What is the meaning of „The Seven Mathani“?

Question

Selamun aleikum,

I have a question regarding the meaning of The Seven Mathani (Seven of the Oft-repeated) in Verse 15:87. I know that most of the scholars consider it as to be Al-Fatiha or the seven long Surahs. Now I found a Hadith, which could lead to an interpretation that the Quran itself is meant by it:

... this is what Al-Daraqutni reported from the Hadith of Abu Hurairah that The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: “If you recite ‘Al-hamdu Lillahi Rabi Al-Alamin’, you have to recite ‘Bismi Allahi Arrahman Arrahim; this Surah is the mother of the Qur'an, and the mother of the Book, and the mother of the seven Mathani, and ‘Bismi Allahi Arrahmani Arrahim’ is one of its verses”. Source: https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/87131/basmala-in-surah-al-fatihah

I know there are other hadiths, which shows, that Al-Fatiha is meant by it. The point here I want to make, is, that the Hadith states: „the mother of the Seven Mathani“, so it shows that Al-Fatiha is the mother of the Seven Mathani, also of the Book and of the Quran. So it is mentioned in an enumeration of maybe the same thing. Otherwise al-Fatiha would be the mother of itself, or am I overlooking something.

So I am not a scholar, but I trust our scholars. I also don’t know, whether the hadith is authentic, but my question is: Am I observing something completely wrong here or what it the approach to the mentioned hadith?

Allah knows best and may he protect us from the whispers of Shaitan.

Answer 1

It appears that the website has a typo.

The narration from Ad-Daraqtani is as follows:

إذا قرأتُمُ{الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ} [الفاتحة: ٢]، فاقرَؤوا{بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ} [الفاتحة: ١]، إنَّها أُمُّ القُرآنِ، وأُمُّ الكِتابِ، والسَّبعُ المَثاني، و{بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ} [الفاتحة: ١] إحدى آياتِها. (Sunan Ad-Daraqtani)

If you recite ‘Al-hamdu Lillahi Rabi Al-Alamin’, you have to recite ‘Bismi Allahi Arrahman Arrahim; this Surah is the mother of the Qur'an, and the mother of the Book, and the seven Mathani, and ‘Bismi Allahi Arrahmani Arrahim’ is one of its verses.

The meaning is that Surah Fatihah is the seven Mathani. There is no "mother of" before it.

Although, do note that saying Surah Fatihah is the "mother of the seven Mathani" still works if you interpret the seven Mathani as the seven long Surahs. If Surah Fatihah is the mother of the Quran, it may also be possible to say it is the mother of specific Surahs from the Quran.