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سُورَةُ ٱلْفَاتِحَةِ al-Fātiḥah

The Opening, Sūrah 1, 7 āyāt

Listen to al-Fātiḥah on quran.com

The opening sūrah of the Qurʾān, recited in every rakʿah of every prayer.

The text of al-Fātiḥah

A rendering of the meaning in our own plain English. It is not the Qurʾān itself, and not a word-for-word translation.

  1. Āyah 1:1

    بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

    Bis-mil-lā-hir-raḥ-mā-nir-ra-ḥīm

    In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.

    Al-Raḥmān and al-Raḥīm both come from raḥmah, mercy. Al-Ṭabarī explains al-Raḥmān as mercy that reaches all of creation, and al-Raḥīm as mercy He gives especially to the believers.1

  2. Āyah 1:2

    ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ

    Al-ḥam-du lil-lā-hi rab-bil-ʿā-la-mīn

    All praise and thanks belong to Allah, Lord of all the worlds,

  3. Āyah 1:3

    ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

    Ar-raḥ-mā-nir-ra-ḥīm

    the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful,

  4. Āyah 1:4

    مَٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ

    Mā-li-ki yaw-mid-dīn

    Master of the Day when all are judged and repaid.

    Yawm al-dīn: al-Ṭabarī reports Ibn ʿAbbās explaining it as the Day of Reckoning, the Day of Resurrection, when Allah repays people for their deeds.2

  5. Āyah 1:5

    إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

    Iy-yā-ka naʿ-bu-du wa iy-yā-ka nas-ta-ʿīn

    You alone we worship, and You alone we turn to for help.

  6. Āyah 1:6

    ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ

    Ih-di-naṣ-ṣi-rā-ṭal-mus-ta-qīm

    Guide us along the straight path:

  7. Āyah 1:7

    صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ

    Ṣi-rā-ṭal-la-dhī-na an-ʿam-ta ʿa-lay-him ghay-ril-magh-ḍū-bi ʿa-lay-him wa laḍ-ḍāl-līn

    the path of those You have blessed, not of those who have earned Your anger, nor of those who have lost the way.

When it is recited

Al-Fātiḥah is recited in every rakʿah (unit) of every prayer. The Prophet ﷺ said, “There is no prayer for whoever does not recite the Opening of the Book” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 756; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 394). He called it the greatest sūrah in the Qurʾān and “the seven oft-repeated” (al-Bukhārī 4474), and he told us that Allah answers the worshipper part by part as it is recited (Muslim 395). The schools differ on some details, such as reciting it behind an imam; the prayer pages explain each school. If you have not learned it yet, do not wait to pray: the Prophet ﷺ taught a man who said he could not learn any of the Qurʾān to say words of remembrance instead (Sunan Abī Dāwūd 832, graded ḥasan by al-Albānī). An imam at your local masjid can show you what to say while you learn.3,4,5,6,7

Sources

  1. al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān, on 1:1
  2. al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān, on 1:4
  3. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 756
  4. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 394a
  5. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4474
  6. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 395a
  7. Sunan Abī Dāwūd 832Grading: ḥasan (al-Albānī (as shown on sunnah.com))

Qurʾān text: Tanzil Quran Text (Uthmani, version 1.1), © 2007–2026 Tanzil Project, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. The text is reproduced without change. tanzil.net · Licence · Copied by script from api.alquran.cloud on October 9, 2026. Page checked October 9, 2026.