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The Opening Chapter of the Quran

The Opening Chapter

of the Quran

here are 114 chapters in the Quran, some long and some
Tshort. The opening chapter, Al-Fatihah (The Opening), which
serves as a preface to the Quran, comprises of only six short
verses. The translation of this chapter is as follows:
All praise is due to God, the Lord of the Universe;
the Beneficent, the Merciful; Lord of the Day of
Judgement. You alone we worship, and to You alone
we turn for help. Guide us to the straight path: the
path of those You have blessed; not of those who have
incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone
astray. (1:1-6)
The first verse of this chapter is: “All praise is due to God, the
Lord of the Universe.” This is the gist of the Quran. The basic
message of the Quran is that man must be grateful to God, man
must acknowledge God Almighty. Man must adopt a life that is
God-oriented. Alhamdulillah covers all these spiritual values.
God Almighty has created man as the superior form of life.
He has provided him with all those favourable things that form
the life-support system. He created the earth, which is the only
planet favourable to human life. He gave man a mind with
enormous potential. It is the miracle of the mind that man was
able to create a civilization. All the sciences are but a product of
the workings of the mind.
In such a situation, it is but natural that man must
acknowledge the Creator by saying, Alhamdulillah. Without this

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