عنْ أَبي سعيدٍ رافعِ بنِ المُعلَّى رَضيَ اللّهُ عَنْهُ قالَ: قالَ لي رسولُ اللّهِ صَلّى اللّهُ عَلَيْهِ وسَلَّم: «أَلا أُعَلِّمُكَ أَعْظَم سُورةٍ في الْقُرْآنِ قَبْلَ أَنْ تخْرُجَ مِنَ المَسْجِدِ؟» فأَخَذَ بيدِي، فَلَمَّا أَردْنَا أَنْ نَخْرُجَ قُلْتُ: يا رسُولَ اللّهِ إِنَّكَ قُلْتَ: لأُعَلِّمنَّكَ أَعْظَمَ سُورَةٍ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ؟ قال: «الحَمْدُ لِلّهِ رَبِّ العَالمِينَ [الفاتحة] هِيَ السَّبْعُ المَثَاني وَالْقُرْآنُ الْعَظِيمُ الَّذِي أُوتِيتُهُ» رَوَاهُ الْبُخَارِيّ.
Abu Sa'id Rafi ibn al-Mu'alla (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me: "Shall I not teach you the greatest surah in the Qur'an before you leave the mosque?" Then he took me by the hand, and when we were about to leave I said: O Messenger of Allah, you said, 'I shall surely teach you the greatest surah in the Qur'an'? He said: "'Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds' (al-Fatihah)—it is the seven oft-repeated verses and the Great Qur'an that I have been given." Reported by al-Bukhari.
الشرح · explanation
السّبع: لأنها سبع آيات بالاتّفاق المثاني: التي تثنّى وتقرأ في كل ركعة من الصلاة، أي: تُعاد. والقرآن العظيم: أي هي المسمّاة بذلك، والحديث تفسير لقوله تعالى: وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَاكَ سَبْعًا مِّنَ الْمَثَانِي وَالْقُرْآنَ الْعَظِيمَ [الحجر: ٨٧]
"The seven (al-sab')": because it is seven verses by consensus. "The oft-repeated (al-mathani)": that which is repeated (tuthanna) and recited in every rak'ah of the prayer, that is, it is reiterated. "And the Great Qur'an": that is, it is the one so named; and the hadith is an interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: "And We have certainly given you seven of the oft-repeated [verses] and the Great Qur'an" [Surah al-Hijr: 87].
الدروس · lessons
أنّ سورة الفاتحة أعظم سورة في كتاب اللّهِ، لأنّها جمعت مقاصد القرآن الكريم واشتملت على مجمل ما جاء مفصلًا في باقي سور القرآن، ففيها مجمل عقيدة التوحيد وعبادة اللّهِ الخالق، والوعد والوعيد والعبرة بقصص الماضين من السعداء والضالين.
Surah al-Fatihah is the greatest surah in the Book of Allah, because it gathered the aims of the Noble Qur'an and comprised in summary what is set out in detail in the rest of the surahs of the Qur'an—it contains a summary of the creed of tawhid and the worship of Allah the Creator, promise and threat, and the lesson drawn from the stories of past peoples, both the blessed and the astray.