Al-Fatiha
"al-Fatiha" is "The Opener"
The Almighty Allah says:
وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَاكَ سَبْعًا مِنْ الْمَثَانِي وَالْقُرْآنَ الْعَظِيمَ.
And certainly We have given you seven of the oft-repeated (verses) and the grand Quran. (Surah Hijr 15:87)
It is well known among the scholars that ‘seven of the oft-repeated (verses)’ is Surah Fatiha and it is said to be ‘oft repeated’ because it is recited at least twice in every Prayer or it is between Allah and His creatures or these words should come repeatedly or it is half the praise of Allah and half of it is supplication or because it was revealed twice.
Alhamdullilah
The words AlHamdu Lillah are most commonly uttered from Muslim lips around the world. It is the first statement mentioned in the opening surah, al-Fatiha, because it shapes our view of the entire Qur’an. One way to explore the beauty, precision , and thought provoking eloquence of the Qur’an’s words is to explore the very choice of each word. Arabic is a rich language full of terms similar in meaning.
Hamdحَمد : Genuine and sincere praise + thanks.
In real life, those two attitudes are normally separated. 1) You can praise your car because it’s beautiful/performs well but you’re not going to thank your car. 2) Prophet Moosa thanked Fir’aun for feeding him/protecting him but did not praise him. In the word Hamd, those two attitudes exist at the same time. That’s why it’s important that everytime you say alhamdullilah, you have to mentally prepare yourself to have reasons to why you’re thankful. You can’t praise and complain at the same time.
Thanks is a reaction. Something has to be done for you and then you’d react by saying thank you. On’y a reaction if you . accept that somemone did you a favour. If you have no clue what the other person did, you won’t say thank you. For that reason the word “Shukr” was not used instead of “Hamd” because Allah wants you to say it whether you are aware or not aware of what he has done for you. Hamd is not a gratitude limited to a reaction.
