-Rahman, Ar-Raheem, which are two names of Allah derived from the word mercy. In Arabic grammar, both are intensive forms of merciful. Rahman is an attribute of Allah alone, above the human level, it means intensely merciful. {All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds} You start your prayer by offering praise, deep gratitude, and boundless thanks to Allah for the blessings that He has bestowed upon us that we cannot even enumerate. We rarely pause to think about how grateful we should be to Allah. Each breath, each heartbeat, each muscle movement, and each blink of an eye is a blessing that we should be thankful for. When referring to Allah, the Arabic term "Rabb" translated as "Lord" includes all of the following meanings: owner, master, ruler, controller, sustainer, provider, guardian, and caretaker. {The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful} The believer must keep in mind that Allah is the Lord and the Master and Sustainer, which is awe inspiring, but we must also keep in mind that Allah is also merciful and forgiving. A sound heart resonates with both fear of Allah, and also love and hope for Allah's mercy and forgiveness. {Sovereign of the Day of Recompense} Allah will bring us to account on that day for whatever we earned of good or evil during life on this earth. Each person will be given rewards for the good, and punishment for the bad, except for that which Allah forgives. {It is You we worship and You we ask for help} It is Allah alone that we worship, associating no partners with Him, and Allah alone that we turn to for help. We must purify our acts of worship from any desire to impress people; the intention behind our prayers, supplication, fasting, and reading the Qur'an should be to please Allah alone. After establishing our obedience and submission to Allah, we ask Allah to give us what we desire, and the greatest gift we can receive from Allah is guidance. {Guide us to the straight path} These verses teach us the proper decorum with our Creator, first we mention the names of Allah, we praise our Lord and establish that we worship only Allah and depend on Him. Then we ask for what we need; to be guided to the correct path, which is Islam. The final destination and goal for staying on this straight path is Paradise. {The path of those upon You have bestowed favor, not of those who have earned [Your] anger or of those who are astray} Making supplication to Allah is actually a form of worship. When we repeat this verse in our prayers every day, we urge Allah to keep us on the path of those whom Allah has bestowed upon them the blessing of firm faith. We aspire to be on the same path as the prophets, the companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the righteous, and the truthful and faithful people. The most beautiful aspect about this chapter is that when we read it in our prayers, we are engaging in a private conversation between ourselves and our Lord. If we keep this in mind, we will be able to focus more during our prayers and it will be a soothing, calming, and spiritually healing experience. Allah responds to the believers when they recite this chapter. Sahih Muslim records on the authority of Abu Hurayrah who said that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, "Allah, the Glorious and Exalted said, "I have divided the prayer between Myself and my servant equally and My servant shall be granted what he asked for." Therefore, when the servant says, ‘All praises and thanks are due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds', Allah says, ‘My servant has praised Me.' When he says, ‘The All-Merciful, the Most Merciful,' Allah says, ‘My servant has extolled Me.' When he says, ‘Master of the Day of Judgment,' Allah says, ‘My servant has glorified Me.' When he says, ‘You Alone we worship and Your aid alone do we seek,' Allah says, ‘This is between Me and My servant and My servant shall have what he requested.' When he says, ‘Guide us to the Straight Path, the Path of those whom You have favored, not [the path] of those who have earned [Your] anger, nor of those who have gone astray,' Allah says, ‘This is for My servant and My servant shall have what he asked for.'"
