Chapter Three: On Its Names

It is known by several names:

1. Fātiḥat al-Kitāb (the Opening of the Book). In the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections it is narrated from ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “There is no prayer for anyone who does not recite the Opening of the Book.” (1) It was given this name because the written muṣḥaf begins with it, and because the worshipper opens the prayer by reciting it. Those who maintain that the ordering of the Quranic surahs is expressly designated—just like the ordering of the verses, by consensus—cite this as evidence; the point is reported by Abū al-ʿAbbās.

Harb asked Aḥmad about someone who reads or writes a surah from its end back to its beginning, and he regarded that most severely reprehensible.

In al-Qāḍī’s Taʿlīq, while arguing that the basmalah is not part of al-Fātiḥah, he writes: “The positions of the verses are like the verses themselves. Do you not see that whoever attempts to alter their order is like one who…"