Structure · a Light

The Qur'an names one of its own chapters in passing

In Surah al-Hijr, a Makkan chapter, the Prophet ﷺ is told that he has been given seven of the oft repeated, and the great Qur'an. Commentators from the earliest period read the seven as the seven verses of al-Fatiha, the short opening chapter recited in every unit of every prayer. The phrase gives that chapter one of its many names, al-Sab al-Mathani. It is also called Umm al-Kitab, the mother of the book, and al-Shifa, the cure. Anyone praying the five obligatory prayers recites it seventeen times a day. It is spoken from the reader upward, praise and then request, which is unusual in a book that mostly speaks downward.

Surah al-Fatiha, seven verses

Source · Qur'an 15:87