Understanding Surah Fatiha – Its Virtues, Benefits & Rewards

For a Muslim each and every word of Quran is priceless and for him or her there is nothing more worthy than the word of Quran. Muslims learn to read the Holy Quran and utilize it for various purposes in their lives. Some use it for the purpose of recitation to gain reward; some recite it in their prayers while there are others who try to understand Quran so that they could implement the message of Quran into their lives.

Regardless of the reason behind the affiliation of a Muslim with Quran, the verses of it are sacred and unquestionable for everyone. Although every verse of it is sacred however, there are some special verses like Ayat ul Kursi and Surahs of Quran that were either revealed for a specific purpose or the hadiths related to them give their specific benefit or use. One of such Surahs is Surah Fatiha. Given below is the Arabic Text and Transliteration of Surah Fatiha and then later part discusses the prime benefits of Surah Fatiha as described in hadiths.

بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ﴿١﴾ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّـهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ﴿٢﴾ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ﴿٣﴾ مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ ﴿٤﴾ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ﴿٥﴾ اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ﴿٦﴾ صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ ﴿٧﴾ـ

Transliteration:

1. Bismi Allahi alrrahmani alrraheem
2. Alhamdu lillahi rabbil-‘aalameen
3. Alrrahmani alrraheem
4. Maliki yawmi alddeen
5. Iyyaka na’budu waiyyaka nasta’eenu
6. Ihdina alssirata almustaqeem
7. Sirata allazheena an’amta ‘alayhim ghayri almaghdoobi ‘alayhim walaalddalleen

Translation:

1. In the name of Allah (God), the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
2. All the praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds (universe).
3. The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
4. Lord of the Day of Judgment.
5. You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help.
6. Guide us to the Straight Path.
7. The path of those You have blessed, not (the path) of those who earned Your Anger, nor of those who went astray.

Umm-ul-Quran:

 In a hadith, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) 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)

This hadith of Prophet (PBUH) tells about various aspects of Surah Fatiha. These aspects are:

1. Firstly, Surah Fatiha is referred to as Umm-ul-Quran, which means ‘Mother of Quran’. There is no need left of further explaining the greatness of this Surah. So if Quran is the best of all the Books and Surah Fatiha is the mother of it, then it definitely is something the benefits or significance of which a normal person can neither grasp nor comprehend.
2. Secondly, Surah Fatiha has no match compared to whatever was revealed before Quran and even whatever else is revealed within Quran. Therefore, when it comes to comparing something with Surah Fatiha, there is no match for it and it is incomparable.
3. Thirdly, Surah Fatiha is the Surah which Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) recited in His prayer. This is the reason why Surah Fatiha is an integral part of the prayer recitations.
4. Fourthly, the verses of Surah Fatiha are the often repeated verses in Quran. Therefore, if a Muslim is to get a crux of the message which Quran wishes to convey then understanding or knowing the meaning of Surah Fatiha can give a fair overview of it.

Cure For Snake Sting:

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 recited something 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 upon him to cure him?” He said: “No, I only recited Umm al-Kitab (i.e. Surah al-Fatihah) 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-Fatihah can be used as a cure? (PBUH) Distribute your reward amongst yourselves and allot a share for me as well”.” (Bukhari)

This hadith shows that Surah Fatiha can also be used to cure snake bite. This narration shows that Surah Fatiha was used by the Companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in order to cure a person who was bitten by a snake, thus the Surah can effectively be used for this purpose. However, doing this a person must remember that he or she needs to have faith in the curing power of Surah Fatiha. Therefore, if any situation like this comes where a person is bitten by a snake and there is no treatment available, then one should recite Surah Fatiha with a true belief in its power and then blow it on the affected area to get relief and cure.

Cure For Epilepsy:

Another narration related to the miraculous power of Surah Fatiha is as follows:

“Once a group of Companions were in an expedition (ghazwa) when they happened to come across an epileptic person, who was unconscious. One of the Companions recited Surah Al-Fatiha and blew in his ear. The epileptic person immediately cured. When Sayyidana Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) was informed of this, he said: “It (Surah Al-Fatiha) is “The Mother of the Qur’an” (Umm al-Qur’an) and is a cure for every disease.” [Tafseer Mazhari 1:31]

This narration shows that Surah Fatiha was used as a means of providing relief to a person from epilepsy. It is a condition in which the body of a person goes out of control and one goes out of his or her senses. This narration shows that the miraculous power of Surah Fatiha works even in such a state and on such person as well. Therefore, wherever and whenever one sees such a case, in addition to taking the necessary medical measures, one should recite this great Surah in the ear of the person who is under the epilepsy attack.

Bottom Line:

In a nutshell, a Muslim must have no doubt related to healing benefits of Quran in general and Surah Fatiha in particular. It is the Mother of Quran, therefore, there is nothing strange in its being so miraculous that it cures epilepsy, snake bite and gives the crux of the whole objective of Quran.