Al-Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Qur'an

This verse is called the Basmala, after its first few words. The word bi means by, through, with, and ism means name. The verse has no verb, and the classical Arabic grammarians discussed the omitted verb at length: some understood it as I begin, some as I recite, and some as everything I do from here on begins in His name. The word Allah الله is the Arabic word for God, and the English column of this page translates it as God.

The point that most needs to be made clear is whether this verse is a verse of Al-Fatiha at all, because this is where the methods of counting and the schools genuinely differ. The Basmala stands at the head of 113 of the 114 chapters of the Qur'an, missing only at the start of chapter 9, and it appears once more inside chapter 27, verse 30. Under the Kufan count used by the Hafs edition, the Basmala is verse 1 of Al-Fatiha, and this is the only chapter in which the Hafs edition gives the Basmala a number. The Meccan count numbers the Basmala in the same way. Under the Medinan, Basran and Syrian counts, as in editions printed in the Warsh reading, the Basmala stands at the head of the chapter without a number, and to keep the total at seven verses the last verse is split in two, with a break after the first ʿalayhim.

In the law of prayer, the Shafi'i school regards the Basmala as a verse of Al-Fatiha, and so recites it aloud in the prayers that are recited aloud. The Hanafi and Hanbali schools recite it silently before Al-Fatiha. The Maliki school usually does not recite it in the obligatory prayers. The Ja'fari law of the Shia regards the Basmala as a verse of every chapter that contains it, and favors reciting it aloud. Those who do not count the Basmala as part of the chapter usually cite the hadith qudsi recorded by Muslim, number 395, because that hadith goes through the chapter starting from the verse al-hamdu without mentioning the Basmala. The Shafi'i side cites other hadiths and the Kufan count.

The word hamd is usually translated as praise or thanksgiving, but Arabic lexicographers distinguish it from two words close in meaning. Shukr is gratitude for a favor received, while madh is praise of a quality, sometimes even of something not worthy of praise. Hamd stands between the two: it praises a quality that is worthy of praise, and it praises even when the one praising has received no particular favor. Because no single English word holds both layers of meaning, the English column renders it simply as praise.

The article al at the start of the word gives the phrase a sense of completeness: not a praise, but all praise. The preposition li before the word Allah carries the sense of belonging to. The verse is therefore an affirmation rather than an invitation, and commentators such as al-Tabari, who died in 923, discussed how the verse is at once God's praise of Himself and a lesson teaching the reader to praise Him.

The word rabb is usually translated as Lord or Master, but its root meaning is broader. It refers to one who owns a thing and who at the same time tends and nourishes it so that it grows to completeness. Arabic philologists connect the word with the idea of rearing and of gradual nurture, though they do not agree on its root. The English column therefore renders it as Lord and Sustainer, to keep both layers of meaning, ownership and care.

The word 'alamin is the plural of 'alam, realm or world. Commentators understand its scope differently. Some take it to mean every created kind, from humans, jinn and angels to the animals. Some, as recorded by al-Tabari, take it more narrowly as the beings endowed with reason, that is, humans and jinn. Some take it to mean every generation and every age. The English column renders it as all the worlds so as not to lock the reader into any one interpretation.

These two names both derive from the root r-h-m, a root carrying the sense of compassion, which is also the root of the word rahim meaning womb. Both words already appeared in the Basmala and are now repeated, and commentators differ on how to distinguish them.

The first interpretation rests on the word patterns. Rahman follows the pattern fa'lan, a pattern denoting a state of overflowing fullness, so it is understood as a compassion that embraces everything. Rahim follows the pattern fa'il, a pattern denoting a lasting quality, so it is understood as a compassion that never ceases. The second interpretation, recorded by al-Tabari from earlier generations, distinguishes them by who receives the compassion: Rahman is the compassion shown to all creatures in this world, Rahim is the compassion reserved for believers in the hereafter. The third interpretation holds that the two words are nearly synonymous and stand side by side for emphasis.

One point all commentators note: the word Rahman is used only of God and is never used to address a person, while the word Rahim is sometimes used of people. The translation on this page leans toward the first interpretation because it stays close to the word patterns, but the other two have equal standing.

This is where the readings differ most clearly in the whole chapter. In the Hafs 'an 'Asim reading, together with the reading of al-Kisa'i, the first word is read māliki with a long a vowel, meaning owner, possessor. In the reading of Nafi', through his two transmitters Warsh and Qalun, along with several other readings, the word is read maliki with a short a vowel, meaning king. The original script in the copies made under Uthman records only the three consonants m-l-k, with no alif, so it can accommodate both readings. The small superscript alif in the Mushaf Madinah is a mark indicating the Hafs pronunciation. Commentators regard the two readings as complementary: one stresses complete ownership, the other stresses the authority to rule.

The word din here does not carry the sense of religion that it has in everyday Arabic, but the sense of recompense, of requital. Yawm ad-din is therefore the day on which each person receives back what they have done, and the English column renders it by the familiar name, the Day of Judgment. This verse closes the section of praise: from the Sustainer of all the worlds, through compassion, to the authority of judgment, the first four verses draw the portrait of God as Islamic teaching presents Him before the reader turns to address Him.

This verse is the hinge of the whole chapter, and three things deserve attention. The first is word order. In Arabic the object usually comes after the verb. Here the pronoun iyyaka, You, is placed first, and grammarians understand this placement as exclusive: You alone, and no other. The English column keeps that sense with the word alone in each half of the verse.

The second is the change of person. The four preceding verses speak of God in the third person, and here the reader addresses Him directly in the second person. Arabic rhetoricians call this sudden shift of person iltifat, and al-Zamakhshari, who died in 1144, cited this verse as an example, explaining that after recounting His attributes, the reader is as if brought close enough to speak with Him directly.

The third is the plural. The reader does not say I worship but we worship, even when praying alone. Commentators understand the we as the community of believers, the reader standing in a long line whose whole length cannot be seen. According to a hadith qudsi recorded by Muslim, number 395, this verse is called the portion shared between God and His servant, lying exactly between the praise and the petition. The next section says more about this.

This is the only petition in the chapter, and every verse before it leads up to it. The verb ihdina means guide us, show us the way. Commentators have asked why someone who already believes, and is standing in prayer, should still ask to be guided. Three answers are common: a request to be kept firm on the path already taken, a request to be guided further into the details of the path, and a request to be guided to the path's final destination. The three answers do not exclude one another.

The word sirat means a wide road, a straight road. As to pronunciation, the Hafs reading uses the emphatic s, the letter sad. According to material from the islamweb.net fatwa center, Qunbul and Ruways read it with the ordinary s, the letter sin, while Khalaf, transmitting from Hamza, reads the letter sad blended with a z sound, called ishmam.

The word mustaqim means straight, not crooked, and also means standing firm. Islam uses the image of the straight path for a way of life lived according to what God has commanded, and the next verse defines that path through the people who have walked it.

The straight path is described not by a concept but by people: the path of those You have blessed. Commentators often compare this verse with chapter 4, verse 69 of the Qur'an, which names four groups of the blessed: the prophets, the truthful, the witnesses and the righteous.

The word 'alayhim, upon them, also differs in pronunciation between readings. Hamza reads it 'alayhum, with a u vowel. Some other readings, such as that of Ibn Kathir, add a long u sound after the m. The Hafs reading has 'alayhim, as on this page. The meaning does not change.

Under the Kufan count, this phrase does not end the verse but runs on into what follows to form verse 7. Under the Medinan count and the others that do not number the Basmala, this phrase is the whole of verse 6, and what follows becomes verse 7. The two divisions differ only in where the verse break falls, not in a single word of the chapter.

The two groups named at the end of the chapter are where commentators differ most clearly, and the library records all the views. The first interpretation, widespread in classical commentaries such as those of al-Tabari and of Ibn Kathir, who died in 1373, rests on a hadith recorded by al-Tirmidhi, reporting the words of 'Adi ibn Hatim, and identifies those who have incurred wrath with the Jews and those who have gone astray with the Christians. These same commentators often add that what is named are two kinds of failing, knowing what is right and not doing it, and doing without knowing what is right, and that whoever falls into such a failing belongs to that group, whoever they may be.

The second interpretation reads the two groups as two general types of people, not tied to any community. This reading is found in many modern commentators, among them Muhammad 'Abduh and Rashid Rida in the Tafsir al-Manar, and they argue that the text names no one, so tying it to a particular group narrows a prayer meant for every reader. The third interpretation focuses on the grammar: for those who are blessed the subject is clear, it is You who have blessed, while for those who have incurred wrath the passive voice is used, and no one is named as the one who is angry. Many commentators see in this a courtesy of speech in addressing God, in that good is attributed to Him, while what is severe is spoken of indirectly.

As to pronunciation, the last word ad-dallin contains the emphatic d, the letter dad, a sound Arabs regard as peculiar to their own language, and it contains a vowel held for six beats in the Hafs reading because it comes before a doubled consonant. Right after this word, most believers say Amin, but that word is not part of the chapter, as the section below explains.