Encyclopedia of Islam

Fatiha

  

229  J

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practicing Muslims around the world have con-

sistently memorized and recited it (usually in 

Arabic) for centuries, regardless of their ethnic 

or religious outlook, means that it has become an 

identifying characteristic of membership in the 

wider Muslim community (

umma

).

According to the 

hadith

 and Quran commen-

taries, the Fatiha is “the mother (essence) of the 

Quran” and its “greatest chapter.” One widely cir-

culated hadith declares, “God has revealed noth-

ing like [it] in the Torah and the Gospel.” Aside 

from using it in their daily prayers, Muslims also 

recite it during 

birth

 

rites

, weddings, and funer-

als, and to inaugurate new buildings, businesses, 

and formal gatherings. Muslims in northern i

ndia

have developed a funerary ritual called the Fatiha, 

which involves reciting the chapter and making 

food offerings on behalf of the dead in a sacral-

ized room of the house. The page of the Quran 

on which the Fatiha is written has been the most 

beautifully decorated page in Quran manuscripts 

and printed editions. It is often displayed in 

homes, businesses, and 

mosqUe

s as an expression 

of religiosity and as a means of ensuring God’s 

blessing for those places.

See also 

amUlets

 

and

 

talismans

; 

basmala

;

FUnerary

 

ritUals

.