Critique of Gabriel Sawma’s View on “Fātiḥah” ‎

In 2006 Gabriel Sawma compiled the book “The Qur'an, Misinterpreted, Mistranslated, and Misread: The Aramaic Language of the Qur'an”. In his book, he claims that the language of the Qur’an is Aramaic Syriac, trying to prove the adoption of the Qur’an from Jewish-Christian sources. By reviewing the Surahs of the Qur’an, he mentions many vocabulary as witnesses and then analyzes them. He begins by examining the first chapter of the Qur’an with the term Fātiḥah, believing that the shadow of the adaptation has even fallen behind the name of the first chapter of the Qur’an. He cites evidences from the Testaments and the Hebrew and Syriac language, in order to prove that it is not an Arabic word but goes back to the Aramaic Syriac language. In this paper, while presenting Gabriel Sawma’s views, they would be reviewed and criticized from the aspect of comparative historical linguistics in three Hebrew, Arabic and Syriac languages. The existence of the Qur’anic word in Ignorance Age’s poems and the structural and semantic similarities between the word in Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac Languages prove the fact that it has its root in Sami language, contrary to Sawma’s claims.   Keywords: