Al-Fātiḥah: Merits

Perhaps the greatest merit of this short surah is that it must be recited in every prayer, every day; that it is the opening chapter of God’s book; and that it is a counterpart of the entire Quran according to verse 15:87.

1. There are several Prophetic narrations to this effect: ‘By the one who has my life in His hand, the like of this surah has not been revealed in the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, or the Quran. It is [the surah of] the seven oft-repeated verses and the great Quran [15:87] by which I have been graced.’¹

2. The Messenger of God said: ‘Whoever recites Fātiḥat al-Kitāb, it is as if he has recited the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, and the Quran.’²

3. The Messenger of God said: ‘God, the mighty and majestic, will give the reward of reciting every verse that has been sent from the heaven to one who recites Fātiḥat al-Kitāb.’³

4. The Messenger of God once told Jābir ibn ʿAbd-Allāh: ‘O Jābir! Shall I not teach you the best chapter that God has revealed in His book?’ Jābir said: ‘Of course, may my parents be your ransom, O Messenger of God! Teach me!’ Then the Prophet taught him this chapter and added: ‘It is a cure for every illness except death.’⁴

5. The Messenger of God referred to this surah and said: ‘It is the greatest surah in the Quran.’⁵

6. The Prophet said: ‘Fātiḥat al-Kitāb equates to two-thirds of the Quran.’⁶

7. There are several narrations saying that this surah has been sent from the treasures at God’s Throne.⁷

8. The great expert of the Quran, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, taught this surah to a son of Imam al-Husayn (a). When the child recited it to his father, the Imam rewarded the teacher by paying him a thousand dinars (gold coins), giving him a thousand sets of clothes, and filling his mouth with pearls. When he was asked about this generous gift, he said: ‘This is nothing compared to his gift!’ meaning his teaching of the surah.⁸

Note: It is possible that the Imam had such wealth at the time. Otherwise, it could be that the Imam intended to give al-Sulamī such a lofty reward and described him as worthy of it. Yet another possibility is that the Imam wanted others to realise the great expertise of al-Sulamī in the Quran. The Quran that we recite today is indeed the recitation of al-Sulamī from Imam Ali (a).

9. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘If al-Ḥamd is recited seventy times to a dead body and its soul returns to it, then that is not strange.’⁹

10. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘God’s greatest name is hidden in this surah.’¹⁰

11. There are many narrations that say ‘No prayer is valid or complete without Fātiḥat al-Kitāb’.¹¹

12. Imam al-Riḍā (a) said: ‘If one asks: “Why have the people been ordered to recite the Quran in the prayer?” the answer is: so that the Quran would not become forsaken, lost, and extinct. This way it remains fresh and known. If one asks: “Why should the recitation [in prayer] always start with al-Ḥamd among all other chapters?” the answer is: because all good and wisdom is gathered in Sūrat al-Ḥamd in a way that is not gathered in any other part of the Quran or any other speech.’¹²