al-Khudrī, who reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: ‘The Opening of the Book is a cure for poison.’

“Al-Hasan al-Basrī said: ‘Allah sent down one hundred and four books from heaven and placed their knowledge within four of them: the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, and al-Furqān (the Criterion). He then placed the knowledge of these four within al-Furqān, then the knowledge of the Quran within al-Mufassal, then the knowledge of al-Mufassal within the Opening of the Book. Whoever knows its interpretation is therefore like one who knows the interpretation of all Allah’s revealed books, and whoever recites it is as though he has recited the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, and the Quran.’

“As for the substantive consideration, Allah set it alongside the entire Quran, saying:

‘We have certainly given you seven oft-repeated verses and the glorious Quran.’

“This is a distinction in which no other surah comes close to it.”

I say: This follows the interpretation of those who identify it as the seven oft-repeated verses and understand ‘the glorious Quran’ to mean the entire Quran.

He said: “Furthermore, it is called ‘the Mother of the Quran’; the mother of a thing is its source and substance. Thus Allah called Mecca ‘the Mother of Cities’ because of its superiority over them. Moreover, it is the seven oft-repeated verses, and it contains what no other surah contains: praise and glorification of the Lord Most High, and the servant’s seeking His help and refuge and offering supplication, as in the well-known hadith in which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said that Allah Most High says: ‘I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant.’”

He said: “Furthermore, He has revealed nothing like it in the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, or any of the revealed books. Evidence of this is that its recitation has been made easy for everyone in a way that is not the case with other parts of the Quran.