Allah says: “The Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.” He says: “My servant has extolled Me.” And when he says: “Master of the Day of Recompense,” He says: “My servant has glorified Me.” Thus, these are three verses, all of them for Allah.

Then, when he says, “You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help,” He says: “This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall have what he asks for.” (1) This indicates that the half is: “You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help,” which is the fourth verse. The fifth, sixth, and seventh are: “Guide us to the straight path—the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have incurred wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.” Thus, the first three verses are for Allah, Most High; the final three verses are for the servant; and “You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help” is the middle verse, between the servant and his Lord.

If someone says: If you maintain this, then how do you answer what we find in the copies of the Quran: namely, that the first verse of al-Fātiḥah is the basmalah?

The answer is: This numbering follows the view of some scholars (2), namely, that the basmalah is a verse of al-Fātiḥah. This is why, in the rest of the surahs, it is neither counted among their verses nor numbered. The correct view is that it is neither part of al-Fātiḥah nor of any other surah; rather, it is an independent verse.

If someone says: You have said that the basmalah is an independent verse, yet we find it in the Book of Allah as part of a verse, in His saying: “Indeed, it is from Solomon, and it reads: ‘In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.’” [al-Naml] We say: This is a quotation and report of a letter issued by Solomon; a person does not recite it as though he were beginning with it in