The virtues of Surah al-Fatiha

Allah's Word

18 Oct 2017

Quran is the last Holy book of Allah. Each and every word of Quran is priceless for every Muslim. Verses of Quran are authentic no one of us can question them. There are some Surahs that were revealed for some specific purpose one of them is “Surah al-Fatiha”.  It is most often repeated Surah in the Quran. Our prayer is invalid or not acceptable if we don’t recite in our Salah. Surah al-Fatiha has many other virtues which we are going to discuss in this article

Let us look at greatness and benefits of this amazing Surah so that we are reminded of its greatness.

1. Greatest Surah of Quran (Umm ul-Quran): Importance of its greatness is described in Hadith

Prophet (SAW) said:

“Do you want me to teach you a Surah the like of which has not been revealed in the Torah, the Injeel, the Zabur, nor the Quran?”, and also asked what He recited in His prayers. He replied Umm-ul-Quran (Surah Fatiha) the Prophet (PBUH) proclaimed, ‘By Him in Whose dominion my soul is, nothing like it has been revealed in the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, or the Quran and it is seven of the oft-repeated verses in the Mighty Quran which I have been given.” (Tirmidhi)

From this hadith, we can say that Surah al-Fatiha has great importance as it is known as “Mother of Quran”.  Also, it has no other match no matter whatever has revealed before Quran. Surah al-Fatiha is the prayer which Prophet Muhammad (SAW) recited in his prayer, that’s why Surah al-Fatiha is the most important part of our prayer and without it our Salah is void.

2. Pillar of the Salah: As we all know this surah has great importance in prayer whoever not read it in his prayer his Salah is invalid or void. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said Surah al-Fatiha is“The Mother of the Quran, the Mother of the Book, the Seven Oft-Repeated Verses and the Great recitation.” (Tirmidhi)

3. Cure of disease: Surah al-Fatiha is the cure for the disease as mentioned in the hadith:

Hazrat Abu Saeed al-Khudri narrates:

“While on a journey we halted at a place. A girl came to us and said: “The chief of this tribe has been stung by a scorpion and our men are not present, is there anybody amongst you who can recite something upon him to treat him?” Then, one of our men went along with her although we did not think that he knew any such treatment. However, our friend went to the chief and recitedsomething upon him and the chief was cured. Thereupon, the chief gave him thirty sheep and gave us all milk to drink. When he returned, we asked our friend: “Did you know anything to recite uponhim to cure him?” He said: “No, I only recited Umm al-Kitab (i.e. Surah al-Fatiha) upon him.
” We said that do not do anything until we reach Madinah and ask the Prophet regarding this (practice and reward-whether the sheep were lawful or not for us). Upon reaching Madinah, we narrated this to the Prophet (PBUH), whereupon he remarked: “How did he come to know that Al-Fatiha can be used as a cure? (PBUH) Distribute your reward amongst yourselves and a lot a share for me as well”.” (Sahih Bukhari)

4. Light sent from heaven: An Angel addressed the Prophet (PBUH) saying,“Rejoice in two lights brought to you which have not been brought to any prophet before you,

Al-Fatiha and the last verses of Al- Baqarah”.Ibn ‘Abbas narrated:“While Jibril was with the Messenger of Allah, he heard a noise from above. Jibril lifted his sight to the sky and said: “This is a door in the Heavens being opened, and it has never been opened before now.” An Angel descended from that door and came to the Prophet and said: “Receive the glad tidings of two lights that you have been given,which no other Prophet before you was given: the Opening of the Book (Al Fatiha) and the last verses of ‘al-Baqarah.’You will not read a letter of them except that you will gain its benefit.” (Sahih Muslim)

5. A cure for the heart: This Chapter of Quran have a supplication for protection from misguidance and from the anger of Allah. So this Surah protects the heart from corrupt knowledge and offensive motives.

“You (Oh Allah) we worship and from You do we seek help”. (Ibn Qayim)

As you can see this Surah has many benefits which we can utilize to protect ourselves from worldly difficulties.

Would you like to know Surah-Al-Fathiha by heart? You can learn our Recitation and Memorization Course.

You can also check our Theoretical Tajweed Course, which presents why Qur'an is read in this way.

If you want to understand the holy Qur'an directly, start applying for our Arabic Online Course.