Sūrah al-Fātiḥah and Sūrah an-Nās

Observations on the relationship between the first and last suwar of the Quran

As the first sūrah, Sūrah al-Fātiḥah (The Opening) is not preceded numerically by any other sūrah. However, if one were to read the Quran in its compiled order, they would end with Sūrah 114, Sūrah an-Nās (Mankind), and then return to the start of the Quran with al-Fātiḥah. It appears that Sūrah an-Nās actually dovetails with al-Fātiḥah, as if al-Fātiḥah were the next sūrah.

The Quran can be seen both as a linear text with a beginning and end (Sūrah 1-114), or as a circle, with Sūrah 114 connecting back to Sūrah 1, directing the reader or reciter to venture through the scripture again and again, each time finding new treasures within it. Put another way, the entire Quran might be seen as a ring with the first sūrah and the last sūrah closely connected.

Here is a look at how the two suwar line up with the Arabic omitted for brevity (which you can find here and here):

Similarities

Sūrah an-Nās has the following traits in common with al-Fātiḥah:

• It is a prayer to Allah ﷻ

• It consists of two contrasting halves, the first listing attributes of Allah ﷻ, and the second listing attributes of certain kinds of people.

• The three divine attributes mentioned in the first half correspond to divine attributes referred to in the first half of al-Fātiḥah. The sūrah begins with the divine title, “The Master of mankind” (Rabbi ‘n-Nās, 114:1), just as al-Fātiḥah begins with the divine title, “The Master of all peoples” (Rabbi ‘l-’Ālamīn, 1:1). The next divine title mentioned is the “King of mankind” (maliki ‘n-Nās, 114:2). This corresponds to “The Owner/King (Mālik/Malik) of the Day of Recompense” in al-Fātiḥah (1:3). The third divine title, “The God of mankind” (Ilāhi ‘n-Nās, 114:3), corresponds to “You alone we worship” (1:4) - a basic definition of “god” (ilāh), given in classical lexicons, is “that which is worshiped” (ma’būd) - both statements concluding the first half of their respective suwar.

• The last āyah mentions two kinds of people in negative terms - whisperers “from jinn and from mankind” (114:6) - just as in the last āyah of al-Fātiḥah: “not of those who have earned anger, nor of the astray” (1:7).

Key Differences

In other respects, the suwar form complementary opposites. For example:

• Al-Fātiḥah is a collective prayer, while an-Nās is an individual prayer.

• The tone of al-Fātiḥah is positive - a prayer for guidance; the tone of an-Nās is negative - a prayer of refuge from harm. The first āyah of al-Fātiḥah establishes the sūrah’s positive tone with praise and thanks (ḥamd) to Allah ﷻ: “All praise is due to Allah.” Moreover, this positive declaration is objective and permanent as it’s a nominal sentence. On the other hand, the first āyah of an-Nās establishes its negative tone with the first-person plea, “I take refuge in the Master of mankind.” However, this statement is a verbal sentence in the Arabic, which means this negative tone is limited by considerations of time: soon, the servant of Allah ﷻ will be safe from the devilish influences he is seeking refuge from.

• Al-Fātiḥah mentions Allah’s names “the All-Merciful” and “the Ever-Merciful,” which have purely positive associations. The absence of these two names from an-Nās contributes to its negative tone.

• Al-Fātiḥah highlights a positive category of people, “those whom You have favored,” whom it contrasts with two negative categories of people. An-Nās only mentions two negative categories of people, the whisperers from the jinn and mankind, again in tune with its negative tone.

• In al-Fātiḥah, the petitioners ask Allah ﷻ to exclude them from “those who have earned anger” and “the astray,” which are both collectives. In an-Nās, the single petitioner asks Allah ﷻ for refuge from the jinn whisperer and the human whisperer, which are both represented as individual forces.

When the reader returns from an-Nās to al-Fātiḥah, he finds an answer to his prayer of refuge: he should find refuge from the individual whisperers in a wider community of worshipers who are also, like him, in constant pursuit of guidance.

To cap this all off, the very last āyah of the Quran, “From the jinn and mankind” (114:6), returns to the very first, “All praise is due to Allah, the Master of all peoples” (1:1), since “all peoples” here refers to the two kinds of personal beings who are recipients of guidance: jinn and mankind.

والله أعلم - And Allah knows best

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Sources

Farrin, Structure and Qur’anic Interpretation. See the discussion of “al-’aalameen” in chapter 8, “All praise is due to God, the Lord of all people.’”

Ali Khan, Nouman and Sharif Randhawa. Divine Speech: Exploring the Quran as Literature. Bayyinah Institute, 2016.