Exegesis of Verses from Surat al-Fatihah

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.

To proceed: This is the one hundred and twelfth session of the Open Door sessions, which take place every Thursday, and this is the twenty-second day of the month of Rajab in the year 1416 AH.
We begin this session by speaking about Surat al-Fatihah. It is called that because the Noble Qur'an was opened with it in writing, though it was not the first to be revealed. Rather, the first of the Qur'an to be revealed was the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Al-Alaq: 1-5].
This surah is called the Mother of the Qur'an, and it is called the Seven Repeated Verses. It has multiple names. It is called the Mother of the Qur'an because all the meanings and objectives of the Qur'an are present in this surah, even though it consists of only seven short verses, yet all the objectives of the Qur'an are contained within it, including tawhid (the oneness of Allah), beliefs, history, the paths of people, and other matters, though they are mentioned in general terms.
The basmalah is not part of al-Fatihah; rather, it is an independent verse with which the surah is opened, except for Surat al-Bara'ah, which is not opened with it, following the practice of the noble Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). This indicates that al-Fatihah does not include it, as established in the authentic hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that Allah the Exalted said: (I divided the prayer between Me and My servant into two halves,When he says: [Al-Fatihah: 2] Allah the Exalted said: My servant praised Me,And when he said: [Al-Fatihah: 3] He said: My servant praised Me,And when he said: [Al-Fatihah: 4] He said: My servant glorified Me,And when he said: [Al-Fatihah: 5] He said: This is between Me and My servant, and for My servant is what he asked for,When he says: [Al-Fatihah: 6-7] Allah the Exalted said: This is for My servant, and for My servant is what he asked for) So it is seven verses: the first three verses are for Allah, the last three verses are for the servant, and the fourth verse, which is the middle of the seven, is between Allah and the servant. This is also a semantic preference,Because of the beginning of al-Fatihah: [Al-Fatihah: 2] and the Basmala is not part of it,The linguistic preference: If we were to make the Basmala part of al-Fatihah, the last verse would be long and not proportionate to the verses before it,Because it would be: [Al-Fatihah: 7] and this is equal to two verses,Therefore, the correct view is: That the end of the sixth verse is the saying of Allah the Exalted: .
It is recommended for a person, when he recites it—especially in prayer—to pause at every verse; because Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is conversing with the servant in prayer: (When he says: [Al-Fatihah: 2] He said: My servant praised Me) as you heard in the hadith.