Surah Fatiha in English: translation, transliteration and meaning

What is Surah Fatiha in English, Arabic and transliteration?

To copy and paste the Arabic text, use the button under the scroll. The same surah, one verse at a time, with an easy transliteration:

1. 1

   بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

   Bismillahir rahmanir raheem

   In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

2. 2

   ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ

   Alhamdu lillahi rabbil 'alameen

   Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.

3. 3

   ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

   Ar-rahmanir raheem

   The Beneficent, the Merciful.

4. 4

   مَـٰلِكِ يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ

   Maaliki yawmid deen

   Master of the Day of Judgement.

5. 5

   إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

   Iyyaka na'budu wa iyyaka nasta'een

   You (alone) we worship; You (alone) we ask for help.

6. 6

   ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ

   Ihdinas siratal mustaqeem

   Show us the straight path.

7. 7

   صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ

   Siratal ladheena an'amta 'alayhim ghayril maghdoobi 'alayhim wa lad daalleen

   The path of those whom You have favoured; Not the (path) of those who earn Your anger nor of those who go astray.

You will see it written many ways: Surah Al-Fatiha, Surat al-Fatihah, Sura Fatiha, Surah Fatihah, or just Fatiha. They all mean this chapter.

What does Surah Fatiha mean, verse by verse?

If you have ever reached the end of a rakah (one unit of the prayer) with no memory of the Fatihah you just recited, this is the part that helps. It comes from a hadith qudsi, a narration in which the Prophet reports the words of Allah. Allah said: "I have divided the prayer between Me and My servant into two halves, and My servant will have what he asked for." Allah then answers the servant line by line.

2AuthenticSahih Muslim 395

1. 1Bismillahir rahmanir raheem

   In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

   You begin in the name of Allah. Ar-Rahman and ar-Rahim are two of His names, and both come from rahmah, mercy. This page follows the Tanzil numbering, where Bismillah is verse 1; other counts number the verses differently.

2. 2Alhamdu lillahi rabbil 'alameen

   Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.

   Hamd is praise. Rabb is Lord, and al-'alameen is the plural of 'alam, world: together, rabbil 'alameen is "Lord of the Worlds".

   Allah replies "My servant has praised Me."

3. 3Ar-rahmanir raheem

   The Beneficent, the Merciful.

   Ar-Rahman and ar-Rahim again: the two names of mercy from Bismillah, straight after "Lord of the Worlds".

   Allah replies "My servant has lauded Me."

4. 4Maaliki yawmid deen

   Master of the Day of Judgement.

   Maalik is master or owner, yawm is day, and ad-deen is rendered judgement or recompense: the Day of Judgement.

   Allah replies "My servant has glorified Me." In one telling the reply is: "My servant has entrusted his affairs to Me."

1. 5Iyyaka na'budu wa iyyaka nasta'een

   You (alone) we worship; You (alone) we ask for help.

   In the Arabic, "You" comes before the verb: "You we worship, You we ask for help". That word order is why translations add "alone".

   Allah replies "This is between Me and My servant, and My servant will have what he asked for."

2. 6Ihdinas siratal mustaqeem

   Show us the straight path.

   Ihdina means guide us or show us. As-sirat al-mustaqeem is the straight path. From here the surah becomes a request.

   Allah replies "This is for My servant, and My servant will have what he asked for." (said of verses 6 and 7 together)

3. 7Siratal ladheena an'amta 'alayhim ghayril maghdoobi 'alayhim wa lad daalleen

   The path of those whom You have favoured; Not the (path) of those who earn Your anger nor of those who go astray.

   Verse 7 says whose path you are asking for in verse 6, and whose path it is not.

Here is verse 5 word by word.

The surah itself does not name who "those who earn Your anger" and "those who go astray" are. A page on the commentaries, with each view tied to its named work, is coming.

Why is Al-Fatihah recited in every prayer?

The Prophet said there is no prayer for the one who does not recite the Opening of the Book, Al-Fatihah.

3AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 756

In another narration he said that a prayer in which Umm al-Quran (Al-Fatihah) is not recited is deficient, repeating it three times, and not complete.

2AuthenticSahih Muslim 395

• Each rakah of Zuhr. Abu Qatada, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that in the Zuhr (midday) prayer the Prophet recited Al-Fatihah and another surah in each of the first two units (rakahs), and Al-Fatihah in the last two.

  4AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 776

• Amin at the end. When the imam says "ghayril maghdoobi 'alayhim wa lad daalleen", the last words of Al-Fatihah, those praying say Amin (also written Ameen). The Prophet said whoever's Amin coincides with the angels' has his past sins forgiven.

  5AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 782

• The Prophet said it too. In another narration of the same teaching, Ibn Shihab, one of its narrators, added that the Prophet used to say Amin.

  6AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 780

How this is done in prayer, including behind an imam, is covered in the guide to salah.

What are the other names of Al-Fatihah?

Several names for the surah appear in the hadith. Each one below is used in a narration on this page.

"The seven oft-repeated" uses the wording of a verse in Surah Al-Hijr, and the Prophet applied it to Al-Fatihah in Sahih al-Bukhari 4474, graded sahih.

What are the benefits of Surah Fatiha?

Several virtues come from authentic hadith. Some popular ones do not. The table keeps them apart, each with its grade.

Is the hadith "Al-Fatihah is healing for every disease" authentic?

No: it is graded weak. The report that Al-Fatihah holds healing for every disease is mursal, meaning its chain skips the companion who would have heard it from the Prophet.

11WeakMishkat al-Masabih 2170

What is authentic is narrower. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that while travelling, his group came to a tribe whose chief had been stung. One of their men, whom they had not known to do ruqyah (a recitation over someone who is ill), recited Umm al-Kitab over the chief, and he recovered. When they told the Prophet in Madinah, he asked how the man knew it was a ruqyah, and told them to share out what they had been given and keep a share for him.

9AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 5007

In one narration of this event, Abu Sa'id says he recited al-Hamdu lillah, a name for Al-Fatihah taken from its opening words, over the chief seven times, and the sting is named as a scorpion's. That narration is graded differently, which is why the table shows it apart. It describes one ruqyah for a sting. The narration attaches no reward to reciting Al-Fatihah seven times as a routine.

10Graded differently ›Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2063

For "Surah Fatiha 100 times", the Ilmwell team searched sunnah.com and dorar.net on 20 October 2026 and found no narration giving a reward for reciting Al-Fatihah 100 times on its own (source 12). The reports with 100 that mention it are longer prayer formulas. The sound virtues are the ones above, starting with the greatest surah.

Ruqyah is a religious practice, not medical treatment. If you or someone you care for is unwell, speak to your GP.

How do you pronounce Surah Fatiha?

Most of it is easy for an English speaker. These are the sounds to slow down for:

• ḥ in raḥmān and al-ḥamdu: a breathy h from the throat, stronger than an English h.
• ʿ in ʿālamīn, naʿbudu and nastaʿīn: a tightening deep in the throat. Do not drop it; naʿbudu is not nabudu.
• ṣ, ṭ and ḍ in ṣirāṭ, maghḍūb and ḍāllīn: heavy versions of s, t and d, said with the tongue pulled back.
• dh in alladhīna: the "th" in "this". gh in ghayri: close to a French r.
• Long vowels (ā, ī, ū) are held, as in ḍāllīn at the very end.

Listen and repeat. A recorded recitation by a fluent human reciter is coming. We do not use a synthetic voice for Quran recitation.