The Fawātih Al-Suwar: A Critique of Classical Categories and New Typology

The article is trying to criticize the old and to propose a new fawātiḥ al-suwar variety grouping from two perspectives, namely sentence structure and message of the verse. Fawātiḥ al-suwar (the opening of surah) is essential in the structure of surah in the Holy Quran. Its beauty and urgency have been attracting classic Islamic scholars who group them in ten varieties. However, the grouping seems inaccurate because it mixes the sentence structure and the message. This is a library-method study with fawātiḥ al-suwar as the material object of study. The Quran’s verses from which data were obtained vary from one simple sentence to some compound, even complex sentences. Each verse constitutes four elements, namely: sentence, clause, phrase, and word. The study reveals that ten inventory varieties set by the scholars were inaccurate due to ambiguous point of view between the sentence structure and the implied message on the first verse of every surah.